Former JHS student convicted of murdering wife

Woman drowned while on vacation in British Virgin Islands

By MATT THACKER

A former Jeffersonville High School student was sentenced last month to life in prison for murdering his wife during a 1999 vacation in the British Virgin Islands.

The case of 53-year-old David Swain — a former scuba diving shop owner and town council member in Rhode Island — has garnered international attention. Swain, who grew up in Louisville and Southern Indiana, is listed as a senior in the 1973 JHS yearbook.

In October, a nine-person jury convicted Swain of murdering his wife, Shelly Tyre. At a sentencing hearing in the British Virgin Islands, a judge determined that Swain will be eligible for parole after 25 years.

Swain and Tyre, along with another couple and their 9-year-old son, were sailing aboard a vessel in March of 1999, according to court records. Early that afternoon, Swain and his wife went scuba diving to an underwater attraction — the wreckage of two tugboats about 80 feet below the surface of the water. Swain returned alone after 35 minutes.

The other man in the boat, Christian Thwaites, entered the water and found Tyre’s diving fin with its blade embedded in the sand and then found Tyre’s body lying on her back without her diving mask or regulator. Court records state that she was free of entanglement.

Thwaites took the woman to the surface and began CPR. Swain took over performing CPR, but stopped after a short time. He also told Thwaites not to send out a mayday call, but called Virgin Islands Search and Rescue. When authorities arrived, they offered to attempt CPR on the woman, but Swain allegedly refused stating that she was already dead.

During the investigation, it was learned that Swain had been having an affair prior to his wife’s death and that he resumed the affair about two or three weeks after the death. The couple also reportedly had a prenuptial agreement that would have denied Swain money if they got divorced. An expert testified at the trial that Swain inherited more than $600,000 from his wife’s death.

Other behavior by Swain drew attention, including his demand that his wife’s scuba gear be destroyed and having very little memory of what happened that day. Court documents also note Tyre was an experienced diver and had logged 354 dives. Her equipment was found to be in working order, except for her mask, which was damaged.

At trial, prosecutors described it as a nearly perfect murder, according to The Associated Press. Swain’s attorneys said it was just a tragic accident and that there was no evidence of a struggle.

In fact, authorities had considered it an accident until 2006, when a civil trial in Rhode Island found Swain responsible for Tyre’s death and awarded her family $3.5 million.

According to The Providence Journal in Rhode Island, Swain was born in Louisville and had a difficult life growing up. His father, who had a history of violence, left his family when Swain was a young child. His father later would have a sex-change operation.

His mother worked at Pillsbury to support the family.

After leaving Jeffersonville, Swain’s family reportedly moved to Golden Valley, Minn. In 1975, Swain moved to Rhode Island, where he started a family of his own.

But shortly after Easter in April 1976, Swain learned his mother back in Minnesota was missing. He later found out she had been brutally beaten to death, and his younger brother would be convicted of her murder.

Swain’s mother, Betty, had met with friends for a dinner party, but she failed to show up for work the next day and her friends reported her missing.

Several days later, she was found tied up in the back seat of her station wagon about five miles from her home. An autopsy revealed she had been struck seven times in the back of the head, shattering her skull.

The investigation turned to Swain’s brother, Richard, who was 19 at the time. While Betty was still missing, Richard had given little information to police and said he did not know the make or model of his mother’s car.

Police found traces of blood throughout the house and garage and on the knees of Richard’s jeans.

According to court records, Richard said he knew nothing about his mother’s death, but told investigators at one point that he would play pranks on his mother and that “perhaps he had hit his mother on the head and dropped her from the roof.”

Richard was convicted by a jury and sentenced to life in prison, although his sentence was later reduced after the Court of Appeals ruled the murder was not premeditated.

David Swain went on to become owner of Ocean State Scuba and served on the Jamestown Town Council in Rhode Island. He married Tyre in 1993.

Swain’s daughter still defends her father. She told The Providence Journal that her father has post-traumatic stress disorder because of his mother’s death and that is why he repressed memories of what happened the afternoon that his wife died.

Swain has appealed the court’s decision.

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