Amber Jean Swartz-Garcia | |
|---|---|
| Born | Amber Jean Swartz August 19, 1980 |
| Disappeared | June 3, 1988 (aged 7) Pinole, Contra Costa County, California, U.S. |
| Status | Missing for 36 years, 9 months and 3 days |
| Nationality | American |
| Parents |
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The kidnapping of Amber Swartz-Garcia (born August 19, 1980) [1] occurred on June 3, 1988, in Pinole, California, when she was seven years old. [2] [3] She had been playing jump rope in her front yard when she was abducted. Curtis Dean Anderson, a convicted kidnapper, confessed to kidnapping and killing Swartz-Garcia shortly before his 2007 death, but doubts remain about his involvement.
Amber was the daughter of Bernie Swartz, a police officer, and Kim Swartz. Her father was shot and killed four months before her birth, and her mother then lived with Al Garcia, and Amber took his last name. [3] Over the years, the police announced that suspects, including a volunteer who helped search for missing children [3] and a defrocked priest had been questioned intensively in the kidnapping. [4]
In 2009, Pinole police and the FBI announced that her killer was convicted murderer Curtis Dean Anderson, who died in prison in 2007 one month after confessing to her kidnapping and murder. [5] [6] Anderson had a long criminal record and had been convicted of kidnapping and murdering Xiana Fairchild [7] of Vallejo, California, who was also seven years old, and also of kidnapping and sexually assaulting another girl named Misdi Sanchez, [8] [9] who escaped. He had bragged about kidnapping eleven girls. [10]
Anderson told FBI agents that he sedated Amber while he drove to Arizona to visit his aunt. He said that he killed Amber in a motel room near Tucson, Arizona, and disposed of her body near Benson, Arizona. [5] [6] No human remains or credible evidence of Amber's death has been found, other than Anderson's confession. As a result of his confession the case was declared closed. Kim Swartz was convinced that Anderson was lying to get attention. In 2013, after a petition campaign, the Pinole police agreed to re-open the case. [11]
