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00:00This was a place of so many hopes and dreams and plans, and now it's just death and destruction.
00:15The mystery seems to be growing deeper in the murder of a man in Marion County.
00:20This crime scene was inside of a sex house.
00:24We get people that have never been in a sling, never been flogged, somebody wants to be tied up.
00:28That really is what they call a daddy den.
00:31We need answers.
00:33Who did this? Could it have been somebody that I know?
00:36Evidence points to a man that didn't want his wife to find out they actually had sex with men.
00:41He would randomly make these comments about how easy it was to get away with murder.
00:47The victim himself was wiped down with bleach.
00:50Something's wrong. Something's so wrong here.
00:58This is just a classic people crime story,
01:27in that there's so much mystery.
01:30This was a very happy couple, and next thing you know, one is dead,
01:35and there aren't too many clues as to how and why.
01:39But it turns out that the secrets that a family keeps could be fatal.
01:4359-year-old Timothy Smith was born and raised in the small town of Ocala in Central Florida.
01:59Tim was a beautiful person.
02:01He was just this bright energy entity that was intelligent,
02:07and then he could be the goofiest person in the room and just make you laugh till you cried.
02:14Anybody who knew Tim knew that he just had this knack to know when we needed to hear from him.
02:21If you were his friend, he was going to make sure you were okay.
02:25Tim came from a very religious family, and he struggled with his sexuality as a young man,
02:30marrying a woman in his 20s before eventually getting a divorce and coming out to his friends and his family.
02:37Tim really struggled trying to hide from that because it wasn't accepted in his upbringing.
02:43And Tim realized that he was just not being true to himself.
02:47And he had a very powerful statement that when you recognize and embrace who you are,
02:54that is when you become happy.
02:57And it really had a huge impact on who he became as a social worker.
03:01Tim worked in various nursing homes, care facilities,
03:05and after 30 years in the industry,
03:07eventually became the executive director of a senior living community.
03:12He loved and supported each person that crossed his path.
03:17It was absolutely his superpower.
03:20He made everyone feel special.
03:22In 2007, Tim meets the love of his life, Herb Swilley.
03:28Tim and Herb both come from a very religious background and both had to be closeted.
03:33So I think once they met, they both felt that connection within each other.
03:38When I first met Tim and Herbie, we started all hanging out and going to dinner
03:43and went to a couple bonfire parties at their house.
03:47I thought they were a breath of fresh air.
03:49Herb ran a handyman business, and Herb liked to talk.
03:54They would do a lot of things together, even take weekend trips together.
03:59They realized that they were each other's life partner.
04:02We thought that that was amazing.
04:05In 2015, Herb and Tim tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in front of all of their friends and family.
04:11Herbie has a daughter from a previous marriage.
04:15Her name is Jordan.
04:16And Tim was incredible to her.
04:19He planned birthday parties.
04:20He planned her graduation.
04:23He called her his daughter.
04:25Not his stepdaughter.
04:27Not his adoptive daughter.
04:29That is his daughter.
04:30And he was happy.
04:32Tim and Herb really did have such a beautiful marriage.
04:53And in the spring of 2023, Jordan's 19 years old and still living with both of her dads.
05:02On the surface, their life is picture perfect.
05:05But everything's about to come crashing down.
05:08On Saturday, March 25th, we received a call from a concerned spouse.
05:22He had not seen his husband since Thursday night.
05:26The caller asked the police to do a welfare check at their secondary residence.
05:30A small apartment in Citrus Park.
05:33He can see his husband's Jeep is there, but he doesn't have a key to get in.
05:36The deputy makes contact with the superintendent, is able to get the key, and at about 11 o'clock,
05:43unlock the door, and then makes entry into the apartment.
05:49Inside the apartment, nothing seems out of place in either the kitchen or the living room.
05:54In fact, it's extremely clean.
05:57The deputy then makes his way to the bedrooms.
06:00The deputy entered the bedroom on the left.
06:02And he's immediately looking at a freestanding swing for sex, with chains that hold the swing up.
06:11Obviously, it's surprising.
06:16And the deputy's completely taken aback.
06:18But he starts looking around this bedroom.
06:22There was a toolbox.
06:24And the toolbox is open, and it contains various sex toys.
06:28There was a masseuse table and whips on the wall.
06:35It looked like it could be a sex house.
06:39At that point, the deputy goes in the other room.
06:41And then, in between the bed and a closet, on the floor, the deputy finds a deceased male laying on his back.
06:51He was found wearing just his shoes and a shirt, no pants, and with suspicious marks on the neck of the body.
06:59And the deputy had no idea what it was that happened.
07:01The deputy calls the Marion County Sheriff's Office to report the dead body.
07:06And Detective Daniel Pender is dispatched to the scene.
07:11I pull up.
07:12There's crime scene tape around the front of the location.
07:16I can see a white Jeep that is parked in front of the apartment.
07:22There was no forced entry that I could observe.
07:26The outside front entry area looked completely clean.
07:30When I walk in the front door, I could smell a cleaning agent, something similar to bleach.
07:39When I entered the bedroom where the decedent was found, the individuals lay next to the bed,
07:44and I can see there's a ligature mark on his neck, the deep discoloration.
07:50I had seen suicides where people do hang themselves.
07:54But with no signs of any rope, my first thought is going to homicide.
08:00Someone did this to him.
08:03But I don't see any signs of a struggle.
08:07The bed is still in the center of the room.
08:09The mattress is in place.
08:11The dresser.
08:11Drawers aren't pulled out to suggest some kind of robbery or an altercation in the room.
08:17There are no defensive wounds, no blood, or other bodily fluids on or around the body.
08:23And there's no weapons in the room.
08:26Detective Kinder notes that there's also nothing to identify the body.
08:30I continue my investigation through the residence.
08:33We end up searching a washing machine that's inside of the home.
08:37Looking in the washing machine, there's a bag.
08:41The bag contains a wallet.
08:42And that wallet has a driver's license for Tim Smith.
08:47And from his driver's license picture, we're able to positively ID the decedent as Tim Smith.
08:56According to the sheriff's office, the bag that they discover with Tim's wallet and driver's license also contains a cell phone.
09:03I know that the phone is going to be key in figuring out what Tim Smith was doing and who Tim Smith was with before he passed away.
09:25We're taking the phone into evidence.
09:27And even though it takes several weeks to get this information, we can have a forensic digital technician pull the data off his phone so that we can start looking through it to figure out what happened.
09:39Most homicides are crimes of passion.
09:41So you start looking at the people that are closest to somebody.
09:45Oftentimes, that is a spouse.
09:47Tim Smith's husband, Herbert Swilley, is the reportee in this case.
09:51He had contacted us when he saw Tim's Jeep.
09:53And he's across the street here at the location, which is not their primary residence.
09:59So the deputy goes out.
10:01It's explained to Herbert that Tim is deceased.
10:05A short time later, I do an audio-recorded interview with Herbert in my car in front of the apartment.
10:11Sorry to be speaking to you and meeting with you under these circumstances.
10:14I am, Tim.
10:15All right.
10:15So let's describe the last time and date you actually did see Tim.
10:19Herbert says he wakes up the next morning at 4.40 to start his day.
10:38I did my clinic fitness workout.
10:41I came back home, quietly went in, took my shower.
10:45I asked him whenever he left for the gym, comes back home from the gym, if he recalls seeing his husband, Tim Smith, in the house, in bed.
10:56I wasn't sure because I don't turn the light on in the room.
10:59Okay.
10:59The bed looked like he was in it.
11:01To me, I thought he was in it.
11:03So I went on and took my shower really quietly.
11:05Herbert says that after he showers, he comes out of the bathroom and back into the master bedroom.
11:11He doesn't see Tim Smith there.
11:13So he assumes that Tim went to work.
11:15About what time was that at?
11:16That was about maybe 6.40.
11:18Did you see the Jeep there?
11:19I don't know if the Jeep's there or not because we park it in our garage and I don't use the garage.
11:24According to Herb, the last time he definitely saw Tim Smith was at home when Herb went to bed at 9.30 p.m. on Thursday, the 23rd of March.
11:33So Tim could have died any time before Saturday morning when his body was found.
11:38Herbert says he goes to have lunch with his daughter, Jordan Swilley, at a restaurant in downtown Ocala.
11:46And then him and Jordan both come back to the house.
11:49I didn't receive any texts from him during the day and I sent him like several, you know, but I never got a response.
11:54Some time while he's back at the house, he gets a phone call from an employee that works with Tim Smith.
12:02He said, hey, Tim didn't come into work today.
12:05I was really, really concerned because at that point I don't know where he's at.
12:08I came over here because this is not our primary residence.
12:11I saw the Jeep, I beat on the door pretty hard, got no answer, and I can't find my key to the place.
12:18So then I called the police department.
12:21When the deputy can't get into the apartment, Herb calls the building super, Jack, who agrees to let a deputy in the next morning.
12:29Jack let him in and then from that point on, your officer there came out and did tell me he was in there and told me he was deceased.
12:39I want to learn more about the dynamic of their marriage.
12:43He says they don't have any conflicts, they don't have any problems.
12:47This was a recreational house, I should say, because that's really what it was.
12:51Herb opens up and tells the detective that they have an open marriage.
12:56Herb was very honest with law enforcement about the activities going on at the apartment.
13:02That really is what they call a daddy den, a place that they can go and play with other men.
13:09We both have Grindr, we both have Adam for Adam.
13:12We did have people that we didn't know.
13:15You know, probably isn't the best thing to be doing, but...
13:18So, explain to me the purpose of meeting with these people off these applications.
13:21Well, sometimes it was for sex, sometimes it was for fantasies.
13:26Like, we'd get people that hit us up and had never been in a sling, somebody had never been flawed, somebody wants to be tied up.
13:33This is something that, I don't know, we both kind of enjoyed it, it was kind of fun and it's role-playing.
13:38But you kind of knew that there's a certain unsafe element to it.
13:41Yeah, we've always knew that.
13:43Herbert's being transparent, he's being friendly, he's allowing me access to his phone.
13:48He's working with us so much, I'm thinking, okay, maybe this isn't our guy, this is something that happened by someone else in that sex apartment.
13:57While the sheriff's department does a full sweep of both the apartment and Tim's Jeep, Herb heads home to share the devastating news with their friends.
14:07Herbie texts me and he says, they found him.
14:11And I call right away, and I said, is he okay?
14:16And he said, no, he's gone.
14:19And I screamed and dropped to my knees.
14:23It was devastating.
14:26I was in shock and disbelief.
14:28I had, there's no way, there's no way, Tim's dead.
14:31How was that possible?
14:34I was just, just heartbroken.
14:37I couldn't imagine who on earth would do that.
14:45Back in Citrus Park, the sheriff's sweep the entire apartment looking for clues.
14:51It takes a lot of strength and a lot of pressure to be able to strangle someone, especially someone of Tim Smith's size,
14:59who was a big, strong, healthy man.
15:02Because of that, it was thought that the killer may be a large male.
15:08That's going to help us develop a suspect.
15:12We swabbed the doorknobs, the dresser, sexual lubricant bottles.
15:17We swabbed the decedent himself, hoping that those DNA samples give us a lead as to who Tim Smith was with that night.
15:25We discovered that whoever killed Tim Smith decided to clean the scene prior to leaving.
15:33So anything that may have any possible DNA on it probably was wiped clean.
15:39Even Mr. Smith himself was wiped down with bleach.
15:43Police still hope for the best with the DNA results.
15:49Although they won't be in for weeks, the team discovers a piece of physical evidence on a bottle of sexual lubricant.
15:55In the same room as where Tim Smith was discovered, we ended up getting a fingerprint off of that bottle that could be processed.
16:02And I know that we can likely get a lead from that.
16:04While I was interviewing Herbert Swilley at the apartment, he indicated that his 19-year-old daughter, Jordan Swilley, was in the house that evening when Tim was last alive.
16:17So a short time later, I'm able to do an audio-recorded interview in the front of my car with Jordan at the primary residence.
16:24Thursday, we were all watching a show in the living room, and then I went to bed early.
16:30And?
16:30I'm still sitting in the recliner.
16:36I woke up around 9, but I didn't see him at all.
16:41What did you do all day Friday?
16:43Me and my dad, we went and got lunch downtown.
16:47Jordan's timeline and her statements are matching her father's statements regarding everything that happened on Friday.
16:53With Herb and Jordan's stories matching, investigators searched the family home for signs of what could have led Tim to the apartment that night.
17:02I start getting pictures of the outside of the house.
17:06I get pictures of Herb's truck, a white Dodge pickup truck with a black tailgate.
17:13Herb can't understand why anyone would want to harm his husband, who only tried to help others.
17:18And he believes Tim's death is a message.
17:21Herbert Swilley suggested that because they are a homosexual couple married here in Ocala, that this could have been a hate crime.
17:29Ocala is a very conservative town, a lot of good old boys.
17:37And I would say that's not like a common thing per se, to have a married gay couple in Ocala.
17:45Aside from being a gay married couple in a small town, Herbert Swilley indicated that some of the stuff that Tim was into, in particular, was definitely not traditional and would raise an eyebrow or draw attention from others.
17:59Tim had a persona in the drag world and she was Augusta Wind.
18:04Most of Tim's shows as Augusta were charitable.
18:08So she would lip sync songs, dance.
18:10When he performed, he liked to sing Harper Valley PTA, which is my go-to karaoke song, but he did it better.
18:18He definitely did it better.
18:22I learned that Tim is doing drag shows in Ocala and this could have been seen by the wrong person.
18:30So there's a possibility of Tim Smith being killed in a hate crime.
18:35And now I have to ask, is there somebody out there targeting people in the gay community?
18:40The sheriff's office immediately started looking into a hate crime.
18:50We interviewed Tim's family and friends.
18:52But no one is suggesting that someone would be targeting him as a hate crime.
18:57We didn't find any social media posts saying any kind of slurs against him to kill him.
19:03There wasn't any reports that there was some disgruntled person about his sexuality that was after him.
19:09Because of Tim's career and how much he did for the community, I never felt like he was seen in a bad light.
19:17And Tim never said anything to me about feeling ostracized living in Ocala.
19:23Detectives are sent to the assisted living facility Tim works at to speak with his co-workers.
19:35Maybe they saw something, maybe they heard something that would connect that hate crime possibility to his murder.
19:42Everyone had great things to say about Tim Smith.
19:46They said that they loved him, that he was very caring.
19:49He's well respected.
19:51Everyone there likes him.
19:52But while speaking with the employees there, it's learned that Tim had fired an employee named Pedro.
19:59And we learned that the firing did not go well.
20:02And that individual had maybe made a threat to hurt Tim.
20:06You have to be the one to let somebody go and take away their ability to earn money.
20:15There's a good chance they're going to hold that against you personally.
20:20While the hate crime theory is looking less and less likely, detectives think this new information about Pedro could be a solid lead.
20:28But the assisted living facility where Tim worked doesn't have a current address for Pedro.
20:34And investigators have a difficult time finding him.
20:38While they search for the disgruntled former employee, news of Tim's murder hits the airwaves.
20:43A news alert now.
20:44The executive director of an assisted living facility in Ocala is murdered.
20:4859-year-old Timothy Smith was found dead inside a home in Citrus Park.
20:53Those who knew the victim are in shock.
20:55Just heart-wrenching. It's really heartbreaking.
20:58We need answers.
21:00According to the sheriff's office, while authorities are still waiting on forensic results from the crime scene,
21:05over the next several weeks they release information to the community,
21:08letting them know they're looking for any tips that could lead to an arrest.
21:12Some of the detectives are doing interviews.
21:14Some are trying to figure out where we could get video and then reviewing that video surveillance.
21:19Detectives canvass along the five-minute drive from the couple's home to their private apartment,
21:24hoping that someone's security cameras caught Tim's Jeep.
21:28We're covering all of Citrus Park, knocking on the doors.
21:31We're looking for cameras.
21:32Anywhere that the victim may have driven past in order to get to the apartment coming from his residence.
21:39While the team waits for that footage to come in,
21:42a little over a month after Tim's murder, investigators are able to locate Pedro, the ex-employee who Tim fired.
21:52We're able to figure out where he lives, and I end up making contact with him and doing an interview with him.
21:57I started learning more about the firing.
22:00Pedro had kissed a patient at the facility, and Tim had no choice but to fire him.
22:07And Pedro said that he had no ill will against Tim.
22:12Detective Pinder asked Pedro where he was the night of March 23rd, 2023.
22:18Pedro starts talking about how he's with his wife and his family during the time frame that something happened to Tim.
22:23We were able to alibi him out by making contact with those people,
22:28and it didn't look like there was any involvement of Pedro in this homicide.
22:34Five weeks into the investigation, authorities were all out of leads.
22:37It was a really difficult time.
22:39Then they finally get a break in the case.
22:43The fingerprint found on the lubricant at the crime scene is matched to a man named James.
22:49I end up learning that this individual's got a DUI, has some other offenses, and an assault case.
22:55So he has a criminal history, and his fingerprint is inside of the house.
22:59I'm thinking, this is it.
23:01Authorities find out that James lives about 300 miles outside of Ocala,
23:05but he has friends and family that live inside the area.
23:08When I get him on the phone and tell him that I'm investigating the homicide of Tim Smith,
23:14I know that his fingerprint is on a sexual lubricant bottle, but he doesn't know that yet.
23:19I'm not telling that him over the phone.
23:21And he says that he'll meet with me.
23:25But when the appointment comes up to meet, he doesn't show.
23:31Detective Pinder does get James back on the phone,
23:34but he continues to give him the runaround, always making an excuse for why he can't meet.
23:40We didn't get to meet that other day that I had scheduled.
23:43Please understand, it's four hours away, and it's the worst four-hour drive you've ever imagined in the life.
23:48The fact that this man has given me the runaround here, I'm thinking that this is a little weird.
23:53And at this point, we just pack up and say, you know what,
23:57we're going to drive all the way down to where his primary residence is in South Florida,
24:01because there's absolutely something strange going on here.
24:07When we arrive, he comes out of the house.
24:10He doesn't want to speak to us in front of his significant other,
24:13but he'll speak with us in our car.
24:15All right.
24:21I want to be up front with you.
24:23It seemed like him and his boyfriend or whatever had an open relationship,
24:26and they had an apartment that they would go to and have parties at and stuff like that.
24:29Did you ever do any sexual things in there?
24:30Yes, with both of them.
24:32They were both there.
24:32Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
24:33Okay.
24:34Did you touch anything in there, in the house at all, that you can think of?
24:37I can't remember.
24:39Did you guys use any lotions or oils or anything like that?
24:43Is that why you're questioning me?
24:44Do you have my fingerprints on that?
24:45Yes.
24:46You're kidding me.
24:46I got fingerprints at this guy's house.
24:56Where were you at about March 23rd, March 24th of this year?
25:01Here.
25:01Here at the house?
25:02Yeah, definitely.
25:03Okay.
25:04He says at the time of the murder that he was four to five hours away at his house,
25:10but my fears aren't dispelled all the way.
25:12Do you have the same phone that you had at that time that would show where your phone was at at that time?
25:18I believe I did.
25:19Okay.
25:19So let's do that.
25:20If that clears me, let's do it.
25:22He handed his phone over on the spot,
25:24and I plugged it into a laptop there at the location to get geolocation information off of his phone.
25:32His alibi checked out.
25:33He was four to five hours south the week of the homicide.
25:37It's a murder mystery in Marion County.
25:40I've posted on the sheriff's page numerous times, like, what about Tim?
25:45What about Tim?
25:46Officials with the Marion County Sheriff's Office are still looking for a bunch of answers.
25:52Feeling like they are back at square one, investigators catch a break when the data on Tim's phone becomes available.
25:58And they go through all of his messages, emails, and his apps, looking for more suspects.
26:07Some of the last communications on the phone on March 23rd, which was Thursday evening,
26:11were between people named Bruce and Nina, confirming a meeting that was at Friday morning at 9 a.m.
26:20I was able to make contact with Bruce and Nina,
26:24and I learned that Tim Smith was looking at getting another executive job in a different part of Florida.
26:30Tim was acquiring a new job in another county,
26:34and may have intended to move there on his own without her and without Jordan.
26:41That was a big surprise to me.
26:44It was something that wasn't introduced by Herb.
26:48In fact, he had indicated that everything was fine in the relationship.
26:53But talking to Tim's friends, I learned that this wasn't the case.
27:00I knew that Tim and Herbie had marital problems, like most married couples do.
27:05Herb could have a temper, but I never heard Tim say,
27:12I am leaving Herb.
27:15In late January, Tim shared with me that he paid for everything in their relationship.
27:24And Tim was tired of supporting him, that he was done taking care of him.
27:29But he didn't go into detail about any plans.
27:33Manson says he wants to thank all who donated to his cause,
27:36wants to remind us that he will lose his journey.
27:38But after weeks without an answer to who killed Tim,
27:41the couple's friends start to talk amongst themselves
27:43and discuss how odd Herb's been acting since Tim's murder.
27:47Not long after Tim was found, I had visited Jordan and Herbie at their house.
27:57I hug him.
27:58I hug her.
28:00I said to him, did you get any sleep?
28:03He laughed.
28:04He said, I slept like a baby.
28:07I walk in.
28:08The front door.
28:10The rug's missing.
28:12I said, where's the coffee table?
28:14So I stopped looking around, and I realized that they've taken all the family portraits off the wall.
28:22Jordan looks at me, and she says,
28:25I told him it was too early to throw the pictures away.
28:29And I'm just like, what is going on?
28:34Herb spoke at Tim's celebration of life,
28:36and it was like he was forcing himself to choke up, which I found odd.
28:42And I spoke to one of our good friends, and she goes, oh my God, I thought it was only me.
28:50Herb was giving all kinds of theories to their friends about what had happened to Tim.
28:54To one friend, he's telling him that Tim had a relationship with a bisexual married guy,
28:59and he probably killed him.
29:01Herb told another friend that there was a killer on the loose in Ocala killing gay men.
29:06That's when we all kind of started going, yeah, wow, could he have really done this?
29:13And the thing that kept coming back to me was before Tim was killed,
29:19Herb would randomly make these comments about how easy it was to get away with murder,
29:24and that all you had to do was bleach the crime scene.
29:26Um, so that stuck with me.
29:34We all started calling the detective's office.
29:38My phone had voicemails on it every single day from people calling to talk about Herb.
29:43We end up getting a tip that one of Jordan Swilley's friends had information in this case
29:48that was told to her by Jordan.
29:51We sit down and we do an interview with this individual.
29:53She was telling me she couldn't sleep because there was loud noises and a flat.
30:00And then she had to talk to her dad.
30:02He was telling her, you can't, you can't just, she can't hear it.
30:06To Detective Pinder, it sounds like Herb was telling his daughter to ignore the weird noises she heard
30:11and to pretend like nothing happened.
30:15To authorities, Herb Swilley no longer looks like the grieving widower.
30:19And then months into the investigation, Detective Pinder gets Tim Smith's completed toxicology report.
30:28And we see a very, very high level of diphenohydramine is found in Tim Smith's blood.
30:35Diphenohydramine is the main ingredient in some sleep aids.
30:38A normal dose may generate 66 nanograms per milliliter in a blood.
30:45His was 2,000, which would make him excessively drowsy to cause him to fall asleep and maybe not wake up.
30:53That would explain why a man that was in good health and that was strong
31:00was able to be killed the way that he was and not able to fight back.
31:05He covered over 5,000 miles after he could go 100 miles per day.
31:10Manson says he was the 5,000.
31:12On July 17th, detectives discover that Tim has a life insurance policy.
31:17Tim's beneficiary is Herbert Swilley.
31:21I find out that Herbert Swilley has been contacting the insurance company and already started that process.
31:27And it's a payout of over $300,000.
31:30Now there is a monetary motive here and it's all pointing to Herbert Swilley.
31:37Herb Swilley is now their prime suspect.
31:40But without any physical evidence, an arrest is not possible.
31:43Then, police finally get back some surveillance footage that could change everything.
31:49The few businesses provided us footage from the time frame of March 23rd at 9 p.m.
31:55to the morning of March 24th at 5 a.m.
31:59While looking through that surveillance video,
32:02Herb's distinct white Dodge truck with a black tailgate and rims
32:05was seen driving from his house,
32:07from a camera nearby his home, in the middle of the night.
32:11The footage was from a recycling facility at approximately 1.57 a.m.
32:18That doesn't fall in line with what he alleged that he was in bed asleep during that time frame.
32:25From the gas station, directly across the street from the recycling facility,
32:30that same truck can be seen as it turned north towards the apartment.
32:35And then at a convenience store that was located closer to the apartment,
32:39you can see Herbert Swilley's pickup truck heading that way.
32:42Later on, in the same video,
32:44we can see that same truck coming back towards the primary residence.
32:49Just minutes later, you can observe the victim's Jeep
32:52heading north on the same route towards the apartment.
32:56Seeing this video was really huge.
33:02The nine-year-old Metro girl has a new lease on life thanks to...
33:06Just rolling everything together that we had learned
33:07about that evening when Tim was last alive.
33:12There was the use of drugs which would cause Tim to be drowsy
33:16and susceptible to being strangled.
33:19In stable condition, normal life.
33:21Knowing that Jordan told her friend that we interviewed
33:25that she could hear loud noises outside of her door.
33:30Learning that within a couple days,
33:32there was a rug missing from the living room area.
33:35And then considering the truck movement,
33:38it's all pointing to Herbert Swilley,
33:40murdering Tim Smith in their house
33:42and moving the body to the apartment.
33:47Hello, this is a prepaid collect call from...
33:51Herbert Swilley.
34:01On November 3rd of 2023,
34:03we meet with the state attorney's office
34:05and present all the facts of the case.
34:08The detectives believe Herb decided to kill Tim
34:11when he realized that either Tim could divorce him
34:13and he would be broke,
34:15or Tim could die
34:16and he would collect a $330,000 insurance payout.
34:20What we believed happened is that Tim Smith is taken by Herbert Swilley
34:27to the apartment in the white pickup truck.
34:31Herbert took Tim's body into the apartment
34:35and then made it look like a hookup gone bad.
34:38Herbert Swilley decided to clean the scene
34:41and Tim Smith with bleach prior to leaving.
34:45Herbert Swilley then drove back home,
34:47drops off the pickup truck,
34:49picks up the Jeep,
34:50drives it over to the apartment,
34:52and then makes his way back home
34:54by a different route on foot.
34:56After months and months in presenting
34:59all of my findings of the investigation,
35:02the decision is made to arrest Herbert Swilley at his house.
35:07We tell him that he's under arrest for first-degree murder
35:11and his response is,
35:13it felt really good to be able to put handcuffs on him
35:20and arrest him
35:21and let him know
35:23all the ways that he tried to trick us
35:24and cover up
35:25of a really heinous murder had failed.
35:30I will never forget
35:32seeing the video
35:34of Tim's spouse's arrest.
35:37The investigation found that Smith
35:38had been drugged
35:39and choked to death.
35:42I was physically ill.
35:46Investigators believe
35:47Swilley staged a fake crime scene
35:49and then tried to destroy evidence
35:51with household cleaners.
35:53I literally threw up.
35:55It was just so horrible
35:57that I could not believe
36:00that somebody that claimed to love him
36:04and I knew he loved so much
36:06could just be that horrible.
36:09I think Tim was going to leave
36:12and Herbie decided
36:13he wasn't going to let his cow go.
36:17He wasn't having that.
36:20When authorities confront Herbert Swilley,
36:23he tells them he's innocent.
36:26People Magazine Investigates
36:27spoke to Herb Swilley
36:29at the Marion County Jail.
36:31Hello, this is a prepaid collect call
36:34from Herbert Swilley.
36:36I really don't know exactly what happened.
36:38to my other half.
36:41I've never committed a crime,
36:43never done anything illegal.
36:46Swilley hires local criminal defense attorney
36:49John Klein to defend him
36:50against first-degree murder
36:52and other serious charges.
36:53I liked that the police initially cast a broad net,
36:58but this to me is a case of Tim's entourage
37:04directing blame towards Herb,
37:07which led law enforcement
37:09to solely concentrate their efforts on Herb.
37:13So reasonable doubt, in my opinion,
37:16is ample in this case.
37:21I do think anything's going to be
37:23an uphill battle.
37:24To be honest with you,
37:26being a gay man
37:28and a redneck capital
37:29is probably not the best place to be.
37:33I don't believe they've looked into anything
37:34more than what they wanted to.
37:36I believe they've ruled out
37:37a lot of things
37:38that they shouldn't have ruled out,
37:41things that don't add up
37:42and don't make sense.
37:45I miss him.
37:46I wish he was here all the time.
37:47I think about him
37:48and just wish I knew what happened
37:50and what went wrong.
37:56Although Herb is facing
37:57first-degree murder charges,
37:59his daughter Jordan
38:00has not been charged
38:01with any crimes
38:02related to Tim's murder.
38:03I wasn't able to get
38:04a follow-up interview with Jordan
38:05because she had requested legal counsel.
38:08My opinion is that
38:09she wasn't talking to us
38:11because she knew that
38:11if she said something,
38:12she was going to get her dad in prison.
38:15I'm sure,
38:17living in the same house,
38:18she knew something,
38:19found out something,
38:21but I don't think
38:22she was, like,
38:23part of the plan.
38:30Currently, Herb Swilley
38:31is awaiting trial
38:32at the Marion County Jail.
38:34His attorney believes
38:35that he'll be able to show
38:37that Herb did not murder Tim.
38:39The general synopsis
38:41imposed by the media
38:42is that it was
38:44a toxic relationship,
38:46that Tim wanted out,
38:49that Herb wanted money,
38:52and he killed Tim
38:53for those reasons.
38:55The reality is
38:56all of that is completely
38:58out of character for Herb.
39:00There were problems
39:02in the relationship,
39:03as there are in any relationship,
39:05that doesn't make Herb
39:08a cold-blooded killer.
39:09I do believe
39:11that the truth
39:11will come out
39:12because I know
39:13I had no involvement.
39:15That's all I can hope for.
39:19I think he's a coward.
39:23He's just a monster
39:25in every sense of the word.
39:26We used to always joke
39:34that he was a sister
39:35from another mister
39:36because he just felt like family.
39:40And we just understood each other.
39:46There's a picture
39:47that I have in my kitchen
39:49that he gave me,
39:50and every time I see that,
39:52I just remember
39:53his encouragement
39:54and his always positive nature
39:57and how thoughtful he was.
40:00I can't think of anybody
40:02just more special.
40:05The house was like
40:07a large, modular home,
40:08and Tim wasn't here
40:10to make any payments,
40:11so it was repossessed
40:12and picked up
40:13and taken away.
40:17But I come here
40:18because this is
40:21the last place he was.
40:28This is for my mermaid man,
40:30which is what I call Tim
40:31because he loved
40:33mermaids like me.
40:34But you got him
40:35the little waves
40:36with his name in it
40:37and his little tail
40:39because he's free.
40:40You know, he's free.
40:42And that's what
40:42I choose to believe.
40:51We notice that body
41:16sitting in a chair
41:17with his legs crossed.
41:18We just don't know
41:19if the fire could cause
41:20his head to pump
41:21like an eggshell.
41:22I said,
41:22where are the boys?
41:24Are they dead?
41:25Somebody holding them
41:26against their will?
41:27They explained
41:27what a pedophile was.
41:29Everybody was stunned.
41:31I don't think
41:31this ending had to happen,
41:33but for the fact
41:33that the devil
41:34was at the door.
41:35That's the thing
41:38that the devil
41:40was� freed.
41:40He can't be
41:41or
41:41he can't be
41:42Kathleen
41:42He can't be
41:44or
41:46can't be
41:47or
41:47can't be
41:48or
41:49can't be
41:49injured.
41:54He can't be
41:54walking
41:54into the
41:56レ libert pad.
41:57Although it is
41:58for the
41:59demons
41:59to
42:01L
42:01to
42:01ер
42:02to
42:04Mein
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