Sailor Denies Hiring Guman to Kill His Wife

A Navy corpsman pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he hired a man to shoot his wife to death while the couple jogged along a Spring Valley road in 1989.

Charles Richard Schmidt, 28, was arrested Friday in San Diego and charged with murder and solicitation of murder. Prosecutors allege that he paid an acquaintance to kill his 27-year-old wife, Patricia, a Navy nurse.

Noel Armstrong, 22, was arrested in Reno, Nev., and told authorities that he was the gunman, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Pettine. A .22-caliber handgun believed to be the murder weapon also was recovered in Nevada, he said.

“He (Armstrong) told us he was offered $1,000 by Schmidt to kill his wife but was only paid $400 for the murder for hire,” Pettine said.

Armstrong and Schmidt had worked together as security guards at Le Meridien Hotel in Coronado, Pettine said.

Schmidt told police that he was jogging far behind his wife on Quarry Road on June 15, 1989. He said she was out of his sight when she was killed, and that he found her body lying on the roadside.

The Highway Patrol first investigated her death as a hit-and-run, but the bullet wound was discovered during an autopsy the next day. Investigators quickly focused on Schmidt.

“He always has been a suspect, and we gathered a lot of evidence over the last three years,” Pettine told reporters after the arraignment.

The prosecutor said he may seek the death penalty against both men by alleging that the slaying meets two special circumstances: lying in wait and murder for hire.

Armstrong was also charged with murder, Pettine said. He alleged that Armstrong drove past on a motorcycle and shot Patricia Schmidt.

Schmidt collected $75,000 on a $100,000 insurance policy and has since remarried, to Anna Calderone. They have an 8-month-old child.

Municipal Judge Harvey Hiber set bail at $3 million. A bail review is set for Friday, and a preliminary hearing is set for July 27.