GBI Makes an Arrest of an Alternate Suspect in the Dennis Perry Case We Covered on Undisclosed

In 2018, in collaboration with the Georgia Innocence Project, we investigated and covered the Dennis Perry case on the Undisclosed Podcast. In 2003, Perry was convicted of the murders of Harold and Thelma Swain in the spring of 1985 at the Rising Daughter Baptist Church in Waverly, Georgia. Some of the witnesses to the murder said that the killer was wearing glasses, and a pair of glasses was found at the church that did not belong to anyone in the church that night. But, despite Perry having an alibi and not wearing glasses, he was convicted of the murders of the Swains after a cold case investigation.

During our investigation, there seemed to be solid evidence that a man named Erik Sparre was actually the murderer. Here is some of what we said about him on the podcast.

After the podcast, the Georgia Innocence Project looked into hair samples that were retrieved from the pair of glasses at the church. Thereafter,

On February 24, 2020, the Georgia Innocence Project obtained a hair sample from Gladys Sparre, Erik Sparre’s mother. It was submitted for mitochondrial DNA testing at the same laboratory that examined the hair samples from the eyeglasses in 2001. Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mothers to their children, meaning both generations have the same mitochondrial profile.

The lab reported that Gladys Sparre’s sample – and therefore any sample from Erik Sparre – had the same mitochondrial DNA profile as the samples from the glasses.

And now, yesterday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations arrested Sparre for the double homicide of the Swains. I will provide further updates as the case proceeds to trial.

-CM