By Betsy Finklea
The trial is expected to begin today for Robert Lee Nelson who is charged in the 2009 deaths of Mary and Walter Swaner.
Nelson is charged with two counts of murder, possession of weapon during the commission of a violent crime, two counts of armed robbery, and burglary first degree in the December 2009 deaths of Walter and Mary Swaner, who lived at 2411 Dixie Acres Drive in Dillon.
At the time of their deaths, Walter Swaner was age 84 and Mary Swaner was age 80. The couple had been married for 52 years and were members of St. Louis Catholic Church in Dillon.
Detective Cliff Arnette told The Herald at the time of Nelson’s arrest that Nelson, who was 19 years old at the time, knew the couple and they knew him and that robbery may have been the motive.
