Who are the true killers in the 1988 murders of Cathy Sue Swartz and Christina Y Shelton in Three Rivers, Michigan?

THREE RIVERS, MICHIGAN IN ST. JOSEPH COUNTY – Joshua Thomas Barnes alleges that when he was 12 years old in 1988, Michael (Mike) Mohney, formerly of the Three Rivers Police Department assaulted him in an unprovoked attack. Barnes had suffered from falling down stairs and fracturing three vertebrae two years prior. There were several witnesses including Mr. Barnes’ childhood friends. It’s alleged that the assault was brutal, that Mohney strangled Barnes with his bare hands and threatened to kill Barnes as Mohney laid on top of him, holding him down, and bending him over backward on the hood of a squad car. It’s alleged that Mohney called Barnes a “little/f***ing faggot and a little pussy,” and screamed profanities and death threats directly into Barnes’ ear with Mohney’s lips touching Barnes. Barnes stated that Mohney was just big enough that he was unable to push him off of him, and the harder he tried to get out from under Mohney, the harder Mohney laughed.

Michael (Mike) Mohney’s actions that day subjected Barnes to emotional and psychologically traumatizing torture and damage that still lasts to this day as Mohney tried to get a false confession out of Barnes, insisting that he had spit at or on the squad car. In 1988, Mohney was a White male, and in 1988 he was about 22 years old, standing 5’ 2” and weighing around 135 lbs with a stocky build. Mohney had short blonde hair with a long feathered hair style on the sides and a fair skin complexion. This is almost identical to the “woman” who was seen leaving Cathy Sue Swartz’s Riverside Townhouse apartment around the time she was murdered on December 2, 1988. Mohney lived just north of the Townhouses with his family, just minutes away. Mohney’s sister went to school with Swartz, and so did his cousins, a couple of girls from Mendon. The incident with Barnes occurred just months before Swartz was stabbed to death in her apartment. There was also a traumatizing incident inside a police squad car with officer Michael Costello that I will explain later.

There is reason to believe it was very odd that Mohney later became a detective who was in charge of investigating Swartz’s murder right up until his early retirement. Mohney decided to retire early so his wife would be able to follow her dream of driving for FedEx, even though numerous people have heard stories of him and Michael Costellos’ involvement in her murder. There was a suspicious fatal car accident that Swartz’s friend and neighbor Christina Y Shelton was involved in less than one hour later, only a few miles away from the apartments where both women resided. Shelton’s car had supposedly veered off the road and into the St. Joseph River for no apparent reason just after noon. The car landed around three to ten feet from the shore in about five to 10 feet of water, depending on which article a person reads.

CLICK HERE to help spread the word about this shocking murder mystery revelation!

Shelton was pronounced dead at the Three Rivers Area Hospital at around 2 p.m. Her four-year-old daughter had been hospitalized for some time and suffered from the effects of nearly drowning. However, the daughter miraculously recovered completely with no signs of brain damage after being submerged for more than 30 minutes.

It was reported at the time that two rescue workers helped a “Cop” (Michael Costello?) out of a partially submerged car during the time Shelton drowned.

Some of the locals in Southwest Michigan had reported at the time that a squad car forced Shelton’s vehicle from Schweitzer Road and into the St. Joseph River, and attempted to flee the police. It’s alleged that Shelton witnessed cops entering Swartz’s Riverside Townhouse apartment back in 1988. It’s alleged Christina Y Shelton had heard Swartz screaming for help as she was being brutally beaten and stabbed repeatedly before her ultimate demise of being strangled to death.

Locals had also reported at the time that Michael Costello was at both scenes immediately upon the call from dispatch. Costello allegedly attempted to get Shelton and her daughter out of the car before the rescue divers were able to arrive on the scene. It’s alleged that Costello had rushed into the water to ensure that Shelton never surfaced so she would not be able to tell anyone anything about what she may have or may not have seen, or heard that day. It’s also alleged that Shelton’s daughter was taken to Ann Harbor for treatment to make it more difficult for local law enforcement to be able to reach her.

Reports about the Shelton drowning stated there were no guardrails on the side of the roads during the Shelton drowning. However, there is clearly what appears to be a bent up and damaged guardrail at the scene.

According to Barnes’ uncle, while at the TRPD, he overheard two cops argueing with or about Michael Costello being involved in Shelton’s accident. The uncle said he also heard the cops talking about Cathy Sue Swartz calling and asking about charges against her. You’d think that the cop who had to break it all up (Michael Costello) would’ve been questioned. As far as we’re aware, nobody contacted Barnes’ uncle about this, not the Metropolitan State Police, the FBI, or Crime Stoppers, even after Barnes’ had sent in the information.

Officer Matt Stark in Three Rivers, Michigan whose father is Earl Stark, the former chief of police, told Barnes that his dad personally threw Costello out of the TRPD back in the early 90s.

It’s been said that Costello lost his job at the TRPD after he showed up at the police station in the middle of the night, off duty, with a 14-year-old girl who had been reported as missing. He said he had found her out wandering the streets.

There is a local newspaper print from 1998, 10 years after the Swartz murder, titled “Authorities still hope to find killer of 2 area women,” not just one. A lower article starter title reads, “Police continue investigation in 1988 stabbing death.”

There is a woman who was living in Three Rivers, Michigan who alleges that in 1988, officer Costello tampered with her breathalyzer test to make her fail it and get sent to jail. Another officer at the scene noticed what Costello had done and stopped him from arresting the woman. The woman wishes to remain anonymous at this time. There are also locals who partied with Costello and Mohney back in the 1980s, and they’ve described parties filled with alcohol and drugs, including cocaine, and there was often underage use involved at the parties.

We ran a Facebook ad targeting St. Joseph County, Michigan, in the county where the murder(s) happened, and locals came forward, including Cathy Sue Swartz’ own cousin, Mary Wilma. Swartz’s mother and Mary Wilma’s father are brother and sister. We had heard rumors before that the TRPD was involved in drug dealing, including cocaine back in 1988, and allegations of officers extorting drug dealers for money. Cathy Sue Swartz’ cousin, Mary Wilma, has stated that Swartz was selling cocaine for the police and she wanted out. She wanted to get married and have a baby, it was her dream.

The Swartz cousin also said she had another cousin from her mom’s side who lived in the next drive. Her other cousin’s husband is the man who police found dead on Buckhorn Road in Three Rivers after 10 months. That man was into satanic worship, and he had all kinds of butcher and hunting knives. While he was alive, before he left  home the day of the Swartz murder, he stuck a knife in his wife’s leg while she was sitting down, twisted it, then said “I’ll be back later to kill you.” Phillip Feeks mother’s brother’s wife was the sister of Earl Stark, a lead detective on the Swartz murder case. On the streets, they say TRPD paid Phillip Feeks to murder Cathy Sue Swartz. Then after that they bribed Feeks’ mom and step father for a lot of money. Swartz had said to Wilma Mary that when Phil Feeks came home, the front end of the car was smashed up, and he had to get out of town quick, fast, and in a hurry.

However, Swartz’ cousin Wilma also brought up a rumor we’ve heard before, that Mike Mohney was seen leaving the Swartz apartment dressed as a woman during the time of the murder. Joshua Thomas Barnes has alleged that Mohney may have put on Swartz’ clothes when leaving the apartment to disguise himself. This would fit into the description of the “woman” who was seen leaving the Swartz residence at the time of the murder. Locals and Joshua Thomas Barnes have alleged previously that drug dealers were selling cocaine for the TRPD back in the 1980s, and the TRPD was extorting the drug dealers for money.

In a South Bend, Michigan WSBT-TV Channel 22 news article from 2013, Mike Mohney stated things about how the murder suspect would need to have some type of shoes or footwear on, and “So what did you do, did you take the footwear off and change it. Did you use some of Cathy’s clothes, her boyfriend’s clothes.” Then, near the end of the article, David Swartz, father of murder victim Cathy Swartz, stated “They can tell you the kind of shoe the person wore.”

We’ve also uncovered two contradicting news reports from WOODTV.com channel 8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The two articles tell a different story about how the still alive baby was found at the scene of the murder. One news report says “Warner” was 18 when he came home from work on December 2, 1988 and discovered Swartz’s body, that Swartz was 19, he called 911 and grabbed her 9-month-old baby daughter from her crib in the adjoining room.

However, an article that was published one week earlier is telling. It states that “Tom Bringman, who became the Three Rivers police chief in 2007 and retired in 2021, was 14 years into his career when Swartz died. He and fellow officer Mike Mohney were the first to see her body. He said they cleared the home before getting Swartz’s baby out of the next room.”

During Mohney’s 2013 interview with WSBT22’s Kristen Been, a partial sketch of a person is shown, who for some odd reason is not labeled as a suspect during the news story who was witnessed leaving the Swartz residence around the time she was murdered. The detailed physical description that originally accompanied the sketch was completely left out. This may be because 25 years before the sketch was shown during Mohney’s interview, the original version was complete with the long feathered hair style on the sides that Mohney had back in 1988 that was used to describe a “woman” who was seen in the area the same day as the murder. But according to police, this individual from the sketch was not a suspect, but was instead being sought by authorities who hoped “’ she’ may have heard or seen something that day that could help investigators who were working the case.”

CLICK HERE to help spread the word about this shocking murder mystery revelation!

Why would the lead detective in a homicide case (that he was suspected by many locals of being involved in) crop out the feathered-sided hair from the police sketch before displaying it during his 2013 interview with the media? Perhaps, because in 1988, he matched the description of “White, around 22 years old, standing about 5’ 2” tall, weighing about 135 lbs, with a stocky build, just like the individual who witnesses described that day. He also had blonde hair with feathered long hair on the sides at the time.

Back in 1988, Michael Mohney was also known to have had a short temper, or “short fuse,” as previously described in the alleged assault against Joshua Thomas Barnes who has also described a “seriously nasty bare-handed choke-hold and psychopathic tendencies.”

The nerve of this guy Mike Mohney who has repeatedly wrongly reported Mr. Barnes’ content regarding these cases as false news in the Crooked Cops Anonymous Facebook group.

It appears that the TRPD is about to close the Swartz case after 35 years because another person was arrested for the murder on April 30, 2023. However, the suspect named Robert Odell Waters supposedly committed suicide while awaiting to be extradited to Michigan. However, there was conveniently no surveillance footage of Waters’ jail cell at the time of his supposed suicide. If Waters was at the Swartz residence recently before the murder, of course, his DNA evidence would’ve been at the crime scene, and that does not make him the murderer. Waters will also never get a chance to testify in court and try to prove his innocence, how convenient!

Robert Odell Waters had found out that his family was being shunned and harassed from day one. Waters’ daughter “swears up and down” that both the footprint and fingerprint did not match. Just when and where did Waters move exactly? Waters’ daughter was born in Phoenix, Arizona in January 1989, so Waters had already been living in Arizona for some time before the murder. Sam Smallcombe, now a detective, was investigating the Swartz murder, and he has stated that Waters was not questioned in the initial investigation because he moved to Phoenix, Arizona back in September 1988, before the December murder. Waters was allegedly found in the Three Rivers High School freshman yearbook, but not in any years after that, not in the sophomore, junior, or senior years, according to Missouri State Trooper Opie Taylor aka Pepper Walker who was a childhood friend of Joshua Thomas Barnes. One thing that needs to be looked into, is, where Waters filed his first income taxes at.

Detective Sam Smallcombe stated in an old news report that, “The only time that Mr. Waters was listed was that he moved to Arizona in September before the murders, so I think as far as the original detectives were concerned he moved out of the area before the crime occurred.” Notice how Smallcombe slipped up and said “murders,” not just one murder, but two when referring to the Swartz murder.

Joshua Thomas Barnes spoke with Robert Waters’ brother in law who claimed his sister Julie met Waters in Phoenix, Arizona around 1986 or 1987, some time before the 1988 Swartz murder.

There are a couple of newspaper prints, in one of them, Mike Warner, a boyfriend of Cathy Swartz, claimed that Robert Waters had “shown up” to the apartment with a girlfriend about a month prior to the Swartz’ murder. In the other article, Mike Warner claims that he had ran into Waters, who was visiting the area, and invited him over to the apartment!

Warner recalled that Robert Waters had already moved to South Carolina but was visiting Three Rivers, Michigan when he ran into him and invited him over. Warner said after that he never had contact with Robert Waters again. The problem with this is that Robert Waters had permanently moved to Phoenix, Arizona months before the Swartz murder. But wait, if Warner never again had contact with Waters after that visit, then how did he know that Waters was living in South Carolina?

Robert Odell Waters had visited the Swartz apartment one month before the murder(s), so it’s very likely that his DNA would have been at the apartment, and this does not make Waters look like the killer.

Gerald Warner was a decorated officer in 1988, uncle of Michael Waters, who were possibly assisting in covering up the murders together.

There was no sign of forced entry at the Swartz home, which is common knowledge. Robert Odell Waters was never held at the Beaufort County Jail, he was at the Beaufort County Detention Center, a privately owned prison.

Robert Odell Waters’ death certification which was available on May 11, 2023, shows his parents were James Hurlen Waters and Judith Dangerfield, not John and Judith Waters as Smallcombe would have everyone believe.

A word from Joshua Thomas Barnes if I may, “I have complained to the Department of Justice (DOJ) about a situation at the county jail in Centerville, Michigan. I was moved from one cell to another after the Corrections Officer instructed me that “they” wanted me to assault three young inmates who had come in the night before. I didn’t do it…and it seems like every time I end up over there since then it gets worse and worse.”

“I’ve been issued brand new greens…after a Corrections Officer drew a Klan cross on the chest of it… I’ve been assaulted by the turnkeys….they got time off with no pay…..I’ve been placed with violent offenders who were known to wish me harm. Had my personal belongings destroyed by turnkeys, stolen….the Sgt on duty apologized and replaced my clothing that his men took and or destroyed.”

“I am afraid to turn myself in for a misdemeanor probation violation because I don’t want to end up dead.”

“I would like to live long enough to see Swartz and Shelton’s families get justice. Mohney and Costello need to be polygraphed,” Barnes stated.

Barnes also had something to say about Costello “In elementary school, I was a safety patrol officer and the next year a crossing guard. When my friend and I climbed into the back of Officer Costellos’ squad car, we did it solely because he said that he ‘needed our help’ and that ‘it would only take a couple minutes.’ He then held us all day and into the night, repeatedly going from Mr. Good Cop to Mr. Bad Cop. He insisted that we were lying to him, demanding that we ‘just look at their faces’ as he stalked people while grumbling hateful comments as he passed them slow enough that they would walk up to the car and try to see who was in the backseat.”

“‘Is this what you guys want in your city?’ He asked while becoming more and more frustrated as the day went on. ‘Why would we look at their faces when we don’t buy drugs from ANYONE?’ I asked to no response. I told my friend not to point at anyone, because at 12 years old, I already knew what crazy looked like, and that cop, Michael Costello, was terrifying. My friend was an hour in looking at their faces because the psychopath wearing the badge was driving us around locked inside his squad car and kept telling him to, telling us to.”

“Officer Michael Costellos’ behavior while working for the TRPD during the summer of 1988 was unprofessional and unlawful. He stopped us while walking from his mother’s apartment to my parent’s house as we were headed there for lunch. Assuring us that we had done nothing wrong, he convinced us to get into the back of his squad car where he held us for many hours, into the night, before taking us to Swartz’s apartment,” Barnes added.

“I know who supplied cocaine to all the rich people and cops around Three Rivers. I have a friend who used to hear all about Costello regularly from her dealer… Costello owed the drug dealer money.”

“My uncle was being fingerprinted at the TRPD in 1991 when a fight broke out amongst the officers in the lobby. He said he heard them physically fighting, and that they were arguing with or about Costello being involved in Shelton’s car crash.”

“My uncle also heard them saying that Swartz had called the station shortly before being murdered to ask about charges she may be facing due to the drugs and money seized from her apartment by members of The TRPD. She was killed before they could take her official statement,” Barnes concluded.

Now ask yourself, who are the true 1988 murderers of Cathy Sue Swartz and Christina Y Shelton in Three Rivers, Michigan?

Regarding Barnes’ statement about the polygraph tests, while I understand that they aren’t 100% accurate, the odds are still highly favorable to be accurate.

Joshua Thomas Barnes has experienced emotional and psychological trauma and damage to this day as a result of the incidents with Mohney and Costello in 1988 when he was only 12 years old. Barnes has an instinctual fear of law enforcement that lasts to this day. Barnes’ mother was in a terrible car accident in December of 1989 that caused him to black all of these events out for years. After Barnes sobered up around 2021, he asked his friend if he remembered Costello picking them up, and he remembered it the same way. The friend was also there when Barnes was being attacked by Mohney. This trauma and damage have affected Barnes’ mental well-being and life decisions negatively. He fears for his life if the authorities in Michigan take him to jail on a probation violation. His life is at high risk if he is forced to go back into that jail, according to Barnes’ truthful statements about the facility’s conditions. What Barnes needs is a fresh start in life, not more jail time. At the very least, Barnes needs witness protection. We need justice for the families of Swartz and Shelton which will also give Barnes some peace of mind and ease the trauma and damage that he has suffered from for all these years.

“Earl Stark was a good man, a nice guy who I thought was a great chief of police. And he was a good friend of David Swartz, Cathys’ (Cathy Sue Swartz) father. The men and women working for the TRPD today are a decent bunch, nothing like the two men (Mohney and Costello) who did those things to me,” Joshua Thomas Barnes said, praising former TRPD police chief Earl Stark and the current TRPD.

UPDATE: Joshua Thomas Barnes was taken in on a probation violation in early 2024, but he spent less than 60 or 90 days in jail, and yes he did survive. He has been continuing to live a sober life.

CLICK HERE to help spread the word about this shocking murder mystery revelation!

• Evidence download: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Included in the evidence is a video of the “woman” who was seen leaving the scene of the Swartz murder compared to Michael (Mike) Mohney. There are also notes with additional information about the images. A rough draft of this article is included as well.

Image 12: Michele Nelson’s Facebook comment.

Image 20: This had Middleton saying that her ex-boyfriend found her and was later arrested but released. Troy Daniel Schulthies, NOT Michael Warner.

Images 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25: Middleton also says Swartz was killed sometime between 5:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. when they KNEW she was killed around 11 to 11:30 a.m. The newspaper covering Christina Shelton’s fatal car crash left out the Swartz murder that day.

Middleton also says Swartz was killed sometime between 5:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. when they KNEW she was killed around 11 to 11:30 a.m. The newspaper covering Christina Shelton’s fatal car crash left out the Swartz murder that day.

Middleton also says Swartz was killed sometime between 5:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. when they KNEW she was killed around 11 to 11:30 a.m. The newspaper covering Christina Shelton’s fatal car crash left out the Swartz murder that day.

Image 26: The “rough ride” in the squad car that Barnes and his friend took with Costello was illegal.

Image 28: Barnes witnessed a friend being grabbed by the neck and shoved around for no good reason.