Daughter Of Slain Capital Gazette Journalist Ties The Knot

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Winters Leigh Geimer — daughter of slain Capital Gazette journalist Wendi Winters — is now a married woman.

The 30-year-old bride tied the knot with her husband, Kenneth Wayne Larca, 28, in Virginia Beach on May 11, Capital Gazette reported. Geimer, who is taking her husband's surname, is an officer candidate in the Navy "Seaman to Admiral" commissioning program.

She is also the daughter of Tod Geimer of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and Winters, of Annapolis. Winters was one of five Capital Gazette employees killed in Annapolis on June 28.

Geimer's husband, Larca, is a petty officer in the Navy. He is the son of Cindy Larca of Hollister, California and the late Larry Larca.

According to the Gazette, Larca first laid eyes on Geimer at the airport in Bahrain. Initially, he thought she was a colleague assigned to pick him up at the airport.

"I saw this woman who was so stunningly beautiful that I was literally halted in my tracks," said Larca, per the Gazette. "She was holding a sign that had our command name on it. So after picking my jaw up from the floor, I forced my legs to move to go ask her if she was or had seen my sponsor."

He'd soon find out that she wasn't there for him.

When he approached Geimer — according to the Gazette — she dismissed him, explaining that he was mistaken.

"In hindsight," she said, "he was very nice while I was very rude."

Despite their first interaction, the pair became friends. And they shared many interests, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and coffee, according to the newspaper.

That friendship, of course, blossomed into a relationship.

At midnight on New Year's Eve a year and a half ago, Larca proposed to Geimer in front of the Hogwarts Castle at Universal Studios Orlando, the Gazette reported.

Fast forward to last weekend, the couple became husband and wife on the shore of Virginia Beach.

While Winters' absence was felt at the wedding, the newspaper says the couple is happy knowing that she would have been delighted to see them married.