Nashville Bomber Mysteriously Gifted California Woman Two Homes Before Christmas Explosion

A California mom and music industry executive has become embroiled in the Nashville Christmas bombing investigation after it was reported that she had been gifted two homes—totaling more than $400,000—by the prime suspect in the bombing.

Michelle Swing’s connection to suspect Anthony Quinn Warner, who authorities say set off a bomb inside an RV Christmas morning near an AT&T building in Nashville, is not clear, but Warner gifted the 29-year-old California resident two separate homes on the same street in recent years, according to court documents obtained by NBC affiliate WBIR. 

In November, just one month before the shocking bombing, Warner signed over the property he had been living in to Swing using a quitclaim deed citing a $0 transaction.

The Nov. 25 transfer did not require Swing’s signature.

Swing told The Daily Mail, which estimated the value of the property at $160,000, that she had been unaware of the gift.

“In the state of Tennessee, you can deed property to someone else without their consent or their signature or anything,” she told the outlet. “I didn’t even buy the house, he just deeded it over to me without my knowledge. So, this is all very weird to me, that’s about all I can say.”

Swing declined to provide any details about whether or how she was connected to Warner and referred all additional questions to the FBI.

But it wasn’t the first time Warner, who authorities say died in the blast, had gifted the 29-year-old Los Angeles resident property in suburban Nashville, WBIR reports.

In January of 2019, he signed over another home on Bakertown Road using the same quitclaim deed process. The home had once belonged to Anthony Warner's parents, Charles and Betty C. Warner, according to court records obtained by the outlet. 

According to The Daily Mail, he gifted the home, which had an estimated value of $249,000 to Swing during a family dispute about the rightful ownership of the property.

The home had reportedly belonged Warner’s father before his death in 2011. However, when Charles Warner died, he left the home to Anthony’s brother Steven Warner.

Years later, in September of 2018, Steven Warner died himself without leaving a will, leaving ownership of the property in question.

Anthony’s mother, Betty Christine Lane, argued that the family home should belong to her. She reportedly had divorced Charles Warner before his death.

Lane also argued that Anthony had acted fraudulently by acting as “attorney-in-fact” and claiming the house for himself using a quitclaim deed transfer in August 2018, the outlet reports.

Anthony later passed the home to Swing—who ultimately transferred the three-bedroom home back to Lane using the same transfer process.

Court documents obtained by WBIR show that Swing transferred the property to Lane in March 2019.

On Sunday, Lane, who still lives in the property, told The Daily Mail that she could “not talk about” her son and the allegations against him.

While Swing’s connection to Anthony Warner remains unclear, the 29-year-old does have ties to the Tennessee area. Swing once lived in Lenoir City, Tennessee, about 165 miles away from Nashville, according to The New York Post.

She also studied business and marketing at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, according to her since-deleted LinkedIn profile.

After college, Swing worked in Knoxville, Tennessee at AC Entertainment as a marketing coordinator before moving the San Francisco to take a job as a senior project manager with Vendini, a technology ticketing agency now known as AudienceView Select, Deadline reports.

Swing moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and currently works as an artist development director at AEG Presents.

Federal agents and metro police searched Anthony Warner's property on Saturday, looking for possible evidence left behind at the home, according to local station WTVF.

Neighbor Marco Rodriquez told the outlet he had recognized the white RV used in the bombing as one often parked outside the property.

“It was parked over there all the time,” he said. “It’s weird because it could’ve been us if he wanted to like blow us up or the bomb could’ve malfunctioned.”  

Realtor Steve Fridrich—who had hired Anthony Warner in the past for information technology work—described him to WSMV as a “nice guy.”

“You know, he was a techie guy—don’t mean anything negative about that. He would do this thing and leave. He didn’t bother anybody,” he said.

The Christmas bombing killed Warner, injured three others and damaged more than 40 businesses, NBC News reports.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI, Anthony Warner was identified as the bomber using the vehicle’s VIN number, DNA and tips from the public.