Seabees charged in man’s slaying

Two Ventura County Seabees were arrested and charged this week in connection with the fatal shooting of the ex-husband of one of the sailors, authorities said Thursday.

Rebecca Braswell, 26, former spouse of the victim and a Navy mechanic, is accused of taking part in the Dec. 1 shooting of John Marmo Jr. outside his Camarillo condominium, investigators said. The two were engaged in a contentious, two-year child custody dispute and had a hearing scheduled next month, according to court records.

Braswell’s friend Shannon Butler, 24, another Navy mechanic, was charged with murder, attempted murder and use of a destructive device. Both women were arrested without incident Tuesday evening and remain in custody at the Ventura County main jail on $1-million bail each.

A third enlisted sailor, Seth Hardy, 20, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of using an explosive device to injure or harm Marmo on two separate occasions earlier this year. Hardy, whose bail is set at $510,000, is not connected to the shooting, authorities said.

“We wanted to alert the public that we made these arrests, but the case is still very active,” said Capt. Ron Nelson, spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. “There is a lot of work left.”

The three suspects were in court for an arraignment hearing Thursday, but it was postponed to give attorneys more time to review details of the case, said Richard Simon, a senior prosecutor in the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

All were enlisted personnel at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme. Teri Reid, spokeswoman for the Navy base, said this is the first time in her 26 years in Ventura County that she’s heard of enlisted personnel being accused of murdering someone outside the base.

Reid said the arrested Seabees were assigned to three different Naval Mobile Construction Battalions. It was unclear what personal connections exist among the three suspects, but Butler provided a declaration in Braswell’s divorce case in June 2005.

According to court documents, Braswell filed for divorce from Marmo in July 2004. She later filed a domestic violence complaint and sought a restraining order against Marmo, but the complaint was later rejected.

Braswell continued to challenge her former husband in court over joint custody and child support for their 4-year-old daughter, Heather, records show. Their next hearing in the case was scheduled for Jan. 9.

The couple’s relationship was so strained that they agreed to make the custody exchanges in the lobby of the Port Hueneme Police Department, according to court documents. Responding to an early morning report of shots fired, sheriff’s deputies found Marmo lying in a courtyard near the door of his condominium in the 1200 block of Mission Verde Drive.

greg.griggs@latimes.com