Karen Swift’s body found, Murder case opens

The missing person’s case of Tennessee mom Karen Johnson Swift, 44, has turned into a murder case as police have found her body only miles away from her abandoned car that was found a day after she was reported missing on October 30th.

According to Dyer County Sherriff Jeff Box, the body was discovered on Saturday evening and it was only after a dental record test was carried out, it was confirmed that the body was that of Karen Swift. Her body was found in an area covered with vines only three miles away from her white, 2004 Nissan Murano and was hidden beneath the vegetation. Sherriff said that there was no indication that she might have been murdered somewhere else and was later brought there.

“Frost and winter conditions killed the vegetation, making the body visible within a few feet,” Jeff Box said, adding that there were “apparent injuries to the body,” but did explain their nature or extent.

“We’re going to wait to let the medical examiner’s final report tell us the extent of those injuries,” he added.

The police seem certain the death is not accidental and hence is approaching it as a murder.

However, so far no suspects have been identified or named. "At this time we haven't named any suspects and you won't see us name suspects until we're sure it's going to be beneficial to the investigation," Box said.

Karen was a mother of four children and filed for divorce from her husband, David, only 20 days before she was reported missing. However, they seemed to be getting along even after that and continued to live together in the same house. David, however, is not among the suspects, since according to the police, he has been very cooperative during the entire investigation.

Timothy Naifeh, lawyer of David Swift, said that Karen’s family is very disturbed and is asking the media to respect their privacy in these difficult times. "It’s very emotional for Mr. Swift and the family. They’re asking at least for this period of time to have some privacy — it’s time for grieving and it’s time for mourning. It’s heartbreaking and it’s very, very sad,” Naifeh said.

Swift’s friend, Janet Ross, believes that there is no reason Karen might have wandered away for three miles from her car, fell down and died. "I want to know who it was and I want to prosecute," Ross said.