Post by LadyBlue on Jul 9, 2013 14:53:11 GMT -5
BISMARCK — A body found in Montana has been identified as that of a teenager missing from Bismarck.
Bismarck Police Lt. Gary Malo said an autopsy revealed that a body found June 26 in Poplar, Mont., is that of John Swain.
Swain, 18, was reported missing in mid-May. Police believe two men lured him into a Bismarck home, hit him with a hammer, cut off his legs, cleaned up the crime scene and hid his body.
Joshua James Clark, 20, and Theo Crowe, 25, have been charged with Class AA felony conspiracy to commit murder. Clark, of Stanley, is being held in the Burleigh County Detention Center in lieu of $1 million cash bond. Crowe, of Trenton, is being held in the Williams County Correctional Center on unrelated charges and has not made a court appearance in the murder case.
The investigation into Swain’s disappearance became a homicide investigation June 20 after a Bismarck woman found the burnt remnants of clothing, a knife and pieces of a cellphone. Investigators determined the clothing matched what Swain was wearing when he was last seen. Crowe had been staying at the woman’s house during May while she was out of state. She reported also finding blood in her home when she returned.
Investigators serving search warrants at Crowe’s grandmother’s home in Poplar found a body on June 26. Residents of the town said officers had been digging in the yard.
Malo confirmed Monday the body was that of Swain, but he did not know the cause of death yet.
The complaints against Crowe and Clark allege they “committed the overt act or acts of obtaining a weapon, inviting John Swain to a residence, striking John Swain with a hammer, dismembering John Swain’s legs, cleaning the scene of the murder, destroying physical evidence or concealing John Swain’s body.”
Further court hearings in the cases have not been scheduled. Clark has been approved for a court-appointed attorney, but court documents do not list an attorney’s name yet.
Read more: billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/autopsy-body-found-in-montana-is-nd-homicide-victim/article_e8d87af3-efc1-5f84-a97a-333ea70bd90c.html#ixzz2Ya0paGDk