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Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. You guys, go check out our Patreon. Come on, do it! That was a good try, sweetie. It's ad-free, bonus content, early release. I mean, come on. It is the greatest thing that has ever happened.
You know, I have to agree with what my wife is saying. I've been having a ton of fun on the Discord channels. It has been fun. Everyone's been talking. Everyone's been sending in their pets. It's like a whole little world over there. I know. Thanks everyone who supported us and bought the recent merch. We hope you loved it. We are going to be doing another drop soon.
Pretty soon it's going to be completely different than the last drop. We're really excited to share those designs hopefully in the next few weeks. Alright, ready for your 10 seconds? Well if you're hearing this, we are currently in California.
And I actually am currently about ready to play pickleball. Smash everyone in pickleball. So we will see what happens. Like Peyton said, smash everybody in pickleball. I will be keeping everyone updated on my Instagram. So if you want to follow Tabs live, you can go ahead and check that out. We're going to see how Garrett does if he makes it to the finals. Unless I lose every single game, then Peyton isn't posting anything. Then I will be lying about it. Just kidding.
Something I have been trying to do is drink more water and it's really hard. I don't know why it's just hard. Like I love water and all I drink is water, but I feel like it's hard to drink a lot of water.
Yeah, Gerda and I have been on a like, I don't want to say that's the wrong word, so I'm not even going to say it, but we've been trying to take our pills and drink our water lately. And why is that such a hard chore? Yeah, so it's hard to drink water. So that's something I've been trying to work on. And then one other thing is I've had this group of friends that I know.
in real life. I don't know how else to say that. I have a group of friends. Um, anyways, I have... They're not friends. They're roommates. They were your college roommates. Yeah, they were some of my college roommates. Well, they're friends too. Well, they're friends too. Yeah, but... They're some of my college roommates and I've been meaning to shout them out for the last, well, about two and a half years now since the podcast started. So I figure why not today? So shout out to everyone in B-town. That's what they call it. I don't know. Don't ask me. I'm not from Utah. Okay.
But shout out and maybe in another two and a half years, I'll do it again if we're still recording. Garrett has this thing where he makes people work really hard to feel accepted in his life. That's not true. Yes, there's this thing he does where he won't save people's contact information. He keeps them as a number until he feels like they deserve to have a concrete place in his phone. It's not even that. It's just...
I think what happens is this is a good one before we get into the story. I really don't save people's contacts. Like there's people that I'll talk to often where it's just a number and maybe it's just bad organization on my end, which it probably is and a little bit of laziness. But I feel like unless I'm talking to them a lot, I don't save their money.
their money. I don't save their number because I think mentally I feel like, oh, I'm going to talk to them a couple of times and then never talk to them again. So why would I save their number? I don't need that number on my phone. Whereas I save everyone's contact info. I'm like lady at the dentist's office who said I had cute hair. Save. It's bad. Like I didn't save...
I just saved my brother-in-law's number, like, the other day. Literally. And he's been my brother-in-law for, like, a year. And then Peyton's mom, all that took me, like... We were married. Before you saved it. Before I saved it. And my sister's name is still spelled wrong in your contact. So if you ever get my phone and you see it and your contact isn't saved, don't take it personally because...
That's just Garrett. Good 10 seconds, Gar. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Our case sources are RichmondIndiana.go, DaytonDailyNews.com, Medium.com, Pal-Item.com, and Unsolved.com, WHIO.com.
Our episode today begins on Sunday, July 22nd, 2001. We are in Richmond, Indiana, which is a city in Indiana that borders the state of Ohio. Some fun facts for everyone about Richmond. Orville and Wilbur Wright, the aviation pioneers who we all learn about in elementary school, grew up in Richmond.
Isn't that kind of crazy? I feel like I learned about them for a whole freaking year. Richmond is also home to two of the three Egyptian mummies that can be seen in the state of Indiana. Real mummies. Wow, I did not know that. But on this Sunday back in 2001, things were moving slow and as usual, 28-year-old Nikki McCowan goes to church with her fiance Bobby Webster.
Now, Nikki and Bobby met back in high school and dated back then. But after Bobby left for California in 1991, they broke up, deciding that long distance was not for them. Nikki began dating other men after Bobby left, and at age 19, she became pregnant. Nine months later, she gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Pete.
Peyton. According to Nikki's family, Nikki loved being a mother. It was her calling and she was an amazing mother. Growing up with nine siblings, I think Nikki knew how to take care of someone. I've actually always noticed in large families, a lot of time the siblings tend to help raise each other because there's so many of them. So because Nikki had nine siblings,
brothers and sisters, I think it's safe to say she was probably a fairly good mom. Yeah. And she was Nikki busted her butt for Peyton. She wanted Peyton to have a good life. And so she did what she could to make that happen to provide for herself and her daughter. Nikki found work at a correctional center in Dayton, Ohio. She started out working as a prison guard, but eventually worked her way up to a head accountant at the prison.
After spending time working at the prison, Nikki decided that she eventually wanted to work as an FBI agent or a US Marshall, figuring that a career in criminal justice was for her. Pretty soon, Nikki began working towards that goal, going to school and taking criminal justice classes. Then in 1998, Bobby Webster moved back from California. He was older, now in his mid-20s, and ready to settle down in life.
Pretty soon, Bobby and Nikki rekindled and Bobby decided that he was in love with her from the beginning. It was almost like life had brought them back together and they began dating again. Not long after, Bobby proposed and Nikki said yes. They wanted to begin a life together and really they had always been so good for each other. They were on track to be married just three weeks from that Sunday that they were attending church on July 22nd, 2001.
August 18th was the day and at this time they were just wrapping up the final steps of planning a wedding, which is very hard. So that Sunday around 12 p.m. Nikki and Bobby go to church and afterwards they begin working on wedding stuff. Bobby needed to take his cousin to get his tuxedo sized and Nikki decided she was going to take Bobby's car to the laundromat at the same time and get laundry done for that week.
Before going to the nearby laundromat, Nikki stopped at her parents' house to drop off Peyton so they could watch her. It was while watching Peyton that Nikki's parents hear someone pull into the driveway. It's Nikki, but there is no way the laundry is already done, so why is she back at her parents' house? She comes into the house and right off the bat, she seems agitated. She tells her mom that no, her clothes aren't done. They are still drying back at the mat, so
So confused, Nikki's mother asks, "Okay, what's wrong? Why did you come back here before your clothes are done?" Nikki explains that there were some guys at the laundromat hassling her. Kind of catcalling her, you know, okay, let's just be honest, just what guys are always doing to girls it seems. And she didn't go into too much detail, but just talked about why, like how much they were bothering her that they wouldn't leave her alone. So much so that she left to kind of just get out of there until her clothes were done.
Nikki's mom laughed it off at first just thinking they were giving her a hard time, but Nikki really did seem bothered. So she said, "Listen, if the guys are bothering you that much, you can just go grab your clothes and finish the laundry here at my house." But Nikki decides she'll be okay. She just needed a break and minutes later, she walked back out of the house to head back to the laundromat.
Nikki and Bobby needed to finish their wedding invitations that night, so she tells her mother she'll be back shortly to pick up Peyton and she leaves to go back and get her clothes. Later that afternoon, around 4:30 p.m., Bobby arrives home from tuxedo sizing with his cousin. Right when he pulls up, he notices that his truck isn't at the house.
Strange because Nikki had driven the truck to the laundromat and should be home by now. Bobby walks inside and confirms that Nikki really is still gone. Her shoes aren't by the front door. The laundry is still missing. And so he figures that somehow he got home before her. Another hour or two goes by as Bobby anxiously waits at home. He figured that originally Nikki had just stopped to do more errands or even shop. But now that time was passing without a phone call, he was growing concerned.
Bobby decides to call around and see if anyone has seen or heard from his fiance. Remember, it's 2001 and not everyone had cell phones, so he's calling people's home phones. One of Nikki's sisters gets word that Bobby was looking for Nikki. He had called multiple people by now, but no one could find her and she still wasn't home and it was almost dark out. Nikki's parents had assumed that Nikki had decided to leave Peyton a little longer with them when she never showed to pick her up, but
But now that everyone was looking, they too were growing worried. Bobby checks the house to see if maybe Nikki willingly left, but her essentials are still there. Her toothbrush, her makeup. In fact, even her purse and ID were still there. The only thing missing was the laundry that she took to the laundromat. Now, I do think it's a little weird she didn't take her purse and ID to the laundromat, but no one brought it up. So I'm going to assume this was just normal behavior. Day eventually turns to night and everyone is concerned.
By 10 p.m., when Nikki still hadn't called or returned home, Bobby decides they need to do something. Have they not gone and checked the laundromat? Not yet.
Okay, so I too was a little questionable. That'd be like the first thing I would do. I would go and drive over. Right, but this is back in a time where you didn't update someone every single second about where you were going. You didn't text your husband and say, hey, stopping at Target on the way home. So I think for everyone, they're kind of like, well, just wait. Maybe she's shopping. She doesn't have a cell phone, so she would have to go find a phone to get a hold to call her phone home number. It just seems interesting. No one has gone over and checked the...
I think so, too. But also, I think we live in a different time now where everyone just updates right away. So you know if someone's missing way sooner than you used to. Because maybe she was just out still doing errands. Yeah, maybe. Still...
I don't know. Okay. Well, some members of the family drive out into town and check along the roads to make sure she isn't stuck anywhere. They check the laundromat parking lot for the truck. It's not there. She's not there. They drive the highway to make sure Nikki wasn't crashed somewhere a
the road but there was no sign of her and by 2 a.m. the family decides to make the earth-shattering choice to go to the police and finally fill out a missing persons report again sometimes I'm like dang 2 a.m. is so late to report but also to actually go in and report your loved one missing confirms that something is actually wrong and I don't
think people want to go there. They don't want to admit it. They want it all to just be a misunderstanding. They hold out hope that their loved one will somehow return. So I think it's always just a last resort thing. But that doesn't happen, especially not in the stories we cover. And Nikki doesn't return. Bobby reports his fiance missing. And by the next morning around 8 a.m., no one has slept and she's still missing.
Police take the missing person report, but they don't immediately begin looking for Nikki. They are in no rush to find an adult woman who has a car and hasn't even been missing 24 hours. They even suggest that maybe she just had cold feet with the upcoming wedding and needed some time to herself. And police still feel this way despite the fact that Nikki's mother disclosed about the alleged men who were giving her a hard time the day before at the laundromat. So a couple of things. One is...
I do find it weird she didn't bring her purse, her ID, and nothing, correct? Yeah, but no one else says that's weird. So I'm just going to have to assume that it's not. The reason I want to assume it's weird because one, it's not 2022. Everyone has cell phones and if you forget your wallet and bring your cell phone, it's okay.
You need your wallet, you need your ID, you need, I mean, you need, even now, I mean, I still have to carry my wallet with me everywhere. - Right. - Two, it's hard, the whole missing person, she's an adult, she can do what she wants. It's so hard. - Right, I think it's taken a little more seriously now than it used to be just after so many times where it did end up being worst case scenario. But I mean, it is so hard because adults can leave. They can. - And they do. - And they do. - Adults do. - Right, you're right.
But Nikki's family knows she would never leave Peyton. She just wouldn't willingly do it. Like she would never just up and leave her daughter. Nikki's family decides to investigate her disappearance on their own with not much help from the police. They locate some video camera footage taken at a deli near the laundry mat that Nikki had been at the day before.
On the footage, you can see Nikki stops in the deli and purchases a Coca-Cola. This would have been after she had visited her mother's house and complained about the men hassling her. So they know she made it back.
No one seems to be following Nikki in the footage. She seems calm, normal, just waiting for her laundry to be done. Employees at the laundromat also confirmed that Nikki had been there, but they hadn't seen any confrontations happening or any fights outside of the building. They don't believe that these men had anything to do with Nikki's disappearance.
So the next day, as her family's discovering all this, they know that Nikki was scheduled to work. And so her family eagerly waited to see if she would show up for a shift. Like, okay, maybe she did run away, but she wouldn't miss work. But Nikki did. And this confirmed all of their fears. Something bad had happened. They really don't think Nikki just willingly left.
They made flyers and began knocking door to door to see if anyone had seen anything. And when the family told police that she also hadn't shown up for work the next day, police decided it was time to look into it. They began making phone calls and checking local hospitals and hotels. They put out a search for Bobby's truck, the vehicle Nikki was driving. Police also visit the laundromat, which was the last known place Nikki was at, and ask around, but it gets them nowhere. No cameras?
No cameras. There seems to be no idea where to even start. But then police discover they have a suspect. Someone whose actions seem suspicious given the circumstance. Despite the fact that Bobby was the person who initially led police to look for her, he becomes suspect number one. And not just because he's the significant other, almost husband in this case.
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The day after Nikki disappeared, Bobby called her school and asked to collect all of her unused tuition money. Wow.
What? The day after she went missing? The day after. Okay. To play devil's advocate here, maybe he didn't want her tapping into it to run away. So he was kind of trying to tie everything up. I don't know. It seems weird to me that not even a day has passed and he's already doing this, but okay, whatever. He does it. I feel like that's the last thing I'm thinking about. Right.
The next day, while everyone is out looking for Nikki and police are interviewing people and checking what video footage exists back in 2001, Bobby goes to the jewelry store and tries to take back the wedding ring she had purchased him for money.
Now he doesn't get it back because Nikki's name was on the ring and, and it turns into this huge fight that got violent enough that he had to be escorted out of the jewelry store. Okay. Did the, what did the parents think about all this? Well, there's one more thing. By midweek, he had not postponed the wedding. He had canceled the wedding venue and demanded to get the deposit back, which he did. That's weird. It's weird. That's
That's all in the first week she's missing. You're already like making plans for the future. I think it'd be one thing if the wedding was like two weeks, maybe a week. Yeah. If it was super close, but if it's not close, that's weird. Three months away. So again, maybe he's worried. She's a runaway bride and he's pissed. So this is the only way he knows how to handle these emotions. I don't know.
Her disappearance doesn't seem like a runaway and he isn't claiming to think it's a runaway. So I do think it's weird that he immediately jumped to this. When Nikki's family learns about what Bobby had been doing in the days after Nikki went missing, they are confused. And honestly, they're a little outraged when they confront him about his actions. He explains to them, Hey, it's not what you think.
He called about the student loans to see if she had used the money. He returned the ring to buy a cell phone to make the search easier. With everyone always needing to find a home phone to call him, he figured it would be easier if he had a cell phone in the search for her. So he's like, this is all about Nikki. He says, Nikki is my first and only priority. I just want to find her. I'm just trying to take the steps to do so.
Police ask Bobby to take a polygraph test based on his recent actions. They're like, listen, don't do that. We can't deny that. This is a little weird. Like you're just, it seems like you're just out for the money. We need you to take a polygraph. And according to police, he fails that polygraph test, which,
Can't use in court. So. Right. Obviously, this is not enough to arrest Bobby. So they let him go. But Bobby feels like investigators are spending so much time on him that they're wasting precious time to find Nikki. What happened to Nikki? Did she ever leave the laundromat? And where had she gone after that? Did she make it home to Bobby? And he was lying.
nobody knows and as desperate as everyone was to find Nikki days turned to weeks she doesn't return no evidence is found no hint as to what happened and her family grows frustrated with law enforcement it seems a little weird as well right she came back and said there's guys over there they're harassing me cat calling me whatever it may be like what are the chances that
Bobby did it. And it just so happened that there was also guys there that night that harassing her. Right. That's also seems like a weird coincidence. Right. Her family at this point is wondering why is she still missing? Were police doing everything they could during this precious time? And,
And they decide no. So they take matters into their own hands, doing what they can to find Nikki. They would chase leads, search areas, and eventually the family's investigation begins to interfere with the police.
A couple of Nikki's brothers get arrested. Apparently they were busting into houses and searching places without consent. They would get tips and just go haywire. Now Nikki's mother claims they may not have gone about it the right way, but they were doing all they could to try and find her daughter. And she's not going to apologize for that. She's like, I'm not going to apologize that we were doing everything we could.
But despite the efforts of police and Nikki's family, the case still grows cold. Bobby is shut out by Nikki's family. He's no longer accepted as part of the family as they've now grown suspicious of everyone. And his whole entire life was turned upside down on top of losing his fiance and being the number one suspect in this case.
Nikki's disappearance has run through like what must have felt like a tornado obliterating everyone involved. Everyone's lives are just turned upside down because of this. But then three and a half months after Nikki went missing, there's a break in the case. Okay.
On November 3rd, 2001, at 7.30 a.m., police get a phone call that Bobby's vehicle Nikki was driving that day she went missing has surfaced. Dang, okay. It was found parked in an apartment complex parking lot in Dayton, Ohio, 40 miles from her house.
Richmond detectives rush out of the apartment complex to investigate the vehicle. Dayton, Ohio. Where is that? It's a neighboring city. So it's really not that far. It's also where she worked. So it could be that she had driven out to work for some reason. Like it's not that weird that they find it there.
Police are hopeful that the car will give them answers. In fact, they've been telling the family, listen, as soon as we can find her car, we will most likely find her. I think three months. That's crazy. Yeah. Which it seems like it's fast, but at the same time, three months is a long time. Right. And police are also thinking maybe Nikki is even alive and well, if they found this car parked outside of this apartment complex.
but it's what police find in the backseat of the car that dims their hopes. It was the laundry from the day Nikki went missing almost four months earlier. Okay. You were thinking it was her? Yeah, I thought it was her. So there's some relief right there. There's a glimmer of hope, but not really much because the laundry is folded in the backseat of the car completely untouched.
- What are the chances that- - But it's still folded? - Yes. What are the chances that Nikki is alive and well, and this laundry has lasted four months back there untouched? - That's crazy. - It seems pretty low. Instead, it seems like the car had been untouched for four months, further confirming that Nikki had not been around or driving it for four months. The car is towed back to Indiana to be tested. It was tested for fingerprints, hair fibers, blood, nothing turns up.
It seems weird if the car was sitting in that same spot for three to four months, it took that long to find it. Okay. So I thought that too. Especially...
I'm not saying it's the police or cops fault. It just seems strange. If a car is sitting there for that long, someone's going to be like, someone that works around there, someone's going to be like, hey, this car hasn't moved in two months. Right. Like what's going on? Well, so I thought that too, but also it's parked in a large apartment complex. So think back when we lived in an apartment. Yeah, that's true. Would you have noticed if a car was parked in an apartment complex?
I'm moving there today. There probably was cars parked there for a month, a year. Yes. And you had no idea. It's probably broken. People do it all the time. So I think that, but also it's a really great place to hide a car is in a large apartment complex where not the same cars are being parked there every, you know what I mean? It's a good place. Totally. So police also discovered there are no signs of struggle in the car. There's no signs of really anything. Their big lead had led to nothing.
It was a major disappointment for not just police, but also Nikki's family. Police decide to ditch the car and look into the apartment complex it was left at. Why there? Maybe that answer could lead them to something. This is when police discover a man named Tommy Swint, who worked at the correctional facility with Nikki, lived a half mile away from where her car was found.
Now, this isn't great, but it is the only connection they can draw to this area. And after they make this connection, police learned that Tommy Swint and Nikki had kind of a confusing and conflicting relationship.
According to interviews, it seems like the overall consensus was Nikki looked at Tommy as a coworker, maybe even a friend, a big brother type thing. But Tommy looked at Nikki like a girl he was trying to pursue. He was trying to get out of the friend zone, maybe.
This is enough information for police to seriously look into Tommy. It seems like some men sometimes have a hard time being told no, and this can lead to aggressive behavior, aggressive enough that this would not be the first time this exact situation would be used as motive for murder. So police know what they have to do. They look into Tommy's past. Was there anything that would suggest he was capable of harming Nikki and then dumping her car a half mile away from his house in a random parking lot where it would go unnoticed?
they learn that not only did Tommy have a troubling past with women, he had a troubling past with Nikki herself. Now, before I go into this next part, I do just want to say real quick that
I have seen some reports in more recent years that there is a possibility that Nikki and Tommy had a relationship at some point, were having a relationship at this time. Nothing is confirmed, but I do just want to give you some background context before we go into the next part. Police learn that Nikki's sister, when Nikki and Tommy were friends,
She had made her way over to Nikki's house one day and was surprised to hear Nikki shouting from inside of the house. So her sister quickly made her way to the front door and busted inside to find Nikki sitting on a chair with her foot pushed into a man's chest, trying to get him off of her. - What? - This man was Tommy and he was leaning over her, kind of wrestling with her arms. And when Nikki saw that her sister came in, she said, "Help, he's trying to rape me."
It was a whole ordeal. Tommy left. They never pressed charges or anything. But when police learn about this, they're like, we need to talk to Tommy. If there's even a chance that he in the past had tried to rape Nikki and now she's missing, he definitely needs to be talked to.
But Tommy won't cooperate. He doesn't really want to talk. He won't voluntarily talk with police. And without enough evidence, police have nothing to try and get him on. And I guess I'm a bit confused at this point why they didn't push Tommy harder here. Like, this seems like a pretty good lead to me. What else are you supposed to do if someone won't talk? I mean...
You can bring them in for questioning with a warrant, correct? Yes, but they don't even have a warrant to bring him in. They have nothing really to... I feel like you could probably get one at this point. I do too. So this is why I'm saying I'm a little confused here. Now, I don't know if this case was just being overlooked by police in general. I don't know if there's some other legal things that made it so they couldn't get him in. Either way, it doesn't really go anywhere. I guess if he's lawyered up and refuses to talk, there's nothing really you can do.
So, and again, days begin to pass while nothing more is done on the case. Nikki's family tries their best to keep it relevant. They talk about how they were instructed that the best thing they could do for her case was to keep it in the media's attention, which in these missing person cases is so true. It can help so much nowadays. So that's what they try to do.
One year passes since the car has been found and the case is certainly still cold. The anniversary came and went with only pain to show for it. In November of 2002, Nikki's sisters go to New York to tell her story on TV. Wow. And while they're there, a psychic tells the family that Nikki died the day she vanished and her body is in a trench around the laundromat. Wow.
- What? That's freaky. - Now grasping at straws, they relay the information to police who decide to then send search teams out considering they have not much else to go on. - No way. - They find nothing. - Okay. - Now we could probably do a whole entire episode about how families in distress get taken advantage of by awful people. But I also think that I would do anything to try and find my loved one. So I understand why it happens.
Two years later in 2004, the family works with an organization who offers a $100,000 reward for any information that would lead to Nikki's discovery. The family was convinced that this would work, but it didn't. And as the years keep going by, Nikki's disappearance takes a toll on the family as it would. I mean...
You can't just keep waking up day after day not knowing what happened to your daughter. And Nikki's own daughter, Peyton, who was nine at the time she went missing, she
grows older without her mom. Imagine that. She's getting old enough to understand what happened. She is raised by family still, but that is just heartbreaking. And despite all of the family's efforts, the case remains cold. Six years after Nikki McCowan seemingly vanished from that laundromat, the trail seems cold. But that's not all.
But then, on August 30th, 2007, Richmond detectives receive some shocking news. It's about Mr. Tommy Swint, the co-worker who lived a half mile away from the apartment complex that Nikki's car was found at.
Tommy Swint was considered a person of interest in their case this whole entire time. And they just learned that he himself was hired as a police officer for the city of Trotwood. What in the world? Yeah. He's hired as a police officer. Even though he's a person of interest in this case.
So Nikki's family was so disappointed to hear this because they were sure that he had something to do with Nikki's disappearance after the rape allegation and then her car being found near his home. Richmond detectives decide to tell Trotwood detectives that Tommy Swint is a person of interest in their active missing person case from 2001. They call him up. They're like, yo, you just hired this guy and he's a person of interest in our case.
And they moved to get him dismissed as a police officer, putting forth the violent situation where Nikki's sister witnessed him attempting to rape Nikki years before she vanished. Now, the Trotwood police hear them out, and then they then agree that he probably shouldn't be an officer of law. He should have came forward and said, I'm a person of interest in this case. I was questioned in this case. That's something you have to do to become a police officer. So Trotwood tells Nick,
Tommy, he needs to resign or they would work on his termination process. They pull him in. They're like, listen, you've got to resign or we're going to terminate you. Yep.
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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America is...
because hadn't thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event, premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9:00. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR. - Now Tommy Swint does resign, but he responds to all of this by attempting to sue the city of Richmond, claiming they never told him he was a person of interest, so in turn, he couldn't disclose that information when being hired.
His lawsuit goes nowhere, but the firing and the lawsuits become front page news, subsequently putting Nikki's disappearance in the media once again.
And it was those news stories that led to an anonymous phone call containing a tip that would change this case entirely. Oh, I just, I have a feeling it was Tommy. So on November 29th, 2007, after the media had been reporting on Tommy Swint and his possible connection to the unsolved disappearance of Nikki McCowan, a phone call was placed to Dayton PD about none other than Tommy Swint.
The anonymous caller claims they know for a hundred percent that police needed to look into Tommy Swint as a suspect in Nikki's case. They couldn't or wouldn't tell police why, but they said police were on the right path with him and they would eventually find the truth if they keep looking into him. The person ended the call by telling police, if you don't believe me, just look into another unsolved case.
The murder of a girl named Tina Marie Ivory. Heck, that's crazy. Right. So a cold case homicide detective learned about the call and the tip. And it was this tip that eventually helps police discover that Tommy Swint wasn't only a person of interest in their case, but was possibly linked to another case altogether. Who's this caller? Well, it's anonymous, so we'll never know. But that's crazy. Like who? How do they know?
they know? Yeah, how do they know? They gotta be close. But okay. That's so nuts. Here's the thing. They wouldn't come forward for the $100,000 even though they had this information. So it's gotta be someone that Tommy told and he's like I'll kill you. Yeah. Or they just, they can't come forward with it. Or they can't come forward. So they believe the case that Tommy might be linked to is an unsolved murder from 16 years earlier. Holy crap.
Apparently, some forest workers had found a body in Dayton and reported it to police. It was a young female wrapped in a blanket and dumped in the woods. She was identified as 33-year-old Tina Marie Ivory. Now, Tina Marie was a sex worker in the Dayton area when she was murdered. There were stains on the blanket and on her body, and investigators were able to collect a DNA sample from them. But back then, there was no one to run the sample against.
There were no suspects in the case, so they had no match to the DNA found in the case. And like Nikki's case, Tina Marie's went cold for 16 years. There was no information on it until November 2007, when that anonymous tip led police to look into Tina Marie's case. Yeah.
a case that had DNA just waiting for a suspect to compare it to. And now they might have one. Going solely off of this tip, Dayton detectives reactivate Tina Marie's case and attempt to match the DNA from back in 1991 to Tommy Swint's DNA in 2007. Dayton detectives also approach Richmond PD and tell them about the possible tip. Richmond PD is like, FDs.
F yeah let us send you Timmy Swintz DNA so you guys can try to get a match. Richman had actually obtained Tommy's DNA back during the time he was trying to sue them because during the lawsuits he was like no I was more than willing to work with police. I was so forward back then. No way. Okay well if you're so forward and you're so willing to work on us with this case then give us your DNA. Yep. And he did.
because he was trying to win a lawsuit. So they didn't have any DNA to compare it to in Nikki's case, but now they might have DNA to compare it to in Tina Marie's case. And he has no idea that that's even going on. No idea it's going on. Because both Dayton and Richmond aren't big fans of Tommy by this point, Richmond PD sends their sample over to Dayton to compare it. So they're like,
Dayton calls up Richmond is like, Hey, can you send us the sample? They're like, yes, we'd love to. Dayton's crime lab were able to take Tommy Swintz DNA profile and match it against the suspect's profile in Tina Marie's case. And what would you know? I just said, it's a match.
They have matched the DNA on her body and the blanket to Tommy Swint. That's nuts. But they really, really want his DNA at the crime scene too. So he can't somehow work it around like, oh, I knew her. I've used that blanket. Forensic experts re-examine the crime scene and they find a palm print on the tape used to wrap up the body on November 17th, 2009, which would strictly tie him to the crime itself. I don't understand how people...
kill someone and don't leave DNA. It seems impossible. - Well, yes, I agree. And also why do we leave a palm print? - It's like your hair, like everything. - Everything, everything. - You'd have to go in a hazmat suit. - Right, right.
But I think it's also ironic that this guy left a palm print and DNA considering he was going to go on and try to become a police officer. Yeah, that's true. So Dayton detectives travel to Alabama to obtain Tommy's finger, well, palm prints to compare these. So Tommy had actually relocated after the failed lawsuit against Richmond. So he's now living in Alabama.
Dayton detectives go to Alabama to get his palm print. They stop Tommy in a traffic stop in Alabama and get his prints at the station. It's no surprise when the palm print matches. Police now have more than a sufficient amount of evidence tying Tommy to Tina Marie Ivory's murder back in 1991. But what about Nikki? They most likely have the right man, but would they be able to officially charge him with her murder without any evidence?
It might seem unnecessary, but for her family and friends, it would mean everything to have him put away in Nikki's name as well, not just Tina Marie's. So police in Alabama head to Tommy's house to arrest him for the murder of Tina Marie with hopes that they can bring him in. They can get a confession to Nikki's murder as well.
but as cops are approaching his front door, a gunshot rings out from inside Tommy's home. - No way. - Police bust in and find Tommy Swint on the floor with a gun in his hand. - That's so annoying. - Tommy Swint had taken his own life before paying for what he had done.
And everyone was angry. Police are angry. The family are angry. They're like, it's taken us this long to get to the end of these cold cases. And now he just takes his life without giving us any answers. Nikki's family believed they were finally this close to answers. So close to finding a body. I mean, it's hard to deny that she worked with him. He had almost raped her.
The car is found half a mile away from his home. He's killed someone else in the past and he's not responsible for her disappearance. And just killed himself. Right. But now this jealous man just took his own life before giving them the answers. So Nikki's family is happy that Tina Marie's family received answers, but they feel like Nikki's case has been left open-ended. Yeah.
Even if they found the man, they wanted their day in court. They deserved their day in court. They wanted to find Nikki's body. Richmond police insist that the case will stay open until they find more answers for the family. So Tommy goes away for Tina Marie's, but not for Nikki's. For Bobby, Tommy's suicide brought relief because it all but confirmed his role in Nikki's disappearance. Also...
A little sad that everyone thought it was Bobby and it was never Bobby. Well, this is why Tommy taking his own life kind of feels like a relief off his shoulders because he's like, now can you guys believe me? Yeah. Like he took his own life. He, he, and he didn't even really know about Tina Marie's disappearance. So,
He's like, he more than likely did Nikki's, but also, you know, he got a little bit of answers, but it still hurts that for this long, everyone's assumed that he did it. Peyton, Nikki's daughter actually still calls Bobby her stepdad to this day. And they are even close, even after he was shut out by the rest of her family for being a suspect in his fiance's disappearance.
Now, Nikki's legend lives on in Peyton. Family can't help but notice the similarities between the two. Nikki was kind and caring. She had the ability to set her mind to something and make it happen. She had goals. She had dreams. She was working towards a future. Nikki's family, to this day, are still looking for answers. The case remains open. So if anyone has any information about where she might be, please report it.
But that is the story of Nikki McCowan and Tina Marie Ivory and how it's believed that Tommy Swint took both of their lives. I mean, he had, I mean, he had to have. Right. I mean, I guess we'll never ever know 100%, but I feel like it's pretty obvious. I think this is what does it for me.
Is there a possibility he didn't take Nikki's life? I mean, it's 100% confirmed that he took Tina Marie's. His evidence is everywhere. Yeah, there's a possibility, but... But it's just like he was already a suspect before they even knew he had killed another woman. Yeah. The car was parked a half mile away from him. I can't believe he killed Tina. I know. It's heartbreaking. Well, both of them, probably. Well, and also because Tina Marie's was so open and shut, Nikki's can sometimes cloud her case, right?
or her, you know, what happened to her because everyone's still concerned about, well, where is Nikki? What happened to Nikki? So that does kind of make me sad, which is why I wanted to include both of them in this case. But I think the fact that there's a possibility they were maybe having a relationship, maybe she ended that relationship because she was like, I'm getting married. I can't see you anymore. Or maybe,
Or maybe they weren't having a relationship, but there was still, he had tried to rape her in the past, which is confirmed. I mean, if he's killed someone before too, it seems like he's probably not a relationship type person. Yeah. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. It's a freaking duck. And I think Tommy Swint is a duck in this situation.
Okay, you guys, well, that was our story for this week. We love you all so much. Thank you for supporting the podcast. Thank you for being here. And we will see you guys next time with another episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.