Young Sailor, Wife Slain On Beach

A young sailor about to be shipped to Alaska and his attractive blonde wife were shot to death last night on a patio 100 feet from the water in Ocean Beach.

They were found lying along a retaining wall on a cement patio at the Silver Spray apartments at the foot of Narragansett Avenue, nine blocks from their home.

Police identified the couple as John R. Swindle and his wife, Joyce, both 19, of 5073 Voltaire St. The couple’s landlady told police they had been married Jan. 16 in Alabama. They lived at the Voltaire Street address a week.

Swindle had just been ordered to duty in Alaska, police said.

WIFE DIED FIRST

Mrs. Swindle, dressed in a leather jacket and red plaid capris, was dead when police arrived. Swindle was taken to Doctor’s Hospital in critical condition and died at 11 p.m., approximately two hours after the shooting.

Two spent 22-caliber shells were found near Mrs. Swindle’s body, but police had not found a weapon late last night.

Mrs. Swindle had a gunshot wound in her temple; Swindle was shot in the head, the leg and the right arm.

MAN FINDS BODIES

The woman was face down and her husband was between her and the retaining wall, facing the wall.

The man who discovered the bodies, Edward T. Nelson of 3652 Wawona Drive, told reporters he was about to step down on the beach from a wooden boardwalk when he saw “a shadow or something.”

“I went over there and shined my flashlight in the direction of the shadows and saw them lying there,” he said. “At first I thought they had been drinking and had passed out—then I saw blood.”

Police could find no one who had heard any shots. Nelson said he approached the bodies, Swindle was moaning but he couldn’t distinguish any words.

Late last night police were still searching the rocks leading to the water and a slope above the patio covered with ice plant for a weapon or any clue to the crime.