Seaman Francisco Rivera, from Anchorage, Alaska, works aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on Aug. 12, 2017, while the ship was in the Persian Gulf. Bremerton police found Rivera, 23, and his wife Marie Aurora Rivera, 22, dead on Dec. 13, three days after the Nimitz returned to Naval Base Kitsap in Washington. (Ian Kinkead/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — A sailor who just returned from a deployment aboard a Navy aircraft carrier is accused of killing his wife before taking his own life in the couple’s home near Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state, according to local police.
Bremerton police found Navy Seaman Francisco Rivera, 23, and his wife Marie Aurora Rivera, 22, dead Dec. 13. The sailor stabbed his wife multiple times during a violent assault inside the house before hanging himself, police said in a statement.
The assault occurred just three days after Rivera returned home from a six-month deployment aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, according to the Navy. The aircraft carrier had been at sea since June, sailing more than 78,000 miles and participating in multiple operations, including some 1,300 combat flights into Iraq and Syria from the Persian Gulf, according to the Navy.
The warship is based out of Naval Base Kitsap, east of Seattle.
The Bremerton Police Department did not release a possible motive for the sailor’s attack, saying they were continuing to investigate the incident.
Navy officials on Wednesday said Rivera had no history of violence or other disciplinary problems in his service record. The sailor was from Anchorage, Alaska and had served in the Navy since 2015, according to the service.
Navy officials declined to discuss whether Rivera had recently shown any signs of troubling behavior or sought counseling or other help during the deployment, saying such information would be included in the police investigation.
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