MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After being found not guilty of murdering his wife, David Swift has been indicted on a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Karen Swift in 2011, according to the D.A.
Dyer County District Attorney General Danny Goodman Jr. confirmed to ABC24 that David Swift was indicted June 20, 2024.
"We presented an indictment request to the grand jury today for Voluntary Manslaughter,” said the D.A. in a statement. “We did so to include language that would toll the Statute of Limitations allowing us the ability to retry David Swift on the remaining charges for which there was a hung jury in the previous trial."
Thursday, June 6, 2024, a jury in Weakley County, Tennessee, found David Swift not guilty of the murder of Karen Swift. The jury told the judge they unanimously found him not guilty of first and second-degree murder and not guilty of attempted first and second-degree murder. He won't be retried on those charges.
However, the jury told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked and could not agree on a charge of voluntary manslaughter. A mistrial was declared on that charge.
Karen Swift, a mother with four children, was reported missing on Oct. 30, 2011, three weeks after she had filed for divorce from her husband. Hunters found her body near a Dyersburg cemetery on Dec. 10, 2011, six weeks after she was reported missing and nine weeks after she had filed for divorce.
Prosecutors said David Swift was the last person to see his wife alive when she returned home from a Halloween party.
David Swift was originally indicted for murder in August 2022, more than a decade after his wife was killed. Following the indictment more than 11 years after her death, he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, where he had living after being remarried.
Prosecutors during the murder trial claimed David Swift was the only one with motive. However, defense attorneys cited a lack of evidence in the case, saying he knew nothing before learning Karen was missing.
Judge Mark Hayes granted a change of venue request for the original murder trial. It was held in Weakley County, about 50 miles northeast of Dyer.