that was a question burning in the mind of shirley s parents, richard, and lisa. ever since swain had returned from the caribbean with her daughter spotty, they demanded answers from their son-in-law. answers that were not forthcoming. in the first moment i heard and kept saying over the phone to him, but you had the buddy system, you were there, you had the buddy system. and he just kept saying, i wasn t there. so they are saying, you are the expert, and you are the caretaker. they were wondering why why did you leave her? why did i let this happen. swain s first face to face meeting with his in-laws ended in a shouting match, and swain recalls it. and, for the next three years, there s suspicion of foul play only grew. and, in 2002, they filed a wrongful death suit in civil court, claiming, swain was involved in shelley tire s death. nothing good happens in the court. nothing takes care of our pain, and our loss.
years in a small prison cell on the caribbean island years in a small presence on the caribbean island of tortola. we went and i was out of my cell was one or two hours a day. every dad walker evelyn darken. now he would finally have his day in court. the charge, murdering his wife shelley tire on a scuba dive ten years before. he pleaded not guilty. and with the stakes so much higher this time, criminal, not about money but maybe decades in prison. swain came prepared. with caroline council. plus a top legal team from boston. it will be a lengthy trial. government expects to call witnesses for another 12 days. shelley tires parents also had their attorney. he had won the civil suit against swing back in rhode island it was now helping tortola prosecutors.
but defense countered he was innocent. drowned in an order panic tack. now david was about to testify. and what he revealed would send a chill through the courtroom. here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of the last dive. we really need to remember that she was an incredible life force. had all of this positive energy. so every time it came around to the criminal trial, i thought please god let somebody find a way back to letting people know how wonderful she was. that special light of shelley tire. dearly missed by so many who knew her. was her husband david swain responsible for taking him from the world. or was he an innocent man whose private ways had made a tragic accident only look like murder? a jury would soon decide.
have ended in that position if shelley s foot was yanked out of it, was forcibly shoved into the sand. the prosecution put forth the same theory that the attorney said advance back in the rhode island civil trial. that shelley scuba gear, in such disarray, mentally one thing. that shelley tire had been attacked underwater. what this shows is a continued struggle with a human being. and the prosecution says, the only human on that dive, with shelley, was her husband, and dive buddy, david swain. but, swain had always insisted, he was nowhere near shelley when he she died. rather, he and shelley had gone their separate ways, after reaching the wreck. i have a vague recollection of circumnavigating the wreck, poking around the wreck, and seeing shelley still interested in looking at something around there. that is the last time that i saw her, as i swam off towards
to the criminal trial i thought, please, god, let someone find a way back to letting people know how wonderful she was. that special light of shelley tire, deeply missed by so many who knew her. was her husband, david swain, responsible for taking it from the world? or, was he an innocent man, whose private ways had made a tragic accident, only look like murder? a jury, in a courtroom, would soon decide. but, not before david himself took the stand, to answer questions from his island attorney. mr. swain, when you went on the dive was surely tire, on that 12th of march, of 1999, did you kill shelley tire? i did not, could not, would not dream of taking the rock of my life out of the world. no, i did not. did you, in any way, through the course of that dive,