CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : FRESNO : Ex-Sailor Charged in Wife’s Death

An ex-sailor at Lemoore Naval Air Station has been charged with murdering his bride of four months, who fell 350 feet to her death down a canyon at Yosemite National Park. A federal grand jury indictment against Stevie Allen Gray, 24, was made public during his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Fresno. Federal investigators learned that Gray took out $450,000 in life insurance policies on his wife, Dolores Guadalupe Contreras Gray, also 24, before her death on Dec. 5, 1987. At first, park rangers thought her death was an accident, but later became suspicious and brought the FBI into the case, said FBI special agent Douglas A. Ball. The insurance policies were taken out between the time the Grays married in August, 1987, and her death four months later. Gray sued the insurance companies after they refused to pay.