A Hildebran woman will spend at least 18 years in prison following her conviction for second-degree murder and larceny of a motor vehicle during Catawba County Superior Court on Monday, March 18, 2019.
Tina Louise Swink, 52, was given an active prison sentence of 18 to 22 years by the Honorable George C. Bell, Superior Court Judge from Mecklenburg County, following her guilty plea.
She will serve her prison term in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
Swink pleaded guilty in connection with the October 31, 2016, death of her aunt, 66-year-old Patricia Diane Swink at her Hickory residence.
“I’m real sorry for what happened that day,” Tina Swink said. “No words will ever make things right for our family.”
Tina Swink’s son, Micky Lee Swink, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the same case in July 2017 and is serving a life sentence without parole.
Patricia Swink was found deceased in her home on November 1, 2016, and the residence showed signs of being ransacked.
Investigators determined that Micky Swink and his mother, who once had lived with the victim, walked to Patricia Swink’s home with intentions to rob her. They broke in through the basement and stayed there for some two to three hours waiting for other people upstairs with Patricia Swink to leave.
They crept up the basement stairs but found the door locked. Patricia Swink made her way to the basement door, and when she opened it, Micky Swink admitted that he stabbed her multiple times in the neck and chest. He and Tina Swink then walked over her body, took pills, money, a gun and other items then left the residence in Patricia Swink’s vehicle after darkness fell, eventually ditching it in Long View.
Justin Levey was the lead investigator on the case for the Hickory Police Department. Melanie Earles prosecuted the case for the District Attorney’s Office.
CONTACT: Nathan Key
Phone: 828-695-6193
Email: Nathan.D.Key@nccourts.org