Cold case: Who killed Susie Schwartz?

In her little sister's 10-year-old eyes, Susie Schwartz was as graceful as a swan.

In the eyes of her proud parents, she was a bright and beautiful hope.

But in the eyes of her killer, police say, the 21-year-old University of Rochester biology student was an obstacle to a getaway.

It's been 38 years since Schwartz was brutally stabbed to death in the May Street apartment she'd moved to from her home in White Plains, Westchester County.

She was young, beautiful, intelligent, and hoping to follow in her older sister's footsteps at UR. But by the morning of Nov. 10, 1975, she was dead.

"To me she was as important and real as a parent," said Lisa Schwartz Powell, Susie's younger sister, who now lives in Minnesota. "At those younger ages, older siblings are the fabric of what gives you structure. I often think about Susie, and because of this I've become closer to my other siblings in a really profound way.

"But at the same time I've felt really cheated for not having gotten to know Susie and had her part of my life, and my kids' life."

Despite the passing of time, and of Susie's parents within the past few years, her sisters said they have not forgotten the moments in which they learned of her death, or the years of anguish that followed — particularly because her killer has never been caught.

Since 1985, roughly 1,300 people have been killed in Rochester. In about 700 of those cases, the killer has not been captured.

But Susie's family and the investigators who have worked on the her murder investigation, both in 1975 and today, are still searching for a lead, still longing for justice.

And in Susie's case, there is hope.

Witnesses and evidence; no arrest

Rochester homicide investigator Dave Simpson rifled through a folder of old interviews, crime photos, investigators' reports and evidence sheets.

"The initial investigation was phenomenal, they hit it hard and they talked to a lot of people," said Simpson. That was despite that fact that there had been four or five homicides about the same time — a rarity for Rochester in the 1970s. "There was a substantial amount of evidence collected ... everyone wanted to talk to police. Now, no one wants to talk to police."

According to investigators at the time, Susie was home that evening but her roommate had left earlier.

Susie was probably sleeping when a burglar entered the two-story apartment through an unlocked basement door at 37 May St. about 1:50 a.m. that Monday morning. She likely woke, went downstairs, and confronted the intruder, who then attacked her. Unable to get out the front door of her home, she left through a window.

Still dressed in her sleeping clothes, she ran screaming from her apartment with stab wounds to her chest, face, stomach and back.

She ran next door, to the home of her landlord, Robert Stewart, at 33 May St., and collapsed two feet from his door. Other neighbors heard her screams and left their homes to rush to her aid. She was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly before 3 a.m.

In news clips in the days that followed the slaying, neighbors reported seeing a person riding a bicycle down Phillips Road — a small street near Susie's apartment. Police found an abandoned bicycle — stolen hours before the attack from a Benton Street garage — at 844 Elmwood Ave., a hunting knife at 861 Elmwood Ave., and other potential weapons such as screwdrivers, but were unsure if any were the murder weapon.

The attempted burglary was compared to other break-ins in the Mt. Hope and Highland Avenue area at the time. None really matched.

And why would a thief stab her to death instead of just fleeing the scene?

Said Simpson: "I don't know, that's something I'm going to have to ask he or she when I talk to them."

Something that stuck out to investigators then and to Simpson now was Susie's concern about her own safety prior to the murder.

"One of the scary things about this case is that she had complained to her landlord when she first moved in that all the locks be changed on the doors," Simpson said. "She was very security conscious."

"I don't think it plays into what happened, I think that was just the type of girl she was. I think it was just more of her upbringing, being a single girl living with another girl in a city."

Nightmares and daydreams

Lisa Schwartz Powell said she believes — like many neighbors 38 years ago — that asking for the locks to be changed might have been based on some specific fear.

"I know if a woman complains to their landlord about safety, that there's a reason," she said. "It's got to mean something."

Susie's death in 1975 would leave Schwartz Powell and her family forever changed, she said, particularly because it happened just a year after Susie's parents lost their fourth of five children, 14-year-old Sally Schwartz, to a drunk driver while riding her bicycle.

"Your sense of safety in the world, at 10 you think that your parents are going to protect you," she said. "So living life feeling like the world is not the safest place ... and living with parents that are devastated, was very hard."

"Thank God they did pull it together and continued to raise me, but I think that's a hard place to get to after losing a child."

Susie was a blessing to her parents, Schwartz Powell said.

"They talked about who she was, how great she was, how lucky they were to have had her in their lives. My dad felt absolutely like the luckiest person in the world, despite this, because he knew her and loved her."

Susie worked part time as a laboratory assistant at Strong Memorial Hospital and was studying biology. She was also interested in chemistry and nutrition, said her older sister, Julie Schnapf, who now lives in San Francisco and attended UR just before Susie.

"She was the smartest of us in the family, much to the chagrin of her older and younger siblings," Schnapf said with a laugh. "She was a straight-A student forever. In fact I remember she was proud at one point that she got a B in library science in sixth-grade or something, that was about it. Everything else was As."

Susie's parents will not be around to see their daughter's death solved. Howard Schwartz died last year and Harriett Schwartz died about four years ago.

But her sisters said they will be in Rochester if someone stands trial for it.

"Both my sister and I have nightmares, dreams and daydreams of finding the person who killed Susie," Schwartz Powell said. "It's unresolved in our heads. We know that finding the person who killed her won't bring her back, I totally get that and I'm not even sure what the impact would be.

"But it would definitely stop that line of daydreaming and wondering, and pent up anger that's there — just knowing that there's some sort of justice."

And that day could be coming.

'Time stands still'

Dozens of interviews were conducted and other evidence collected in 1975, Simpson says now.

Some of that evidence police have. Some they are still looking for in evidence lockers and at the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office.

"This case kind of has two investigations going in to one: There is an investigation to identify and locate a suspect; and there's an investigation to go back through and locate any and all evidence we can. Both are ongoing," Simpson said.

"We have some forensic evidence, but we know there is more, based on the reports."

Some of that evidence could potentially be submitted for DNA testing, said Sgt. Mark Freese.

"They didn't test for DNA back then, they didn't know what DNA was back then," he said.

Suspects were identified, including one very good suspect, Simpson said.

"There were multiple suspects identified at that time," Simpson said. "One suspect seemed to stand out to investigators. In looking at it 38 years later, I think they were on the right trail. I do think there is ... no other better word: A prime suspect. That individual is still around, and that's where we're at."

Simpson was just 3 years old when Susie was killed.

He's one of many investigators who have tried to find Susie's killer and bring that person to justice. In his investigation he has spoken with three of those retired investigators who originally worked the homicide — the only murder that was not solved in 1975.

For him, and them, the case is certainly not closed.

"In reading this file, it's clear that Susan was a completely innocent victim," he said. "She was the All-American girl. Here's a pretty, educated, UR student doing all the right things. In her house, going to class, working, trying to get an education, on the cusp of her life.

"And her life was snuffed out."

He said he believes people still remember what happened, including her killer.

"You remember points in your life that were both of great joy and great sorrow and you remember them pretty vividly," he said. "When instances like this take place, if you're a part of it, no matter what part of it you are, I think time sort of stands still."

JHAND@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/jonhand1