“In this photo supplied by Queensland Police, Christina Watson is seen lying motionless on the sea floor as an unidentified diver poses for the camera, center, while a dive leader, left and partially hidden, hurries to help the American.”
Police immediately began preparing a warrant for the arrest of the suspect, Daniel Gabriel Watson of Birmingham, Ala. — the first step in what are likely to be drawn-out extradition proceedings.
Watson faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted. His lawyer did not immediately enter a plea, but he has argued that the evidence does not support any criminal charge and that police have seemed intent on blaming him anyway. The 26-year-old woman, known as Tina, drowned while diving on a historic shipwreck near the northeastern city of Townsville as her husband of 11 days looked on.
Watson, usually called Gabe, declined to testify at the inquest, although videotaped interviews with police formed a key part of evidence before it. In the interviews, Watson said his new bride apparently had trouble a few minutes into the dive, panicked and clutched at his mask, pushing it off his face. He described seeing her, with her eyes wide and arms outstretched toward him, sinking into the deep. The groom, an experienced diver who had completed a dive-rescue course, was acting as a so-called dive buddy for his less-experienced wife. He told police he decided to go for help rather than following her to the sea floor and attempting a rescue. One of the dive leaders pulled Tina Watson to the surface. Efforts to resuscitate her failed.
Its very easy for another diver to turn off your air without your knowledge. Its done routinely as part of your training. But proving this, I think would be impossible.
Why should Australia care? I’d be upset if I were an Ozzy–spending money to convict a tourist==and pay for lifetime care if convicted?
Waste of money even if proof was abundant.
Turn over all the info to the USA and cooperate as requested is what makes sense to me.
What is the motivation for this?
If her air was turned off and he was the trained diver in charge of an untrained diver at the least it was negligent homicide on his part.
The choice to leave her rather than trying to pull her to the surface can only add to that perception.
#1. Jurisdiction. Seems like an almost “perfect crime” whatever that means. If her air was turned off, he would’ve had to turn it back on after she drowned, or as her partner, he would be suspect.
I wonder what would cause a guy to murder his wife on the honeymoom. Did he find out she wasn’t a triple-input and it pushed him over the edge?
#3–McCullough==jurisdiction gives permission to act, not a requirement to act. While we all should “care” what a foreigner does to a foreigner while touring our country, I don’t want my tax dollars chasing a future expense that does not benefit my country in any way.
The perfect crime is tossing your babe overboard at night at sea and reporting her missing at brunch claiming she was drunk when you last saw her so you left to say your midnight prayers and went to bed dreaming of angels.
I wonder why he’d go through all that marriage stuff, and travel all the way to Australia just to snuff his new bride. Maybe she wasn’t a virgin? 😮
I would like to point out that all dive kits are equipped with two regulators for just this purpose… so that you can offer the spare to a diver in trouble (or use it yourself in case your primary breaks).
If he saw she was short of air, it would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to hand her his spare and then make a controlled ascent together.
>>I wonder why he’d go through all that marriage stuff, and travel all the way to Australia just to snuff his new bride.
Don’t you know, murdering and vacationing go hand in hand!
Insurance ? Cause of Murders, Fires, Fake Car Crashes, etc …
Something fishy here…
He was a certified rescue diver; she had just come through scuba training in which emergency techniques are drilled into you.
A witness on the dive boat saw him “bear hug” her before releasing her.
There is apparently a video of him using bolt cutters to cut flowers left at her grave.
There is a common misconception that there has to be either physical evidence or a witness to convict. Such strong circumstantial evidence is plenty strong enough.
I forgot to mention that he asked her to max out her life insurance and make him sole bene, and took out travel insurance on her too and sued the insurers when they refused to pay out.
Apparently he had her change her life insurance policy to name him the sole beneficiary shortly before the trip. Hmmm…
A specifically trained in rescue diver doesn’t go to help his wife, who he admits to knowing was in trouble? He decides to go to the surface for help rather than grabbing one of the dive leaders? Panic is OK in an amateur. Not in someone trained in those exact circomstances.
bobbo…don’t take any trips with say..Mr. Mustard to say…Canada…although I’m pretty sure you would like the Canadian government to prosecute him if they notice that he happened to accidentally slit your throat while there.
I think the benefit here is based up a certain expectation of reciprocity were a couple of their nationals involved. Do you really also want your country to be known as the place to go if you want to off your spouse? I think in general not great for tourism…^_^
#14–Shin==at least you are focused on the right issue==what is in my country’s best interest. I assume Ozland gets more American Tourists than we get theirs, so equally vigorous prosecutions in both countries would result in a net loss to Ozland.
If the insurance policy is as stated, I would convict. Its not guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but not trying to save your new bride is. He deserves to be guilty whether he is or not.
Wow… that doesn’t make a lick of sense. It is easy to share a tank and regulator should your dive buddy’s system fail.
Worse, worse case I would have dropped her belt and tank, inflated her vest, and sent her to the surface. She would have the bends, but would be alive a while longer. Then they could get her to the decompression chamber in the hospital in Townsville in time to treat it. At least she would have a chance to survive that way.
Sure sounds like intentional murder to me.
BTW… he will be extradited to Oz to face charges. He can try to fight it, but he will fail. The US and AU law enforcement do tend to work well together.
He found out she was atheist.
aaah the good ole “Wham Bam Im-gonna-drown-you-on-our-honeymoon ma’am”
that’s quite a honeymoon photo
On MSNBC’s site, there’s a police video of his interview posted.
He claims they were swimming against the current to make it to an anchor rope. He claims she descended after flooding his mask and that he saw her attempt to inflate her bouyancy compensator to stop her descent.
If the tank valve was turned off, the BC won’t inflate.
After attempting the emergency procedures #16 and others mentioned an astute novice might remember you can cannibalize some air from a BC if your not getting any air from a tank and your dive buddy is swimming away. You can get maybe 3 or 4 breaths out of a vest. If you do that however you will begin to descend as you exhale the first breath. A panicked novice may not recall to drop her weight belt.
This assumes his testimony is accurate as stated. Other articles note the investigators stating he was changing details on his story.
What is wrong with some of you. The Coroner has determined that a crime has probably committed. Australia is a land governed by laws. It doesn’t matter what nationalities are involved Australian law seems to have been broken and due process must occur. None of you know all the facts. The police won’t lay charges unless the evidence supports them; extradition won’t occur unless Australia can produce sufficient evidence to support it, so calm down and let the justice system work. No one, not even Americans are above our law when they visit here so stop tryting the case before it has begun.
[Duplicate comment deleted. – ed.]
Listen — He shut her air off & held her arms down! It took only 3 minutes to drown her plus another 10 to make sure she could never come back. A witness saw the two of them a bear hug for 15 minutes! That itself is weird — Divers usually want to look at sea life! He took her to a foreign country, didn’t give her his extra regulator, didn’t carry her body up to the surface, didn’t alert other divers, changed his story numerous times, PLUS was set to receive vast amounts of Insurance $$$. Daniel Gabriel Watson, obviously killed his wife; I hope he drowns in misery while serving the life sentence, he so deserves to get.
This is one of the reasons you always carry a dive knife with you: To protect against dangerous predators in the ocean.
Hhmmm, just married, was that a bear hug or an embrace?
***
Bobbo,
All countries will prosecute a crime that happens on their territory. Generally, justice is pursued regardless of the cost.
Why not just drive her off a bridge into the Chappaquiddick?
Don’t be mean, I’m a democrat but I just couldn’t help myself…
Despite all the assumptions..there is something that really bothers me. Lets just say, it was an accident. You see your wife, who, a few days ago, you married, and profess to love, in serious trouble, in water, sinking. You can breathe, you still have air. You might not be able to see clearly after having your mask struck off your face, but his vision was clear enough to see she was in trouble and sinking. What is the very first thing one would do? I can tell you what I would do. Anyone could tell that if you surfaced without that person, odds are against them. I have NEVER been scuba diving and I know that much. I can understand the panic if he did not have any air.. but he did. Why did he not follow her, and help? Regardless of currents or whatever else. If my husband started to sink, and I still had air I would follow him to the depths of the ocean to save him, or die trying. It is more than obvious what happened here. Whether she was Australian or not, he should not be allowed to get away with it. If your husband/wife murdered you, you would want to see justice. People will do anything for money even if it takes years of planning. I don’t care about evidence. His actions tell us what really happened. I just cannot understand why he did not follow her if he still could breathe and had air.
You guys should have some respect for that poor girls memory? @#6 She wasn’t a virgin, triple-input? You people are sick… The poor girl was murdered on her honeymoon. Grow up and have some respect. I’m a diver and it sure sounds like he had everything to do with it.