Author: Cara Salpini

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Red and White Affair dazzles with pre-Columbian gold collection

All that glitters could be Mayan gold. Submitted photo

Howard Swayne, a retired stone mason contractor, was not planning on coming home with a set of pre-Columbian gold pieces when he visited a friend in New Mexico. But the rare objects caught his eye, and Swayne couldn’t help feeling they were not-to-be-missed.

The collection includes a gold frog pendant and a gold collar, both dated circa 800-1,500 AD, and several other pre-Columbian gold pendants.

When Swayne saw the pieces for the first time, the gallery was about to ship them back to their owner. “Wait a minute,” Swayne said, already considering purchasing the pieces.

“And I slept on it and I woke up the next day and I bought them,” he says. Although Swayne has not made a habit of buying pre-Columbian gold artifacts, he says he enjoys buying and selling art.

Swayne says he knew he wanted to do something with the gold but he wasn’t sure what. Once again, shut-eye provided the answer.

“I went to sleep with that question in my mind and I just woke up and it came to me,” Swayne says. “Give it to charity where the money can help someone.”

Because the pieces will be sold at an auction, the price for the collection is not set. However, the whole collection has previously been for sale for upward of $450,000. Swayne believes the pieces would make a great donation to a museum or work well as a private collection, but he points out that the main purpose of the auction is to benefit the Red Cross.

“Bottom line is I feel like if I was ever in a jam, I would want someone to help me,” Swayne says, “so I try to reach out as much as possible to help others.”

These pieces can be viewed at Morven Farm at the Red Cross’ Second Annual Red and White Affair from 4pm to 9pm Saturday, September 26. Freeman’s will auction them off online October 6.

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Unusual motion filed in Jesse Matthew case

Commonwealth's Attorney Denise Lunsford requests for a partial denial of the motion for Jesse Matthew to appear unshackled and in his own clothes in public. Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The defense for Jesse Matthew Jr., now on trial for the murder of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, filed three motions to the Albemarle Circuit Court September 8. While two of the three motions are frequently seen in cases where the death penalty is sought, the defense’s third is a rarity.

Graham went missing a year ago on September 13, after being last seen with Matthew. Her body was discovered more than a month later in North Garden, and Matthew faces capital murder charges in Albemarle County.

His defense, in addition to requesting that Judge Cheryl Higgins be removed from any rulings related to search warrants and requesting a prison violence risk assessment, filed a motion requesting the identities and addresses of members of the grand jury for the past four years.

C-VILLE’s legal expert David Heilberg says of the unusual motion, “I’ve not seen it in any kind of case, not even a death case until now.” Heilberg adds that while there are case laws preventing racial discrimination for the selection of a regular jury, these laws do not apply to the grand jury.

“We don’t know what the constitutional procedures are [for the grand jury],” Heilberg says. “The laws are very flexible. … They seem to be designed to get indictments.”

Heilberg suggests that if this weren’t a capital case, only a wealthy defense would pursue the same motion.

“It’s an attempt to slow the machinery of death,” he notes. “It’s intended to slow or stop the death process or to create leverage to negotiate. That’s really what it’s aimed at.”

If the motion proves unconstitutional practices in the grand jury selection process, Heilberg says it would likely only result in a delay in Matthew’s case.

“I think all that could happen is that they would try to constitute the grand jury in a different way and then they would reindict him,” Heilberg explains. “He’s not going anywhere at this point.”

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Police called to Carter Mountain twice last week

Debra German spent the night on Carter Mountain and is expected to be okay. Photo Albemarle County Police Department

Carter Mountain, Charlottesville’s popular site for fall apple picking and barbecue, has become the scene of police investigations for the third time in a year as the latest in a string of strange happenings was reported this past Wednesday.

First was the discovery of skeletal remains found August 26 along Route 20 near the I-64 exit. A cyclist reported the remains, found in a creek, around 5:26pm, according to the Albemarle County Police Department. While the identity of the deceased has not yet been released, police say it’s a male who’s been dead roughly three to four weeks.

That discovery was not the only report troubling Carter Mountain last week, though. On the very same day that the remains were found, a missing person report was filed for a local Charlottesville resident. Debra Marie German, 59, was reported missing at 10:15pm August 26. She was last seen at 2pm when a cab dropped her off at the base of Carter Mountain. No information has been released so far about why she was on the mountain and what trail she might have taken, but police search efforts were focused around Route 53. Two officers on ATVs found her the next morning. She was taken to the hospital and she’s expected to be okay, according to Carter Johnson, the Albemarle County Police spokesperson.

German’s disappearance on Carter Mountain is the second in the past year. On July 12, 2014, Bonnie Santiago, 56, vanished and was last seen at 1am at Carter Mountain Orchard, where she was said to be visiting her boyfriend. Although authorities searched the area for two days, she was never found.

–Cara Salpini