The murder of Susan Schwarz
Lynnwood, Snohomish County, Washington · 1979
Overview
Susan Schwarz, a 24-year-old woman, was found bound and shot to death in her home in the Alderwood Manor area near Lynnwood, Washington, on October 22, 1979. She had been a high-school friend of Gregory Johnson's estranged wife and had helped that friend escape an abusive marriage, and prosecutors concluded Johnson killed her in revenge. The case went cold for more than three decades. The break came not from forensics but from a criminal informant: in 2010 a prison inmate saw Schwarz featured as the queen of hearts in a deck of cold-case playing cards the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office had distributed to inmates, recognized the case, and told detectives that Johnson had admitted to him that he had killed her. That tip led investigators to a woman who had been Johnson's teenage girlfriend in 1979 and who, breaking decades of fear-driven silence, told them she had been present when Johnson killed Schwarz. Johnson was arrested in 2011, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January 2012, and was sentenced in March 2012 to a minimum of 24 years in prison.
How it was solved
Gregory Johnson was a suspect early in the 1979 investigation and was questioned more than once over the years, but detectives could never assemble enough evidence to charge him, and the case went cold. In 2008 the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, with funding from the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, produced a deck of cold-case playing cards featuring unsolved local homicides and distributed it to inmates in jails and prisons in the hope that someone behind bars knew something. Susan Schwarz was the queen of hearts. In March 2010 a prison inmate who saw her card contacted detectives and told them that Johnson had admitted to killing Schwarz, a tip that pushed the long-dormant case back up the priority list. Cold-case detectives Patrick VanderWeyst and Jim Scharf reopened the file and located a name in the original case materials that had never been fully pursued: the young woman who had been Johnson's girlfriend in 1979. When detectives approached her in 2011, she told them she had been inside the home, an 18-year-old at the time, when Johnson grabbed Susan Schwarz, bound her, and shot her, and that she had kept silent for decades because Johnson had abused her and threatened to kill her and her family if she ever spoke. With the inmate's account of Johnson's admission and the eyewitness corroboration of the woman who had been present, prosecutors charged Johnson, who was arrested in April 2011 outside his Seattle home. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on January 27, 2012, and Snohomish County Superior Court sentenced him on March 23, 2012 to a minimum term of 24 years. It was the first conviction obtained from the county's cold-case playing-card program.
Sources
- Killer tracked down by cold-case team admits to 1979 slaying
“Schwarz was a high school friend of Johnson's estranged wife ... Johnson resented her and blamed her for marital problems ... He broke into her home, tied her up, shot her, and staged the scene as a burglary.”
- Man sentenced to 24 years for 1979 murder
“Johnson, 58, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder ... sentenced to a minimum of 24 years ... Detective Jim Scharf: 'We all wanted justice for Susan and her family. Today, after 32 years, we finally got some of that justice.'”
- Detectives crack decades-old killing
“A tip in March 2010 ... An inmate had seen the cold case card featuring the 1979 murder. He told detectives that Johnson had admitted to killing Schwarz ... His then-girlfriend, 18 at the time, was in the home ... Detectives Patrick VanderWeyst and Jim Scharf investigated the cold case.”
- 'Cold case cards' help solve 32-year-old murder
“A prison inmate gave investigators a tip after seeing Susan's playing card. Schwarz was the queen of hearts ... a deck of playing cards put together by the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office cold-case team.”
- Queen of hearts prompts cold case arrest, Kirkland father recalls daughter's 1979 murder
“Susan was featured as the Queen of Hearts ... Henry Schwarz: 'They made my daughter the queen of hearts. They told me there was a chance that someone in prison might know about it.' ... Johnson was arrested April 22, 2011, at his Seattle home.”
- Man pleads guilty to 1979 Alderwood murder
“An inmate recognized Schwarz's image from a cold case playing card deck distributed to jails and prisons ... her home on Locust Way in the Alderwood Manor area ... the third cold case solved using the playing cards.”
- TV Show Focuses on Snohomish County Cold Case Solved This Year
“Gregory Johnson was convicted of Susan Schwarz's 1979 murder and sentenced to 24 years ... found shot in her Alderwood Manor home on October 22, 1979.”