Another Murder

So quickly after discussing the brutal stabbing of Mary Ann DeCrevel here, it has come to my attention that another member of the Class of 1965 also died from murder.

Donald Roy Swartz, Class of 1965, died on July 27, 1993, of a homicide. He was called "Don" at MacArthur.

"Murder most foul, as in the best it is,
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural."
~ William Shakespeare
Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Ghost at I, v)

Below are two articles on these events.
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Choked man transferred to Danville VA hospital
Victim comatose; no longer on life supports
by Judy Tatham, H&R Staff Writer
Herald & Review
Decatur, IL
Wednesday, July 28, 1993

Decatur -A Decatur man who was nearly choked to death last week has been transferred to a Danville hospital where he remained in a coma Tuesday, but no longer on a life-support system.

Donald R. Swartz, 46, is seriously ill, but his condition is listed as stable, a Veterans Affairs Medical Center spokesman said Tuesday.

Two women, Pamela A. Myers, 36, of the 1000 block of West Wood Street and Patricia Peterson, 48, of Decatur, are charged with first degree attempted murder. Police responded to a report of a possible beating under way in Swartz's apartment late Thursday night. They said they found Myers astride Swartz and choking him with an electrical cord.

Peterson had lived with Swartz in his apartment above downtown businesses in the 200 block of North Park Street. More recently, she told police, she had been living in bushes outside the downtown Sears, Roebuck and Co. store. Peterson has told police she had broken up with Swartz and had returned to his apartment to get some of her possessions. She said her friend Myers accompanied her.

Myers has claimed Swartz attempted to sexually assault her, Sgt. John Mickler said. Police have said they have no evidence to susbtantiate that allegation. Swartz was on a life-support system at Decatur Memorial Hospital. He was transferred to the Danville hospital Monday.

Bob Robinson, a spokesman for the Danville hospital, said Swartz was on a heart monitor and oxygen when admitted there.
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2 women accused of murder
Charge upgraded to first degree after choking victim dies.
by Judy Tatham, H&R Staff Writer
Herald & Review
Decatur, IL
Thursday, July 29, 1993

Decatur -First degree murder charges were filed Wednesday against two Decatur women after the man they are accused of choking and striking with a bottle died Tuesday night in a Danville hospital.

Donald R. Swartz, 46, a self-employed painter, remained in a coma after police went to his downtown apartment and found Pamela A. Myers kneeling over him. She was using both hands to apply pressure to an electrical cord wrapped around his neck, a police affidavit in court files says.

Myers, 36, of the 1000 block of West Wood Street and Patricia Peterson, 48, who had lived with Swartz, will appear in court today. According to a sworn affidavit from a police officer, witnesses said they heard one of the women say something like "Oh, my God, is he still breathing?"

Witnesses also heard one of the women say, "Go ahead. Kill him," according to the affidavit.










Swartz was the son of Roy A. and Georgie Swartz of Decatur. He was a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, a carpenter and had once worked in his family's construction business, J.J. Swartz Co.

Roy Swartz declined to comment Wednesday on the circumstances of his son's death, saying he didn't want to jeopardize prosecution of the case. His son had been back in Decatur for about 10 years after serving in the military.









He was stationed at Chanute Air Base in Rantoul and in Amarillo, Texas, where he was involved in air base traffic and safety. Later, he worked for Kraft Inc. in Champaign. He never married and had no children.

A graduate of MacArthur High School, his pastimes included reading, stamp collecting and bowling, his father said.

One of women accused in his death, Peterson, told police she had gone to Swartz's apartment to move out her personal belongings. In an affidavit seeking a public defender, she said she formerly was an elementary school teacher for 12 years.

Originally, Peterson and Myers were charged with attempted murder. They remain jailed in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.

Detective Master Sgt. Roy Glick said police continue to investigate a motive.

Myers claimed Swartz tried to sexually assault her, but police said there is no evidence to support her allegation.

Peterson was walking down apartment steps about 10 p.m. July 22 as police arrived.

(Researched and shared by Judy Sumner, Class of 1966.
Our condolences to the Swartz family and Don's friends.)

Murder

Murder is a harsh reality of being a human being. It is unbelievable and it is believable.

Murder occurs everyday in America. But it should not, we all feel, because we are civilized, so the thinking goes.

Yet, here we are, members of the graduating class of 1965, and why should we have thought we would be untouched by murder.

Still, when I heard from a classmate that one of the deceased people about whom I was doing research, had been killed, I was taken aback. Sure, in a class of over 350 people, who today are 62 or 63, you'd expect some would have passed away, sadly. These people were gone, I was finding, from accidents, from cancer, and even from Vietnam. But murder?

Statistically, yes, it made sense. But in my heart, in the realm of "this couldn't happen to anyone I went to high school with," no, I didn't want to think murder visited so closely to people with whom I had spent four years of my life.

But it had.

"Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has to take the place of the victim and on his [her] behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness; it is the one crime in which society has a direct interest." ~ W. H. Auden (1907-1973, English-born poet and man of letters).

We all knew her as Mary Ann DeCrevel. Her smile still stares out from the 1965 Cadet, topped by the high-hair style that was beginning to fade, but which you could imagine her mother might have made her wear for her senior picture.

Mary Ann had been born on Flag Day, June 14, 1947. Her mother, Mary T. Stewart DeCrevel, lived long after she had to bury her daughter. Mrs. DeCrevel was born on March 14, 1923, and died September 25, 2003. As it turned out, Mary Ann's body was found near her mother's home.

When Mary Ann passed away, the newspaper called her Mrs. Kerry Kuster, 42, of Decatur. She was murdered on Monday, November 13, 1989, in Decatur. At the time, Mary Ann was a secretary for Decatur Blue Print Company. She had been married to Kerry Kuster since 1965. The Kusters had two sons and a daughter. Mary Ann had a sister, and two grandchildren, when she died. Her father passed away before her, in 1987.

The details of Mary Ann's death are not pretty. She allegedly had broken up with her husband and was dating another man. She had gone to the man's grandfather's house to meet this new guy. Reportedly, there the grandfather stabbed the sweet classmate we knew as Mary Ann DeCrevel multiple times. When dead, she was then put into the trunk of her own car. Later, she would be discovered a few blocks from the house of her mother.

I struggled with how to share this, and decided, reality is not always beautiful. There is no sugar-coating murder. It is awful, disturbing, and yet it occurs.

I am shocked and saddened for Mary Ann, and those she has left behind.

The graduating class has many stories to tell. This is one of them. Most will be ones, of course, with happy endings, like we enjoy in our stories.

But life and death do happen, and sometimes we cannot pick the last chapter.

"Murder is terribly exhausting." ~ Albert Camus (1913-1960, French novelist, essayist and playwright, 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature).