Thanks for listening to this special case update episode of Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day and true crime storyteller by night.

And as always, I'm your very excited co-host, Scott.

Early last year, we covered the Unsolved Homicide of Kathy Swartz, a young Michigan mother

whose entire life lay ahead of her in 1988,

until that is, someone took it from her. Someone brutally killed 19-year-old Kathy, beating,

stabbing, and strangling her while her infant daughter was in the next room. Kathy's killer

began the attack near the door to the apartment, but rather than

fleeing outside, Kathy stayed and fought back, hard. Although we can't know what she was thinking

in her final moments. Her movement through the apartment makes it clear that she wasn't willing to

abandon her daughter in their home, no matter what dangers such a fight presented for her personally.

Unfortunately,

she was ultimately overpowered by her attacker who was armed with a knife and had taken her by surprise.

Fortunately, Kathy's daughter wasn't physically harmed. A few hours later, Kathy's boyfriend returned home from work to find the baby physically safe in her crib, and Kathy deceased on the

floor where she'd succumbed to her injuries. When police arrived on scene, they found a scene that

would haunt them for the rest of their careers and the rest of their lives. In the small town

of Three Rivers, Michigan, murder was unusual period. In fact, it was December when Kathy was killed,

and her murder was the town's

sole homicide that year. While any murder would have come as a surprise, Kathy's was especially

brutal and especially heartbreaking. It was immediately apparent to investigators that her attacker

had lashed out at her in a rage. The scene had overkill written all over it, almost literally, even.

If I remember correctly, wasn't there something written on the refrigerator in blood even?

...