Decades Old Michigan Murder Solved, Documented on ABC/Hulu

The murder of 19-year-old Cathy Swartz in Three Rivers, Michigan remained unsolved for decades before DNA evidence led authorities to her killer. This week, ABC's 20/20 took a deep dive into the investigation that ended with the arrest of Cathy's murderer.

Spoiler Alert

I should let you know right now that some of the details about Cathy Swartz murder investigation and the identity of her killer will be revealed in this story. There is, however, a trailer below which does not contain any spoilers.

As Swartz's murder was solved in 2023, many of the details of this story have been available for quite some time.

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1988 West Michigan Cold Case

Cathy Swartz was a 19-year-old mother living with her fiancé Mike Warner in Three Rivers, Michigan. Cathy also had a nine-month-old daughter Courteney, whom the couple was raising.

In December 1988, Mike returned home to find his fiancée dead on the floor of their bedroom. Cathy's daughter was in the next room, unharmed in her crib.

While Warner was initially a suspect, police determined that he was working at the time of the murder and was soon dismissed as a suspect, according to a 2023 report from WOOD-TV. 

Michigan Cold Case Solved

More than three decades after Swartz's murder, DNA evidence was submitted to Othram, Inc., a state-of-the-art forensic lab near Houston, Texas.

The lab used powerful DNA sequencing to build a family tree of the suspected killer, narrowing the pool of suspects to a family that grew up in Three Rivers and attended the same high school as Swartz and Warner. All but one of the brothers were eliminated as suspects.

Robert Waters, who had relocated to Beaufort, South Carolina was arrested for Swartz murder 35 years after her death. After his arrest in 2023, Waters took his own life while in police custody.

20/20 Documentary Spotlights Three Rivers Murder Case

The ABC news program 20/20 put the spotlight on Swartz's case, taking a deep dive into the DNA technology that shed light on her murderer. That documentary is now available to stream on Hulu.