The daughter of a Mocksville woman who was killed and dismembered last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday against her mother's accused killer.
An attorney for Andrea Swaim, the administrator of her mother Patricia Swaim's estate, filed the lawsuit in Davie Superior Court. The suit accuses David Hughes of killing Patricia Swaim, 49, and asks for more than $10,000 in damages.
Swaim was reported missing on Feb. 20, 2011, when she last spoke to her daughter. The Davie County Sheriff's Office distributed a missing person's report about Swaim on March 18, 2011.
Deputies searched Swaim's home off Serenity Drive in western Davie County five days later, following four-wheeler tracks through a field to a brush pile. Authorities found Swaim's head, torso, legs and right arm under the pile.
Hughes, 56, was charged with first-degree murder in Swaim's death. The two were dating at the time.
Stuart Punger of Winston-Salem, Andrea Swaim's attorney, said that filing the civil suit was the start of a long legal process for his client.
"We wanted to get this moving," Punger said.
Andrea Swaim couldn't be reached for comment.
The lawsuit says that Hughes was negligent when he shot Patricia Swaim to death, depriving her family of Patricia's companionship and income. Before she died, Patricia Swaim worked for a tax-preparation service in Mocksville, Punger said.
Vince Rabil, Hughes' criminal attorney, declined to comment on the lawsuit's allegations against his client. Hughes and his family will hire another lawyer to represent him in the lawsuit, Rabil said.
Hughes has no trial date because a Superior Court judge in Davie County has ruled Hughes is mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered him to be treated at Central Regional Hospital in Butner, Rabil said.
Rabil said that Hughes maintains that he is not guilty of the murder charge.
Hughes owns the house at 184 Serenity Drive in Mocksville and the 2 acres it sits on, together valued at $172,520, according to Davie County tax records. He also owns another adjacent acre.
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