PACIFIC GROVE, California (31 May 2003) -- A 51-year-old social worker from Salinas died Friday while scuba diving with her brother off Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Marie Murray, a longtime certified diver, may have gotten entangled in kelp during a morning dive. She was found in the water about 20 minutes into the dive, officials said. Her brother and dive buddy, John Murray, visiting from Chicago, apparently lost her in the water. Pacific Grove fire Capt. Kirk Napier said emergency crews were called to Lovers Point about 8:45 a.m. Three bystanders had jumped into the 50-degree water to help find Murray and pulled her to shore after finding her near a pier, Pacific Grove police said. It isn't clear how they knew she was in trouble. "She wasn't breathing; she had no pulse," Napier said. "We assisted with CPR and transported her'' to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, where she was pronounced dead. Monterey County coroner's investigator Mark Stevens said the cause of death had not been determined. Murray, who had about 20 years experience diving, appeared to have all her gear on, he said. The conditions in the water were cold, but visibility was good. "It's still under investigation at this time, but we do know that she was with her brother. I don't have all the information to say exactly what happened," he said Friday. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday. Murray had just returned from a dive trip to Cozumel, Mexico, last week, where she had gotten at least 14 dives in, said H. Toberman, owner of Aquarius Dive Shop in Monterey, which organized the trip. While she did have experience, Toberman had remarked recently that Murray's equipment was old and in need of updating. He said he went so far as to get her a new buoyance-control vest last year, but she apparently preferred her old one. "I took it away from her in Cozumel and told her to rent one," said Toberman, who said Murray's vest was about 25 years old. | | "This is just terrible," he said. "It's always bad when accidents happen, but it just stresses the need to press upon safety in the sport." Toberman said Murray had called Thursday inquiring about a dry suit, and, eerily, an employee had made a comment that her archaic equipment would cost her her life. "It's really odd that the conversation happened just yesterday, and today it happened," Toberman said. Toberman's wife, Brenda, said Murray was jovial on the trip to Cozumel. Murray's selflessness and caring for others was evident in how she interacted with the group, she said. "I picked up that she always knew exactly what people needed," Brenda Toberman said. "One time, the boat was filled and one person had to get on another boat but we all wanted to stay together. Marie sensed that and got up and said 'I don't mind.' That's just what she did." She said Murray had shared during a conversation on the trip that she had known she wanted to be a social worker since the age of 3. One story especially moved her. "She told me about one of the people that she helped, and it was a Native American man who had a lot of problems who hadn't seen his family in more than 30 years," Brenda Toberman said. "Marie researched this man's family and found them on a reservation. She reunited them and he had an inheritance that he didn't know about. "She did that all on her own because she cared." The Tobermans plan to break the news today to friends who went on the diving trip to Cozumel. A barbecue, meant to reunite the group to share stories and swap photos, is scheduled for today. |
