Inmate’s tip triggers arrest in 1979 killing

SEATTLE – A tip generated by a deck of “cold case” playing cards has helped solve a killing that occurred more than three decades ago, investigators said.

A 57-year-old Seattle man was arrested Friday night at his home and booked for investigation of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Susan Schwarz, 26, who was killed in her home near Lynnwood, about 15 miles north of Seattle, on Oct. 22, 1979.

“My God, isn’t that something – I’m breathless,” her 82-year-old father, Henry Schwarz, of Kirkland, said Saturday when the Associated Press informed him of the arrest.

The cards, first circulated in 2008, offer rewards for information that helps solve the cases. Schwarz was pictured on the queen of hearts.

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office declined to identify the suspect.

Sheriff’s Lt. Brent Speyer confirmed Saturday that the man arrested Friday had long been a suspect and that he may have blamed Schwarz for the breakup of his marriage; Schwarz was a close friend of his wife.

A month ago, a prison inmate reported the tip that led to the arrest after seeing Schwarz’s case on a playing card deck distributed by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office cold case team, Lt. Rob Palmer said in a news release.

Henry Schwarz said he was eager to share the news with his son, Gary, who lives in Stanwood.

“When she died, I wrapped her memory in blankets and tried to forget it,” he said. “Gary, he took it much harder. Those two were like peas in a pod.”