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EXCLUSIVE – Two friends of the late Karen Swift, a Tennessee mom of four whose body was discovered more than a decade ago, in December 2011, after she disappeared in October of that year, are speaking out after Swift's husband was charged with murder earlier this week.
A Dyer County grand jury on Monday indicted David Swift, a former Dyersburg man who moved to Alabama, on a charge of premeditated first-degree murder in connection to his then-44-year-old wife's death. Swift pleaded not guilty during his Wednesday arraignment.
"We just want justice for Karen, and our hearts go out to her kids," Karen Swift's longtime friend Angie Gallaher told Fox News Digital. "… My husband and I went to the hearing this morning, and he said, ‘You’ve been waiting to make this trip for a long time,' and I said, "Yes, but why do I not feel more excited about it or relieved?' And the reason for that is because there are four other victims," she said of Swift's children.
Gallaher added that while Karen Swift's loved ones are a step closer to getting justice, the process is about to get a lot tougher as David Swift, who is being represented by a public defender, prepares for a trial.
A Tennessee grand jury indicted David Swift on a first-degree murder charge in connection to his wife Karen Smith's 2011 death. (Angie Gallaher/ Dyer County Sheriff's Office)
David Swift was allegedly the last person to see his wife and the mother of their children alive after she returned from a Halloween party on the night of Oct. 30, 2011, at The Dyersburg Country Club at The Farms, according to the Dyer County Sheriff's Office. She was missing for over a month before hunters discovered her body in a cometary near her home on Dec. 10, 2011, according to WREG. She had filed for divorce weeks before she was found dead.
An autopsy report released in 2018 and obtained by WREG states that Karen Swift died of blunt force trauma to the head. She was also partially clothed and had other injuries at the time of her death, according to the outlet.
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David Swift has since remarried and lives in Alabama but was extradited to Dyer County after his arrest.
"We've been told for years by law enforcement that evidence only ever pointed back to one place," Janet Ross, another longtime friend of Karen Swift's, told Fox News Digital. "It wasn't a shock that he was arrested, but it was a shock that there was an arrest in the first place just because it's been so long. You know, you begin to give up."
Karen Swift was a 44-year-old mom of four from Dyersburg, Tennessee, at the time of her death. (Angie Gallaher)
The two friends said they have avoided discussing the case so as not to compromise it in an effort to help their friend get justice.
Gallaher described Karen Swift as a "good friend," who was "witty" "kind" and "strong-willed," except when it came to her husband, who "always told her what to do."
Gallaher and Ross noticed the impact that David Swift had on their friend when they all got together for a high school reunion and noticed that she was quieter than usual, which was "not the Karen" they "knew in school at that time."
Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Box was "pleased" after the grand jury announced an indictment against David Swift Monday after his office spent a decade investigating Karen Swift's death, keeping in touch with her mother, Carol Johnson, throughout the years, according to a Facebook post.
David Swift is charged with premeditated first-degree murder in connection to his wife's death. (Dyer County Sheriff's Office)
Box had promised Johnson that he would get justice for her daughter.
"As soon as [David] Swift was placed in handcuffs, I called Carol and told her the news. I always told her I had faith this case would be prosecuted, and today, we had a very emotional conversation," Box said in a Monday statement. "She just wants justice for her daughter."
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Box said his office has "literally spent thousands of hours on this case and a lot of that time was spent dispelling false information and rumors." Investigators "never gave up and just kept going through the evidence."
"[T]he one thing that held true since the early stages of the investigation into Karen’s death was that David was always a suspect because all the evidence pointed to him," the sheriff said. "We were able to rule anyone and everyone else out involving this tragic murder and the grand jury made the right decision today by indicting him on a premeditated first-degree murder charge."
Authorities arrested David Swift in connection to his wife's murder after a grand jury indicted him on Monday. (Dyer County Sheriff's Office)
The Dyer County Sheriff's Office closed its investigation into Karen Swift's murder in October 2019 and handed over evidence to District Attorney General Danny Goodman’s office at the time. Goodman's office then presented that evidence to the grand jury that ultimately indicted David Swift.
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"I am so glad the district attorney, our prosecutor, had enough interest in this case to present it to the grand jury," Box said. "I’ve thanked District Attorney General Danny Goodman for seeing this thing through, and he did the right thing today."
If convicted, Swift faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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