Harlee Swols Enfield Connecticut woman slits grandmother and her boyfriend’s throats while Uber waits outside. Granddaughter defied order of protection.
A 22-year-old Connecticut woman is accused of having taken an an Uber from her place of work to her grandmother’s apartment on Sunday and stabbing the 72-year-old woman to death along with her 63-year-old boyfriend after having asked the Uber driver to wait for her outside.
Harlee Swols was in violation of a protective order when she went to Maryrose Riach’s second story multi dwelling apartment in Enfield, NBC Connecticut reported. She told police that Riach had invited her to the apartment to pick up some belongings, only for ‘things to get out of hand.’
Riach was found with 22 sharp force injuries, while her boyfriend, James Samuel Bell, was found with 30 stab wounds. Both had cuts on their throats, the medical examiner said. Bell was pronounced dead at the scene, while Riach was transported to a hospital, where she, too, was pronounced dead.
Enfield Police in a Facebook release said they were called to the scene on at about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday by a neighbor who reported hearing an upstairs neighbor call for help according to a police report.
Upon reaching a second floor porch, they saw a window broken and a woman, identified in the report as ‘Victim 1,’ ‘face down in a pool of blood.’ The officers were kicking in the door when they saw Swols walk into the apartment’s kitchen area. The officer said he could hear a shower running, and Swols was fully clothed and ‘soaking wet with water and a blood like substance.’
Accused was covered in blood and showed no emotion
They ordered her not to move and forced entery into the apartment, putting Swols in handcuffs. The officers found Bell — ‘Victim 2’ — ‘face down, on his knees, near the bottom corner of the bed … a large laceration from one side of his neck to the other and across the area of the artery.’
EMS arrived, pronounced Bell dead, and took Riach to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Riach had a ‘large laceration … from ear to ear, across the base of (her) throat’ and multiple other cuts. Her jugular vein had been severed, the medical examiner said.
Swols according to the police report had both her ‘hands covered in blood and both had wounds.’
‘The Accused had blood all over her clothes and was showing no emotion,’ the report stated.
‘They were just a couple enjoying their golden years’
The protective order against Swols stemmed from a domestic incident between her and Bell in early July. In addition to the protective order, she was charged with breach of the peace and assault on an elderly person.
Swols told police that she couldn’t recall how the argument escalated to murder and accused Bell of coming at her with a knife. Somehow, she said, she got hold of the knife, and when asked what happened next, she replied, ‘Not good things, clearly.’ She said that when she picked up the knife, she hurt someone, but would not elaborate and ended the interview asking for an attorney.
During questioning, the Uber driver who told of hearing commotion while he waited downstairs, said he had picked up Swols from a local Dunkin Donuts store – where she worked as a manager. At the time of her app ride, the 22 year old woman had put in three stops for her ride.
Swols was arrested on Sunday for violating a protection order and ordered held on $1 million bond. Come Wednesday, the granddaughter was charged with two counts of murder and ordered held on a $2 million bond, NBC Connecticut reported.
The family of the victims released a statement to local media.
‘They were just a couple enjoying their golden years,’ it stated. ‘They loved spending time with family, beach trips, and going camping. They had the biggest hearts of anyone I’ve ever known, and they did not deserve this.’
