‘I am deeply sorry,’ man says of killing his great aunt for her pills and money

A Hickory man was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his great aunt.

“I’m deeply sorry for the actions I committed,” Micky Swink, 34, said in court, according to the Catawba County District Attorney’s Office. “It has forever impacted everyone around me. For that I deeply apologize.”

Swink admitted killing his 66-year-old great aunt, Patricia Diane Swink, for her pills, money and gun on Oct. 31.

The state initially sought the death penalty until Swink agreed to plead guilty and accept the life sentence, prosecutors said.

Micky Swink’s mother, 50-year-old Tina Louise Swink of Hildebran, awaits trial on murder charges in the case. Patricia Swink was Tina Swink’s aunt.

District Attorney David Learner said Patricia Swink was found dead in her home on Nov. 1. The home appeared to have been ransacked, he said.

In a statement his attorneys shared in court, Micky Swink said he and his mother walked to his great aunt’s home and broke in through the basement. They stayed there for two to three hours until people upstairs with Patricia Swink left.

When Patricia Swink made her way to the basement door and opened it, Micky Swink said he stabbed her multiple times in the neck and chest. He and his mother walked over her body, took pills, money, a gun and other items and left in Patricia Swink’s car after darkness, according to his statement read in court. They eventually ditched the car in the Long View community.

This story was originally published July 26, 2017 at 7:05 PM with the headline "‘I am deeply sorry,’ man says of killing his great aunt for her pills and money."