Suvechha Sarkar
On a cold day in December 1988, the quiet town of Three Rivers, Michigan, was shaken to its core by the brutal murder of 19-year-old Cathy Sue Swartz. She was known for her warm personality and her devotion to her family. For years, the shocking circumstances surrounding her untimely demise haunted her loved ones and the investigators with unanswered questions. ABC’s ’20/20: The Code Breakers’ focuses on how using modern DNA science finally helped piece together the puzzle of her murder. It also features interviews with her loved ones, officials related to the case, and experts explaining how the technology helped reveal the suspect.
Cathy Swartz Was Building a Family When Her Life Changed Forever
David Michael Sr. and Audrey Sue Swartz were overjoyed when they welcomed their daughter, Cathy Sue Swartz, into their lives on May 24, 1969. She grew up in Mendon, Michigan, on a small two-acre farm. During her earlier years, she was an active part of the 4-H program and was in the Girl Scouts. Moreover, Cathy was a talented artist who loved embarking on hunting adventures with her father. She was studying at Mendon High School, but her family eventually moved to Three Rivers in St. Joseph County, Michigan, before her senior year around 1987. Cathy left high school during that time to welcome her daughter, Courtney, into the world. Shortly after, she met the love of her life, Mike Warner, and they got engaged in 1988.
Although Cathy’s life revolved primarily around her family, she also briefly worked at a grocery store and Burger King. She settled into a peaceful life with Courtney and her fiancé at a Riverside Townhouse apartment in the same area. However, her beautiful life came to a sudden halt on December 2, 1988. She had prepared the Christmas tree for her then 9-month-old daughter at home. Mike got up for work around 5:30 am, but when he returned around 3:30 pm, he noticed the house was in disarray. He horrifically discovered blood in the banisters and walls. When he found a bloodied and mostly unclothed Cathy in the upstairs bedroom, he ran to a neighbor to ask for help and call 911.
Cathy Swartz Was Brutally Killed in Her Apartment in Michigan
Mike returned to bring out an unharmed Courtney, who surprisingly had a clean diaper. When officials arrived at the scene, they noted that there were no signs of forced entry, which meant that Cathy knew the killer. They reportedly presumed that the attack began in the kitchen because there were drops of blood. They found smears of blood going up the stairway to the upstairs bedroom, where they found Cathy dead. Detectives discovered that she had been stabbed more than a dozen times, and she had defensive wounds on her hands. There were also bruises, which were consistent with the signs of strangulation. They reportedly noticed a phone on the bed, with its cord cut and containing Cathy’s and an unknown bloody fingerprint.
There was a size 9 bloody footprint in the bathroom, and officials believed that the killer had taken a shower there. One month later, experts tested the apartment again with a new forensic light source. They discovered “Metallica” and “Harley Was Here” written on the refrigerator and the wall, which were reportedly wiped away. During the autopsy, they found that someone had written “I was here” probably with a magic marker along her thighs. It also had an arrow pointing toward her private part, suggesting a possible attempted sexual assault. The autopsy reportedly indicated her cause of death to be from the multiple stab wounds. It also revealed that Cathy might have been brutally beaten, and there were injuries consistent with strangulation.
The Murder Suspect Passed Away Before Getting Extradited to Michigan
Investigators first questioned her fiancé, Mike, who had a solid alibi that he was at work. It was further verified when he passed a polygraph test. Cathy’s friends informed the police about her ex-boyfriend, Troy Daniel Schulthies, who was also a Metallica fan and had a nickname, Harley. Moreover, his truck was spotted outside her apartment on the afternoon of her murder. When he was brought in for questioning, he admitted to writing the two messages on the refrigerator and the wall, but denied writing anything on Cathy. Since he was unable to provide any alibi for that day, he was arrested and charged with murder three days after the incident. However, his fingerprints and footprint did not match those found at the scene. Hence, his charges were dropped, and the case gradually went cold.
Although in 2012, the DNA obtained from the phone on Cathy’s bed was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), it provided no match. It wasn’t until May 2022 that the detectives working on the cold case sought the help of the Genetic Genealogy Lab, Othram. It would help them to explore the ancestry of the possible suspect and get information on their potential family tree. In January 2023, the DNA of an unknown male obtained from the scene traced back to a family with four sons: Barry, Sonne, John, and Robert Waters. Barry was eliminated as a possible suspect since his record was already present on CODIS. Within months, Sonne and John were also ruled out as they submitted their DNA voluntarily, which was not a match. Authorities then traced Robert back to Beaufort, South Carolina.
Investigators met Robert at his home, and he agreed to meet them at the station. Although he didn’t initially show up, he soon arrived when officials told him about a warrant to get his DNA and fingerprints. It turned out to be a match to the fingerprints found at Cathy’s murder scene. He was ultimately arrested on April 30, 2023, and charged with the open murder of Cathy after 35 long years. Following that, officials discovered from Mike that Robert had visited their apartment a month before the incident. It was revealed that Robert was his childhood friend whom he met in Middle School. He was reportedly waiting to be extradited from a Beaufort County, South Carolina jail cell to Michigan. However, he died by suicide in his cell on May 6, 2023, reportedly due to self-inflicted injuries.
Read More: Robert Waters: What Happened to Cathy Swartz’s Alleged Killer?
