Michael Swanson | "Laughing Killer" Terrorized Family for Years But No One Listened

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[00:00:30] This is True Crime Psychology and Personality, where we discuss the pathology behind some

[00:00:42] of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed perspective.

[00:00:49] I'm Dr. Todd Grande. I have a Ph.D. in Councilor Education and Supervision and I'm a licensed

[00:00:55] professional counselor of Mental Health. Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel.

[00:01:00] Today's question is can I analyze the case of Michael Richard Swanson? First I'll look

[00:01:06] at the background of this case, move to the timeline of the murders and offer my analysis.

[00:01:13] Michael Richard Swanson was born on May 11, 1993 and was raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

[00:01:20] This is a suburb of Minneapolis. He lived with his father Bob, his mother Kathy, and

[00:01:25] his two older brothers. From a young age, Michael's behavior was unusual and troubling in

[00:01:31] many ways. For example, when he was in daycare, he would harass the other children and

[00:01:36] the daycare provider. Before taking a nap, he would wake everyone up. In addition, he

[00:01:42] always wanted to escape from the daycare, like it was a prison. Michael's mother Kathy

[00:01:48] decided to open her own daycare in order to earn money and to keep an eye on Michael.

[00:01:53] In one occasion, when Michael was a toddler, Kathy caught him standing on top of a chair

[00:01:58] as if he was preparing to jump on top of an infant who was on the floor. Michael denied

[00:02:03] any ill intent but Kathy closed her daycare business and returned to working outside

[00:02:08] the home. Michael continued to engage in abnormal and disturbing behaviors. He would come

[00:02:13] home after playing outside and say that he had been attacked by other children. Michael

[00:02:18] even had a bloody nose to offer as evidence. Eventually, he admitted that he gave himself

[00:02:24] a bloody nose to get the attention of his mother. Michael claimed to have recurring nightmares

[00:02:29] where people would chase him with knives, who would draw pictures which corresponded

[00:02:34] with these nightmares and featured a man carrying a bloody knife. The nightmares and

[00:02:39] the drawings went on for years. Michael would regularly wander around the family house

[00:02:44] at night as if he was restless and looking for trouble. On one occasion, his mother caught

[00:02:49] him in her bedroom cutting a bar of soap with a knife. At another time, he woke up in

[00:02:55] the middle of the night and stabbed chairs at the kitchen table. Kathy and Bob placed

[00:03:01] the knives in locations where they believed Michael could not get them, but he managed

[00:03:05] to find a knife that was unscured. In one particularly frightening incident during the early morning

[00:03:10] hours, Michael held a knife over his brother's head as his brother was in bed. After this,

[00:03:17] Michael's parents started locking bedroom doors and taking other precautions to keep everyone

[00:03:22] safe. One time after Michael threatened a neighbor's child with a knife, his parents

[00:03:26] took him to a behavioral treatment center. The clinicians informed them that they were

[00:03:31] being hysterical and Michael's behavior was not a big deal. They were unable to do anything

[00:03:37] for him. Michael's father, Bob, kept a pistol and money in a safe in the family house.

[00:03:43] Somehow Michael gained access to this safe. He took the money and activated the laser sight

[00:03:49] on the pistol, but did not steal the pistol. The money was used to purchase drugs. Bob

[00:03:55] became aware of what happened after seeing the laser activated on the pistol. Sometime

[00:04:01] after this, Michael once again managed to gain access to the safe. This time he took the

[00:04:05] money that was in there and the pistol. The police were notified and found him at a friend's

[00:04:11] residence. Michael indicated that he was having thoughts about hurting his mother. Michael

[00:04:16] was sent to a group home where he was supposed to stay for 30 days, ended up attacking a staff

[00:04:21] member with a fire extinguisher. Kathy said the group home kicked him out and recommended

[00:04:27] that he be turned over to the system. Michael went through the court system and was ordered

[00:04:32] to pay restitution. The option was available for him to volunteer and are in credit toward

[00:04:37] what he owed, like he could work off his debt instead of paying in cash. He went to work

[00:04:42] with his aunt, performing community service at a place called Pioneer Park in Anondale,

[00:04:48] Minnesota. This is a nonprofit educational museum which focuses on artifacts from the

[00:04:54] pioneers of the area. When Michael was there, he stole $250 from the organization when his

[00:05:01] aunt confronted him, he denied it, but she ended up finding the money in a place where Michael

[00:05:06] had hidden it. After this, Michael's aunt made an even more disturbing discovery in the trunk

[00:05:12] of her car. It contained shotguns that had been owned by her late husband. In addition,

[00:05:18] in the bed of her four-wheeler, she found handguns, a baseball bat, and a hatchet. It was all

[00:05:25] too clear that Michael was responsible for positioning all these weapons. Afraid for her safety,

[00:05:31] Michael's aunt called Kathy to come pick him up. Michael explained his behavior by saying he wanted

[00:05:36] to rob a Taco Bell restaurant, but his aunt was getting in the way of his plans by denying him

[00:05:42] use of a vehicle. Michael was charged with felony gun theft after this incident and spent 10 days

[00:05:48] in a juvenile detention center. This was in 2006. He was then ordered to return to his parents'

[00:05:54] residence under their supervision. Not surprisingly, Michael's behavior problems did not go away.

[00:06:01] In 2008, a probation officer recommended that Michael go to prison for six to nine months.

[00:06:07] Unfortunately, a probation officer had a change of heart telling Michael's mother that

[00:06:11] sometimes it was worse for a child to be taken out of the home. In April 2010, Michael stole his

[00:06:17] mother's 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, one of the family dogs and credit cards. He drove south

[00:06:25] and ended up running out of money seven hours away in St. Joseph, Missouri. Michael called his

[00:06:31] mother and requested a pick-up. In July 2010, he pleaded guilty to motor vehicle theft and was sent

[00:06:37] to a residential treatment center for adolescent offenders. In mental health professional diagnosed

[00:06:43] Michael with bipolar disorder and said that Michael was at risk for stealing guns and robbing

[00:06:49] people. Despite this alarming assessment, Michael was never treated at the facility. Instead,

[00:06:56] he was released in early November with the advice that he should be enrolled in a mood disorder

[00:07:01] clinic. Over the next few months, Michael found the job at a store and attended church. He appeared

[00:07:07] to be improving, but appearances were deceiving. Now moving to the timeline of the murders.

[00:07:14] One of November 15, 2010, 17-year-old Michael Richard Swanson stole his mother's Jeep Grand Cherokee

[00:07:21] and her debit cards. After this, he went to his grandfather's cabin, broke in and removed firearms.

[00:07:29] Michael drove about 165 miles south to Algona, Iowa and entered a Crossroads convenience store

[00:07:36] at 9 p.m. The cashier on duty was a 47-year-old woman named Vicki Bowman Haugh.

[00:07:42] Michael produced a Beretta semi-automatic pistol, chambered in 40 Calber S&W,

[00:07:47] pointed it at Vicki and demanded cash and cigarettes. After Vicki complied with Michael's commands,

[00:07:53] he shot her. She did not survive. Michael then drove 25 miles south to Humboldt, Iowa and entered a

[00:08:00] common-go convenience store at 10.30 p.m. Just as he had done earlier, Michael robbed the store.

[00:08:07] He pointed the gun at the 61-year-old cashier, Sheila Myers, and placed a bag on the table.

[00:08:14] After she put cigarettes and $31 in cash in the bag, Michael shot and killed her. Witnesses

[00:08:21] described the vehicle that Michael was driving to the police. He was spotted in Webster City about 41

[00:08:26] miles south east of Humboldt, an employee at a McDonald's restaurant noticed him in the drive-thru.

[00:08:32] The police arrived and arrested Michael without incident. Michael unwisely agreed to talk to the police

[00:08:38] and confessed to both murders. When talking about the murder of Sheila Myers, Michael said, quote,

[00:08:45] I felt powerful. I just didn't care. Unquote. He indicated that his adrenaline was pumping,

[00:08:51] and he was feeling good. He said quote, I just feel like sometimes people get shot. Unquote.

[00:08:58] Michael was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree robbery.

[00:09:02] He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In June of 2011, he was convicted of first-degree

[00:09:08] murder and first-degree robbery in connection with the death of Sheila Myers. The sentence for

[00:09:14] the murder charge was mandatory, life in prison without the possibility of parole. Michael eventually

[00:09:20] pleaded guilty in connection with Vicki's murder as well and received a second mandatory life sentence.

[00:09:27] In 2013, the governor of Iowa commuted Michael's sentence to 60 years in prison. In November of 2014,

[00:09:34] Michael was charged with attempted murder in prison after attacking another inmate. In 2015,

[00:09:41] he was convicted and sentenced to an additional 25 years. Michael Swanson will be eligible for

[00:09:47] parole in 2089 at the age of 96. Now moving to my analysis, here are my thoughts on a few areas that

[00:09:55] stood out to me in this case. Item number one. Throughout his early years, Michael was diagnosed by

[00:10:01] various mental health clinicians. The diagnoses included bipolar disorder, attention deficit

[00:10:07] hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. Michael's mother Kathy suggested that when she

[00:10:13] went to mental health clinicians, she was looking for behavioral strategies for him but she never received

[00:10:19] any meaningful advice. Some clinicians viewed Michael as a troublemaker who's behavior did not

[00:10:24] deviate that far from normal. Other clinicians believed that Michael's mental health symptoms were

[00:10:29] so pronounced that he was beyond all hope. For example, when he was 11 years old, a mental health

[00:10:36] clinician told his mother that he was a lost cause and needed to be locked away in a secure facility.

[00:10:42] The same dichotomy as far as assessment was reflected during Michael's trial. Some mental health

[00:10:48] professionals said that he had no underlying mental disorder. Others claimed that he had a long

[00:10:53] standing mental disorder that was extremely serious. Item number two. Michael's parents lived in

[00:11:00] fear and frustration for much of the time when he lived with them. At various times, he admitted to

[00:11:05] having thoughts about harming his mother, aunt, and grandmother. At one point, all of Michael's

[00:11:10] clothing was locked in a room and he was made to wear a towel with a safety pin on it. This was

[00:11:16] because he was always trying to run away from the residents. His mother figured that Michael would not

[00:11:20] want to be seen running around, wearing only a towel. As far as the safety concerns, the interior

[00:11:27] doors of the residents were locked at night and his parents kept a large pipe wrench in their bedroom

[00:11:32] in case they needed to defend themselves. This is an odd choice when a firearm is available

[00:11:38] but maybe they wanted to keep their options open like that way they could be prepared for a pipe

[00:11:43] fitting emergency as well. If parents feel compelled to keep any type of self-defense instrument on hand

[00:11:48] to protect themselves from their son, then clearly there are serious problems that need to be

[00:11:52] addressed. Unfortunately, the mental health clinicians in this case did not have the will or ability

[00:11:59] to offer any meaningful assistance. As grim as it is, the clinician who assessed Michael as a lost

[00:12:05] cause was correct. Michael's parents were in a terrible position. If they turned Michael over to

[00:12:11] the system, people would have criticized them and suggested that they abandoned him unfairly.

[00:12:17] If they continued to raise him and he did something horrible, they would get blamed for not

[00:12:21] taking action to stop him. Based on the inconsistent and conflicting advice they received,

[00:12:26] it looks like Michael's parents did the best they could under the terrible circumstances.

[00:12:31] Their situation wasn't as clear-cut as it may have appeared. For example, there were times when

[00:12:36] Michael's behavior improved. Item number three, in a note that Michael wrote to his mother from

[00:12:42] prison, he indicated how happy he was to finally be prescribed the Theum for bipolar disorder.

[00:12:49] He said that if a person needs to get medication for bipolar disorder and they are under 18,

[00:12:55] they need to kill somebody to cause a media sensation and get put in prison. Michael made it seem as

[00:13:01] though the entire problem with his behavior was based on how nobody treated his mental health symptoms.

[00:13:07] Yet, he attempted to murder someone in prison even after being treated.

[00:13:12] Item number four, there are many different theories about Michael's mental health symptoms.

[00:13:17] Was his problem rooted in personality pathology like psychopathy? Could bipolar disorder explain

[00:13:23] his behavior? There's no way to know for sure, but some of his behavior aligned with psychopathic

[00:13:29] traits. For example, he was manipulative, excitement-seeking, fearless, impulsive, irresponsible,

[00:13:35] committed crimes, lied constantly, had early behavioral problems, and had a lack of empathy and

[00:13:42] remorse. Michael did not appear to respond to punishment, which is one of the most worrisome

[00:13:46] signs when evaluating a risk of future offenses. He also thought that killing people was funny.

[00:13:53] Michael just couldn't stop laughing after being arrested. He even laughed when he was convicted of

[00:13:59] murder. Not surprisingly, Michael's murder is hysterical position, did not win him any sympathy.

[00:14:06] If Michael really did have bipolar disorder, this would have only amplified his level of

[00:14:11] dangerousness. Now the impulsivity, excitement-seeking and fearlessness would be combined with

[00:14:16] feelings of euphoria, boundless energy, and unstable mood. Whatever was going on with Michael,

[00:14:23] one thing is for certain, the mental health clinicians in this case once again demonstrated

[00:14:27] the limitations of assessment and treatment. This brings me to my final item, number five.

[00:14:34] One of the most controversial components of this case is the idea that Michael was beyond redemption.

[00:14:39] Is it possible that some young offenders really do represent a lost cause as one mental health

[00:14:45] clinician indicated in this case? Here's how I look at this. In the mental health field,

[00:14:51] there is wide acceptance for the idea that conditions can permanently limit some type of behavior.

[00:14:57] For example, an individual with pronounced fear can't be a skydiver. A person with chronic

[00:15:03] social anxiety can't make sales presentations to large groups of people and someone who always

[00:15:09] tells the truth can't be a politician. Even though mental health clinicians try to address

[00:15:14] symptoms and often achieve great success, it is important to be realistic about what type of progress

[00:15:20] can be made. When it comes to the idea of a chronic offender, however, clinicians are reluctant

[00:15:25] to make the same type of declaration, especially if the offender is young. A few clinicians are

[00:15:31] willing to say this person is dangerous and will need long-term mental health treatment.

[00:15:37] My opinion is that clinicians must make decisions based on scientific evidence. First and foremost,

[00:15:42] they should offer their honest evaluation which includes noting its limitations. But that in mind

[00:15:48] most of the time when young people misbehave, they don't turn into killers later in life. I don't

[00:15:53] know if anyone should ever be declared a lost cause, but it's fair to say that some young people

[00:15:57] should receive intense mental health treatment for a long time. Michael clearly communicated many times

[00:16:04] that he wanted to harm people, but the system kept giving him the benefit of the doubt. Ultimately,

[00:16:10] he demonstrated how the cost of ignoring anti-social symptoms and be catastrophic.

[00:16:24] This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from R's Lunga Media.

[00:16:29] This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. R's Lunga Vita Brebis.

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