Ex-wife of Swearingen glad she got away from him alive

When you ask Karla Rodgers to describe her ex-husband, Larry Swearingen, she doesn’t hesitate.

“He’s a violent predator,” Rodgers said. “He’s very dangerous.”

She’s not exaggerating.

Swearingen was sent to death row for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter, a community college student just north of Houston in Montgomery County, Texas.

He is still on death row.

Trotter disappeared from campus on Dec. 8, 1998. Her body was found on January 2, in the piney woods of the Sam Houston National Forest. She had been strangled, a section of pantyhose knotted around her neck.

After he was arrested and imprisoned for Trotter’s murder in 1998, they found a sheet from a legal pad hidden in his cell in 2000 that had the names “Melissa Witt” and “J. C. Rider,” who was the lead investigator in the Witt case at the time.

Texas officials notified Fort Smith and Rider went down to question him. By the time he got to Texas, Swearingen had retained a lawyer and refused to talk.

He was never named officially as a suspect, but was a person of interest.

“I was so relieved,” said Rodgers, “when the documentary team got in touch with me about the Melissa Witt case. I’ve always believed that Melissa Trotter was not the only young woman Larry murdered before going to prison.”

According to Rodgers, Swearingen violently assaulted her then left her for dead. “When I woke up, I fled for my life,” she explains.

Rodgers, like a growing number of people within the River Valley, believe that the murder of Melissa Trotter and that of Melissa Witt are eerily similar.

On December 1, 1994 between 6:30-7 p.m, Melissa (Missy) Witt arrived at Bowling World in Fort Smith, but she never made it inside. Investigators believe that a man (maybe even someone Missy knew) was waiting either waiting in the parking lot or had followed Missy there.

They believe he approached Missy, and a struggle ensued because she rejected his advances. That struggle didn’t last long, because the assailant hit her in the head with a blunt object, and then dragged her to his car, where it is assumed he placed her in the trunk or truck bed.

Roughly six weeks later, on Jan. 13, 1995, two trappers hunting near Turner’s Bend in the Ozark National Forest discovered the body of a young woman.

Through dental records, investigators identified the body as that of Melissa Witt.

According to Karla Rodgers, Swearingen was in both Kansas and Arkansas area during the time frame in which Melissa Witt’s murder took place.

The crimes themselves are eerily similar:

1. Larry Swearingen had family in Arkansas. In fact, his family lived a mere 1 hour and 55 minutes (roughly 127 miles) from Fort Smith. Even more compelling, Melissa Witt’s body was dumped at a location that was a half way point between both locations. Swearingen’s family confirmed that he was known to camp near the location where Witt’s body was discovered.

2. Both girls had a first name of Melissa.

3. Both girls were the same age.

4. Both girls had the same type of physical appearance.

5. Both had personal possessions taken from them by the killer. Melissa Witt’s clothing, purse and jewelry were taken. Melissa Witt’s backpack and jewelry were taken.

6. Both girls were dumped in a national forest located 50 miles away from the site of the abduction.

7. Both were college students.

8. Both girls were abducted in the same week, exactly four years apart.

9. Both girls were found with cigarette butts near their body.

10. Both girls had a lack of defensive wounds on their body.

11. Both girls had been strangled.

According to Rodgers, Swearingen returned from his trip to Arkansas acting “strange and withdrawn.”

“He just wasn’t himself,” says Rodgers.

“What is even scarier to me,” says Rodgers, “were the credit cards and ID cards I found that Larry had hidden. I wish I could remember the names on those cards. When I asked Larry why he had credit cards and ID cards belonging to other women, Larry became enraged and tossed what them in the woods. I didn’t think more about it until the documentary team reached out to me.”

Rodgers believes that Larry Swearingen may have been involved in Melissa Witt’s death and she is committed to helping the documentary team uncover the truth.

“I feel lucky I survived Larry Swearingen. I believe there are others, like Melissa Trotter, that weren’t as lucky as I am. I plan to help all I can,” says Rodgers.

If anyone has information about Larry Swearingen and his connections to Arkansas, please contact [email protected] or call 479-221-9393.