SNOW HILL - A Worcester County grand jury indicted a Pennsylvania couple yesterday in the shooting deaths of two Virginia tourists who police say were murdered and dismembered in a north Ocean City penthouse during the Memorial Day weekend.

The grand jury, meeting in Snow Hill, returned indictments charging Benjamin A. and Erika Grace Sifrit, both 24, with 13 criminal counts, including first-degree murder charges, in the deaths of Martha Crutchley, 51, and Joshua Ford, 32.

Worcester County prosecutor Joel Todd issued a one-page statement yesterday outlining the indictments, which include a variety of assault, handgun and burglary charges that carry possible prison terms totaling more than 175 years. Each first-degree murder charge carries a possible sentence of life in prison.

Todd, who has refused to speak about the case, was not available for comment yesterday.

The Sifrits were arrested around 1 a.m. May 31 during a bungled burglary at a Hooter's restaurant souvenir store.

Police say they found a 9 mm handgun and a knife on Benjamin Sifrit, a former Navy SEAL who had received a bad-conduct discharge. His wife, a former college basketball standout at Virginia's Mary Washington College, was armed with a .357-caliber Magnum handgun and a knife, police said. Police also found a .45-caliber handgun in the couple's Jeep.

Police say Erika Sifrit told them that her husband shot Ford and Crutchley on May 25 or early May 26 as the victims hid in a bathroom. Their bodies were dismembered, placed in plastic garbage bags and dumped in a trash bin near Rehoboth Beach, Del., police said.

Benjamin and Erika Sifrit are being held without bail in the Worcester County Detention Center. No trial date has been set.