DYERSBURG, TN (abc24.com) - Dyersburg investigators could be getting closer to solving the disappearance of Karen Swift. The mother of four has been missing for nearly three weeks and deputies are tracking leads.
Investigators are trying to piece together exactly what happened the hours after Swift left a Halloween party the night of October 30, 2011. According to phone records, Swift picked up her daughter from a sleep over. The pair made it home shortly before 2 a.m. in the morning. The questions investigators and neighbors alike are trying to answer; why did Swift leave her home? And how did her car end up a mile away with a flat tire?
"There's a whole lot of traffic up here,” said a neighbor Mike Sipes as he was pointing at Harness Road. That’s where authorities found Swift’s car. “Anybody could've picked that woman up."
A number of people from the party were interviewed, but information they've provided is scarce. At this point Swift's soon to be ex-husband has not been named a suspect in the disappearance. Those who know the couple don't believe he's involved.
"He's a good person who is heartbroken, crushed, and doesn't know what to do," said friend and neighbor Angela Naifeh.
Naifeh decided to speak with abc24.com about the disappearance after watching talk show host Nancy Grace discuss the case. She said she wanted to set the record straight.
"I was really disappointed that they didn't get both sides of the story," said Naifeh.
She told abc24.com Grace unfairly attacked Karen's soon to be ex-husband.
"He doesn't have that type of heart," Naifeh told abc24.com “He loved her. He didn't want the divorce. They've already been through one prior."
So who snatched Swift? Naifeh believes a strange man is behind Swift's case as well as 4 other blonde women who've disappeared in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.
“There are women who've been missing in 80-miles proximity,” said Naifeh. “There's no evidence of foul play, evidence of any bodily harm, and it's as if they all vanished."
Naifeh told abc24.com the hardest part for Karen's husband, David, is trying to put their 4 children at ease.
"He has to look in their eyes and dry their tears. He doesn't have anything to reassure them with any honesty because he doesn't know where she is," said Naifeh.
Investigators have questioned registered sex offenders in the area and nothing has turned up. Right now they are relying on Karen Swift's phone records and the results of tests from her abandoned vehicle.
