Gabbiee Swainson Body ID’d, Search Called Off

Elgin, SC – Gabbie Swainson’s body has been ID’d, with Sheriff Leon Lott declaring “The search for Gabbiee is over.”

After just 24 hours spent searching for the missing teen, authorities confirmed late Thursday night that they found her body after the man suspected of killing her led police to her grave.

“He’s taken us there,” Lott said of Freddie Grant’s revelation. “He’s told us. He’s showed us.”

At a Thursday evening news conference, Lott said that there was never any doubt as to who was responsible for Gabbiee Swainson’s disappearance and suspected murder.

“This wasn’t a ‘whodunit,'” he said. “Almost immediately we were able to determine Freddie Grant was the man responsible for kidnapping Gabbiee. The challenge was we couldn’t find Gabbiee.”

Swainson, 15, went missing over a year ago. Authorities say Grant once dated her mother, and duct tape with Swainson’s blood was found near his property. He had already been sentenced to more than 17 years on federal ammunition charges. He is currently awaiting trial in the girl’s disappearance.

Lott said that investigators pulled Grant out of his Kentucky prison in order to have him lead them to the girl’s burial site in Elgin. She was found in a heavily-trafficked area, but that no one would have been able to find the body without Grant’s help

“But the way she was concealed, you wouldn’t know,” Lott said. “The type of hole that he dug, the things he put on top of it. The cadaver dog would not have been able to find it at the depth that it was. We just couldn’t find it. There’s just no way of finding it without someone taking us to that area and showing us.”

A Facebook page to help find Gabbiee Swainson’s body was set up last year, and has over 13,000 “likes.”
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