Woman wants dad’s killer caught
CRIME STOPPERS
He had a sun-baked face and sunglasses shielding his eyes.
Gordon “Butch” Swindells rode up on his motorcycle wearing a leather jacket and faded jeans. He walked down the driveway toward his 4-year-old daughter, Denise.
“Imagine to a little kid. What’s this coming at you? He seemed like a giant to me,” said 46-year-old Denise Swindells-Cloutier, who grew up with her mother.
Swindells tells her he is her father and scoops her up.
It’s one of the few memories she has of him.
At 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 23, 1981, Swindells was found dead at age 34 beside his apartment building in the 3100 block of Medina Avenue in North Linden. He was found lying face up on a walkway by a next-door neighbor. Some neighbors reported hearing a gunshot around 1 a.m.
Almost 37 years later, there has been no arrest in his death. Central Ohio Crime Stoppers is offering a reward to anyone who has information leading to an arrest or indictment of the killer.
Swindells-Cloutier never had the chance to get to know her father. She was 9 when he was killed. Her parents separated when she was 3.
“I wanted to build that relationship,” she said. “He wasn’t perfect. Like every human being out there, he was flawed, but he had a really good core.”
Swindells grew up in poverty on the South Side in a broken home. He had three younger brothers and enlisted in the Army when he was 17. That enabled him to send money back home to get his brothers out of foster care, Swindells-Cloutier told The Dispatch. He worked as a meat cutter at a warehouse for Big Bear, a former supermarket chain, in Columbus. He was an active member of a dart league.
The week Swindells was killed, his wife filed for divorce and asked for a restraining order, Dispatch archives show.
“Everyone is a suspect, but I believe that the murderer was someone close to my Dad that knew his schedule,” Swindells-Cloutier said.
Swindells-Cloutier hasn’t given up hope of an arrest.
“We’re going to keep trying,” she said. “We’re hoping this brings attention and gets some leads ... I can’t have my father back, but at least I can get him justice.”
Anyone with information can call 614-461-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online at stopcrime.org. Tips can also be submitted by downloading a free application called P3 Tips on a smartphone. Tipsters remain anonymous.