Investigation Discovery’s “Evil Lives Here: I Tried to Prevent This” is an episode that dives deep into the horrific homicides of Vicky Bowman-Hall and Sheila Meyers, which occurred within hours of each other in 2010. Worst, however, is that, as the title suggests, the abuser’s mother had been trying unsuccessfully for years to convince others that her child might have devastating violent tendencies under his skin. So now, if you want to know all the details of this breach, as well as its official investigations and its disconcerting consequences, we have you covered.
How did Vicky Bowman-Hall and Sheila Meyers die?
Aged 47 and 61 respectively, Vicky Bowman-Hall and Sheila Meyers of Iowa were innocent gas station workers with their own families when they suddenly lost their lives. The first wasn’t even supposed to work at the Crossroads Convenience Store in Algona on Nov. 15, 2010, but she clocked in anyway after another member of staff called in sick. After all, the vice principal, wife and mother of 11 never imagined that everything she knew and loved would be snatched from her in a senseless robbery turned murder around nine o’clock at night.
Vicky was working at the cash register when a young man wearing a ski mask walked in, only to point a gun in her direction and demand cash as well as cigarettes. She complied without setting off an alarm to be as safe as possible, but he still shot her in the face with his .40 caliber gun before walking away with $31 and some cigarettes. About an hour and a half later, however, at 10:30 p.m., the assailant struck again – entering a Kum & Go convenience store in Humboldt and shooting Sheila Meyers in the same manner. While she died at the scene, Vicky died at Kossuth Regional Health Center shortly thereafter.
Who killed Vicky Bowman-Hall and Sheila Meyers?
Just hours after the shooting, investigators were able to identify that the individual they were looking for was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee with Minnesota license plates. They made this information public in hopes of catching him quickly, which proved successful as they soon received a call from a Webster City McDonald’s employee claiming the young man was at the drive-thru. . The then alleged perpetrator was then stranded until authorities arrived, only to be positively identified not only as of the trigger but also as 17-year-old Michael Richard Swanson of St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
It then emerged that the teenager had taken his mother’s Jeep and credit cards in the middle of the night to drive to Iowa, before entering the two stores with the intent to kill. He declined to divulge any details about the shooting or why he was away from his home state but admitted he didn’t want the cops involved, let alone identified, so he stole and killed. Consequently, Michael was formally arrested and charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.
Where is Michael Swanson now?
When Michael Swanson was tried for the homicide of Sheila Myers, his mother testified that she noticed several negative signs while he was growing up, adding that he himself once told her that he often thought of hurting others. As if that wasn’t enough, she said the psychiatrist her son started seeing when he was 11 considered him a “lost cause” that “needed to be locked up”. What’s even more disconcerting is the fact that Michael had a genuine smile on his face during most of the sentencing and sentencing phases of his 2011 hearings.
Following the first conviction, the 18-year-old also pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him in connection with the death of Vicky Bowman-Hall, which led to him receiving two life sentences. A judge also ordered him to pay a total of $150,000 each in restitution to the families of his two victims after specifying that his sentences would run concurrently.
Additionally, after slitting the neck of a fellow inmate in November 2014 – leaving him with 15 lacerations and stitches – Michael was sentenced to an additional 25 years for attempted murder in 2015. In his late twenties, the criminal convict is thus incarcerated in medium security. Iowa Medical Classification Center Correctional Facility in Coralville at this time. He will not be eligible for parole until he reaches his mid-90s in 2089.
Read more: Michael Swanson Tried To Kill His Inmate & Pleads Guilty For That
