ABC to air slain teacher’s story on ‘Primetime’

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: July 7, 2008

ABC’s “Primetime Crime” will air the mysterious story of slain kindergarten teacher Justine Swartz Abshire July 30, her family announced Monday.

Abshire, then a teacher at Culpeper’s Emerald Hill Elementary School, was found dead on the night of Nov. 3, 2006 alongside a road in Barboursville in what state police originally dubbed an alleged hit and run incident.

The investigation remains open.

Justine had married just six months before and was only 27 at the time of her tragic death.

Abshire’s parents, Steve and Heidi Swartz and her sister Lauren, have consistently sought answers to Justine’s unsolved and untimely passing and hope the upcoming national broadcast will shine more light on the incident.

“We really need this story to get high viewer-ship to generate continued interest and attention,” the family wrote in an e-mail to the Culpeper County Public School System.

“After it airs, the more web activity/comment ABC sees the better.”

The episode of “Primetime Crime” is not yet listed on the ABC Web site, the family said, noting that the schedule could change.

The family encouraged friends and community members to search for “Justine Abshire” and/or “Justine Swartz” at abcnews.go.com/primetime to “show that there are a lot of people interested.”

For more on Abshire’s life, go to justiceforjustine.com.

The friends and family of Justine are offering $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for her death.

“We strongly believe there are people in the community who have knowledge of what may have happened and when one or more of them choose to come forward, not only will the case move forward, but they’ll be doing the right thing,” Heidi Swartz told the Star-Exponent in March as new, yet still scant details emerged in the case.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or