Family Loses Bid to Have Woman’s Remains Exhumed

A Superior Court judge Friday refused to order the remains of a Huntington Harbour woman exhumed as part of her family’s effort to prove that she died of unnatural causes more than two years ago on a deserted Caribbean beach.

The family of Nancy Barwick had alleged that her husband, Kenneth Barwick, might have been responsible for her death while the two were operating a cargo boat near Aruba. She was rescued on the deserted beach after the boat had sunk on Feb. 20, 1985.

A U.S. consul in Aruba reported that she had died of a heart attack at a clinic following the rescue.

Her mother, Marion Painter, and her three children--Mark, Tony and Paula Galyean--wanted the remains exhumed from a Roman Catholic cemetery in Long Beach to “determine whether an unnatural death occurred.”

But Superior Court Judge Ricardo Torres ruled that if the family thinks that Barwick was responsible for his wife’s death, then it should talk to police or coroner officials and not seek help through a civil proceeding.

The family last year filed a wrongful-death suit against Barwick in Orange County Superior Court. It has also challenged the victim’s will, under which she left a large portion the $1.2 million in property she owned in western Orange County to her Barwick, her second husband.

Both those cases are pending. Under state law, Barwick cannot inherit anything if the family can prove that he murdered or caused the death of his wife.

The family and its attorney, John P. Whelan of Huntington Beach, were unavailable for comment after Friday’s court ruling.

Maurice Mandel, Barwick’s attorney, said that although an examination of the victim’s remains would have proven his client’s innocence, Barwick did not want her grave disturbed.

“It’s not a happy victory. The whole idea of digging up . . . this body, and the behavior of the (family), was very distressing,” the lawyer said.

“Even though the exhumation and autopsy would not provide any evidence for them and would in fact had exonerated him, he (Barwick) felt so strongly about this that he wanted the petition denied,” Mandel added.

The victim was widowed from her doctor first husband, then married Kenneth Barwick in Las Vegas in February, 1984, after a short romance. Because Barwick was 13 years younger than his wife, her children believe that Barwick courted her because of her money.

Barwick, however, has maintained that he fought desperately to save his wife when the boat sank. In court papers, he also accused the family of being motivated by vindictiveness and greed.