Melissa Witt /// Part 2 /// 162 | Forensic Files

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iTunes Store all right Captain that's enough of the business everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's
talk some true crime [Music] [Music] foreign disappeared from the Bowling World parking lot on December 1st
1994. now her body was found about six weeks later on yesterday's show we were able to go through some of the early
leads in the investigation what they were tracking down and then the finding of her body today we want to get into
some of the suspects Ladonna had said that there were a lot of the level 3 sex offenders in the area well there were
also some very dangerous people that were probably in that area in December of 1994. we'll get into that today so
let's dive into the two major suspects let's start with Travis Crouch um absolutely now there are quite a few
suspects some of them and I can't talk about but some of the most promising suspects are what I'd like to touch on
and there's two of those and and the first is Travis Dale Crouch and Travis is an Arkansas native
um he is currently in prison in Colorado we can touch on why but he um he's from the Ozark
area in fact he lived and worked at a church camp when he was a child that was about a mile from where Melissa witt's
body was found and then later at the time of her disappearance and death even though he
might try to argue this point we've been able to prove that he was a carpenter at that same church camp again
that was about a mile from where her body was found in 1994. so what is Travis in prison for and how can we
connect him to Melissa witt's murder well Travis is currently in prison in Colorado for the right of a young woman
he met her at a mall he um talked with her in the parking lot was able to I guess trick her
coerce her to give him a ride somewhere so they got in the car together he then forced her to a remote
Mountaintop out in the middle of nowhere where he made her take off all of her clothes
he um raped her and he then passed out due to a to an overdose of drugs at the time just as drug-induced
type situation and she knew based on you know testimonies that she gave to the court that's how I know this
she knew he was going to kill her so she fled from the car completely nude and ran for her life and she was able to
escape so he's currently in prison in Colorado for that crime and he did not become
is any interest in the Melissa Witt case until several years after her body was found some people came
forward I can't give a lot of details about who they were for their own protection but they came forward to law
enforcement and said that they had suspected Travis and law enforcement tracked Travis down we do know that he
was in the area although he claimed that you know he had left you know the Ozark area well before you
know Melissa was kidnapped and murdered but that was not the case we have other witnesses to date that have given
statements that he was indeed in town you know Travis was um heavily into drugs and alcohol he had
a history of violence against women a long history of violence against women I've done a lot of investigative work
into Travis's life talking to a lot of people that he knew and that he was involved with and he was Notorious for
raping women at gunpoint knife Point um he got a lot he got away with a lot of different crimes but just you know
overall violence but you know what's interesting about him is that he committed a fairly similar crime you
know the girl was taken to a remote location where she was you know raped and she escaped and she was totally nude
and you know I shared with you earlier you know some of my theory about what could have happened was Melissa and that
kind of lines up um you know he knew the area very well he lived and worked a mile away from her
body was you know where her body was found and then you know we were later able to
uncover from you know different witnesses that came forward that he actually participated in some illegal
activities in that very area where Melissa's body was found now you said that he's committed some illegal
activity in that area where her body was found but I'm guessing with his well-known drug use that we're talking
about dealing drugs and purchasing drugs in that area you're correct um not only
were there drug dealings that he actually grew marijuana plants near that very rock where Melissa's body was found
so you know that area meant something to him and he had a violent history of violent history against women he lied
originally about his whereabouts when Melissa went missing and was murdered so yeah he's he's definitely a suspect that
you know law enforcement cannot rule him out he does not cooperate he hasn't cooperated with our team you know we've
reached out to family and friends of his and so we've done a lot of work in looking at Travis Crouch and he he will
remain a number one suspect until he either you know decides to cooperate or we can
find the evidence to prove that he did indeed kill Melissa Witt so if Travis did this this would be a stranger on
Stranger type crime you know quite possibly I mean he was from that area um he was living in that area it's
possible that you know he he had ran into her at the mall you know just to put it in even more context when he
um you know met the girl that he raped on that remote Mountaintop in Colorado he met her at a mall and the day Melissa
went went missing she had lunch at the local mall with her friend we know that the malls were one of Travis's favorite
spots I think it's feasible to think that maybe he ran across Melissa that day maybe they had a conversation
maybe he followed her that's that's completely plausible thing that could have happened
okay time out here Captain because Ladonna presents a an interesting observation here that potentially Travis
could have been watching at the mall yeah and spotted Melissa there I mean what better place if if you have if
you're a predator and you have a type that you're you're hunting yeah um what better place to go to if you're
looking for someone you know 18 19 year old 20 year old attractive young woman you go to the you go to the mall
and maybe not so much even just a type but this is this is your Mo you know we've seen this multiple times in in
serial killers or serial rapists where they kind of come up with a plan uh their job then becomes to execute that
plan over and over and to get better at it and we already know that he likes to pick up his prey from the mall and it's
pretty simple too because if you if you go to the mall you find somebody that you like you follow them if they
end up in a situation where they could be easily compromised right you abduct them and you've achieved your mission if
not if that situation never arises you just go back to the mall the next week and repeat and this is something that if
this was Travis and if this is his Mo you know this wasn't the first day that he went to the mall and this happened
this is something he probably did time and time again until he found a person that that he thought he could easily
overcome well and think about how many times we see it with with other Killers again where it's you're developing so
you know somebody like um uh Ted bunny will be a peeping Tom first you know and so they're developing so he could have
just been going to the mall for a while you know just as a let's say as a kid and and he just like going there and
following a girl around and that became okay now I want to follow her outside side of the mall now you know I mean uh
and it seems like he also needed to be on drugs during this time so um you kind of see that too with
somebody like Dahmer for example yeah um needed to be or wanted to be right right um I guess there could be a debate
there the situation though for me would be if this was Travis and if where he first encountered Melissa was in fact
the mall we have to keep in mind that that he would have been not easily detected
because we don't see any scenario where Melissa appears to be on guard for the rest of the day she was not at the mall
alone you know and we we've interviewed that person investigators have interviewed that person later they don't
give any clues any leads as to that aspect um so this person would have been where Travis seems to have been very out
of control in his attack in Colorado and you're you're right that's because of the drug use
um whoever if this war was his Mo and he was at the mall that day he was in control at that time
um he he would not have stood out for any reason he necessarily didn't actually have to meet her you know it
could have just been he she caught his eye and he just kind of followed her at a distance okay Ladonna that's the thing
that you have to ask yourself is this just pure coincidence that this guy that has picked up followed a girl from a
mall before and our victim here Melissa happened to be at the mall earlier that day right he also has ties to the
location where her body is eventually found the big question I have is you know we
know he's capable of rape because that's what he's been convicted of in Colorado
what I need to be convinced of is how are why are we so convinced he's capable of murder because it's alleged
that he's committed multiple rapes at gunpoint before what made that attack in Colorado different from the previous
attacks yeah and how do we know that he was going to kill his victim in Colorado
well I mean that's based on her testimony so the only reason she got away from him is because he was also
drinking and doing drugs while he held her in this car I mean he was raping her repeatedly it was a violent attack but
he passed out and she was so certain that he was going to kill her when he woke up that instead
of trying to put her clothes on or even take him with her she took off completely nude she knew she couldn't
waste any time to get away from him that's her testimony she escaped with her life
she was certain he was going to kill her and the attack was just so brutal and violent and as far as the other rapes
now those are things that he was never charged for now these are these are rapes that occurred
um to women who did not come forward to law enforcement for a variety of reasons
perhaps um you know some examples and I I'm talking in a little bit vager terms because some
of these women that I've been in touch with I need to protect them because he will be paroled at some point and I want
to be certain that if Travis Crouch hears this that he he isn't able to go after the particular
people that I have spoken to but you know these were women that were involved in some things that were
um less than desirable doesn't mean that they deserve what happened to them and that's not what I'm implying but those
were their words that's what they told me and that's why they didn't go to law enforcement
and you know he um Travis you know he being Travis was involved in a biker gang and some other activities that were
just very violent I mean he tried to kill a man in one state served some time there you know he he's been arrested
pretty much in every state that he's ever been in South Carolina Louisiana Colorado Arkansas for you know anything
from theft to trying to burn things down to you know stabbing people but he you know Travis has been described as
someone that has no care at all for life it doesn't matter to him I mean he's literally walked up
to people and just and stabbed them in a bar he he just he doesn't care um you know he wasn't a half bad looking
guy all those years ago I mean I said seen some photos of him so it's easy for me to believe that a young girl might
talk to him at first and be flattered and not realize you know what they were dealing with but he's he's a dangerous
predator and I hope that he did not get paroled but it's looking like parole is quite possible for him in about eight
years do we have any eyewitnesses that would put Travis in the area back in December of 1994.
um we do we have people that that continue to say that he was in the area we can't place where he was for sure
um we know that he was arrested in in New Orleans on New Year's Eve or day I'm not really sure how that worked out if
it happened at midnight or 1201 a.m you know where that but but that's the next arrest that he had but you know we we
have pretty reliable sources that have come forward all these years later that say oh no you know Travis was here and
they believed that um they that he took off to Louisiana shortly after the body was found because
he was a flight afraid he was going to be blamed is is what some of these sources have told us but as far as you
know being able to definitely prove that you know beyond A Reasonable Doubt no we
can't but you know enough people have come forward to kind of paint a picture for us that we're very confident that
Travis was here we're very confident that he has people that were close to him you know relatives that have
not told the truth because they want to protect Travis and you know there's only
one reason why he would lie and say no I I was I'd already taken off to Louisiana but he was really here because
he was possibly involved in this crime he has something to hide for sure but he he has not responded to any of my
requests for an interview and he has not responded to any of my letters in prison
I have corresponded with um his mother and a sister of his but you know we've not had any real
cooperation so you say that you know that Travis was arrested in Louisiana on either New Year's Eve or New Year's Day
but she wasn't found until the 13th fill me in here are we saying that that after he was arrested that he was
released and potentially came back to Arkansas he was released after that arrest and he started traveling
We Believe back through this area as he made his way to to meet with some friends to possibly go on to his next
adventure and I'm not sure if he went to South Carolina first or he went straight
to Colorado it's really difficult to track his movements because you have to remember it's two decades later and
you're dealing with people that don't really want to cooperate so he wasn't held very long in Louisiana maybe a day
for that arrest from what I recall so you know it doesn't mean that he came back and he was the one that moved the
body it's possible well let's think about this that someone that was close to him knew that he had
killed Melissa Witt and perhaps they were overcome with guilt and they moved the body I mean any anything like that
is possible you know I I can't say for sure and I can't say for sure that Thomas Crouch tells Melissa wet but he's
an awfully good suspect that has lied repeatedly has a violent history and refuses to cooperate so I mean it seems
to me that he would want to help rule himself out but he has no desire to do that well with this drug use too I mean
you have to wonder if he even knows that he did the crime possible possible my guess would be if
he spotted her at the mall he has some good recollection of what took place leading up to getting her in
his vehicle meaning he was probably sober at some point yeah and he would recognize her face on the the news right
but I guess the thought here is that maybe what's more likely is that because of his intense drug use day after day
and alcohol use and a combination of both that he probably got so intoxicated or
high one day that he told somebody either where Melissa was where her body was or what he had done yes that's my
thought because he was he was heavily into drugs heavily into drugs the only thing that kept him from
from remaining that kind of a drug addict is this the stint that he's doing in prison for the rape of that girl in
Colorado I mean Travis Travis was just walking chaos [Music] all right we're back cheers
before we get back to Ladonna with her second suspect in the Melissa Witt murder case the first suspect Travis
Crouch it seems to me that the story the theory would be this that he would have
gone to the mall looking for a potential victim that day came across Melissa followed her for a portion of that day
until he saw his opportunity with her getting out of her vehicle in the in the parking lot at the bowling alley that's
a pretty big time Gap too approaches her as the Ladonna said that this Travis may
be an attractive young man that she may not have run off screaming from immediately right
he attacks her forces her into his vehicle dumps her in a location takes her to a location that he knows well
murders her there leaves the body there and then at some point in some kind of uh stupor some some intoxicated stupor
he tells somebody that he knows someone close to him either where she's located or what he has done yeah so either he
moves the body or somebody that he told possibly moves the body yeah um potentially he could have moved the
body because he told somebody where it was but you would think that if if the whole point it was concealing the body
you would move it to a location that would conceal it further rather than putting it in a
place where it would be found right but I think the theory on this is that uh well
in his drunken stupor or drug State maybe he did this and didn't mean to didn't mean to bring her out into the
open or again if he told somebody that their guilt got to him and figured hey if I move the body somebody will find it
but I'm with Ladonna I think there's no coincidence that there happens to be this phone call where somebody seems to
be describing Melissa Witt and then the next day the bodies found I don't think that's any coincidence at
all well let's get into the second suspect well um for the murder of Melissa Trotter
Melissa Trotter was a 19 year old Community College Student in Montgomery County Texas
she met Larry Swearingen by chance in a you know it's like a convenience store slash pizza parlor type parking area
where their conversation was videotaped by a security camera they talked for two
hours on December 6th in this parking lot just in this little area on the outskirts of Lake Conroe in Texas okay
so we know that he came across her we know he was very intrigued by Melissa Trotter and according to testimony in in
the Melissa Toronto murder trial he went back to work the next day and told some
of his fellow electricians that he's met this really cute girl and that she was going to meet him for lunch that day
well Melissa Trotter set him up didn't show up for lunch and these same Witnesses told the court in the murder
trial that when she stood him up that he became very angry eerily angry so that was the seventh we know that Witnesses
saw Larry swearington on the campus of the community college in Montgomery County Texas on December 8th that he sat
and talked with Melissa and that they left together they got in his vehicle Melissa Trotter was never seen again
never seen again she was found roughly you know 30 40 days later in the Sam Houston National Forest
and she had been strangled she had been sexually assaulted and strangled how long until they make an arrest on Larry
Swearingen you know he [Music] you know they were able to determine really quickly that he knew Melissa
Trotter they were able to pull that security camera footage they were able to get you know some information about
the things that he was saying about Melissa Trotter and they were really able to tie the pieces together pretty
quickly his wife at the time would later testify that when she came home to their
trailer that evening that the trailer was in a disarray you know he had brought Melissa
Trotter back to the trailer that's where it's believed that she most likely spurned
his sexual advances and he then raped her and strangled her with a section of his wife's pantyhose
and then loaded her up and dumped her body in the Sam Houston National Forest of course he denies it what evidence do
we have against Larry Swearingen in this case and we know that he has disputed that he was at work at the time that
Melissa Trotter disappeared well there's a lot of evidence there's a it's what's
described as a mountain of evidence against Larry Swearingen and I would agree with that as I have the court
transcripts the testimony against Larry Swearingen and the Melissa Trotter trial
so I've taken about a year and a half to do a case study on Larry swearington he
killed Melissa Trotter there's no doubt but as far as evidence there was hair and fiber evidence found in his truck
that belonged to Melissa Trotter there was you know fiber evidence fiber evidence
on her body that belonged to Larry Swearingen um you know he had a cell phone at the
time and it pinged right around the area where um he would have to had to have driven through to
dump her body in the Sam Houston National Forest you know her pack of cigarettes were
left behind in the trailer that lived where Larry Swearingen lived later they were
able to find the other section of pantyhose that was used you know he tore it apart to strangle Melissa in a trash
can at Larry's warington's house paperwork that belonged to Melissa Trotter was found all in this area near
where Larry swearington's family lived it was all found strong strung out across the street so it's almost like it
has been blown out of a trash can or some kind of some kind of area where Larry had hidden it so that's
just a little bit of evidence that is against Larry Swearingen of course he and his defense team try to paint a
picture that he had been at work that he had picked his grandmother up that you know he and Melissa Trotter were just
great friends but you have to keep in mind he had only met Melissa Trotter two days prior
there wasn't a great friendship with Melissa Trotter yeah there are a lot of of interviews
with Larry swearington out there in different forms of media about this case and if you put them all
together he never tells the same story about Melissa Trotter it always changes you know what one story is that they had
a consensual sexual relationship for weeks well that's not possible he only knew her for two days
you know that they were great friends and they spent a lot of time together well that's not true he only knew her
for two days and she stood him up the next day after they met I mean it's it's a lot of
um you know smoke and mirrors with Larry Swearingen and his defense team to try to create doubt in the minds of the
general public that he did not kill Melissa Trotter but the the fact is is he did Kill Melissa Trotter there's just
no two ways about it were you able to speak with his ex-wife he has me many Ex-Wives and I have spoken to two of
them they have been very very Cooperative with me these two particularly and I I prefer not to use
their names but they these two wives have have shared with me how Larry tried to strangle both of them in Anger that
he was violent he was volatile and they firmly believe that he killed not only Melissa Trotter but that he also killed
Melissa Witt and they believe that he has killed other women and I I'm in agreement I believe that Larry
swearington is a serial killer before we get into that let's get into Larry's background
it sounds to me like he had traveled around a lot he was some kind of contractor or an electrician is that
correct you're correct he um traveled as a journeyman electrician he most often traveled with his stepfather Joe
Martinez and they traveled all across the Eastern United States all kinds of areas you know he's being looked at by
law enforcement in many different locations where there were young women found strangled he's a prime suspect and
more than just these two cases but what about his background he had been in a lot of trouble in school he had broken
into um you know his own high school and stolen some things he was in trouble quite a bit for selling cars you know
breaking entering into buildings you know fighting just a variety of things I mean just a career criminal is how I
would describe Larry swearing the funny thing here Captain when we spoke with Ladonna and we got into all this
conversation about Larry Swearingen being a a key individual to look at as a suspect in the Melissa Whitt murder in
abduction the funny thing was we were speaking with her on the date that Larry Swearingen was supposed to have been
executed we always have a weird serendipitous things happen like that yeah he was supposed to have been
executed on November 16th and we actually it was actually pushed pushed back before we had the conversation with
her um however it was just kind of ironic that we were speaking with her about him
on the very day that he was supposed to have been executed so let's listen in as
we get some better information on to why are they pushing back his execution they
continue to do that in the beginning they were pushing it back maybe a year and then they shortened it to the point
where they're pushing it back just a couple of months if we continue what they've been doing he was supposed to be
executed in September of this year then later in November so I'm guessing maybe they'll finally kill this guy in January
or February of next year but let's listen into why the whole hold up is it because he's being looked at as a
suspect and other cases other murder cases or is it just simply the appeals process it is
it has nothing to do with the other cases so I will say this is that Larry Swearingen was able to look into a
phenomenal defense team I mean he has the Innocence Project backing him now in my opinion and it's my opinion only
the Innocence Project took him on because they wanted to see some of the laws change in Texas and that did happen
because they took on his case right it you know some the way they handle DNA in cases so that was a win for them
but they've worked very hard to um create this doubt that Larry Swearingen is guilty and it's a frustrating point
for me personally because you know as I mentioned there is a mountain of evidence that he killed Melissa Trotter
and it's almost offensive to me that anyone would go to these links to defend this man they're the Crux of their
argument is this they wanted additional DNA testing and that was part of the law
change that they had made it just didn't apply to Larry swearinger's case but they wanted additional DNA testing
um on some things that were found on Melissa Trotter's body evidence under her fingernails and I think evidence on the
pantyhose and some things like that but let me explain to you why that is absolutely asinine you know the jury was
presented with this information the jury knew going in to this case that there was a full DNA profile
of an of a an unknown male found under Melissa Trotter's fingernails so they knew that the the jury saw that
they also knew that there was a full DNA profile found on some other evidence and you know and as there would be the
pantyhose that he used to strangle Melissa Trotter belonged to his wife okay so there was an explanation for
these things so the jury knew all this and they convicted him anyway because of all of the other evidence
but you know of course Melissa Trotter had another DNA profile under her fingernails she had been at school that
day she had done all kinds of things the day before I mean she didn't meet up with Larry
until noon that day it's absolutely feasible that there would be another DNA profile I would be surprised if there
wouldn't be but you know that has just been the Crux of their argument and they just Hammer that hammer that home in the
media if I sound like I'm frustrated about it I am because a 19 year old girl was killed and they're dismissing the
mountain of evidence because they want to make an argument on something that the jury already looked
at and said okay I understand that it's been explained we still believe that he killed Melissa Trotter based on all
these other things but you know so Larry has built a career on death row of being able to weasel out
of these executions because they keep filing motions that keep getting struck down by the higher courts
but this latest situation with the the delay of his execution had had to do with two different things
one being that um unfortunately the paperwork was filed incorrectly in Texas with the wrong
office and that's just an unfortunate event that happened so that delayed is execution
and then you've got to couple that with this this greatest and latest Scandal of
Larry Swearingen where he has been working with another death row inmate for who knows how long
and had taught this death rower into admitting at the midnight hour before his own execution that he was the one
that had killed Melissa Trotter fortunately this guy and his name is Anthony Shore has some conscience before
it all went down and he admitted to officials what was happening and so that delayed Anthony Shore's execution but
it's also then created this huge media circus around Larry swearington I mean it's just one more way
for Larry to delay his execution and in his mind to try to create some kind of doubt where there is no doubt he killed
Melissa Trotter so basically Larry got this other gigantic pile of dog dookie to confess to the murder
of Melissa Trotter and that actually postponed both of their executions I mean you know the the justice system should
go hey we see what's going on here right it should be pretty simple well I mean you know Anthony Shore was known as
Houston's tourniquet killer so he killed many girls in the same style and fashion
as of Melissa Trotter or Melissa Witt you know they they were strangled but so he
he's also believed to have um maybe some sort of head trauma I don't know a lot about Anthony Shore but
I do know this I do know that Larry has been working that angle for many many years because he's got some people that
have been blogging for years about um health there's no way possible that it was Larry swearington that killed
Melissa Trotter and you know they put out the theory that it was Anthony Shore so this has been something that he's
planning for a very long time but Anthony um you know has admitted to the things that he has done
and I think that he just he just got suckered by another death row innovate I think that's what
happened I think that you know maybe there was a part of him that believed you know Larry that he didn't kill
Melissa Trotter so he was willing to take that rap for him I I don't know what kind of deal that they cut I really
don't but you know Larry Swearingen is very manipulative he's described as someone who's very charming and he's a
liar and I think that Anthony fell for that you know I don't know Anthony Shore personally but I would I would think
that maybe maybe he just he had a bout of conscience right before and couldn't follow through with it maybe something
told him that that was wrong that if he went through with this they would be letting a killer out on the street
because if they did Larry will just kill again there's no doubt in my mind about
that it's hard to understand or to know what kind of relationship those two men have I mean they're both
on death row because they killed young girls so you know the caliber of these people that we're talking about is not
the greatest so let's get into the connection between Larry Swearingen and our victim Melissa Witt I believe the
way that the story goes is that he was ultimately connected to this case this cold case because of a piece of paper or
some type of note that was found in his jail cell you're correct what happened is that authorities in Texas contacted
the detective at the time which is detective writer in Fort Smith and said I don't know if you're aware of who
Larry Swearingen is but we found a notebook in a Cell turnover and it had your name
um detective JC Ryder and it had Melissa witt's name and it had December 1st 1994
written down and that's really how Larry swearington came to the Forefront of the
minds of of Fort Smith police and that's when they started looking into Larry swearington and that's when it really
started becoming apparent that it's quite possible that he killed Melissa Witt that he could be involved and that
he had to be looked at closer all right so with the Melissa Wick case Larry would have been working in the area or
had family in this area well well he does have family in Arkansas they live in Clinton Arkansas which is you know
roughly a couple hours away from Fort Smith we do know that he was there in Clinton Arkansas just days before
Melissa Witt was killed because law enforcement was able to track down a receipt where he bought a car park in
Clinton Arkansas so we know it was in the area I know I can't put it back in Texas until mid-December late December
so he had plenty of time to kill Melissa West I believe it's quite possible that
he was working in the area and law enforcement did look at that angle however at the time and there was so
little to go on they didn't know that he was just a journeyman electrician they didn't realize that he would be working
under the license of Joe Martinez so when they did their search on anybody that had filled out a license or was
working in you know the greater Fort Smith area they looked under the name Larry
swearington and so we're trying to recreate that search now two decades later it's really
difficult if the records even exist but we know he was here we've got an ex-wife
that can place him here and she's pretty confident that he killed Melissa Witt but I we have to
have more than that before he could even be charged and that's something that we're looking at we've been in touch
with the retired detective one of the original detectives in the Trotter case who tells us that
they did find a receipt on Swearingen that that was in the from the Fort Smith area
in December of 94 that first week of December of 94 and they assure me they believe
that he killed Melissa Witt so I'm trying desperately to find that receipt are you able to say what one of the
Ex-Wives said to you regarding why she firmly believes that Larry killed Melissa Witt
um she has the suspicion for a couple of different reasons and and one is that he
was very abusive to her and he had actually violently raped her choked her until she
blacked out and dumped her in the woods he thought she was dead and so you know in her mind this is something he's very
capable of doing but also she at the time that they were together she found quite a few women's
IDs on him and he couldn't explain it he took him away from her and he dumped him
in the woods that does she remember if one of those belonged to Melissa Witt no but that
that really set off my radar have you been able to talk with Larry I have been several times
um he's not a fan of Ladonna Humphrey and I'm not a fan of Larry and he is actually had his legal team serve me
with I think I'm at my fourth season desist refuses to cooperate you know will not talk about Melissa Witt at all
not at all denies that he killed Melissa Trotter and in my last correspondence with him you know I just pointed out hey
you have family in Arkansas when they were interviewed they said that you used to camp and and hike in
that very area where Melissa's body was found is that true you know he doesn't respond you know I reminded both girls
were named Melissa they were the same age same kind of physical appearance you know both of their bodies were dumped in
a national forest 50 miles from the side of the abduction both girls were abducted in the same week exactly four
years apart if that doesn't you know ring a bell of a serial killer I don't know what does but what you know
both girls were strangled and then and this is the the Clincher for me Melissa Witt
had a watch stolen from her her murderer stolen it was a Mickey Mouse watch Melissa Trotter's watch was stolen from
her it was a Mickey Mouse watch her killer stole it that was my favorite part of the entire interview uh right
there and I'll tell you why because you have a Mickey Mouse watch if uh if anybody followed my good instruction
many many months ago and picked up one of our recommended reading books this was the uh called a good marriage by
Stephen King it's not a true story it's a fictional story nobody listens to you if anybody picked that up they know why
that I found that part so interesting when when she says and this is all hearsay by the way we have to throw that
in there because it's it's a telling from one person to another than to us we don't know if this is in fact true
here's a smear say the portion where she said that the wife one of his Ex-Wives of Larry found several driver's license
in their home from young women and when confronted about it he has no answer he confiscates them and then he
supposedly dumps them or or discards of them in the woods somewhere right that's exactly what happened in a good
marriage though the husband is away on work she's looking the wife is looking for something in the garage
and she comes across a little hidey hole and inside there's several driver's license of girls that had gone missing
in the surrounding states and it's exactly like a case that we covered which one it happened in an addict not
the garage and a dark past yeah that's right in the Attic Felix Vale case the yeah and uh I
think the people that were running off of him I believe found the box yeah they found some some old items of one of his
very likely victims the thing that we should we should you know I want to mention this because we are talking
about Stephen King we're talking about storytellers you know the the Mickey Mouse watch the two victims that
happened to be named Melissa they're the same age they're abducted in the same week four years apart some of that seems
a little storyteller-ish you know it seems a little icing on the cake I don't know that that a killer that's that's
attacking two women that he would have you know there's a very likely situation that if Larry did Kill both of these
melissas that he likely would not have known that's not why he killed them it's not
like he's driving around looking for the next Melissa I agree with you but we do
have um we do have evidence that he met the first Melissa if he met Melissa with his
second Melissa right it's a tricky story because he was convicted of of Melissa Trotter's case but that was actually
after uh Melissa wits right so we have evidence that he met Melissa trouter beforehand so I'm guessing that if if
this is a victim you know his Mo would kind of suggest that he would have met Melissa Witt prior to the the attack
possibly could have had some kind of interaction with her in advance but I think the thing that we're kind of
losing track of here in this story is what really is tying Larry Swearingen to this case
keep in mind her name is found written Melissa witt's name is found written in a notebook of his as well as you and I
were talking about this as well as the detective yeah slow down a little bit so he's he's in a different state he's in
another state this is like a decade later death row and they find I mean they find her name
and not just her name but the detective's name I mean I just keep going back to the fact that there's no
reason for him to have her name written on any of his property at all yeah it's pretty um that's pretty
mind-blowing so fill us in on the current state of Melissa witt's Case you know the case
is more active now than it has been in years and um you know we work daily with law
enforcement and you know I just talked to the you know the detective this morning and you know they allow us our
team to run a tip line and that tip line is pretty active and then we share that
information on immediately with law enforcement and you know they're they're following up on tips all
the time and I do believe it's just a matter of time right now my focus is excuse me you know solely on trying to
get Larry Swearingen ruled in or ruled out before he's executed once he's executed
we may never know all right and so that documentary uh might come out this spring but they're still
negotiating that so once we know something we'll let you know well and if you want to find out the release date
they will be making updates regarding that on the website which is who killed missywit.com or their Facebook page who
killed Missy Witt the thing that I'm interested in seeing here Captain is what more information can we find out in
the documentary because I think that even even though as forthcoming as Ladonna was and I so appreciate her time
with us and her keeping her efforts and all of her energy working on this cold case because I don't know if
there's the everybody picked up on this but during the course of that interview one thing that we learned is that
unfortunately both Melissa witt's parents have passed away since she was killed so they didn't get to see Justice
for their daughter and sometimes you wonder you know we cover a lot of these old cold cases sometimes you wonder that
when the relatives of these people start to pass away and once they start to fade
into memory does the case itself fall Fade Into memory as well is there anybody out
there working the case does anybody still care and it's great to see somebody like Ladonna focusing her
efforts on this old Cold Case working on a documentary we've seen movement on cases because of documentaries and
because of podcast so it's very interesting to see what's there I think I was trying to read between the lines
there I think there's some more information that that will be released when that documentary comes out and I
also want to include if anybody wants to has heard this case and has some information that they can offer you can
submit tips at the who killed missywitt.com website there's instructions there on how to do so or
there's a phone number that you can call to submit a tip and that's 479-221-9393 all right do we have any
recommended reading for the week we do this week we're recommending convenient suspect and the strange thing here
little coincidence tie into what we covered this week and last week it just so happened we had two cases back to
back we didn't plan this they happened to take place in December of 1994. we wanted to cover those well we did with
DeJuan Sims last week and then Melissa Witt this week well that inspired me to come up with this recommended reading
it's from a cold case from December back in 1994 that took place in Pennsylvania
and I shouldn't say a cold case because this one has been technically solved as far as the books are concerned but you
can tell by the title convenient suspect there's a lot of people out there that wonder if they have the right suspect so
if you're interested in this pick up convenient suspect a double murder a flawed investigation and the railroading
of an innocent woman and this is by Tammy Mull and you can find all of our recommended reading on our website
truecrimegarage.com and just click on the recommended page yeah and also at truecrime garage.com we have our blog
there as well as our store page so check all of that good stuff out all right everybody thank you for listening thank
you for telling a friend yeah thanks for sharing on social media be good be kind
and don't litter [Music] thank you [Applause] [Music]

Melissa Witt /// Part 2 /// 162

Part 2 of 2

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December 1, 1994- 19 year old college student Melissa Witt goes missing from Bowling World in Fort Smith, Arkansas. When she is first reported missing the police suspect that she had runaway. Later Melissa's car was found abandoned in the bowling alley's parking lot. Once they located the vehicle investigators quickly found evidence that suggested Melissa had been attacked and abducted after exiting her vehicle. Tonight we are joined by Missing Persons advocate LaDonna Humphrey as we explore this strange case. A cold case that certainly does not lack suspects.

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Brief Summary

This episode examines the unsolved murder of Melissa Witt and two main suspects, Travis Crouch and Larry Swearingen, highlighting their violent histories and connections to the case.

Key points

Introduction to True Crime Garage. Hosts Nick and the Captain welcome listeners and introduce the episode's theme.
The Case of Melissa Witt. Discussion begins about the disappearance and murder of Melissa Witt.
Suspect Travis Crouch. Exploring the background and potential connection of Travis Crouch to Melissa's murder.
Travis's Violent History. Details of Travis Crouch's violent past and criminal activities are revealed.
Eyewitness Accounts. Investigators discuss eyewitness accounts placing Travis in the area during the crime.
The Murder of Melissa Trotter. Melissa Trotter, a 19-year-old student, was found murdered after meeting Larry Swearingen.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Little Rock is a very cool City to travel to.

A recommendation about Little Rock, Arkansas.

1:23WatchNov 28, 2022

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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