FOR CHARGERS' QB COACH, 1 TRAGEDY LEADS TO ANOTHER

The daughter of San Diego Chargers quarterback coach Dwain Painter was swept to her death by a wave as she scattered her mother's ashes along the rocky Mendocino coast, officials said Friday.

The body of Debbie Menta, 32, was found Friday morning by Coast Guard rescuers.Painter's son, Painter, 23, was also injured in the freak accident trying to rescue his sister, but pulled himself to safety and was in stable condition Friday, hospital officials said.

The two were scattering the ashes of their mother, Diane Painter, who committed suicide hours after San Diego won the American Football Conference championship Jan. 15.

Friends said Mrs. Painter, who was divorced, was upset she would not be going to the Super Bowl with her former husband. She started her car in the garage of their home in Bellevue, Pa., and died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

"It's just a series of family tragedies," said Leo Menta, father of Debbie Menta's husband Mark, of Foster City, Calif. The couple have an 18-month-old son, Taylor. The elder Manta said Dwain Painter was on his way to Mendocino to be with his son.

Dwain Painter is a former quarterbacks coach at Brigham Young University.

The brother and sister were scattering the ashes at the site because Mrs. Painter had often visited Mendocino with her daughter.

On Thursday, Doug Painter was found by artist Joy Verner staggering naked along the Mendocino Headlands about 120 miles north of San Francisco, "bloody from top to bottom," she said.

Doug Painter told authorities he and his sister stood on a high rock above the ocean at sunset Thursday to scatter the ashes of their mother.

A wave, which rescuers later estimated as 20 to 25 feet high, picked both off the rock.

Doug Painter was thrown on to jagged rocks and managed to crawl to safety, but fell into a crevasse with his sister when he reached down to pull her out.

Painter finally managed to grab hold of the rocks again, and crawled to the top of the cliff.