Mugshot: Robert Jensen Schwander
/ Grand Traverse Co. Sheriff's Office
TRAVERSE CITY -- A Traverse City family says Robert Jensen Schwander lived in their home several months ago and tonight they are breaking their silence.
7&4's Kate Fox spoke with the Newhouse family who painted a picture of the 17-year-old teenager they knew and lived with.
Traverse City Resident Bud Newhouse says Schwander was a close friend to his son. So when Schwander was kicked out his parent's house, they took him in.
They say at first he seemed like an easy going, friendly kid but that didn't last long.
Bud Newhouse says, "In the back of my mind I knew that he had something to do with this...just the way he carried himself, and a couple things he had fired up at my house here."
From December through March the Newhouse family says they opened up their home to the homeless teen.
Newhouse explains, "He had a real short temper when you'd ask him to do something-- he just kind of snapped."
This is just what happened on the night Newhouse says Schwander threatened him.
He says, "I asked him to do the dishes, clean up his room down in the basement. He went downstairs and I heard him say...I’ll just kill you with a knife. I went to my room and locked the door...I was scared."
Newhouse says this bad behavior became a pattern. He says Schwander was playing too rough with his youngest son, ditching school, and even stealing money and his prescription drugs.
Newhouse says he tried to get him on the right path but now those efforts just feel like wasted time.
7&4 News did try to reach out to Schwander's parents but they chose not to talk at this time.
