Neighbors react to arrest in Tarwacki double murder

NILES, Mich. -- ABC 57 News went back to the Cass County neighborhood where John and Carolyn Tarwacki were brutally murdered on Feb. 5, 2010. 


As, not one, but two anniversaries passed marking the sudden deaths of the couple, neighbors wondered if this double murder would ever be solved.


After hearing of an arrest in the case, neighbors said they are relieved and hope that justice will finally be served.


Blair Knaak and his wife have lived on Carberry Road for 32 years, right next door to the home where John and Carolyn Tarwacki once lived.


"It was strange to me that on that morning nobody had left and gotten up. There was no sign of anybody" said Knaak.


Knaak often saw the couple as they headed to work each morning, waving to each other as they scrapped the ice off their car windows. But something different happened on that cold winter day. Later, as police put up caution tape, Knaak would learned of the gruesome discover. "It made the hair on the back of my neck raise up."


Police found the couple murdered inside their own home. Now, two and half years later, neighbors are finally learning how the couple died.


"These killings were brutal. They included stabbings, shooting and severe beatings," said Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fritz Thursday.


"That was probably one of, if not, the most brutal murder that has happened around this area," said Knaak. "


In the back of your mind, you're wondering what happened, who did it, where are they."


Knaak said the double murder, along with all the unanswered questions, put him and the rest of the neighborhood on edge after the grizzly crime. 


Now, Knaak said he feels only a sense of relief knowing police arrested and charged Keith Lintz, 28, with the murders.


Still, there is one question Knaak and other neighbors have. "Why, in the world, were they singled out like that and I'm still anxious to find out. I hope through this arrest, now it will come out and will know what the motive really was."


During a press conference Thursday, investigators said Lintz has a long criminal history and violent past. He was charged with two counts of felony murder, without bond.


Now, as neighbors pray that a killer is finally off the streets, Lintz's mother tells ABC 57 she prays the truth of his innocence will come out.

 

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