Smiley Face Interviews

Posting advance notice to readers that the parents of Matthew Ward and of Joshua Swalls will each be giving Killing Killers in depth interviews in early December concerning their sons' disappearances and drownings in Indiana this past October and November.

 

This will hopefully shed additional light on these suspicious deaths, as well as to call more public attention to the young mens' cases so police will feel compelled to continue to investigate them.

 

The first interview, regarding Matt, is scheduled to go live here in the opening days of December, followed shortly thereafter by Joshua's. Photos will accompany.

All interviews will be permanently featured on the Voices For the Dead page.

 

The Ward Drowning - Overview

 

On October 24, 2012, the body of Walton "Matt" Ward was recovered from the White River near 64th Street and Westfield Boulevard in Indianapolis. The 23-year-old man had gone missing on Oct. 12th.

Ward was visiting from California and planned to hook up with a girl he'd met on Cupid.com. His mother said she dropped him off outside Peppers Bar where the two had arranged to meet, but then never saw her son again.

 

The owner of the pub confirmed that Ward was there alone and stayed for about an hour or so before departing alone as well. The girl never showed.

At around 10:30 that same night Ward checked in with his mother by cell phone to say he was okay, but at approximately 1:30 a.m. on October 13th he placed a 911 call from his cell which only lasted for one second before terminating. Shortly thereafter Ward disappeared.

Detectives traced the call back to a cell phone tower in Broad Ripple near where his drowned corpse was ultimately found almost two weeks later.

 

The Swalls Drowning - Overview

 

Joshua Swalls, 22, vanished without a trace from a friend's apartment in Indianapolis where he was staying this November, leaving behind his cell phone, keys, and car. Allegedly, he was last seen in the early morning hours of November 4th, 2012.

 

A few days after he went missing, police say they found a shoe in the vicinity of the residential complex which they believe may have belonged to Swalls and so a tactical dive team then fruitlessly searched for his body in the nearby retention pond for approximately an hour.

 

Extensive searches by Swalls' family and friends were also conducted throughout the neighborhood in the days and weeks that followed, and similarly produced no results.

 

On November 23, Swalls' body was discovered floating in the same retention pond that had been already searched. He was subsequently identified by the family the day after. 

 

Autopsy & Toxicology Reports

 

In both cases the young men's deaths were immediately ruled accidental drownings. As of this writing, BAC and other toxicology tests are still pending.