Shivangi Sinha
In December 1988, Mike Warner returned to his home in Three Rivers, Michigan, to a horrifying scene—his fiancée, Cathy Swartz, had been brutally stabbed to death. Her nine-month-old daughter was still in the house, unharmed, in her crib. When police arrived at the scene, they made some shocking discoveries. Using special lighting techniques, they found words written on both the refrigerator and Cathy’s body. ABC’s ’20/20′ explores the details of the investigation and how law enforcement ultimately solved the case.
Cathy Swartz Was at Home With Her Nine-Month Daughter When She Was Killed
Cathy Sue Swartz was born on May 24, 1969, to David and Audrey Swartz. She grew up on a two-acre farm in Mendon, Massachusetts, where she experienced a life of freedom and adventure. She had a pony, was an active member of the Girl Scouts, and had a zeal towards life. She attended Mendon High School, but before her senior year, her family relocated to Three Rivers, Michigan. Her father opened a pro shop at the local bowling alley, and she was quite close to him. They often went camping together, and with her mother, she participated in a bowling league.
During her senior year, Cathy discovered she was pregnant and made the decision to drop out of school. Having worked briefly at a grocery store and Burger King, she was confident in her ability to build a future for herself. At that moment, her priority was dedicating herself to motherhood. In March 1988, she welcomed her daughter, Courteney, who quickly became the center of her world. Cathy was a devoted mother, and her love for her little girl was undeniable. Later that year, in September 1988, love entered her life once again when she met Mike Warner.
Warner worked at a paper plant, and it didn’t take long for him and Cathy to fall deeply in love. Just a few months later, on November 10, 1988, they got engaged and moved into an apartment together, ready to build a life and raise Courteney as a family. However, their dreams were shattered when, on the afternoon of December 2, Warner returned home from work around 3:30 pm to a horrific sight—Cathy lying in a pool of blood. Her daughter, still in her crib, had been left unharmed. An autopsy later confirmed that Cathy had died from stab wounds to her neck. She had also been strangled and had defensive wounds on her arms, which indicated that she had fought back against her attacker. The police also suspected that her killer might have tried to sexually assault her.
The Police Found Messages Which They Suspected Had Been Left by Cathy Swartz’s Killer
The police were unable to locate the murder weapon, but the crime scene was chaotic, which offered several clues. They discovered a fingerprint on the phone in Cathy Swartz’s bedroom, along with a footprint—a mixture of blood and water—on the bathroom floor. This led investigators to suspect that the killer may have attempted to clean himself up before fleeing the scene. The authorities used a handheld forensic light wand to reveal evidence invisible to the naked eye and found three written messages that had been left behind in the house.
On the refrigerator, the words “Metallica” and “Harley was here” were scrawled, while another message—”I was here”—was found written on Cathy’s inner thigh. Investigators initially looked into her fiancé, but he had a solid alibi, as he had been at work at the time of the murder. With no signs of forced entry, the police theorized that she had likely opened the door for someone she knew. Adding to the mystery, they discovered that her daughter Courteney’s clothes had been changed, and a damp diaper had been set aside, which suggested that the killer may have taken care of the baby before leaving.
The second suspect the police focused on was Cathy’s ex-boyfriend, Troy Schulthies, who had a strong connection to the words found at the crime scene—he was a Metallica fan and had a love for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Based on additional information gathered during the investigation, he was arrested. However, Schulthies denied any involvement in the murder. He admitted to writing the messages months earlier with a red marker while at Cathy’s house for a party but claimed he had scrubbed them off immediately, which explained why they were not visible normally. He also stated that the writing on her leg had been done playfully. Despite the suspicions surrounding him, his fingerprints did not match those found at the scene, ruling him out as the killer. He was released nine days after his arrest.
An Arrest in Cathy Swartz’s Case Was Made Over Three Decades After the Crime
The police brought in various suspects, but none of the fingerprints matched, which caused the case to stall and eventually go cold. In 2012, a new task force reopened the investigation, only to discover that much of the evidence had been lost over the years. However, they were able to recover a bloodstain on the telephone that did not belong to Cathy, her fiancé, or any previously suspected individuals. This unknown DNA was entered into CODIS, but no immediate matches were found. In 2022, investigators sent a frozen DNA sample from the crime scene to a forensic genome sequencing lab, hoping to finally uncover the identity of Cathy’s killer.
By January 2023, based on the evidence, the police had narrowed down their suspect list to one of the four sons of John and Judith Waters, who had lived in the area at the time of the crime. Ultimately, DNA analysis identified Robert Waters as the prime suspect. Waters was a friend of Cathy’s fiancé, Mike Warner, and had even visited the couple’s home for dinner just a month before the crime. Warner had run into him and invited him over casually. At the time of the crime, Waters was only 19 years old. He was eventually arrested in South Carolina in connection with the brutal killing.
Read More: Robert Waters: What Happened to the Accused Killer?
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