Anne Swaney was the Chicago journalist murdered in Belize last week. Her father recently opened up about his devastating loss, noting he also lost a son two years ago.
“Thursday morning, I woke up and I had a daughter. At 8:30, I didn’t have a daughter,” Jack Swaney said. “The day before, I’d gone to look by the cemetery and I’d visited my son … and now the next day it’s go to the cemetery and see my son and see my daughter, and that’s not fair.”
EXCLUSIVE: Family and friends remember Anne Swaney, local TV executive killed on vacation https://t.co/Fsq4BUAL8j pic.twitter.com/MqrKh8Nva0
— People Magazine (@people) January 18, 2016
Jack Swaney said Anne Swaney, 39, loved to travel and to ride horses. She was on her second trip to Belize and ready to go on a group horseback riding excursion. She stayed behind when there weren’t enough horses and opted to do yoga instead. Her belongings were found near where she practiced yoga and her body was found floating in the adjacent river the next day.
Anne Swaney had worked for Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV since 1999.
“Anne Elizabeth had a very short life, she had a very full life and it hasn’t sunk in, what we’ve lost,” her father told the TV station.
“As long as I heard her voice, I didn’t care where she was once I heard her voice,” Jack Swaney added, noting Anne Swaney often traveled.
Anne Swaney, a journalist for ABC7 in Chicago, has been murdered while traveling in Belize:
https://t.co/v4yO9saLpL
— Poynter (@Poynter) January 16, 2016
Police in Belize have detained a person of interest in the crime, however very few details have been released. The FBI has become involved in the case.
Despite the outcome of their investigation, Anne Swaney is gone, and her father with forever grieve the loss of not just one child, but two.
How does a parent learn to cope with two such tragedies?