The Murders of John and Carolyn Tarwacki
For this case I watched an episode of A Time to Kill. It’s season 1 episode 2, titled ‘Footprints in the Snow.’ A Time to Kill is a good show, it focuses on the last 24 hours of the victim’s life or lives to piece together who killed them.
A loving couple is murdered in their home on a cold winter’s morning.
Background
John and Carolyn Tarwacki
John and Carolyn Tarwacki lived in Niles, Michigan. Niles is described as a town where everyone knows everyone. John and Carolyn were well known educators who both worked for a music education company called Quinlan and Fabish. John was also a Navy veteran and Carolyn helped repair instruments for children. Who would want to kill this lovely couple?
The Murder
On Friday, February 5, 2010, a 911 call came into the police. The caller was John Tarwacki, Sr., John’s dad. He said there had been a shooting.
John and Carolyn were supposed to go to a meeting around 8am at Quinlan and Fabish. They didn’t show up, which was odd, and after John Sr. couldn’t get a hold of them, he went over to the house. He walked in and found his son and daughter-in-law dead.
Detectives Fabian Suarez and Kristen Daly arrived on the scene. They first found John dead in the front foyer, he had been stabbed in the back. Carolyn was found in the next room and she had been beaten, stabbed and shot. The police believed the murder was personal because of the brutality of the crime.
Investigation
The first thing that the detectives wanted to determine was the time of death. The police obtained cell phone records and determined that Carolyn had talked to her mom, Sharon, from 6:10am to 6:22am, she told her mom she was having computer issues. The police also obtained records from Carolyn’s computer and determined that she was on her computer from 6:43am to 7:10am. As of right now, their time of death was between 7:10am to 12:49pm, when the 911 call came in.
The police searched the house for anything else, like a murder weapon. The couple’s kitchen knives were sent out for testing. The police also ruled out robbery because the computer, phones and money were all still in the house.
While the police were searching the house, they heard a dog barking. In the backyard, they found the couple’s dog, Wrigley. The dog was around 200 pounds, but that’s not the only thing that caught the police’s attention. In the backyard there were footprints in the snow, going to and from the back door. At this point, the police believed that the couple knew their killer because the person would have had to get past their guard dog.
The footprints were very clear and the police were able to determine it was from a size 12 shoe, and they were able to take pictures of the shoe tread. The type of shoe that was matched to the print had been discontinued in 2008, so it was a very old shoe. The police were hoping the footprints would lead them to their killer.
Suspects
The next step in the investigation was to ask neighbors if they had seen anything. It led them to the home of Sherry and Keith Lintz. The police knew Keith from previous run ins with the law. The police asked where Keith was that morning, and he said he had been sleeping and gone to work. His mom, Sheri, confirmed his alibi. Keith was not immediately ruled out, but the police didn’t have any evidence that he was the killer.
The police found another witness who said she saw a man who looked to be about 20-30 years old, running away from the area on the day of the murder around 7:45am. The witness also said the man had a dark coat on with the hood up. Det. Daly thought the description looked a lot like Kelan, the couple’s nephew who was living with them.
Kelan was their next suspect. Kelan was the son of Carolyn’s sister Katie, and was living with John and Carolyn because their was a lot of abuse in his mom and step-dad’s house. Kelan was ruled out very quickly, because he was in still in high school and was seen on surveillance cameras at school. However, Kelan’s mom and step-dad were also questioned.
John and Carolyn had filed for permanent custody of Kelan just two days before the murders. Apparently, Katie was pissed and didn’t want her son to be taken away. Even though Katie and David were not the best parents, they were ruled out. Katie was a bus driver and had been on her route at the time of the murders and David had also been at work one town over.
Even though the case stalled, the police were able to shorten the time of death to 7:03-7:45am.
The Killer Emerges
In April of 2010, Sharon, Carolyn’s mom, was cleaning out the couple’s home to sell it when she found the murder weapon. There had been a bloody knife left in the freezer. The DNA was matched to John and Carolyn.
The case stalled again, but two 1/2 years later, a woman came forward saying she had information about the case. The woman’s name was Patricia Wild, she had been pulled over for a driving incident. She said the killer was Keith Lintz, Keith had been the man they interviewed on the first day.
Patricia said she was living with Keith’s half brother, and one night Keith came over and was paranoid. Patricia had asked Keith why he was acting so strangely, and Keith said the police were after him because he left his footprints in the snow. The police hadn’t released that information at this point.
Keith had a history of drug problems, and he had also beaten the mother of his child a few weeks after the murders. By this point, the police believed Keith was their killer and they needed to find him.
A Confession
The police discovered that Keith had fled to Nashville, Tennessee, and was now in jail for other charges.
Keith told the police the same thing he did on the day they interviewed him, that he had been sleeping and went to work. However, the police knew that this wasn’t the case because they went to Walmart where he worked at the time, and they said he never came into work that day. Keith volunteered to take a polygraph test, and he failed it.
Meanwhile, another inmate and a man who also claimed to be a childhood friend of Keith’s came forward. His name was Shane Zimmerman, and he said Keith had confessed to him. Shane told the police he made mistakes all his life, and finally wanted to help solve this crime. He agreed to wear a wire.
This confession wasn’t played in the episode, but the police said Keith broke down and confessed. He and his brother Ryan had been drinking and doing drugs the night before the murders. Keith had gone home at some point, and fought with his mother because she wouldn’t give him any money, so he decided to rob someone. He went to the Tarwacki’s and killed them because he didn’t expect them to be home.
Trial and Conviction
Keith Lintz was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was also given an extra two years for a felony gun conviction.
Keith still claims he’s innocent, even though the police said he confessed. Keith said this at his trial:
“To the family, I’m sorry for your loss, but I didn’t do it. That’s all there is to say.”
Keith Lintz
Other
John Tarwacki, Sr., has said there is no closure. He wants to forgive Keith, but he can’t right now.
Keith’s family also say he’s innocent. His mom Sheri said:
“My son didn’t do this. He’s not capable of doing this. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
I 100% believe Keith did it. There was no other evidence to suggest it was another person. This couple that everyone had nothing but good things to say about, were killed in the one place that they should have been safe!!! They were killed because a greedy asshole thought money and drugs were more important than somebody’s life. However, I do think the drugs also affected his judgement, but he also has more history of violence than just this case.
Sources
https://wsbt.com/news/local/emotional-reaction-to-lintz-life-prison-sentence-for-tarwacki-murders
https://www.abc57.com/news/man-charged-in-tarwacki-murders-family-speaks-out
