The Freelance Star
October 27, 2011
The day after an Orange County jury convicted Justine Swartz Abshire's husband of her murder, her family gathered to thank the people who spent five years helping them in their quest for justice.
They also called on women who are victims of domestic violence to speak out before it is too late.
Justine Abshire's mother, Heidi Swartz, arranged a spray of flowers under the framed photograph of her daughter in the parlor of Holladay House Bed and Breakfast in Orange as invited media representatives gathered yesterday.
"It's been a long five years," she said.
After 10 days of testimony and arguments, the jury took less than two hours Tuesday to find Eric Dee Abshire guilty of first-degree murder in the November 2006 death of his wife.
After another half hour or so of deliberations, the jury recommended life in prison. Circuit Judge Daniel R. Bouton will sentence Abshire on Jan. 12.
Justine Abshire's father, Steve Swartz, thanked the Virginia State Police and other law-enforcement officials for their five-year effort to gather the evidence that would lead to the trial and conviction.
"The state police have been professional from the start," he said. "They asked us the hard questions and followed the facts where it took them. It took them to Eric Abshire. They became passionate about this case."
Swartz said the family became friends with state police investigators, Orange Commonwealth's Attorney Diana Wheeler, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Rick Moore and the office staff.
"They have persevered, and they got the outcome that is clearly a just one. This is the way the justice system is supposed to work," he said.
Swartz also thanked family members and friends for their continuing support and the media for its "ongoing attention to my daughter's case."
The case started in the early hours of Nov. 3, 2006, when Eric Abshire told law-enforcement officers that he had found his wife's body lying on Taylorsville Road in Orange County near the Greene County line.
He said Justine had left their Barboursville home after an argument, calling him a short while later saying her car wouldn't start and telling him to come and pick her up. He said he found her body, but took at least 20 minutes before asking a nearby resident to call for help.
While the scene appeared to be that of a hit-and-run, investigators soon dismissed that idea. Witnesses testified that there was no debris from a motor vehicle and almost no blood. Her body looked like it had been arranged on the road.
An autopsy the next day showed 113 blunt-force trauma injuries, but the medical examiner could not determine a manner of death.
According to Steve Swartz, six months passed before he and his wife severed contact with Eric Abshire.
"All of us had a gut feeling he may be involved, but Eric said they wouldn't find him guilty," Steve Swartz said. "I'm certainly glad he was proven wrong.
"The stories told by Eric never felt right; our suspicions grew steadily," he added.
"I told Eric that I thought he killed her," said Heidi Swartz.
They put up a website, JusticeforJustine, and offered a reward for information. It started at $10,000 and went up to $50,000. It hasn't been claimed.
Family members said they believed Justine, a kindergarten teacher at Emerald Hill Elementary in Culpeper, was a victim of domestic violence. But the judge ruled that testimony about any such incidents that occurred before the couple was married could not be admitted as evidence at the trial.
"It was clear that Justine was scared of him early in their seven-year relationship," said Justine's sister, Lauren Swartz. "They fought throughout their relationship.
"I saw bruises on her arms, but she never wanted to talk about the violence. She didn't talk to anyone, I think, because she didn't want anyone else in his line of fire."
"We were concerned and uneasy in the beginning and were regretful we couldn't get her out of that situation," Steve Swartz said. "Heidi and Lauren tried, but I was consumed with work and didn't pay enough attention.
"She had fallen into his clutches, and she felt she couldn't tell us. Her legacy is that light needs to be shone on domestic violence," he said.
"If one young woman can learn and escape from that, then Justine won't have died in vain," Heidi Swartz said.
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