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

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crime [Music] 19-year-old Melissa wit disappeared from the Bowling World parking lot on
December 1st 1994 now her body was found about 6 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 three
sex offenders in the area well there were also some very dangerous people that were probably in that area in
December of 1994 and 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 there are quite a few suspects um 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 there's two of those and and the first is Travis Dale Crouch
and Travis is um an Arkansas native um he is currently in prison in Colorado we can touch 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 um that was about a mile from
where Melissa wit'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 wit's murder well Travis is current currently in prison in
Colorado for the rape 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 um coer her to um 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 um
passed out due to a to an overdose of drugs at the time just a drug induced type situation and she knew based on you
know testimony that she gave to the court that's how I know this she knew was going to kill her so she fled from
the car completely Ned and ran for her life and she was able to escape so he's currently in prison um in Colorado for
that crime and he did not become um of any interest in the Melissa wit case until several years after um 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
um law enforcement tracked Travis down we do know that he was in the area although he claims that um 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 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 with 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 but 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 a violent history against women he lied originally about his whereabouts um when
Melissa went missing and um was murdered so yeah it 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 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 wet 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 that 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 19y 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 uh pick up his prey from the mall and it's pretty simple too because
if you if you go to the mall mhm 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 a 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 hiso 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 likeed going
there and following a girl around and that became okay now I want to follow her outside of the mall now you know
what 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 dmer for example yeah um needed to be or wanted to be 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 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 MH um whoever If This Were was hiso 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 Lonna
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 them with her she took off completely nuded 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 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 is 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 serve
some time there you know he he's been arrested pretty much in every state that he's ever been in South Carolina
Louisiana um 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 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 he just he doesn't
care um you know he wasn't a half badl looking guy all those years ago I mean I've 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 um 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 12:01 am 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 um the body was found because he was Afra 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 um 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 um 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 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 um 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
wit 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 I can't say for sure that Travis crops KT Mor a WT but
he's an awfully good suspect that has lied repeatedly has 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 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 cuz 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 stin that he's doing in prison for the rape of that girl in Colorado I mean Travis Travis was just walking
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before we get back to Ladonna with her second suspect in the Melissa wit 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 Ladon 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 stuper some some intoxicated stuper 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 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 stuper 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 Lonna I think there's no coincidence
that there happens to be this pH call where somebody seems to be describing Melissa wit and then the next day the
body's found I don't think that's any coincidence at all well let's get into the second suspect well you know Larry
singen um was arrested in 1999 um for the murder of Melissa trod Melissa trod was a
19-year-old Community College Student in Montgomery County Texas she met met Larry Swearingen by chance in
a you know it's like a convenience store SL pizza parlor type parking area where
their conversation um was videotaped by a security camera they talked for two hours on December 6 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 TR murder trial he
went back to work the next day and told some of his fellow electricians that he had met this really cute girl and that
she was going to meet him for lunch that day well Melissa Trotter stood him up didn't show up for lunch and these same
Witnesses told the court in the murder trial that um when she stood him up that he became very angry eerily angry so
that was the seventh we know that Witness says saw Larry Swearingen on the campus of the community college in
mcgomery County Texas on December 8th that he sat and talked with Melissa and that they left together they got in his
vehicle Melissa troter 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 um sexually assaulted and
strangled how long until they make an arrest on Larry swaringen you know he he was arrested fairly quickly you know
they were able to determine really quickly that he knew Melissa trer they were able to pull that um security
camera footage they were able to get you know some information about the things that he was saying about Melissa troter
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 panty hose 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 swaringen in this
case and we know that he has disputed that he was at work at the time that Melissa trod disappeared well um there's
a lot of evidence there's a it's what's described as a mountain of evidence against Larry swearington and I would
agree with that as I have the court transcripts the testimony against Larry Swearingen in the Melissa troter trial
so I've taken about a year and a half to do a case study on Larry Swearingen he killed Melissa trer there's no doubt but
as far as evidence there was hair and fiber evidence found in his truck that belonged to Melissa trod 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 had 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 um lived where Larry Swearingen lived later they were able to find the other section of panty hose
that was used you know he tore it AP to strangle Melissa in a trash can at Larry sington house paperwork that
belonged to Melissa Trotter um was found all in this area near where Larry swearington family lived it was all
found strung strung out across the street so it's almost like it had been blown out of a trash can or some kind of
some kind of area where um Larry had hidden it so that's just a little bit of the evidence
that is against Larry Swearingen um 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 troter were just great friends but you have to keep
in mind he had only met Melissa troter two days prior there wasn't a great friendship with Melissa Trotter you know
there are a lot of of interviews with Larry Swearingen out there um in different
forms of media about this case and if you put them all together he never tells the same story um about Melissa troter
it always changes you know one 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 them up the next day after they met I mean it's it's
a lot of um you know smoking mirrors with Larry sing and and his defense team to try to create doubt in the minds of
the general public that he did not kill Melissa trod but the the fact is is he did Kill Melissa trod there's just no
two ways about it were you able to speak with his ex-wife he has many Ex-Wives and I have spoken to two of them they um
have been very very Cooperative with me these two particularly and I I'd 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 wit and they believe that he has killed other women and I I'm in agreement I believe that
Larry Swearingen 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 Cor correct you're correct he um traveled as a journeyman electrician he most often traveled with his stepfather
Joe Martinez and um 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 in 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 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 Swearingen 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 wit murder in Abduction the funny thing was we were speaking with her on the date that Larry
swaringen was supposed to have been executed we always have little weird serendipitous things happen like that
yeah he was supposed to have been executed on November 16th and we actually it was actually
push 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 continueed 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 hold up is it because he's being looked at as a
suspect in other cases other murder cases or is it just simply the appeals process it so the hold up in his
execution has nothing to do with the other cases so I will say this is that um 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 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 troter
and it's almost offensive to me that anyone would go to these links to defend this man there 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 swearington case but they wanted additional DNA
testing um on some things that were found on U Melissa Trotter's body uh evidence under her fingernails and I
think evidence on the panty hose and some things like that but let me explain to you why that is absolutely afonine
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 a know 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 there as
there would be the panty hose that he used to strangle Melissa troter 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 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 at home
in the media if i s 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 his execution and then you've got a couple that with this this greatest and latest Scandal of
Larry saring Jen where he has been working with another death row inmate for who knows how long and had talked
this death rower into admitting at the midnight hour before his own execution that he was the
one that had killed Melissa trod fortunately this guy and his name is Anthony Shore had 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 swearing J 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 postpone both of their executions mhm I mean you know the the justice system should
go hey we see what's going on here right MH they it should be pretty simple well
I mean you know Anthony Shore was known as Houston tourniquet killer so he killed U many girls in the same style
and fashion as of Melissa trod or Melissa wit you know they they were strangled but so he he's also believed
to have um maybe some sort of um head trauma I 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 how 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 inmate 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 troter so he was willing to take that rrap for him I I don't know
what kind of deal that they cut I really don't but you know Larry singen 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 bat 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 streets
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 SAR Engen and our victim Melissa wit 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 Rider 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 wit'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 wit that he could be involved and that he had to be looked at closer all right so with the Melissa wit
case Larry would have had have been working in the area or had family in this area well he does have family in
Arkansas um they live in Clinton Arkansas which is you know roughly a couple hours away from Fort Smith um we
do know that he was there in Clinton Arkansas just days before Melissa wit was killed because law enforcement was
able to track down a receipt where he bought a car part in Clinton Arkansas so we know it was in the area I know I
can't put him back in Texas until mid December late December so he had plenty of time to kill Melissa witch I believe
it's quite possible that he was working in the area and law enforcement did look
at that 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 an
ex-wife that can place him here U and she's pretty confident that he killed Melissa wet 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 a
retired detective um one of the original detectives in the troter case who tells
us that they did find a receipt on swearing Jen that 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 wit 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 wit um she has the suspicion for a couple of different reasons and and
one is that he um 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 now does she remember if one of those
belonged to Melissa Wht no but that that really set off my radar have you been able to talk with Larry I have
corresponded with Larry swearington several times um he's not a fan of Lonna Humphrey and I'm not a fan of Larry and
he has actually had his legal team serve me with I think I'm at my fourth season
assist refuses to cooperate you know will not talk about Melissa wit 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 remind him both girls were named Melissa they were the same age same kind
of physical appearance you know both of their bodies were dumped in the 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 and this is the the Clincher for me Melissa wit had a watch stolen from her her
murderer stole it 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 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 then to us we don't know if this is in fact
true here stay smear stay 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 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 mhm yeah that's right and the addict they Felix Veil case the yeah and the 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 happen
to be named Melissa they're the same age they're abducted in the same week four years apart yeah of that seems a little
Storyteller is 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 the second Melissa it's a tricky story because he was convicted of of Melissa Trotter's case but that was
actually after uh Melissa witz right so we have evidence that he met Melissa trout beforehand so I'm guessing that if
if this is a victim you know his emo would kind of suggest that he would have met Melissa with prior to the the attack
possibly could have had some kind of inter action 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 swear engine to this case keep in mind her name is
found written Melissa wit'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 yeah and 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 mindblowing so fill us in
on the current state of Melissa wit'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's 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
rolled 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 Missy wit.com or their Facebook page who killed Missy wit 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 Lonna 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 that everybody picked up on this but during the course
of that interview one thing that we learned is that unfortunately both Melissa wit'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 Missy wit.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 479221 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 that happened to take place in December of 1994 we wanted to cover those well we did with
dwan Sims last week and the Melissa wit 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 convenience sus 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 in the railroading of an
innocent woman and this is by Tammy Maul and you can find all of our recommended
reading on our website true Crim garage.com and just click on the recommended page yeah and also at true
Crim 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 [Music] [Applause] litter [Music]
you can start your day off right when you find a professional on Angie to get your plumbing right
first connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well
visit angie.com you can do this when you Angie that

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

The episode discusses the murder of Melissa Wit and examines suspects Travis Crouch and Larry Swearingen.

Key points

Quality Sleep with Ashley. Ashley offers top mattress brands at winning prices, plus financing options.
True Crime Garage Introduction. Hosts Nick and the Captain introduce the show with humor and a drink review.
The Disappearance of Melissa Wit. 19-year-old Melissa Wit vanished in 1994; her body was found weeks later.
Travis Crouch: A Dangerous Suspect. Travis Crouch, a convicted rapist, becomes a key suspect in Melissa's case.
The Role of Therapy. BetterHelp offers online therapy to help manage seasonal blues and anxiety.
Evidence Against Swearingen. A mountain of evidence ties Larry Swearingen to the murder of Melissa Trotter.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I've never been to Little Rock, but it's a very cool city!

Host's thoughts on Little Rock.

2:16WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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