Pieces of the Puzzle: Who Killed Patricia Fairbanks?
Can You Help Solve This Case?
The passing of half a century has not erased the memory of 14-year-old Patricia “Patty” Fairbanks from the Chautauqua County community where she lived. Patty disappeared on November 29, 1972 while on an errand for her mom. Thirty-one days after she went missing, Patty’s bludgeoned and strangled body was discovered behind a house, just across the street from where she lived. Through the decades, police have not forgotten about her either. The investigation into Patty’s murder is currently in the hands of veteran detectives whose policing careers began in California. Investigator Tom Tarpley began working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 1981, and went on to serve with the Tustin, CA police. Investigator Tom DiZinno worked for 17 years with the San Diego PD, and 14 years with National City, CA PD. Today, they work in the cold case unit at the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office in Mayville, New York.
CHAUTAUQUA MURDERS
“There’s around 45 unsolved cases in Chautauqua County”, said Inv. DiZinno. He added, “Over the years, the fact that there are so many unsolved murders and abductions of women, it weighs very heavily on the community”. DiZinno said that the impetus for working these cases so diligently is the community. We asked if any of those other Chautauqua cases appear to be connected with Patty’s murder – detectives said that while most of the missing women were from the same area, those incidents came years later and they have found no connection to the Patricia Fairbanks case.
TROUBLE AT HOME
Patty lived on West Ninth Street[1] in Jamestown, New York with her mother, older sister and younger brother. Her biological father had been out of the picture for years, and her stepfather had left the home under, as police described it, ‘a cloud of suspicion’. Patty’s best friend was Mary Hagga who remembered the torment that Patty shared with her. Patty confided to Mary that she was molested by her stepfather. “She was trying to put herself back together after that happened to her,” said Hagga. “Patty was broken and she was trying to find herself.” APB Cold Case was unable to confirm the allegations.
PATTY ON ERRAND; MISSING
Police had been looking for Patty after her mother reported her missing on November 28, 1972, the night when she failed to return from an errand. Earlier that evening Patty was sent from home by her mother to the local drug store about a quarter mile away at West Tenth and Main Streets to pick up cotton swabs for Patty’s little brother. Patty returned with the supplies but told her mother she was fifteen cents short, and she wanted to go back with the change. That was the last time Patty’s mom ever saw her daughter alive. When she didn’t return that night, her mother called police. There was some suspicion early on in the investigation that Patty may have gone off on her own. She had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances and was described as a bit of a ‘nomad’. Police canvassed the area and notified the press, but found no sign of Patty. Days turned into weeks – still, no Patty.
PATTY’S BODY FOUND; AUTOPSY CONFLICT
Then, on December 29, just 31 days after she was last seen, her body was discovered behind the house of the neighbor across the street, just 75 yards from Patty’s home.
The investigation into Patty’s disappearance was now a homicide, and police stepped up their efforts. Her cause of death was reported as a skull fracture with resulting brain damage, according to one published report.[2] Detectives said that she had also been strangled. Police at the time had a hard time believing the coroner’s finding that Patty had only been dead for a few days, and they requested a second autopsy, which meant that Patty’s body was exhumed. The new autopsy seemed to back up the original time of death, just a few days before her body was discovered. However, there was a difference of opinion on the method of strangulation. One pathologist saying it was manual choking, the other said it was by a ligature.
THE FIFTEEN CENTS
But police still were unconvinced that Patty was killed in the few days leading up to December 29 because of a particular piece of evidence they found – “there was fifteen cents at the end of her outreached hand,” said Sr. Investigator Tom DiZinno. And this becomes another piece of an intriguing puzzle - If Patty was on her way back to the pharmacy from her home with the fifteen cents, why is that same amount of change she still with her 31 days later, particularly if she had been alive 3-4 days before her body was found?
PATTY SEEN DURING HER ‘MISSING” TIME
To add to the mystery, there were a couple people who knew Patty who told police they saw Patty in the downtown area around December 22. That would seem to lend credence to the estimate of her time of death. But could they all be mistaken? What part of the timeline can authorities actually confirm? We asked Inv. Tom DiZinno about the possibility of Patty’s body going unnoticed for 31 days at the location where she was found. He told APB Cold Case that he believed it to be “highly unlikely” for her body to lie behind an occupied house without being noticed. (see photographs and map of the area at APBColdCase.com)
PATTY’S TWO RINGS
Reports indicate that 14-year-old Patty was engaged to an 18-year-old named Bruce. Mary Hagga said she thought it was odd that Patty’s mother allowed her to get engaged, but said Mary, “Patty was so happy when she showed me that ring.”
That wasn’t the only ring that Patty wore, however. She also had the ring of the 33-year-old man she babysat for – we will call him Gary (not his real name). Patty’s mom found out about the ring at one point, and took it from Patty to give back to the man. But when Patty’s body was found, she was wearing that ring along with the one from her fiancé. How did Gary’s ring end up back on her hand? Does that add suspicion about the fifteen cents also being found next to her outstretched hand at the crime scene? These are just some of the pieces of a complex puzzle that investigators have been dealing with, and they’re relying on a review of those old forensic reports by a new set of eyes by having a pathologist and anthropologist review prior findings. But forensics cannot explain away witness accounts attesting to seeing Patty around December 22, nor can they provide rationale for why the fifteen cents is near her outstretched hand.
LOGISTICS REVISITED
In addition to the timeline, we also need to take a look at the logistics. (check out a map in our show notes). Patty lived on 9th Street; her body was found across the street behind her neighbor’s house. The drug store was located on the corner of West 10th and N. Main Street, walking distance from Patty’s home.
The proximity of these key locations to the pharmacy has become important for detectives as they believe it is possible Patty was killed near the pharmacy. Inv. DiZinno said that one of his theories is that she was killed near the pharmacy, her body thrown over a fence, and brought to the house on West Ninth Street across from Patty’s home. It was at that neighbor’s house where it appears Patty was bludgeoned in the head with a concrete block – the block coming from the foundation of a garage at the neighbor’s house that was under construction at the time. Inv. DiZinno believes the use of the concrete block was a coup de grace, a last statement by the killer.
A DNA SOLUTION?
There is hope in getting some answers, however: evidence from under Patty’s fingernails. Could she have struck back at her attacker and gotten skin, blood or other cells from her attacker under her fingernails? That’s what today’s investigators are working on.
WILLIAM SWARTZMAN
And while police examine the relationship between Patty and Gary (not his real name), detectives continue to research other people who knew Patty. One name that appeared in the case file was William Swartzman a resident at the Rescue Mission in Jamestown in 1972. Police say that Swartzman’s girlfriend lived near the pharmacy where Patty was headed on November 28. Additionally, the brother of Swartzman’s girlfriend had an apartment next to the pharmacy on North Main Street.
On January 31, 1973, about one month after Patty’s body was found in Jamestown, New York, William Swartzman had an encounter with police in Pennsylvania. Swartzman told police he wanted to recover some personal property from his brother-in-law in that state, and Swartzman reportedly said that there could be trouble. A Pennsylvania State Trooper explained to Swartzman that a property dispute was a civil matter and that he should go to court. But according to police, Swartzman did not take that advice. instead he broke into his brother-in-law’s house and attempted to strangle him. On February 1, 1973, Swartzman was arrested. At some point in the aftermath of Swartzman’s first encounter with Pennsylvania police and his arrest, Jamestown, NY police learned about the incident and those reports became part of the case file in the Particia Fairbanks murder. Why? It was because of what Swartzman said to a Pennsylvania State Trooper in what is described as a heated conversation. Inv. Tom Tarpley told APB Cold Case that the Trooper carefully documented Swartzman’s words which mentioned the killing of Patty Fairbanks. The Chautauqua Sheriff’s Office is not releasing the content of exactly what Swartzman said, but it appears that those words are consistent with what police know about the 1972 crime scene – and perhaps information that would only be known by someone who was there or who had knowledge of the circumstances surrounding her death. For those reasons, William Swartzman has now become a focus of the investigation.
As police delve into Swartzman’s background, they learned about:
· His residence at the time: the Rescue Mission in Jamestown;
· His girlfriend’s apartment near the pharmacy in Jamestown;
· His girlfriend’s brother’s apartment, next to the pharmacy;
· His girlfriend’s younger step-brother who was friends with Patty
· And the stolen car he was driving when arrested for the attack on his brother-in-law in Pennsylvania.
As cold case detectives are probing Swartzman, they speak with someone who tells them Swartzman attempted to strangle a 5-year-old girl in her bed in the 1950’s. Inv. Tarpley told APB Cold Case that he and his team located and spoke with that victim whose family never reported the incident to police. Inv. DiZinno said, “…the 5-year-old screamed and alerted the mother…”, and Swartzman left.
Armed with that information, police wanted to speak with Swartzman. But he died in 1997 at his home in Warren, Pennsylvania. His decomposed body was found some time after he died and he was cremated. But that does not close the door on the possibility of a DNA comparison against any evidence under Patty’s fingernails – the forensic evidence that police hope will provide some definitive answers. In recent years Inv. Tom Tarpley located three sons of Swartzman whom he described as “very nice men”, raised by their mother. All three have contributed DNA swabs to assist law enforcement in a genetic analysis. Police have also asked other people whom they have interviewed for DNA swabs as they prepare their forensic case for submission to the New York State laboratory. Inv. Tarpley said that, in his experience, the cooperation they have been receiving is unparalleled. “…this is the first case that I’ve ever had where 100% of the people that we ask for a DNA swab give it to us.” He characterized the conversation with Swartzman’s sons, saying, “This was a young girl that was murdered, and we’re not going to hinder the investigation in any way, we’re going to cooperate fully.”
Investigators believe they may be more victims of Swartzman out there, and they encourage anyone with information to reach out to them. Though he lived in Jamestown, New York at the time of Patty’s disappearance, Swartzman was brought up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and lived in North East, PA and Warren, PA, and South Ripley, NY by the PA border where he had a farm. Inv. Tarpley said the Swartzman was selling eggs, and beef at one point, but he didn’t seem to be very motivated to work or provide for his family. As we mentioned, Swartzman died in Warren, PA which is the same location where police say they discovered an alleged stalking victim of Swartzman. Tarpley said that Swartzman did have other run-ins with the law, and it appears that most were dealt with hospitalization rather than jail time.
SUMMARY
In the months and years that followed the original investigation, police focused on the resident of the home where Patty’s body was found. But today’s detectives do not believe the man had anything to do with Patty’s death. DiZinno told APB Cold Case that the man had no motive, and he liked Patty and her friends. Some of those friends, said DiZinno, had nothing bad to say about the gentleman.
Police are sifting through the old case file and interviewing anyone they can find, though some have died as more than 50 years have passed since Patty’s body was found. But for now, police continue to prepare their forensics case, and they are interviewing and re-interviewing any witnesses they can find. They are interested in anyone who can provide even the smallest bit of information about Patricia Fairbanks, Robert Swartzman, or any related incidents in the area in 1972.
Mary Hagga Rivera misses her friend whom she had plans with for their future, including naming their children after each other. Mary held true to that promise, naming her daughter Patricia. They planned on living next to each other. “That was her goal, to grow up, get married, and have a family. A white picket fence, and her Prince Charming.”
For photos, crime scene sketch and more, go to apbcoldcase.com
Tips and information on the Patricia Fairbanks case can be directed to investigators at the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office at 716-753-4578 or email to UnsolvedChautauqua@Sheriff.us The cold case unit also has a Facebook page at UnsolvedChautauqua where they frequently post updates on various cases they are working.
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[1] Fairbanks Slaying Continues to Puzzle Police; Courier Express Jamestown Bureau; undated
[2] Associated Press in Auburn Citizen Advertiser; Dec. 30, 1972, p. 2