So Cal Couple Killed By Pirates Remembered By Church

Masses at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica were dedicated today to the memory of a Southland couple who belonged to the parish and were kidnapped and killed by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Jean and Scott Adam — former residents of Newport Beach who were based in Marina Del Rey in recent years — were fatally shot late Monday aboard their 58-foot sailboat Quest off the coast of Somalia, authorities said. The couple were kidnapped by pirates Friday, along with a Seattle couple, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle.

The Adams, a retired couple, had been sailing around the world for more than seven years distributing Bibles. According to their website, the couple planned stops this year in Sri Lanka, India, Oman, Djibouti, the Suez Canal and Crete.

“Jean and Scott were faithful people,” Father Lloyd Torgerson, pastor of St. Monica Catholic Church, told reporters.

The Adams were active in the church, with Jean even singing in the choir.

“They were people who had, you know, worked hard all their lives and decided in their retirement that they wanted to do something to make a difference in this world,” Torgerson said.

The couple were members of the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey.

On Friday, the couple had broken away from a yachting group and sailed toward Oman. That’s when they were attacked by Somali pirates. U.S. Navy warships spotted the vessel and began shadowing it, and officials made radio contact with the pirates.

Late Monday, however, pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade toward the U.S.S. Sterett, a San Diego-based warship that was closed to the Quest. Gunfire was also heard aboard the Quest. A Naval special-forces team rushed toward the yacht.

“U.S. Naval reaction forces closed in on the Quest in small boats and boarded the yacht,” Navy Vice Adm. Mark Fox said from Bahrain. “As they responded to the gunfire, reaching and boarding the Quest, U.S. sailors discovered that all four hostages had been shot by their captors.”

The Adams, Macay and Riggle were all killed. Two pirates were already dead aboard the Quest, and two others will killed by U.S. forces, according to various reports. An estimated 15 other pirates were taken into custody.

“She has a ton of friends and family,” Macay’s niece, Nina Crossland, told reporters in San Francisco. “Our family is big. Our family is close. We love her and we are devastated.”

Parishioners at St. Monica Church told KCAL9 they were saddened by the news.

“It was just very, very sad. Sad that this tragic type of thing has to happen in this day and age,” parishioner Joanne Brown told the station.

Another parishioner, Isabelle Keenan, said she was surprised to hear the couple and their friends were sailing through such a dangerous area.

“When I first knew that they were captured I said, `What were they doing going into Somali waters, four people in a boat? Crazy,” she said. “But I’m sick about people being killed, no matter where they are or who they are.”