An Elkhart man has been arrested on preliminary charges of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery charges in connection with the death of a former Goshen City Councilman.
David Swartley, 66, of Goshen, was found unresponsive with apparent head injuries after Elkhart County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 24000 block of Ne-Ce-Dah Drive just before 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 25.
Officers were sent to the scene on the report of an abandoned vehicle found in a wooded area.
Swartley was taken to the Elkhart General Hospital where he died about two hours later.
Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department detectives began an investigation and arrested Cody Garman, 22, on Friday night.
An autopsy has been scheduled to determine Swartley’s cause of death.
Police did not release any information on a motive in the case or how Garman was connected Swartley.
Swartley was a businessman, former teacher, the founder of a Christian youth group and a two-term Goshen city councilman in the 1990s.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
