Police were able to independently verify some details of Peggy's confession, such as locating a victim's possessions in a location she said Youell had discarded it. A shirt with a laundry mark perhaps linked to the Starks case was found in Swinney's possession, but the link was not certain. Peggy's confession was the most critical part of the case. By law in 1946, Peggy could not be forced to testify against her husband, and because she was considered an unreliable witness Youell was not arrested for the murder. Instead, with only circumstantial evidence, Swinney was sent to prison as a habitual offender for car theft. Pressley reported in his 2014 book that several investigators in the Swinney case later said that the habitual offender sentence was effectively a plea bargain, even though the case files indicated no such agreement was reached formally. Swinney was concerned about being sentenced to death for the murders, so agreed to not contest the habitual offender charge and in fact tried to plead guilty even though habitual offender cases required a jury trial.