Did Larry Swearingen Kill Melissa Trotter and Melissa Witt?
Larry Swearingen was sent to death row for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter, a community college student in Montgomery County, just north of Houston. Trotter disappeared from campus on December 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.
Although more than three weeks had passed since she disappeared, police were certain from the beginning she was dead, and equally certain they’d found the man who had murdered her: Larry Swearingen, a 27-year-old married electrician who had been among the last to see Trotter alive. The two were acquaintances and had spoken on campus the day she disappeared. Police arrested Swearingen on unrelated outstanding warrants three days after Trotter’s disappearance; he has been behind bars ever since.
The murder of Melissa Trotter is eerily familiar. Go back to December 1994…
On December 1, 1994 between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m, Melissa (Missy) Witt arrived at Bowling World, 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 when she rejected and then argued with him. That struggle didn’t last long, because the assailant hit her in the head with a blunt object, then dragged her to his car, where it is assumed he placed her in the trunk or truck bed.
Roughly six weeks later, on January 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.
Did Larry Swearingen kill Melissa Witt and Melissa Trotter?
Let’s start by looking at some facts that tie the two cases together:
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 in Conway, Arkansas. Even more compelling, Melissa Witt’s body was dumped at a location that was a half way point between both locations.
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.
Investigators spent time forming a timeline which tracked Swearingen’s movements close to the months surrounding the time of the murder of Melissa Witt. Police have learned he was a journeyman electrician who traveled through the Southeast, along the east coast and as far north as New England in search of work.
The question remains. Did Larry Swearingen kill Melissa Witt?
If anyone has information about Larry Swearingen and his connections to Arkansas, please contact whokilledmissywitt@gmail.com.
