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<< Previous   of   Next >> Herald photo  (click to enlarge) Susan Schwarz is featured on the queen of hearts on playing cards with photographs of cold case victims issued to inmates to help solve the crimes.  Photo Gallery: Cold Case Cards   ADVERTISEMENT   About this series Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives created the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards. Each Sunday for a year, The Herald is publishing a story about a case featured on one of the cards. Anyone with information about unsolved homicides or missing persons cases is asked to call 800-222-TIPS (8477). A reward of up to $1,000 is offered. Tips also can be left on the sheriff’s tip line at 425-388-3845. Callers may remain anonymous, although tips have been more successful when callers speak with detectives, police said.   Related Stories • More cold-case cards will go to inmates 11/11/09 • Tips sought in Monroe cold case from 2000 10/30/09 • Families plead for tips on cold cases 5/24/09 • Cold-case playing cards bring police new leads 5/24/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, April 5, 2009 Cold Case: Three decades, no answers in slaying of Lynnwood woman By Diana Hefley Herald Writer LYNNWOOD -- There is no guarantee Gary Schwarz will ever learn the killer's name. Odds are he won't, he said. His big sister, Susan Schwarz was found dead Oct. 22, 1979 inside her small Lynnwood-area home. She'd been strangled and shot. The killer has eluded police for three decades. Year after year, waiting for justice can leave a man stretched thin on hope. "We'd like to know what happened," Gary Schwarz said. "We also have to be realistic. Some things don't get answered and you have to live your life." The unsolved slaying is featured in the state's first deck of cold-case playing cards. Snohomish County sheriff's detectives created the cards in hopes of soliciting tips about stalled investigations. More than 3,000 decks have gone to the state's prisons and jails. Inmates are being offered a reward for new leads. Susan Schwarz, 24, is featured on the queen of hearts. She may have been attacked during a burglary. Some of her belongings were missing. Gary Schwarz remembers driving by his sister's Alderwood Manor home after her body was found. He saw a couple of cars in the driveway. He didn't know the cars belonged to homicide detectives. The next day his dad came to his house, pounding on the front door, bearing the worst kind of news. "The nightmare began," Gary Schwarz said. He and his sister were close. They were friends. She would have been a good aunt to his two sons. She would have been a great mom to the children she wanted to have someday. "What do you do with yourself when a part of you is gone?" Gary Schwarz said. "What do you do?" Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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