SARASOTA, FL -- An arrest has been made in a decade-old murder case involving a Sarasota woman.
John Mellquist, 53, a former tenant of Anneliese Schweickardt, was arrested Friday in Warm Mineral Springs and charged with murder in the death of Schweickardt's in 2003, according to a Sarasota County Sheriff's Office report.
Schweickardt was a German citizen who lived in the United States on a tourist visa and owned a home in Sarasota.
The investigation began as a missing person case in October 2003 when a friend of the victim reported that she hadn't seen or heard from Schweickardt since April 2003.
Authorities then learned Schweickardt was in the process of evicting Mellquist, who rented a room from her, the report states.
When initially contacted, Mellquist gave different accounts of Schweickardt's possible whereabouts. It was later learned that he forged and cashed checks from her bank account and used her vehicle after she had disappeared, the report states.
Signs of a violent encounter inside the victim's home, including significant blood stain evidence, were found by investigators, according to the report.
The victim's body has never been found.
Absent the body and no immediate family, such as children, it has taken investigators years to build a DNA profile of the victim from personal items left in the residence, the report states.
But advancements in DNA testing led to the arrest, the report adds.
Detectives have kept track of Mellquist over the years and located him living in a tent in a wooded area near Ortiz Boulevard and U.S. 41 in Warm Mineral Spring, according to the report.
He is being held without bond.
Copyright 2013 - The Bradenton Herald
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
