Breaking news: Eric Abshire arrested
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Eric Abshire and Justine Swartz Abshire on their wedding day in May 2006. She would be dead less than six months later.PHOTO COURTESY SWARTZ FAMILY
Just over four years after he claimed to have found his wife’s body on a winding country road in Orange County in the middle of the night, following what at first appeared to be a hit and run accident, Eric Abshire has been arrested and charged with first degree murder in the death of Justine Swartz Abshire.
“He was arrested this afternoon in Culpeper without incident,” says Virginia State Police spokesperson Corrinne Geller, who says Abshire is being held at Central Virginia Regional Jail. According to a release, the arrest followed an indictment issued by a special grand jury. Abshire has also been charged with perjury.
Justine’s death– and her parents’ increasing suspicion of their son-in-law– have been the subject of intense media scrutiny that included a one-hour ABC Primetime Crime episode that aired in July 2008. Most recently, Abshire declined comment for the November 11, 2010 Hook cover story on the case.
Updated 8:10pm with perjury charge and special grand jury indictment.
Developing…
Hope they have the evidence they need for a conviction.
I don’t think circumstantial evidence will be enough.
Dear Gasbag, Why would you think that they only have circumstantial evidence? I think you may be the Gasbag for assuming they don’t have the hard evidence.
What a joyful day-it is a great feeling to all of us who cared about Justine, to think of Eric sitting behind those bars tonight and hopefully every night for the rest of his LIFE!!!!!!
How is it the Hook has this online before the two television news operations have it up?
There’s plenty of people sitting in prisons on circumstantial evidence alone. It is up to a sane judge or a jury to decide what is enough evidence. Remember in a criminal case, a conviction has to be “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
quote: a conviction has to be “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
Exactly! And because of this newfangled DNA testing setting so many innocent free after they have served 15 and 20 years, circumstantial evidence is holding up as well as it once did.
sorry, was suppose to read….
“circumstantial evidence isn’t holding up as well as it once did!”
quote: How is it the Hook has this online before the two television news operations have it up?
I suspect they have confidential informants.
What do you think? They also get “news” the other media outlets never seem to latch on to.
courteney you deserve a lions share of credit for keeping this story in the news and providing some excellent in-depth journalism over the years. you are a big reason why the hook is as successful as it is and why i read it in the first place. congrats on helping to get this guy behind bars. someone buy that lady a drink.
I second what Josh is saying. Great job Courtney! Let’s hope this guy stays in jail.
Innocent until proven guilty.
Not true, Karen. Sadly enough…. now that murder charges have been filed, he will ALWAYS be known as a murderer whether he is convicted or not. Just like O J Simpson.
Karen and Gasbag must be friends of Abshire’s. By the way, Gasbag, OJ is a murderer. You think its “sad” people think of him that way? Yikes! Everyone with half a brain knows how & why he wasn’t convicted in the first circus of a trial. That won’t be repeated in this case. Finally, we will see justice for Justine!
Jackson, I do not any party involved in this story. But you proved my point well. Just like O J Simpson, Abshire will always be a murderer whether he is convicted or not.
I’m sorry, I might feel differently about the O J Simpson case had former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman not taken the witness stand and committed perjury under oath.
correction, I left out a word….
I do now KNOW any party involved in this story. Except the reporter of course.
Thank you Courtney for your great investigative reporting, and for keeping this story alive. Its been a long time coming. I’m feeling happy and hopeful tonight that Justine’s killer is sitting in a jail cell where he belongs.
Also praying that they have built up a solid case. And that t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted, as they say. People have been convicted on only circumstantial evidence (think of Scott Peterson). And the circumstantial evidence in this case, just what has been made public, is pointing to only one person. But we all want to make sure Eric is convicted and send to prison.
Just go ahead and get the chair and lethal injection ready for him, at the same time.
I think everybody knew something didn’t sound right from the begining.
So glad after all this time they have arrested him. I hope they have all the evidence they need for a conviction. There will hopefully be justice for Justine after all.
When someone is just sitting around waiting for the cops to knock on his door and take him away….hum….sounds pretty guilty to me. Nothing about that night sounded right and justice will hopefully, be served.
Whoa! @EACP - you know, a good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich…this is no indication of anything in terms of the quality of the evidence, particularly in a case so well publicized as this one, in this area. I’m sure Abshire gets a change of venue.
And GSOE is right: DNA (real, hard, objective evidence) has been exonerating a lot of “criminals” for years now - in increasing numbers - and revealing the “criminal justice” system for the sham it often is. Prosecutors and investigators are so terrified of the threat of their rather lame track record being publicly revealed that there is a strong move underfoot to allow the state to destroy evidence (lest anyone check up on it - you know, kind of like a criminal tossing the weapon in a river) and barring that to prevent anyone already convicted from being able to have the DNA tested. They’d just like to sweep all those bad convictions under the rug, because “they’re bad people anyway - guilty of SOMETHING”.
And yeah, I personally would prefer that a “murderer” get off on a “technicality” (Fuhrman & OJ) than allow the government to be sloppy in locking people up.
The case of the young man picked up off the street in Charlottesville as he was walking home from his job, then ID’ed by the victim of a sexual assault (within minutes of the assault), and exonerated by the DNA evidence a very short while later - leaps to mind. Yes, sure, he was exonerated…only because there was DNA evidence and only after he spent a week in jail. And yes, he was just picked up off the street. How many YEARS did we go with the serial rapist while the keystone cops flailed and got so desperate they started grabbing random men off the street in their desperation? The only got the real guy because his victim went into H-T and recognized him (and DNA evidence backed up her ID). Twenty-five years ago, before PCR (DNA amplification) was available, this guy would have been put away for a long time.
Guilty, indicted, convicted (and all three of those are very different things) or not, people have been thinking of Eric Abshire as a murderer for years. So yeah, hopefully they’ve got real evidence - that is, solid, direct and un-compromised - to convict him with. I’m guessing they were smart about it and have not indicted him before since they either didn’t have such evidence or it was compromised in some way. Hopefully a smart prosecutor has figured out a way to fix that. After this much time, it seems more likely to me that he’s slipped up and confessed to somebody who will testify.
Or rather, that one of his clan has slipped up on something else and is offering to testify against him in exchange for a plea bargain.
Let’s remember that the last hook story about this case was detailing the civil suit brought by the parents. I think Scott’s last comment could be on the mark. This suit may have brought pressure to bear upon a material witness. Or it may be that one of Ms. Stuart’s LE sources indicated to her that they were close to an arrest, so she did the story.
The circumstantial evidence presented in the media so far has seemed flimsy. I agree with those that hope that the police are going on more than what the public knows. I would like to believe that of course they are, but my faith in law enforcement is not that high.
Of course, if this man is guilty, I hope that he is found to be so in a fair trial and that her family receives some comfort from his punishment.
Mr/Mrs/Miss meanwhile, excelent point if we take it a step further, the fact that the threat of a wrongful death lawsuit hanging over somebody’s head could be enough to make them say things that aren’t true. Just to save their own bacon in this mess.
I think everyone knew he was guilty from the start. Hope he enjoyed his 4 years of freedom while Justines family suffered and mourned the loss of their precious daughter.
Keep the ball rolling and get this lunatic off the streets. RIP Justine. He deserves everything that is coming to him. He has damaged and destroyed so many lives. What is wrong with him? Go sit in jail and think about it Eric. Did you seriously think you were going to get away with it????? For what? Oh yeah, and Karen….if this was your sister would you feel the same? What is your connection with Eric? Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Sad for you too.
Ya know, I’m sorry, but Debbie and Tina are the type of people who make the strongest case in anybody saying our criminal justice system is broken. They sit here and openly proclaim Abshire’s guilt. But once in front of a judge during jury selection they both will most likely say they have formed no opinion as to his guilt or innocence.
There was a time that innocent people were hung from trees because of the color of there skin. There was no trial, just mob justice. I think we have come a long way since those days. Our system is not perfect, but it works. I think there are a lot of emotions getting in the way. Emotions are human, but to convict a man before the state has proven there case, throws our society back 200 years.
Isn’t it kind of unusual for someone to be tried on murder AND perjury charges? Any of you legal eagles out there know what that might indicate?
It is probably a coincidence that this came so close to the filing of the civil charges. But back to the perjury. Didn’t some of his relatives (brother in particular) back up Eric’s story to a T? If there is evidence that Eric perjured himself, wouldn’t it stand to reason that there was evidence that one of his relatives also perjured himself. Yet, there is only a charge against Eric. Seems like perjury in a murder case is pretty serious business. Not something authorities would overlook.
Of course, unless said relative(s) recanted after given a promise of immunity.
“Innocent until proven guilty.”
I have never understood — really — what that means. Regardless of proof, someone either did something or did not do something. The proof just exposes the deed in a socially (and judicially) acceptable way.
If someone is guilty of an act — they are always guilty of the act. If someone is not guilty of an act — they are always innocent of the act. If someone has actually committed a crime: there is no point afterwards at which they become innocent.
We need a new & better phrase for this, because it’s polluting our thinking.
Regardless of the outcome, I think Eric will have to live with this incident and the backlash it will cause. I only wish that all the evidence would come out in a factual nature and not in some journalist form for us to read. Unfortunately, that’s all we have as information unless we get selected for jury duty (I live in Orange County…). But as Gasbag states, not sure I could be neutral in the case which would NOT make me a good juror.
Barbara Myer- great point!! Can’t wait until someone brings that up on the legal level. A guilty party is always guilty, never innocent….very interesting thought.
Thoughts go to Boy George Huguley- he is guilty, not innocent- as he admitted his guilt. His attorneys know it too- they are now attempting to prove that he did not kill Ms. Love- well, at least knowingly, or whatever.
C’mon maaaaaane - a defendant is PRESUMED innocent until proven guilty. Its bout dem charges, prosecutors provin reasonable doubt, and bein PRESUMED innocent in da absence of evidence to da contrary - urribody know dat. Dese boards be full of sum of da dumbest smart people mane… (SMH)
It is sad that such a beautiful young lady has lost her life. She was truly blessed with a wonderful family to have continued to push for justice. The Hook is blessed to have such a dedicated reporter to have worked hard at keeping the story alive and out there for everyone to see although attempts were made to keep the last published coverage of the story from getting out. You would think that the mother and grand-mother of one of the individuals named in the civil suit would have stopped to think prior to running around Charlottesville and Waynesboro removing all of the Hook papers from the boxes, loading their car down, only to end up burning all of the papers in an attempt to keep people from seeing the last printed story. You would think that these individuals would put themselves in the shoes of the victims family. What if that were their daughter….you would think they would want the story to be out for all to see. They would want justice for their own. Instead, all they did was think about themselves and burn as many papers as they possibly could so the story was limited in getting out. If your child did not have any involvement in the harm of another, then why would you feel the need to run all around the town and surrounding counties to remove the papers and then burn them. What is the purpose of that act if no one is hiding anything.
I GUESS FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE OUT THEIR WHO THINK ERIC’s brother had something to do with this should know he took and passed a lie detector test so i dont think so …. people should not talk about what they dont know……………………..