THREE RIVERS, Mich. — An arrest has been made in a 35-year-old cold case out of Three Rivers.
Cathy Sue Swartz was found dead in her apartment back in 1988, a unit at Riverside Apartments on East Hoffman Street.
A friend found Swartz's body back on the afternoon of Dec. 2, 1988.
Her body was found with signs of a violent beating and sexual assault.
Investigators said at the time that she was stabbed over a dozen times.
Swartz's 9-month-old daughter, Courtney, was found unharmed in a nearby room.
Days after the killing, an ex-boyfriend of Swartz, Troy Daniel Schulthies, was taken into police custody for the crime.
According to a report in the South Bend Tribune back in January 1989, Schulthies was later released after taking a polygraph test.
As the United States dealt with a rash of alleged "cult killings" in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this case came under the microscope.
Investigators at the time were prompted to say that "cult activity was not present at the scene" of Swartz's murder.
Strangely, there was blood intentionally spread around the young woman's apartment when her body was discovered.
A report in the South Bend Tribune from December 1988 recounts blood "smeared on her leg and on a refrigerator in the apartment were the words 'I was here' and other phrases."
In recent years, an investigation involving Michigan State Police (MSP) revealed blood, fingerprints and a footprint that authorities deduced belonged to the suspect but authorities were unable to find a match.
Last year, police say forensic genealogy was used to determine the suspect’s family.
Through DNA testing, fingerprinting and another round of interviews, the suspected killer was identified as Robert Waters.
“Science is going to be on my side," St. Joseph County Prosecutor David Marvin said Monday.
"We have information that we didn't have before, that will help us to put a lot of things together.”
Police say investigators made their way to South Carolina and contacted Waters where they found probable cause to take him into custody for open murder. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Office says he was arrested Sunday afternoon.
In regards to what connection Waters has to Swartz or the Three Rivers area, he said Monday, "I know he was a young man here... some of the connections we're still working through, and some I can't disclose at this time, but he was a local.”
Marvin said Monday that Waters has waived the option to fight extradition.
"There were a lot of people who lived in fear for a lot of years, not knowing who did this, and this will put it to rest for people," he told FOX 17.
Members of the St. Joseph County Sheriff's Office are currently in South Carolina working to bring him back.
TRPD credits MSP, students participating in Western Michigan University’s Cold Case Project, the Prosecutor’s Office and the many police officers who investigated the case over the years.
Over the years, the case took a number of diversions. Besides detaining Swartz's ex-boyfriend, at one point police were trying to track down a female person of interest.
The woman was not named as a suspect in the case, but was believed to possibly have important information relating to it.
According to a report in the South Bend Tribune, she was described by investigators as "almost 22-years-old, 5-feet-2 tall and 135 pounds... blonde, feather-type hair style and a fair complexion."
It is unclear if the woman was ever identified by police.
