Swallows To Serve 15-Years For Attempted Murder

A Putnam County man has pleaded guilty to attempted first degree murder of his estranged wife.

A judge on Monday sentenced James Mathew Swallows to serve a 15-year prison sentence under the guilty plea.

District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway said investigators found that Swallows lured his to wife to a basement in February where he later strangled her with a cord.

“They struggled, the cord broke at one point and then he began to strangle her with his hands,” Dunaway said. “As the struggle continued, he then hit her with a mallet and also hit her head against a concrete floor. Mr. Matthew admitted that those facts are what happened.”

Dunaway said Swallows was taken into custody immediately after he entered the plea.