This is Christopher Swell. He loved playing Mario, a simple joy that brought him countless hours of fun. Sometimes he'd even share that joy with his roommate, David. But this time would be different. This time, Chris wouldn't walk out alive like something out of a twisted horror story. The very game they were playing would become the backdrop to a brutal act. Just hours after this recording, David would stab Christopher over 40 times. I may or may not just get mother of [ __ ] And I'm dying too. So I don't give a cuz he was running away from me. Please, please, please. I said, I'm not your prison. After committing the shocking act, David called 911 himself, calmly telling police exactly what had happened. He made no effort to hide that he was responsible for the killing, instead claiming it was an act of self-defense. What took place between the initial confrontation and Christopher's death remains unclear. Police rushed to the scene, but nothing could have prepared them for the horror they were about to witness. Yeah, copy. We don't see him. We're going to go in. We can get into the building. Hold up. Hold up. What department again? [Music] Police department. Yes, sir. Are you the one? Police department. What's going on? You're the you're cut. Yes, sir. Okay. Who else is here right now? Dying in the bathroom. Who is? Uh, his name is Chris as far as I know. Okay. Ames 93. He put his hands on me and we I'm It's just my best friend on where you just had someone answer the door here at the apartment. I just needed a witness. Okay. Do you have any knives on you right now? No, sir. All right. No. Can you make sure you're clear? Okay. Yes, sir. Please. Who else is in the apartment with you besides Chris? All right. Besides the guy dying on the bathroom floor, number one. Okay. All right. There's this guy. We need to check the bathroom. We have somebody bleed in the bathroom. Get him detained, please. All right. Come on. Watch your step. Police department. Which bathroom is he in? He's right here. I got him on the floor. Police department. Chris. Chris, can you hear me? On the floor, police discovered Chris, an ER patient covered in blood with large gash wounds. was visible across his body. The most terrifying detail was that Chris was barely clinging to life when officers arrived, still managing faint movements. Yet, within seconds of the officers speaking to him, Christopher succumbed and passed away. Chris. Oh my god. Chris, stay still for me. Yep. I'm with him. Chris, I need you to stay I need you to stay still for me. Chris, can you tell me your name? Can you talk to me at all? Chris, it's all facial. Can't facial and head. Yeah, don't move. What's all that blood there? I don't know what it's from. He's got giant plaster on top of his head. What do you want? There's a giant scalp. He's a scout. Okay. You just have to go run up there. Yep. Yep. Yep. I'm here, dude. What's your name? After witnessing the sheer brutality, David's officers would rush to detain him before he had even the slightest chance to cause harm to anyone at the scene. All right, let me go ahead and say goodbye to the floor. Drop your phone. Drop it or put in your pocket. Say goodbye. He's got blood on him, too. Split up. Okay. What makes this video so chilling is that David appears completely unaffected emotionally by what just occurred. He brutally murdered his closest friend, but shows no sign of remorse or shock. Meanwhile, officers stood just feet away from the lifeless body. With David now in custody, every available person rushed to get Christopher to the hospital urgently. hospital. You guys got a good count. Who's got the other leg? I got his I got Who's got Who's got his left leg? Grab both legs. Yep. Two. Go straight downstairs. Okay. Keep your hand in. Keep your hand up. You're right, buddy. Yep. Go. Going upstairs. Take your time. Take your time. You okay? Yeah. No, buddy. No. Keep your hand down. Keep your hand down there. You okay? Go right. Go right. Ready. Up high. Up high. The officers did everything possible to get Christopher the help he desperately needed, but it was far too late. The damage David inflicted was so severe that even if medics had arrived immediately after the attack, Christopher still wouldn't have survived. With the gravity of the situation settling in, detectives were left with one urgent question. what could have driven David to kill his best friend in such a brutal, merciless way. They assumed something devastating must have triggered it, or so they thought. But the more they questioned David, the clearer it became that this murder was far darker and more ruthless than anyone had ever imagined. I do kind of want to find out from you what's going on. Mother put his hands on my throat. Do you see the red mark? The red net. Okay. Do you guys both live here together? Yes, sir. Okay. So, you and Chris, I just moved in Saturday. Okay. He thought I was going to be his prison [ __ ] Okay. So, let's start at the beginning. Sean, what's your first name, sir? How do you spell your first name? I'm sorry. No, it's okay. I just want to make it s e a or is it sh? It is sh a Okay, got it. Do you need Can I grab your phone for you, sir? It didn't release. I know. I got to fix that. Okay, so hold on a minute here. John, give me a second. Okay. All right. I would like to take you down to the PD to talk a little bit more where it's quieter. Um, so I'm going to grab your cell phone. Do you want your keys? Please. You want Sigs to go with you, too? Please. Is that cool? Six months and phone. So, all that. I tell you what. And if you wouldn't mind, lock the door and my little girl behind us. The fact that David asked to lock the door makes the whole situation even stranger. It almost seems like David genuinely believes his murder was justified. That even if Christopher had his hands around his neck and stabbed him over 40 times with a machete, that was somehow the right way to handle things. All right, Sean, man. We got to get your foot checked out, too. What's going on? Yeah, we're going to go. Did I do something wrong or We're going to go to the police department. So, come on along. Lily, you stay here, baby. Yep. We'll we'll make sure everybody's taken care of here. Okay. The officers would take David to their station for a single formal interview where, as anticipated, he showed no remorse whatsoever for his crime. Uh, my name is Matt N. I'm a detective here at the police department. Um, I understand you probably need some stitches. Um, I'd like to talk to you about what happened. Um, and I'll leave that completely up to you whether you'd like to go get your stitches, then talk to me, or whether you want to talk to me now. I'm going to leave that angle and it's just getting over. But no, it's it's completely No, I have a problem with that. Yeah, we know. We can have him step out. To add to the array of David's sadistic character traits, he asked officer Breen to leave the room, who happened to be the only black officer present that night. The police report later stated that David had called Breen multiple racial slurs and made racist jokes toward him just minutes after the murder had taken place. the night at some fan or not a ceiling fan. uh four group picked it up off the base and hit the inside of the head trying to check me out here and when I got up I pull out his I know what I did gentleman with a mother put his hands on my throat and I defended myself before I ask you any questions which you are here in Paso Does that still bother you? Yes, sir. Which one? The left one. Left one still. Yes. Okay. Hold on. You want to put a second set in there? Yeah, let's do that. Let's get a second there. So, get you a little more. Just give me a minute here. Okay. David insisted on having his handcuffs readjusted before continuing the conversation. Reluctantly, they complied and moved the cuffs to the front of his wrist. But as the dialogue resumed, David's true emotions began to surface. There's one gentleman by the name of Todd that in fact uh I don't know his last name by the way. The second night I was there trying to know. Mhm. Chris ran up on him and I'm not going to do that either one because I know what would happen to him. But you know what? All due respect, he ran up all like, "Get the out face screaming at me. Get out of my face because we had to go to the store cuz I wanted to get some groceries and something just bringing, you know, my share and I called and I said, "Uh, would you mind watching my lemon rose gold my love? I'm worried about her. We're taking care of her. We got an officer out there that's with Lil, please. They're taking care of my solution. Okay. No, I'm begging you. Okay. I retired last year because of the system going back. Mhm. I remember. [Music] I'm sorry. No, no, I know. No, sir. No, sir. I uh I lost my wife, my mother, and all three of my dogs all within 3 months. In 2008, my next door neighbor walked that box over to me in one hand. And said, "Do you need a friend?" And I do. So I certify her. I train her myself. Awesome. and she's in that apartment that after the stone disappeared, I didn't have the heart to make her work. So, I officially retired last year. June 12th, Valentine's Day next year. Although this has nothing to do with Christopher, it reveals that David does carry some guilt within him. More importantly, now that he's in an emotional state, the detective wants to take advantage of this and try to uncover the real reason why David killed Christopher so brutally. You see what he did or tried to do? So when uh how did you find the apartment? He advertised a lot. I found it on if I'm not mistaken marketplace. marketplace on Facebook Marketplace. Yes, sir. And where'd you move from, sir? I'm sorry. I'm worried about my little girl. I understand. Understand? She's all I have. I lost my wife after she passed. Listen, he was a friend of mine. action. I just want your tears, perspectives. I want to see the look on your face on the back tell you what was asked of me. When I told him about losing my wife, he said, "What was the worst part? You I see your name. You You're puzzled by it." I said, "The worst part of what? Losing my wife. You mean other than losing my wife? The worst part was the last nine months. Just watching them wither and die and she was not able to even respond. And my best friend was the one that brought all that home to me. 43 years I know this woman. She's the one that brought it all home to me about 6 years ago. We were talking on the phone. I said, "Love you. Good night." And she called me back. She said, "God damn it, I'm still talking. What are you hanging up on me about?" I said, "Well, I said goodbye." She said, "She said bye." And it just thought now you're getting it, aren't you? I never got to tell my wife goodbye cuz those last 8, nine months, she was on it. She was fine. I didn't even realize I was doing it. But to this day, when I talk to him on the phone, I'm not going to say goodbye to. I know what I did tonight, gentlemen. But I was attacked, so I I'm not I'm not comfortable. David seemed to have lost everything except for his dog, his wife, and his mother. After losing his dog, he felt like there was nothing left to lose. The attack by Christopher became the fuel for David's anger, pushing him to lash out at the world. Although he openly poured his heart out to the detectives, he still hesitated to fully embrace his self-defense claims. Fortunately, the detective had some strategies to challenge this hesitation. The first step was to get a clear recollection of the events that led up to the murder. Now, how could I hurt you? So, tonight like let's, you know, go back to like 3 3 4:00 in the after afternoon. Okay. All right. Can Can you just kind of walk me through every everything led up to this? Okay. About 3 4:00 was about the time that he had come out. He has uh come out of his room. Yes. Okay. Well, he had an Xbox out in the living room as well as in my room and my PlayStation 4 just grab my face run. So, I couldn't use my PlayStation when I said you might use your Xbox. Well, no. I said he needs my credit card information for Xbox. Well, yeah. So, you buy your I'm just trying to play your console, dude. I don't want to buy [ __ ] Well, it's just a doctor to get you registered. Okay. He needs all my previous addresses and all. I'm thinking, what the are you doing, dude? I just want to play your console. Is this a recurring charge? I ask. Yes. $1. [Applause] It was worth 9 to5. About 3 minutes later, I got an email. You can pull it up on my phone. It's right there. All right. Okay. $15.99 a month recurring the mother. He signed up for the trial and then Yes, sir. Sh knocked on his door and you got a second. I'm sleeping. He says, "Really?" 5 minutes after you just walk out of the room. Okay. I do have I'm sleeping crazy. I'm going to say that's why I came in with the fan and I'll help. Okay. So, was the fan in his room? Yes. And he came out of the room. The fan's still in his room a couple of places cuz he used part up to try to jump me out. So he the base driver is my 12 and his 300 fat shot on my chest. According to David, when he confronted Christopher about the extra $14 in charges, Christopher suddenly burst through his door and tried to choke him. Obviously, this sounds extreme and hard to believe. So the detective would try to investigate thoroughly and debunk the claim as much as possible. So after you flipped him off, what happened next? Very smart. I know you are. I flip him over on his back. Okay. I jump up. He's gross something. I I don't know. Mhm. In the back of the head. So I would assume either the stem and the base, you know, the fan and the stem or the base itself that he was trying to jump out with. Something that hit me in the back of the head. I ran to my room and got it already. I knew what I was going for. I went and died. And And what was that? It's cooky. You know what that is? Is that No, it's I was thinking a uh a corand with a So, no, I don't think I know what style of blade that is. It's a short machete with a thick curved blade. Okay. Shaped like a banana. You got that from your room? Yes, sir. and out of it sheath cuz I I slept with it the last three nights because of the first night he came up. This is David's first major slip up. He clearly claims that he made it to his room without Christopher attacking him. Yet he still grabs his machete and moves toward him. If his true goal was to safely deescalate the situation, he could have simply closed his door and called 911. David had no intention of calming things down. His plan was to kill. And what he says next only confirms that even more. Then did he come into your room or did you go back out of your room and No, I came back out of my room and met him in the hallway as he was heading to my room. I met in that way. Okay. That's why you saw the blood. I saw the blood. There's blood from the hallway all the way in. So you guys kind of met in the middle between the rooms. I shoved you back in this bathroom and said you're going to die. Not to put you in front of me on that. I'm a rob from this table in my head. I don't give a but I'm not going to let him put his hands on my shoulder trying to attack me. Not without a fire. So you shoved him into the bathroom and he and you I didn't shove him. my uh I suppose goddamn skull and he fell in there cuz he was running away from me. Please, please, please. And I said, I'm not your prison. This was the nail in the coffin for David. His efforts to claim self-defense were meaningless after what he just admitted. You want to keep talking to prison? You want to keep talking to prison? You want to try to punt me out or something? Is that your gay? I'm not your Chris. So, where was the first pole that you landed? Towards the end of the hallway. Just as you went from my bedroom to the kitchen/ I was in the apartment. So, not at his room door, but No, not at that. Remember that hallway where I went down in my room? Yeah. Okay. Where that hallway ends? Mhm. at the beginning of the kitchen/ living room area. Those blood drops. That's where all the blood was first. And where did that land on his body? Remember? Uh first one, I don't recall it would be the right hand side of his body, right? his right hand. So, and he was facing he was a facing away from you when you you said he was recruiting with your right and it was in your right hand or your left hand the the blade. The blade. Yeah. It was in my right hand. Okay. So, if if I had a blade in my right hand and it hit the right side of his face, it was a cross. Yes, sir. Kind of like that. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. So, one's here. Was there a second one? No, there was three or four. Three or four? Were they all the same motion to the same side of the body or I couldn't tell. After that first one after the first one, I couldn't be honest with you. Okay. At at any time, did you feel like you had a chance to to to separate and get away from him? I I'm not sure I understand the question. I mean at that he was done down or or that when you out of the gown kind of thing or or when you came out of your room and he saw you had a blade. Oh no, he was still trying to fight. Okay. And he didn't go down until I had those problems when they arrived because I called her and I said, "Oh, I'm going to jail." She said, "God damn, I'm going to do it." You tell them in the tussles. Do you stop until they're done? No, I just kept swinging in and he kept moving backwards. Yes, sir. Okay. I look I'm just telling him I kept going until I was done. And you said you picked up part of the fan at some point? I picked up the fan yesterday cuz I was still somewhere close. You saw all over the bedroom, bathroom. Yeah. I was everywhere. You saw it? I saw it. Yeah. What' you do with blade? You want to answer that one? You know where? I know where it was at. I was sitting on the dining room table. I left it on the dining room table on the table. Was anyone else was Todd at the apartment when that happened? He was. Matter of fact, I went back and knocked on his door and I said, "Todd, I need or maybe not just that mother piece of He starts shaking, quivering. I need some alcohol and took off. When was the last I saw Todd? Okay. And that was before we got there. Yes, sir. Okay. So, you had moved here from Brian, you said? Yes, sir. Brian's in Arkansas. Brian Brian, and and and I guess did do you have family in Ames or I have no family. My wife and my mother last I'm all alone in this world and I'm dying too. So I don't give a I really don't cuz he said you have a tumor. Is that what you're saying? Sorry that the entire matter of fact these are the doctor's words not mine. It's the largest they've ever seen. They don't know how I'm walking around but it's the same thing with the cell. They said I never used that again too. Mhm. That's the one I used to take that mother had a part. Do you feel you went overboard tonight? No, sir. I didn't go. I did what I had to do to get that big fat off from the he outweighing me by 120 lb. I did what I had to do. And that seemed to be all the detectives needed. Everything pointed clearly, undeniably to David being a cold-blooded killer. But just as they were preparing to end the interview, David leaned forward and delivered one final chilling statement that froze everyone in the room. I'm not sorry for what I've done. I did what I had to do. I hope you gentlemen understand. Do you need another tissue? David showed no remorse for Christopher's death, and he made sure the officers knew it. But unfortunately for him, the judge showed him just as little mercy. David Shaw Hunter was charged with first-degree murder for the brutal killing of Christopher Swell in September 2021. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He would file for a mistrial later that year, but was swiftly denied by the court.