The Science of Murder
Someone killed Melissa Trotter and dumped her body in the Sam Houston National Forest. But according to six forensic experts, that someone was not Larry Swearingen.
27 comments
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011, 5:15 pm
LOE says:
The most compelling evidence would be the leg of her panty hoses. The problem is however, that the supposed course of events would be irrational. Either he would have had a pair of hoses before, cut one leg off it and brought the rest to their encounter. Why on earth would he be doing such a thing, when there are countless better alternatives, and why carelessly dump the remainder ? Or he would have used her pantys in their struggle, then for some odd reason cut off one leg after the act and, not kept the rest as a souvenir, but carelessly dumped it ? Unfortunately it looks like someone wanted to ”improve” the case by planting the hose leg.
Thursday, January 6th, 2011, 2:16 am
unanimous says:
Yeah, lots of evidence points to him, but who dumped the body in the woods while Larry was in jail? Where was Melissa while Larry was in jail on outstanding traffic tickets? Who was the guy making threatening phone calls to Melissa that she never informed her parents about? This is a really bizarre case. While Larry doesn’t seem like a great citizen or a guy I’d like to live next door too, to keep him on Death Row with all of this evidence, I think is a travesty. You would have to blind not to see there is reasonable doubt in this case.
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011, 6:55 am
unanymous says:
I know larry sr. son larry jr. very well and have read many things excluding him from this crime he was framed one of the ones that did it to him is an officer
Sunday, May 30th, 2010, 11:57 am
casie says:
I agree with Isa!!!! I had heard many strange things about Larry years prior to him murdering my friend!!! He has done some pretty aweful things and had other charges against him.
Sunday, May 30th, 2010, 11:53 am
casie says:
There is way too much evidence toward this horrible killer!! I went high school with melissa and she did not deserve what larry did to her. people please research this case more before you make your mind up about this monster!!! Melissa was such a awesome young woman and did not deserve this. I have followed this case since it happened and too much evidence shows he is GUILTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010, 5:00 pm
Jim B says:
Was the ground frozen at any point in the time after her deposit? If it was, you can’t get an exact time of death because of what frozen conditions do to body cells. What other bugs had begun living off her body? You know, bugs come in various stages of decomp. Had any animals chewed off and hauled off any body parts? In other words, how long after the dump was Melissa’s (God rest her soul and may we find her killer and bring him/her to justice)body found? Where was Larry at this time? What is his alibi?
Thursday, February 11th, 2010, 6:36 pm
Sam says:
The TCCA rejected his request for additional DNA stating he has not met his burden and listing the overwhelming amount of evidence of his guilt.
In the USDC, he also struck out but for procedural reasons allowed him to appeal to the 5th Circuit.
There is a special hell for those of you who will tell any lie and support a cold blooded rapist murderer like Swearingen.
Thursday, February 11th, 2010, 4:12 pm
RICK says:
FOLKS,I WASNT THEIR,AS YOU WERENT.I CAN SEE THIS CASE BOTH WAYS,HOWEVER MY ATTITUDE IS.BY ALL MEANS LET THEM TEST OR RETEST.WHY WOULD ANY ONE WANT TO KNOW THEY SUPPORTED KILLING SOME ONE THAT COULD BE INNOCENT.DONT JUDGE ON HIS PAST,THAT HAVES MOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CASE.ACTUALLY THAT SOUNDS LIKE WHAT THE PROSECUTOR IS DOING.IF D.N.A. COMES BACK SHOWING HE IS RESPONSIBLE,PLACE THE POINT IN THE JOINT THE NEXT DAY.PLEASE CONSIDER EVERY THING ELSE 1ST.
Monday, February 1st, 2010, 9:58 am
friend says:
Wiebke and Larry, my thoughts are with the both of you. I will never forget Larry’s kindness for Reggie
Sunday, January 31st, 2010, 7:20 pm
FrmTexas says:
Wiebke, stay strong! My thoughts are with you two! All the best and good luck!
Sunday, January 31st, 2010, 6:37 pm
A friend says:
Save the life of this man!!! Larry is innocent! Read his case and listen to his lawyer’s statement and you will agree!
God bless you Larry and Wiebke! Texas stop killing! It’s time!
Monday, August 31st, 2009, 5:45 am
CO Germany says:
We had a movie here in a german tv show about this case. If there is any single doubt that he realy killed this girl, it would be a murder, if the state killed this man. We don´t have capital punishment in germany, and I´m glad about it. You kill your perpetrators by law. Maybe you kill an innocent person by law, and what happend, if it turned out, he was innocent? What about your system? Who accuses the Judges, the Jury, the DA?
What to say to his Widow? "Sorry Madam, happens, the case is closed. Forgive us, find yourself yor peace!"
I read this story again and again an I´m not convinced about your juries decision. There are some questions to answer.
This case would be opened again when anyone, responsible for an execution of an innocent man, has to face his final judgement. Including the Members of the Jury.
Sorry..... for my poor Gramma
Sunday, August 9th, 2009, 6:24 pm
letha says:
12 people didn’t make a mistake when the found him guilty...I will be glad to see him get the same as Melissa did..lethal injection is too good he should be strangled
Friday, March 20th, 2009, 8:13 pm
Eff says:
I have read the 5th circuit’s ruling in its entirety and while the state has hard evidence of guilt, this ruling has merit for the simple fact that Ms. Trotter’s body could not have been in the woods for 25 days as the state claims.
Then you better read it again. The defense experts are all over the place and contradict each other. The ME says she did not testify as to the date the body was placed there because no one asked her. Apparently, she didn’t bother to volunteer it or mention it in her report, either. She also claims evidence was not made available to her, i.e., the video of the crime scene, medical record, and a record of daily temperatures. However, if these were so important to her in order to form an opinion, why didn’t she ask for them?
The prosecutions’s entomological expert has submitted evidence of a second colonization of blow flies on 12/18, meaning that the body was deposited on 12/8, when the defendant was not in custody.
The fickle ME is also going to be asked to consider the evidence of a second colonization of blow flies on 12/18, meaning that the body was deposited on 12/8, and how that factors into her latest forensic opinion.
Anyway, combined with the other evidence, it is clear that he is guilty and that it was proven byrd. Enough with the defense game playing!
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009, 9:50 pm
isa says:
I knew creepy Larry. He’s all bubble gum and baseball on the surface to those who don’t know him. He knew very very well the area where she was dumped and called it his ’old high school stompin’ grounds’. He behaved in very peculiar and creepy ways around me and a friend. He makes my skin crawl. For those of us who lived there, it had been cold during that time. Every day I thought it was horrible that the poor girl was out there somewhere in the cold and her parents couldn’t find her. I’m not a pathologist, but I do know Larry. He is anything but innocent. I tried to get the cops to dig the swamp for more bodies in the area. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were more mysteries out there waiting in Larry’s forest.
Thursday, February 12th, 2009, 12:02 pm
Ken in NY says:
I have read the 5th circuit’s ruling in its entirety and while the state has hard evidence of guilt, this ruling has merit for the simple fact that Ms. Trotter’s body could not have been in the woods for 25 days as the state claims. Whether Larry Swearingen is guilty or not is not for me to judge but I agree with the ruling and he should at least have the chance to defend his own life. Time of death is a critical matter in this case.
Saturday, February 7th, 2009, 8:51 pm
Sarah says:
Those of us who remember when Melissa Trotter went missing, who knew the person Larry Swearingen was (a violent man who abused women both physically and sexually), we know the truth. We know that this case looks far less interesting if all the facts were know. How about the fact that Larry Swearingen was charged with Kidnapping another woman only weeks before Melissa Trotter went missing. If there is any justice in the world we will all dance on his grave...very very soon!
Friday, January 30th, 2009, 5:41 pm
Keter says:
He did it!Kill the murderer and send him straight to his destruction, I only have to look at deathrows lineup and what they have been covicted of >>> To chain them all together and fry them all in one shot.Penance is a farce to a fool,And an idiot can find faith in stupidity.Both their paths hold true on all these. Kill them.
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009, 11:05 am
C says:
Come on Michael Hall, follow up on your story we can’t wait for your apology and a corrected version of how justice can now be served. This devil is going to hell.
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009, 7:35 am
DV says:
Larry needs to be executed. He did it and he needs to pay. Even if there was some chance he didn’t do it they need to kill him anyway because he has done nothing in his life but commit crimes, so if they kill him now that will be one less criminal we have to worry about.
Monday, January 26th, 2009, 9:09 pm
Amanda says:
he did it, if yall would no his past with his x=wife, and the things he did to her. look at the evediance, how can they have been seen together on 12-8 and she died 12-11, and then he already been in jail for 3 weeks, come on r yall stupied
Sunday, January 25th, 2009, 3:30 am
Wiebke Swearingen says:
Barry Scheck is on the case, but it seems as Brett Ligon, the new DA of Montgomery County, is not interested in his statements.
Mr. Scheck explained in a letter to the trial court and the DA, clearly, a match between the DNA profile of the foreign male blood and biological material on the clothing of the victim would exonerate Larry Swearingen, particularly in light of the striking pathological evidence that someone other than Larry Swearingen killed the victim and left her corpse in the woods.
Saturday, January 24th, 2009, 12:54 pm
Hooman says:
This is another example of Texas’s flawed death penalty system. The Court of Criminal Appeals has showed it’s incompetence many times before, and this case is not an exception.
Friday, January 23rd, 2009, 3:58 pm
Rick says:
Put Barry Scheck on the case. He got OJ off.
Friday, January 23rd, 2009, 2:04 pm
LynnTX says:
the CCA is such an embarrassment to this state
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009, 8:33 am
NB says:
Execution for a crime means that there will be no chance to rectify a mistake. This case is an example of why the death penalty should only be administered when we are absolutely certain of guilt.
Saturday, January 10th, 2009, 9:26 am
Leonie says:
An online petition on behalf of Larry Swearingen can be found and signed here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/do-not-execute-larry-swearingen
Thank you.
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