50 replies to this topic

[Denise]

http://www.daytondai...woodinside.html

Swint and McCown 'very close friends'
Missing woman's sister sickened that a suspect in the disappearance could be hired as a police officer.

By Tom Beyerlein
Staff Writer

Saturday, October 13, 2007

TROTWOOD The sister of a missing Richmond, Ind., woman said Friday night that Marilyn "Niqui" McCown was "very close friends" with former Trotwood police officer Tommy L. Swint, who is described by Richmond police as a suspect in McCown's 2001 disappearance.

Michelle McCown-Luster of Huber Heights said that, against her advice, McCown accepted money from Swint on occasion. "In Niqui's eyes, he was like a big brother," she said.

McCown-Luster said it "really sickens me" that a suspect in her sister's disappearance could become a police officer. Swint has not been charged.

"He's been a suspect from the very beginning, maybe a month after she went missing," she said. "I hope they're wrong about him. It's hard to understand how anybody who's there to protect people could harm someone."

Richmond police Capt. Greg Pipes said Swint has refused to be interviewed about McCown's disappearance.

McCown, then 28, was last seen Sunday, July 22, 2001, at a Richmond Laundromat. A single mother, she was attending Sinclair Community College and planning her wedding. Her SUV was found months later at a Harrison Twp. apartment complex.

By December 2001, Richmond police were saying they believed McCown was dead. A detective said McCown likely met with foul play after she drove to Dayton to meet someone, possibly with ties to Dayton's Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center, a state prison.

McCown and Swint both had worked at the prison since 1994. That's where they met, McCown-Luster said.

A native of Alabama, Swint joined the U.S. Marines and saw combat in Panama in 1989. He left the Marines the next year, and moved to Dayton, where he met Lisa, his wife of 15 years. They have one child. For a July feature story about his hiring in Trotwood, Swint of Harrison Twp. told the Dayton Daily News that he spends his free time volunteering at homeless shelters and boys and girls' clubs, and speaks at high schools about self-esteem. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Swint hired on at the Dayton prison in May 1994 as a corrections officer. He officially resigned effective Aug. 21. Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Lyons said he was not under investigation by the department when he resigned.

McCown joined the prison staff in August 1994 as an account clerk in the business office and still worked there at the time of her disappearance.

Public records show Swint had several civil judgments against him for failing to pay his bills in the 1990s, and four traffic citations from 1995-2002, but no criminal history.

Trotwood Public Safety Director Mike Etter said because Swint hasn't been charged in the McCown case, there was no way for the city to know he was a suspect unless Swint told them himself. Etter said Swint should have disclosed the matter.

"In the hiring of any officer, we do extensive background checks," said City Manager Michael Lucking. "We stand by our screenings."

[Denise]

http://www.pal-item....018/1008/NEWS01

Ohio police officer let go after failing to disclose McCown case link

Information obtained from a background check is what led a former The Trotwood, Ohio police officer to resign less than two weeks after being hired.

Tommy Swint in 2001 was a person of interest in the case of Marilyn Niqui McCown, a Richmond woman who disappeared after she was last seen at a coin-operated laundry.
 
Swint did not tell the police about his history in the case and was given the option to resign or be terminated.

He knew McCown from when they worked together for the Ohio Department of Corrections.

The Trotwood police following a background check on Swint contacted Richmond police, said chief Kris Wolski.

[Denise]

http://www.pal-item..../710140301/1008

Police inquiry unveils link
Lack of disclosure costs Ohio officer his job

BY RYAN S. CLARK
STAFF WRITER


Police said Saturday that a former Trotwood, Ohio, police officer was one of a few people regarded as "persons of interest" in the missing person case of Marilyn "Niqui" McCown of Richmond.

Tommy Swint, 40, reportedly resigned on Aug. 31 from the Trotwood Police Department after his employer was informed that he was a person of interest in the case of McCown, who has been missing since she disappeared from a coin-operated laundry in 2001.
 
"I know there were a number of people (the detectives) were looking at during one time or another," said Richmond Police Chief Kris Wolski.

"There was her fiance (Robert Webster), there has always been the talk about a couple of males in the area, but I don't think any names have been tied into that. I think there had been a couple of other people they looked at as persons of interest."

A "person of interest" is somebody police would like to talk to who could be viewed as a suspect or a contributor of information crucial to solving a case, Wolski said.

Wolski said Trotwood police were doing a background check on Swint, then a job candidate, when they learned about his status in connection with the McCown case.

Swint was given the choice to resign or be terminated because he did not disclose his background, according to a report by the Dayton Daily News.

"Three months ago someone from Trotwood called us," Wolski said. "It's not that we are investigating him at this time, but as part of his employment they were doing a background check and they called us.

"We told them in 2001, we looked at him as a possible suspect and that was it."

The Dayton Daily News Web site quotes Richmond Police Capt. Greg Pipes as saying Swint refused to be interviewed about McCown's disappearance.

Wolski said that Swint was interviewed shortly after McCown's disappearance and did not offer much information.

"If all of a sudden he (Swint) wanted to change his mind, we'd certainly listen," Wolski said.

"Like I said there is nothing new that leads us to believe that he is any more of a person of interest now than he has ever been."

Swint joined the Marines in 1989 where he saw combat in Panama, according to the Dayton Daily News Web site. He left the Marines in 1990 and moved to Dayton where he met his wife.

In May 1994, Swint was hired on at the Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center, which is a state prison in Dayton.

Both Swint and McCown had worked together for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.

Swint left the Ohio DOC in August to take a job at the Trotwood Police Department, where he resigned just days later following the phone call about his history came to light.

Swint, as well as Trotwood Public Safety Director Michael Etter and City Manager Michael Lucking could not be reached for comment Saturday.

McCown's sister, Tamie Hughes of Richmond, said Friday night the family had known of investigators interest in Swint for some time but was told by the police not to say anything.

Hughes described McCown and Swint as close and said her sister "looked at him as a brother."

Michelle McCown-Luster, another McCown sister from Huber Heights, Ohio, told the Dayton Daily News that it "sickened her" that a suspect in her sister's case could be a police officer. Swint has not been arrested or charged with anything in connection with McCown's disappearance.

In November 2004, police located McCown's car at an apartment complex in Dayton, Ohio.

The car belonged to Webster and was registered in Ohio.

"She knew good and bad people over there," Hughes said of her sister's time in Ohio.

[Denise]

http://www.newslinki...egory=Headlines

New developments in a six-year-old mystery
 
Published Monday, October 15, 2007
by Chris Sutter

New developments today in a six-year-old mystery that happened in Richmond. Niqui McCown was last seen at a Richmond laundromat in June of 2001. Today a so-called person of interest is being questioned, and according to the Palladium Item in Richmond, it is a Trotwood, Ohio, Police Officer. The Item says Officer Tommy Swint resigned under pressure from his police force after failing to tell his superiors about his connection to the McCown case. Swint had worked with the missing woman. New slink has made contact with the McCown family, and we hope to bring you an update tomorrow.

[Denise]

http://www.whiotv.co...832/detail.html

Former Trotwood Officer Responds To McCown Disappearance

Brittny McGraw, Reporter

POSTED: 8:04 pm EDT October 17, 2007
UPDATED: 8:29 pm EDT October 17, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio -- Wednesday afternoon a former Trotwood police officer responded to allegations hes a person of interest or suspect in a six-year-old missing persons case.

Tommy Swint resigned from the Trotwood Police Department in August, about a month after joining the force.

During a press conference held Wednesday by Swint and his lawyer, Anthony VanNoy, Swint said police questioned him about Niqui McCown shortly after her disappearance.

McCown was last seen in July of 2001 at a Laundromat in Richmond, Ind.

Swint and McCown worked together at an Ohio prison before her disappearance. During the press conference, Swint said Richmond, Ind., police questioned him, along with other workers at the prison, about where she hung out, her relationships and her family.

It was just routine questioning, Swint said. Many people at the prison were questioned. Nobody was told they were a person of interest or a suspect in the case.

Trotwood Police said Swint should have shared that information during his interview process and decided it was in the best interest of the department and the city for him to resign.

We were informed by Richmond he was a person of interest, a strong person of interest in the investigation, said Chief Mike Etter of the Trotwood Police Department. And our concern with Mr. Swint when we discussed this with him wasnt his innocence or guilt, but the fact that he did not disclose this.

Swint said he didnt bring it up during the interview process because he didnt know he might be considered a person of interest in the case.

If Detective Redmond had told me that or informed me of that, that would have been taken care of back then, Swint said.

Detective Roger Redmond is an investigator working the McCown case.

Richmond Detective Sgt. Brad Berner said he believed one of his investigators was doing a routine review of the case and as a part of that contacted Trotwood police.

He said the department has not named any suspects in the case and said its routine to keep track of people they interviewed in the past.

I believe one of the supervisors stated this is a person of interest, said Berner. Well a person of interest in our line of work is exactly that: someone we want to talk to or weve got information on. But it doesnt mean hes a suspect.

Berner said his department had not been in contact with Swint in several years.

Swint said he wondered why this issue resurfaced now.

I wonder the same thing, Swint said. Why just now when Im a Trotwood police officer and not all of the years I was at the same place for 13 years. Why?

[Denise]

http://www.whiotv.co...725/detail.html

Family Remembers Missing Woman
Sunday Marked Anniversary Of Woman's Disappearance

POSTED: 12:17 am EDT July 21, 2008
UPDATED: 12:24 am EDT July 21, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio -- Sunday marked the anniversary of a woman who disappeared seven years ago from an Indiana Laundromat.

Niqui McCowan disappeared on July 21, 2001. She went to a Richmond, Ind., Laundromat and never returned.

Investigators found her vehicle three months later at an apartment complex in Harrison Township, Ohio.

McCowan’s family held a ceremony to mark the anniversary of her disappearance. They said they continue to hold out hope that Niqui will be found.

[Denise]

http://www.pal-item....EWS01/807220307

Family never forgets
Marilyn 'Niqui' McCown vanished 7 years ago today

BY MICHELLE MANCHIR • STAFF WRITER • July 22, 2008

No one used to touch the beat-up green love seat in Tami Hughes' living room.

Everyone knew that was reserved for her sister Niqui McCown, who'd barge in the door of her house on South 10th Street, plop down, and request one of Hughes' "famous" salads.

"I'd throw whatever I have in it," Hughes said Monday. She'd often use olives or cottage cheese.

These days, people are sitting on the couch again.

Niqui hasn't plopped down on it in more than seven years.

Many locals know the now 35-year-old woman only from the apple-cheeked, ruby-lipped photos of her that hang on local bulletin boards under bold letters: MISSING.

She was last seen at a Richmond coin-operated laundry at 1000 S. E St. on Sunday afternoon, July 22, 2001.

But to her family, as they shared Monday, with squinted eyes as they smiled on a sunlit outdoor porch outside the South Ninth Street home of her mother, Barbara McCown, Niqui is so many more things.

Laughter, more than tears, emerged as the family recalled Niqui's vivacious energy -- her love of sports, brand-name clothes, Lifetime channel movies.

The youngest of 10 children, she was training to be a U.S. marshal.

A "sophisticated tomboy," her brother Emmett Hampton calls Niqui, who would drive 50 miles for the right outfit. Who, as a little girl, climbed trees, but not so carelessly that her shirt got dirty.

She's the mom whose car all the kids wanted to ride in to go to Kings Island.

She's the vivacious, life-loving woman whose life stories bring smiles to the faces of the people who love her as they recall them.

On the Sunday she disappeared, she had attended services at Mount Olive Baptist Church on North H Street with her fiance, Bobby Webster, who now lives in Indianapolis.

She visited her parents before unloading her laundry out of Webster's 1990 gray GMC Jimmy.

By 3 p.m., she and the vehicle were gone.

Leads have surfaced, and police have made progress in the investigation, which Richmond Police Department Lt. Brad Berner said Monday is "ongoing."

"It's not one of those that just goes away because it's been seven years," Berner said.

RPD Detective Roger Redmond has been most intently involved in the case, said Barbara McCown. She calls him a "good man." He was out of the office Monday.

Berner briefly spoke for him. "I, as well as Roger, hope we come to some conclusion to this for the sake of the family," he said. "... If nothing else if we could find her to put the family at ease."

Hughes said she's always searching.

"We plan to keep doing it no matter what," she said. "It's our dedication."

Niqui's daughter Payton Johnston, now 16 and soon to be a junior at RHS, is articulate and warm, a volleyball lover and acclaimed singer with fine, tight ringlets that reach her shoulders.

She wonders about her mom, but she doesn't speak bitterly or spitefully.

"Why did you do it? That's what always pops into my mind: where's my mom and why did you do it and why her? All these women in Richmond, why put the spotlight on her?" she said. "If (the suspect) gave me that answer, I'd leave them alone."

For now, Johnston, whose biological father was never consistently in her life, is being raised strictly and collectively by the lot of adults who love her.

One is her aunt Tami, who jokingly told her Monday: "Boyfriends are definitely out."

More seriously, Hughes said: "I know that because her mother is missing I feel like it is my duty -- it is our duty -- to make sure nothing happens to her."

Hughes admits that with her own adolescent children she worries about letting them walk down the street alone, peppering them with questions before they leave the house, feeling anxious -- a byproduct of her sister's disappearance.

The daily burden of having a missing loved one takes its toll, Hughes said.

The family is familiar with media and sometimes resentful of it, spinning and framing their words and ideas. They used to get frequent prank calls about Niqui -- some sick and vicious.

But even the days when reporters' questions don't come, they think about Niqui and what might have happened.

"That's all we do is relive it," said Barbara.

Thoughtfully, Johnson called Niqui's disappearance a "test to our family."

"I think God took the most important thing that was to our family away from us to see if we could actually stick together," she said.

Hughes agreed.

"That's good, Payton," she said. "Everybody relied on her and I don't think she realized. She was probably the glue that kept us together."

The family members present Monday agreed that they won't officially say goodbye to their beloved one until they know something definitive about her.

For them, hope remains.

Today, they continue waiting for Niqui to come home.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.wthr.com/...y.asp?S=8692837

New information gives twist to cold case
Posted: July 17, 2008 03:13 PM EDT
Updated: July 17, 2008 11:00 PM EDT
Sandra Chapman/13 Investigates

Richmond - Next week marks the 7th anniversary since an Indiana mother vanished just weeks before her wedding. Police presume the worst. Now 13 Investigates uncovers a secret between sisters that's led to a major turn in the case.

Payton Johnston is dreaming one day her mother will come home. She was nine years old when Marilyn "Niqui" McCown vanished seven years ago. "I knew she wouldn't leave me," the 16-year old said with sad eyes as she talked about growing up without her mother's guidance.

Weather worn pictures of the striking 28-year-old mother sit faded outside the family's Richmond home.  The heartache inside is fresh with another anniversary at the door.  "I just want her home.  And if they've taken her and did something with her they ain't got to confess, just tell me where they laid her," said Niqiu's mother, Barbara "Dolly" McCown.  "Just tell me where she's at," she begged as tears flowed down her cheeks. Barbara McCown last saw her daughter July 22, 2001.  It was a sweltering day, three weeks before Niqui's wedding. 

That Sunday Niqui went to do laundry blocks from her mother's house after attending church and pre-marriage counseling with her fiancé, Bobby Webster.  Webster strongly rebuffs any thoughts that Niqui had cold feet about the pending nuptials and deliberately ran away. "No, that's impossible because if you would have seen how much effort she put into it you know. This is what she wanted," insisted Webster.

Initially Niqui's family thought she was abducted from the laundromat where some men had been harassing her. Richmond Police eliminated that theory based on surveillance tape from a nearby convenience store. "When she's leaving the facility there I can tell she's under no duress whatsoever," said Detective Roger Redmond, of the Richmond Police Department.  "I can probably give you a 100-percent surety she was not taken from the laundromat," he told 13 Investigates.
     
Instead, questions surround Niqui's fiancé. According to Redmond, "He didn't come across as your typical grieving fiance of a missing girl. I don't know that you can tell the truth and show that you're lying on a polygraph test," he said of Bobby Webster.
   
Investigators readily admit there's no evidence against Bobby Webster. But days after Niqui went missing, he cancelled the wedding and tried to get her wedding band deposit.  "I hadn't been to work in like two weeks and I was just grabbing extra money that we had out there," countered Webster. He said he was an easy target. "I believe they were looking at me because they didn't know any other direction to go. I'm the obvious choice.  I'm the fiancé," he added.

Detective Redmond admitted, "It's been a tough case.  A lot of time spent on it," he said of the seven-year investigation that has cooled in regards to Bobby Webster.

Part of the difficulty is tracking a case that crosses state lines into Ohio.

Police now think the answers to this complex missing person's case point to the  Meadows of Catalpa, a large apartment complex in Dayton, Ohio. Investigators found Niqui McCown's GMC Jimmy on November 3, 2001, four months after her disappearance.

Niqui once lived in the Meadows of Catalpa too. Her laundry was discovered still neatly folded and undisturbed in the backseat of the truck when it was found.
   
The day Niqui disappeared, she called a female co-worker who lives less than a mile away. That co-worker reportedly told police Niqui intended to pick up vitamins at a nearby pharmacy. 
     
This is where the case takes a turn.

Niqui's sister Michelle McCown Luster, now publicly reveals a guarded secret. She says it explains why Niqui frantically tried to get a hold of her the day she vanished.  "There was something going on with Niqui and she wanted to tell somebody," said McCown Luster. The sisterly secret is about a triangle Niqui's mother and fiancé knew nothing about.

"She would always tell me I don't care what he wants, he's just like a big brother to me," explained McCown Luster referring to former Trotwood, Ohio Police Officer Tommie Swint. Swint and Niqui had worked together at a Dayton prison, the Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center.

McCown Luster said she warned her sister about the relationship.  "I kept telling her, I don't know how many times I told my sister quit taking from this man. And now she's missing and he's a person of interest," she told 13 Investigates.

In October of last year, Tommie Swint disputed his role in the case. "Detective Redmond never told me or informed me that I was a suspect, or a person of interest," Swint said at the time from his attorney's office. But Richmond Police aren't backing away from their previous statements when asked if Swint is a person of interest in the disappearance of Niqui McCown. "Yes, he is," said Detective Redmond without hesitation. "We had some information on the case here that connected him with it. Tom Swint was not cooperative in the investigation," he added.
 
The big question: Was there a romantic relationship at any point between Tommie Swint and Niqui McCown? 

Niqui's sister, bowed her head and then responded, "Okay how do I explain this? Maybe a few times it went more than just friends," said McCown Luster. Investigators say Tommie Swint is also connected to the residence of that female co-worker Niqui called the day she went missing. According to McCown Luster and Niqui's fiancé Bobby Webster, Swint had more than a casual friendship with the co-worker, despite his long-time marriage.

13 Investigates questioned police about the possibility of a female person of interest in this case. Detective Redmond reponded, "No comment."

McCown Luster doesn't mince words about her suspicions.  "If you ask me what I think happened to my sister, I really believe Tommy Swint can give you that answer," she said. Swint refused to speak with 13 Investigates about the case or his pending lawsuits against both the Richmond and Trotwood Police Departments.

So far, there have been no arrests.

"In a case like this when you go to court, you have to have proof. And when I go to court on this case I'll have the proof I need," said Detective Redmond, who believes the investigation is on the right track. Niqui McCown's family prays for the proof that will lead to a suspect and help bring Niqui home soon. "How do you close it?" questioned a distraught Barbara McCown. "How in the hell do you close it, when there's no casket?"

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Niqui McCown, contact the Richmond Police Department at 1-765-983-7250.   

[Lori Davis]

http://www.pal-item....PDATES/80808030

Defamation lawsuit against P-I, former reporter will be dismissed
PALLADIUM-ITEM August 8, 2008

An attorney representing a former Trotwood, Ohio, police officer said today that he expects to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against the Palladium-Item and former reporter Ryan S. Clark.

Attorney David Smith said he is filing the dismissal on Monday in the Common Pleas Court of Montgomery County, Ohio.

The suit alleges the newspaper and Clark defamed Thomas L. Swint when it published a story last October linking him to the disappearance of Marilyn "Niqui" Renee McCown, a Richmond woman who has been missing for seven years.

Also named in the suit were the Dayton Daily News, Dayton Daily News reporter Tom Beyerlein, Richmond police chief Kris Wolski, Richmond police detective R.K. Redmond, Richmond police Capt. Greg Pipes, former Trotwood police chief Mike Etter and Trotwood police major Dan Swafford.

Smith said he does not plan to file a dismissal for the other parties named in the lawsuit by Monday.

[Denise]

http://www.whiotv.co...730/detail.html

Rally Held For Woman Missing 7 Years

POSTED: 10:14 pm EDT August 26, 2008
UPDATED: 10:32 pm EDT August 26, 2008

RICHMOND, Ind. -- It has been seven years since a woman disappeared from a Laundromat in Richmond, Indiana and Tuesday her family’s search for answers continues.

A national organization for missing persons traveled to Richmond to bring more attention to the case.

Relatives and friends held a rally Tuesday for Niqui McCown at the Laundromat where she was last seen. They were also joined by another family that was experiencing the same thing.

Carl Holland disappeared 25 years ago from Richmond.

Both families hope this leads to information that can help solve these cases.

If you have any information on these two cases contact Richmond police 1-765-983-7247.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.daytondai...ent-559879.html

Former officer killed self after Ohio indictment
By LOU GRIECO, The Associated Press
12:11 PM Sunday, February 21, 2010

DAYTON, Ohio — Montgomery County Tree trimmers were working in Jefferson Township when a worker noticed something strange in a trash heap.

Amid the broken furniture and other junk, he saw "a blanket that was formed as a body," he later told Montgomery County sheriff's detectives.

It was Dec. 17, 1991. What he saw was actually a quilt, which had been taped around a woman's body. The woman was nude from the waist down. Under the quilt were two plastic trash bags, one over her legs and one over her head and torso. Those bags were taped together.

The woman had no identification, but wore several pieces of jewelry. Her panties, pants, jacket and shoes were inside the bag over her legs.

Coroner's investigators identified Tina Marie Ivery through her fingerprints. Ivery, 33, a known drug user and prostitute, was strangled. A family member last reported seeing her three days earlier.

There were no suspects. For 16 years, there were no good leads. Then Tommy Swint entered the case.

A review of the Ivery case file reveals that Swint was not the only suspect authorities looked at, but he became the best one. He committed suicide Feb. 3, the same day he was indicted in Ivery's murder.

Swint always wanted to be a police officer. Sworn in as a Trotwood officer on July 16, 2007, he resigned six weeks later after Richmond, Ind., police informed Trotwood officials that Swint was a suspect in the disappearance of Marilyn "Niqui" McCown.

The two had worked together at the Dayton's Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center, a state prison. McCown was last seen at a Richmond Laundromat in July 2001. Her SUV was found four months later at a Harrison Township apartment complex.

The Dayton Daily News reported Swint's resignation in October 2007. A month later, a confidential informant told Dayton police they should look at Swint as a suspect in Ivery's death.

Detectives soon learned that Swint was born in 1966 and raised in Alabama. He joined the Marine Corps in 1986 and was stationed in Japan and Panama. Swint would later admit to having sex with prostitutes in both countries.

In December 1989, he went absent without leave and fled to Dayton, where he had relatives. Swint was arrested and returned to Camp Lejeune, N.C., in June 1990.

In a letter requesting a discharge after his return, Swint wrote that his father never told him that he loved him, that he had experienced significant racism growing up in the South, and that he was the only of his siblings to graduate high school.

"I became a very big celebrity in high school because I was very good in sports," Swint wrote. "My high school loved me and so did my whole town and city."

He also wrote that while he was thankful for the discipline the corps gave him, "I really wanted to be a military police but ended up as a grunt."

The Marines discharged Swint "under other than honorable conditions," according to records. Swint moved back to Dayton.

For the rest of his life, Swint would pursue jobs in security and law enforcement. He applied to the sheriff's office in 2007, but was turned down. He told interviewers he had tried to join the Ohio State Highway Patrol in 1995.

He also told Trotwood interviewers he had applied with Beavercreek, Wright State University, Butler Township and Sinclair Community College police departments. He also admitted to Trotwood that he had pleaded guilty to passing bad checks in 1992.

Several former co-workers of Swint wrote glowing recommendation letters for him. But Trotwood also knew about a 2006 incident in which he received a written reprimand for threatening a female captain at the pre-release center.

"If I have anything to say to you, I will say it in the parking lot," Swint reportedly said. "You don't know who you are missing with. I'm Officer Swint."

But there's no record of Swint telling Trotwood about his AWOL incident or Niqui McCown.

Dayton cold case detectives investigating Swint interviewed his friends and relatives. They shared stories about prostitutes and Swint's visit to a gay club, even though Swint said he hated prostitutes and gays.

Interviewed by police in May 2008, a former girlfriend said Swint had dated Ivery. She also said the blanket Ivery was wrapped in looked familiar to one Swint carried in his car.

Her nephew, who lived with her when Swint was there, told police in April 2009 he remembered seeing a blood trail from the basement window through the grass to the trunk of Swint's car.

The nephew also mentioned a blanket missing from his bed in the basement. Shown a picture of the quilt Ivery was wrapped in, the nephew said it was very similar to the missing blanket.

The Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory had been analyzing DNA evidence long before Swint came to investigators' attention. Records show the lab was running tests by November 2005.

There were four semen stains on the back of Ivery's jacket, and one on the front, but they came from different men. There was also a blood stain on the quilt.

The lab did not have a DNA sample for Swint. But Richmond police had an oral swab from him. In April 2008, they agreed to share the sample with the lab.

In May, the lab matched Swint's DNA to the semen on back of the jacket. Swint also could not be excluded as the source of the blood stain on the quilt. On October 21, 2008, detectives visited Swint at the Harrison Township home he shared with his wife. They showed him a picture of Ivery and the blanket. He denied knowing her or ever seeing the blanket.

Then a lab worker found a partial fingerprint onthe adhesive side of the tape that had been wrapped around Ivery's body. The original investigators missed that in 1992.

By this time, Swint had moved to Alabama. Dayton detectives, working with local law enforcement, got a search warrant to obtain Swint's fingerprints.

After Swint gave his fingerprints, he was again shown a picture of Ivery. Again he denied knowing her, but said he thought she was pretty. The officers asked him if he had killed her and he said no.

Then the officers told him his DNA matched evidence at the scene.

"I have nothing to say about that," Swint said.

After some more discussion about the DNA, Swint ended the interview.

"With all due respect, we need to bring this interview to close," Swint said. "I am sure I will see you again. My attorney would not want me to get into this."

On Nov. 25, the crime lab matched the latent print to Swint's left middle finger. By mid-December, a three-prosecutor panel was reviewing the evidence.

On Feb. 1 and 2, prosecutors presented evidence to the grand jury, which indicted Swint just before noon on Feb. 3. An hour later, Swint shot himself in the head as officers approached his Phenix City, Ala., house.

Tommy Swint took the answers to investigators' questions with him.

Records show the detectives were looking at Swint in other cases. Swint's DNA was tested, but did not match, evidence taken from another prostitute homicide, according to an e-mail Montgomery County Assistant Prosecutor Tracey Tangeman sent to other prosecutors.

They should keep looking, said Art Jipson, a sociologist and director of criminal justice studies at the University of Dayton. Jipson recommended doing "geographical profiling," looking at all unsolved homicides in the areas where Swint lived and worked.

It is common for serial killers to be drawn to careers in law enforcement or the military because they like the idea of using force and having authority over others. However, Jipson said, it's equally common for them to fail in those professions, either because they can't get through the screening processes or because they do not submit well to authority themselves.

"Everything you're telling me raises the hackles on the back of my neck," Jipson said. "This guy really fits the profile."

[Lori Davis]

http://www.pal-item....01/3070330/1008
Anger tempers hope
Death of 'person of interest' leaves Niqui McCown's loved ones wondering if they'll ever learn what happened July 22, 2001

By Robert Sullivan • Staff writer • March 7, 2010

When former Ohio corrections officer and security guard Tommy Swint committed what was ruled suicide in early February, a Richmond family was filled with anger.

To them, Swint's death diminished the chances that they would ever be able to answer a question that has haunted them for more than eight years: What happened to Niqui?

On July 22, 2001, Marilyn "Niqui" McCown left her mother's house on Richmond's south side to finish laundry at a coin-operated facility at 1000 S. E St.

She called a co-worker before leaving to say she would be coming to Dayton, Ohio, later to get hair-care products. Then she walked out the door.

She was never seen nor heard from again.

Richmond Police Department investigators have labeled Swint a "person of interest" in Niqui's disappearance since November 2001, believing he had information concerning her whereabouts.

The two struck up a friendship that McCown-Luster said she advised Niqui on several occasions to avoid because of what McCown-Luster calls Swint's aggressive nature. She said Swint took Niqui out to eat and often bought things for her. Niqui was an engaged single mother at the time.

"I know Tommy Swint, I mean, I know my sister looked up at him as a big brother," said McCown-Luster, who lived in Dayton at the time and was around Niqui and Swint more than any other member of the McCown family.

"You know, she really thought this guy was somebody that cared about her. But I know Tommy Swint liked her more than just a sister. He liked her as a good friend -- or he wanted a relationship."

McCown-Luster regrets not doing more to keep Swint away from her sister. She also regrets not taking seriously the sometimes aggressive behavior she said that Swint displayed.

"(W)e were like 'That guy's weird.' And she's like, 'He's just like that,'" McCown -Luster said. "She really just thought he was a cool guy. She didn't think nothing bad of him."

But McCown-Luster said she saw firsthand the aggression that Swint was capable of on a visit to her sister's apartment one afternoon.

"I can remember incidents ... I had just stopped by her house ... and I heard her screaming," McCown-Luster said.

She opened the door to see Niqui lying on a chair with her foot on Swint's chest as he pressed himself over her.

"(Niqui) was like, 'Help get him off of me. He is trying to rape me.'" McCown-Luster said. "And he just kind of like laughed it off like he was playing. Then he started chasing us both around the house.

"There were just so many times where he tried to do things like that. Like he was playing around. But I looked at it like, if I wasn't there, what would have happened?"
After Niqui's disappearance, Richmond Police Department investigators began to take a hard look at Swint.

According to public records, RPD did three background checks on Swint (Nov. 20, 2001; Jan. 7, 2002; and Jan. 30, 2002).

The first check came two weeks after Niqui's missing vehicle was found at Meadows of Catalpa -- a large apartment complex in Dayton where Niqui had recently lived.

Whether that belief was correct or not, police and Niqui's family might never know.
Swint died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Feb. 3 in Phenix City, Ala., as authorities were closing in to arrest him as part of an unrelated murder investigation.

Although he has never been publicly identified as a suspect in Niqui's disappearance by Richmond police, members of her family believe he was the key to understanding what happened to her. His death took from them some of the hope that answers about her fate would one day come. What took hope's place in their hearts was anger.

"It was anger because of the simple fact that I felt like this is a person that was supposed to have been a man, and justice is supposed to prevail, and I don't feel like it has prevailed," said Tamie Hughes, Niqui's sister.

"I really felt that he knew what happened to my sister, and if the police ever found out that he did, I wanted to look him in his eyes and say to him how I feel about him," said Niqui's other sister, Michelle McCown-Luster.

Niqui and Swint met while working together at the Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center in Dayton. They were both hired in 1994. Niqui worked in the business office, and Swint was a corrections officer.

Read remainder of story at http://www.pal-item....01/3070330/1008

[Kelly]

Project Jason Profile:



Name: Marilyn McCown

Alias: Niqui
Date of Birth: 01/06/1973
Date Missing: 07/22/2001
Age at time of disappearance: 28
City Missing From: Richmond
State Missing From: Indiana
Gender: Female
Race: African-American
Height: 5ft 2inches
Weight: 115 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Hair (other): Shoulder length
Eye Color: Brown
Complexion: Light

Identifying Characteristics: Scar in middle of head and on left knee

Clothing: Dark colored shorts, pink flower print swim top.

Jewelry: White gold bracelet

Circumstances of Disappearance: Niqui was last seen at the Richmond coin-op laundry mat at 1000 South E Street in Richmond, Indiana. In November 2001, her car was found at Meadows of Catalpa Apartments in Dayton,Ohio. Niqui was planning on getting married three weeks later. A former co-worker, Tommy Swint, who killed himself on Feb 3, 2010, is a person of interest in her case. Tommy was indicted for a separate murder case from 1991, that of Tina Ivey. Niqui has a daughter who is now 17 years old today. Her father died in 2004. Her family continues to search for Niqui.

Medical Conditions: Graves disease

Investigative Agency: Richmond Indiana Police Department
Agency Phone: (765) 983-7250
Investigative Case #: 01-MPA 0135

Print a Poster: http://www.projectja...NiquiMcCown.pdf

[Jenn]

NamUs Profile for Niqui: https://www.findthem....org/cases/1048

[Kelly]

AAN Poster Notify Sent to AAN Subscribers  Code 71

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member and receive notifications about missing persons via email.

Click here to become a part of the solution: http://www.projectja...awareness.shtml

[Lori Davis]

http://www.whiotv.co...540/detail.html

Niqui McCown Disappearance Gets National Exposure

Posted: 2:52 pm EDT April 26, 2010
Updated: 3:05 pm EDT April 26, 2010

RICHMOND, Indiana -- The case of a missing woman from Richmond, Ind., will get some national exposure.

A cable television show called “Disappeared” will feature the disappearance of Niqui McCown on an upcoming episode. She disappeared in the summer of 2001.

The producers of the show will be in town this week to shoot video in some of the places that are key to the case, including the South E Street coin-operated laundry, where McCown was last seen.

The case took a recent turn with the suicide of McCown’s former acquaintance, Tommy Swint. He killed at least one woman near Dayton in the early 1990s, but was suspected in other deaths.

[Lori Davis]

http://www3.wdtn.com...channel-program

The case of Niqui McCown to be featured on Discovery channel program
McCown's body has never been found
Updated: Thursday, 14 Oct 2010, 2:56 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 14 Oct 2010, 1:13 PM EDT

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The case of missing Richmond woman Niqui McCown is getting some new attention.

On Monday, Oct. 18, McCown will be featured in an episode of Disappeared, a show that airs on the Investigation Discovery channel.

McCown disappeared from a local laundromat near her home in Richmond, Indiana in 2001.

Four months later her car was found near the home of her former colleague, Tommy Swint, a man who once threatened her.

Nine years later Swint was indicted. When police moved in to make an arrest, Swint killed himself.

Police are still searching for McCown.

[Jenn]

http://www.wdtn.com/...man-on-birthday

Vigil for missing woman on birthday
Family brings cupcakes as they search for answers

Updated: Friday, 07 Jan 2011, 6:50 AM EST Published : Friday, 07 Jan 2011, 6:50 AM EST

RICHMOND, IN (WDTN) - Family members gathered on what would be a missing woman's 38th birthday to beg for answers in her disappearance.

Niqui McCown was last scene at a Richmond laundromat in July of 2001. Family members brought cupcakes to the laundromat on Thursday night to remember Niqui's birthday.

Former Trotwood Police officer, Tommy Swint, was named a person of interest in Niqui's case. He was later indicted for another murder, but killed himself before police could take him into custody.

McCown's investigation remains open.

" I do believe there are a few other people who know and i just wish they would open their hearts and come forth," said Niqui's sister Michelle McCown-Luster.

Anyone with information that can help is asked to call Richmond Police.

[Lori Davis]

Candlelight vigil held for McCown

11:37 PM, Jul. 22, 2011 

The friends and family of Marilyn "Niqui" McCown held a candlelight vigil Friday night that began at the home of her sister, Tamie Hughes, at 613 S. 10th St. in Richmond.

The event marked the 10th anniversary of McCown's disappearance.

Those attending walked to the coin-operated laundromat at 1000 S. E St., where the Richmond woman was last seen July 22, 2001.

Friends and family are also planning a walk today for all missing people in Dayton beginning at the Meadow of Catalpa, a large apartment complex where McCown's car was found in November 2001.

Read more: http://www.pal-item....EWS01/107230315

[Lori Davis]

High profile local missing person cases

Updated: Thursday, 27 Oct 2011, 7:01 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 27 Oct 2011, 7:01 PM EDT
Web Produced by: Jill Drury

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - There are several other high profile missing persons cases in the Dayton region.

[Excerpt..]

Niqui McCown vanished after visiting a laundromat in Richmond, Indiana in 2001.

She was a student at Sinclair Community College. The 28-year-old mother disappeared just three weeks before her wedding. Police have no suspects, but a person of interest in the case killed himself last February..

Read more: http://www.wdtn.com/...g-persons-cases

[Deborah]

Niqui has never been located.

 

Richmond Police Department

(765) 983-7247

Case # 2001-215798

[Kelly]

http://www.pal-item....ccown/30542317/

McCown family plans events Wednesday, Sunday

Millicent Martin Emery, 7:30 p.m. EDT July 22, 2015

Family and friends of a missing Richmond woman have planned a Wednesday night vigil at the site where she was last seen 14 years ago.

Marilyn "Niqui" McCown vanished on July 22, 2001.

The event for McCown will take place at dusk Wednesday, July 22 at the coin-operated laundry in the 1000 block of South E Street.

Participants are encouraged to bring their own candles.

In addition, the McCown family has planned a celebration of Niqui's life at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 26, at Glen Miller Park. The gathering will take place at Shelter 10. All ages are welcome. Those attending are asked to bring food for a pitch-in.

Despite an intensive investigation here and in Dayton, Ohio, no trace of McCown was ever found. Her car, which went missing when she did, was found months later in a Dayton apartment building parking lot, but it yielded no clues.

McCown was 28 when she disappeared. She left behind a daughter who was 8 then.

McCown's entire name is Marilyn Renee Nicole McCown, but in her childhood Nicole got shortened to Niqui by young siblings who had trouble with the pronunciation.

Anyone who has information about McCown's disappearance is urged to contact Richmond Police Department at (765) 983-7247.

[Kelly]

http://wdtn.com/2015...o-niqui-mccown/

Family holds hope in finding out what happened to Niqui McCown

By Robert Lowrey Published: July 23, 2015, 1:35 am

RICHMOND, Indiana (WDTN) — Niqui McCown would have been welcoming her first grandchild into the world.

It has been fourteen years since McCown disappeared from a laundromat just a couple blocks from where much of her family lives.

The past year has been difficult to manage with McCown only daughter, Payton, preparing to give birth to her first child.

“This would have been Niqui’s first,” said Terrilyn Jett, one of McCown’s sisters. “She would have been a young grandmother, too.”

McCown disappeared after heading to the laundromat on July 22, 2001.

The 28-year-old mother was just three weeks away from getting married. Her husband-to-be had just left her to get a bigger diamond for the wedding ring when she vanished.

Fourteen years later, finding ways to cope has not been easy.

“It gets harder because of what her mom is going through,” said Jimmy Hampton, McCown’s brother. “I think it’s harder on her mom than anybody else.”

Hampton said he watched as McCown’s father, now deceased, struggled never finding closure.

Shortly after her disappearance, there were few leads. Richmond police were searching for any clues. A few weeks after she disappeared, her SUV was found in Harrison Township just outside of Dayton.

Eventually, a person of interest was named in former Trotwood police officer Tommy Swint. He would later commit suicide after being indicted for a separate murder.

Every year on the anniversary of McCown’s disappearance, family and friends gather outside the laundromat where McCown was last seen.

The group hope someone has the answers they are seeking.

Until then, the laundromat is the only memorial where they can find comfort in keeping her memory alive.

“I know there’s people who have people who have passed on,” said Jett. “They can do something there and go to a gravesite. We don’t have that option. The only thing we have is the day she disappeared.”