A honeymoon tragedy at the Great Barrier Reef | Forensic Files

in the Coral Sea off the coast of northern Queensland lies the Great Barrier Reef stretching 2300 kilometers
along Australia's northeastern tip it covers an area of approximately three hundred and forty-four thousand square
kilometres an underwater maze of almost 3000 individual reefs and more than 900 Islands the reef has the world's largest
collection of coral and over 1,500 species of tropical fish reptiles and turtles seem clearly from space it is
the largest living structure on earth it is a world heritage site and known as one of the seven natural wonders of the
world tourists are drawn to the warm crystal-clear waters and bright tropical marine life a scuba divers paradise dive
operators rely on the three million Australian dollars generated each year by the tourist market they provide
everything from glass-bottom boat tours day snorkeling trips overnight adventures and for the more experienced
divers extended cruises with daily scuba diving are remote locations [Music] one of the most famous shipwrecks of the
reef is the SS young gala which disappeared in 1911 the young gala was a passenger ship which was enroute from
Melbourne to Cannes its 99th voyage in Australian waters the ship had not yet been fitted with wireless messaging
capabilities so when a tropical cyclone hit the captain had not received the signal to take refuge it sank taking all
122 passengers and crew with it the wreck was not found for almost 50 years and when it was it was found in
near-perfect condition it's known as one of the world's most intact and pristine
shipwrecks the seafloor surrounding the shipwreck is fast and Sandy making the young Galah
like an oasis in the desert it has created its own artificial reef which provides the perfect habitat for a
diverse range of marine life soft corals and brightly colored schools of fish completely cover the vessel huge
tropical fish seals and sea turtles swim in and out of the rooms and hallways lying just up the coast of Townsville it
is protected under the Commonwealth historic shipwrecks act 1976 and is managed through the Museum of tropical
queensland the ship is 107 meters long and allows just under 30 metres or near 100 feet below the surface with the
upper section of the wreck approximately 16 metres below the water the site is considered one of the premier dives in
Australia and one of the top dives in the world the sensory transformation of descending under the ocean is like
nothing else on earth as you get the water sound stops completely until you hear the tremendous woosh of your breath
through your breathing gear and to the bleeping sounds of bubbles surrounding you your vision adjusts to the field of
life then the dull sometimes echoing sea on screaming to your ears the clicking and crunching of fish eating the coral
and to their distant groans and drumming sounds of fish you can't yet see it's then your site takes over taking in
the iridescent subtropical sea life and plant life unlike anything on land divers describe
humpback whales sometimes greeting in the distance as they prepare to dive for younger life
dropping down into one of the most amazing underwater sights imaginable divers say underwater photos will never
do it justice gliding through the wreck of the young gala with its 100 years of marine growth with the current pulling
you along is a mesmerizing and haunting experience 122 souls were on board lost forever
Tina Watson was born on the 13th of February 1977 in Germany before moving to the United States as a baby on the
24th of January 1980 she was legally adopted by Tommy and Cindy Thomas she spent her childhood in Walker County
Alabama with her parents and her younger sister a lander they moved to Louisiana
for a time before permanently moving to Birmingham Alabama in the late nineties Tina was happy and outgoing a blonde at
the import Southern woman with a beaming smile they were a very close family who
always knew what each other was doing Tommy and Cindy were very protective of their children keeping a close eye on
them never letting them get into any trouble Tommy Thomas quote Tina was just the most beautiful girl both inside and
out she could walk into a room and just light the whole place up she loved life and she made life fun
she made life fun for all of us from a young age tina suffered from p SVT a heart condition essentially an overly
rapid heartbeat which can cause palpitations fainting convulsions and if left untreated it can be deadly
medication didn't help control Tina's PSV T and so she decided to have a minor surgery in 2001 when she was 24 this
corrected the problem and she was in great shape after that with no more heart complications Tina had boyfriend's
as a teenager and young adult and her first serious relationship resulted in a short engagement but according to her
friends his mother Cindy didn't approve of the relationship and it ended shortly after
after her engagement tina dated another guy for two to three years but this ended at the end of 2001 just before she
started going out with gabe watson Gabe Watson was born David Gabriel Watson named after his father David he went to
Hoover High School the largest High School in Alabama where he was known as a mild-mannered kid he was an average
student who played sports and loved the water as a senior he was a star basketball ER after high school he chose
to continue with his studies going to the University of Alabama in Birmingham he was tall at six foot three and
broadly built his father David Watson quote I don't think he ever had a minute's trouble with anybody except
maybe a poor grade and having a mum for a teacher it was just your typical middle-class kid Gabe's best friend
described him as an easygoing laid-back and humorous person the type of person who could talk to anyone Gabe met Tina
in class at the University of Alabama Tina had a boyfriend at the time but they still flirted and saw each other
out at times Gabe had been keen on Tina for a while and asked her out on a few occasions but she always said no as she
was seeing someone else on New Year's Eve in 2001 Tina and Gabe were at the same party apparently Gabe
was in the good books as he had bought Tina a handbag on a trip to New York that she had actually once asked her
boyfriend to get for her but by the time of this New Year's Eve party that were both single and after a fun night
Tina great to go out with Gabe within a few weeks that were dating after graduation
Tina started managing the children's clothing department first door in a local shopping mall while Gabe worked in
his father's packaging business in Birmingham Gabe had a love for scuba diving and he introduced Tina to the
sport he said that if they were going to be together then she'd have to adopt some of his hobbies and passions
particularly diving and fishing this was a bit of a joke amongst their friends who never in a million years saw Tina as
a diver in fact her best friend said she hated getting her hair wet when we would go swimming in high school she'd
be doing this really crazy dog paddle swim just so that her head would stay above the water but everyone knew Tina
loved Gabe so they put their doubts aside and thought Tina was just doing it for love she was content that it made
him happy in January 2003 Tina told her parents she was going to start diving lessons they were vocal in
their reservations they warned her about her heart condition and didn't understand why she would want to start
diving just for Gabe they were all so vocal in their reservations about Gabe in general they felt he controlled Tina
and Tommy didn't like the way that Gabe brushed off his concerns to be out Tina diving Tommy Thomas quote I had talked
to him about my concern about the diving lessons about the fact that she had a heart problem as a child and he said if
Tina wanted him to do the things that she liked to do she had to do the things that he wanted to do and he liked to
dive so she needed to dive with him on February 10th 2003 after dating for a year
Gabe phoned Tommy and asked if he could have permission to marry his daughter but Tommy said he would have to ask him
in person five days later Gabe and Tommy met at books-a-million coffee shop in Hoover Alabama Gabe asked Tommy again
for permission to marry Tina Tommy later stated that he never actually told Gabe it was okay for him
to marry Tina friends said that Gabe had purchased an engagement ring but taunted
and teased Tina with it dangling it like a carrot without proposing according to
Gabe he was just trying to find the right moment to propose he also said there was added pressure because Tommy
told him his proposal latina had to be perfect he finally found the moment and on April 20th 2003 he proposed it was
Easter Sunday he set up an Easter egg hunt in the apartment and along the way she found a note asking her to marry him
Gabe's family were overjoyed they had quickly adopted Tina into their family and were excited for their son's future
they became very close in the lead-up to the wedding Tina's parents on the other
hand still had reservations Tina told one of her co-workers at the time they're not greatly happy
with him but you know I love him according to Tommy he asked Gabe if he loved Tina
he said Gabe declined to answer and ignored the question Gabe even suggested that the term was a
little corny but Tommy loved his daughter and she loved Gabe so they swallowed their trepidation and
accepted the engagement the Thomases felt Gabe was a bit weird and admitted they just didn't have a good feeling
about him if you ask Gabe or any of his friends they will tell you that he and his family just had a weird sense of
humor the two families were just different Glenda Watson Gabe's mother call Tina's
parents to invite them to dinner after the engagement Cindy Thomas responded what Tina is
marrying into your family we're not interpretations of personalities differ some friends and
family saw Gabe as rude and overbearing while others suggest he was just trying to deal with in-laws who didn't like him
and showed it Tina and Gabe had a brief break up during their engagement but they got back together into their plans
the web continued the date was set for October 2003 they purchased the home together in Hoover and spent a few weeks
renovating it themselves before Gabe moved in and Tina stayed with her sister Tina wasn't planning to move in with
Gabe until they were married on September 26 just a couple of weeks before the wedding
Tina visited her parents and told her father that she needed to increase her group life insurance benefit Tommy
Thomas quote I had been in insurance for 25 years and I had never come across a situation where a young
soon-to-be-married couple were concerned about these matters Tina said that Gabe
had told her that now they were getting married any policies she had should have
him as the sole beneficiary Tommy told Tina that seeing as her insurance was up for REME Ruhlman in a few months time
not to worry about it just address it then she had too much going on with the wedding it was a strange thing to be
worrying about so close to the big day Tina was worried what she would tell Gabe if he asked Tommy said just tell
him it's sorted then when you get back from your honeymoon in November we will take care of it
Gabe and Tina attended pre marriage counseling with Reverend Craig Greer who was also preparing to marry them Tina
was in therapy dealing with some family issues she admitted that sometimes she didn't want to do things with her
parents since she would use Gabe as the excuse instead of admitting she didn't want to see them there was a time that
Tina asked Gabe's parents if they would help to pay for the wedding if her parents wouldn't this park the
assumption at the time that Tina's parents had threatened not to paid Reverend debris quote in my opinion it
was Tina's first attempt to do what she wanted to do and they didn't like Gabe Tina at times used Gabe as an excuse not
to do things with her family and she was upfront about that Gabe didn't mind he saw himself as her protector and became
well known that Tina's parents were not happy about the upcoming wedding and that the tension came to a head at the
rehearsal dinner Reverend gree quote I had done about 30 or 40 weddings at that time and it was
the worst rehearsal I've ever seen everybody was on pins and needles Tina especially animosity aside the
wedding went ahead on the morning of october 11th 2003 one year and eight months after they started dating
Gabe and Tina were married Tommy picked two teen her up in a limo on the way to the church the chance to have his last
father-daughter chat before she became a wife Tommy Thomas quote Tina and I had a
very nice conversation on the way to the church I told her over and over how much
that I loved her and that I wanted her to be happy I also told her that if she had any doubts about this she didn't
have to do it and she told me she said that this is going to be a good day this is what I want I think I cried from then
until all the way through the wedding I just had this fear this uncomfortable feeling that even though she had said
she was sure that she wasn't and I truly felt like he wouldn't take care of her the way that she deserves to be taken
care of Tina and Gav walked down the aisle at the Southside Baptist Church Birmingham Alabama the reception went
off without a hitch and there were no reports of problems between the families of the wedding as the newlyweds left the
reception they were showered with tears and the love Tommy Thomas quote the last
time that I saw her was at the end of the wedding reception I ran to the elevator and I actually got my arm stuck
in the door to force it back open shock would just grab her one more time and I told her that I loved her and then I
looked at Gabe and I touched his arm and I said take care of my little girl and that's the last few seconds I had with
her after annoyed in a hotel Gabe and Tina returned to their marital home the next day impact for their honeymoon they
were leaving for Australia the following day the furthest either of them had ever
been from home Gabe was an experienced driver he'd carried out over 50 dive since 1999 just before he started dating
Tina he completed his rescue diving course with his good friend Mike Moore Gabe Mike and later Tina had learned to
dive at the Bluewater quarry Cullen Alabama a defunct quarry filled with water and run as a scuba diving site
with training and a shop under the water there are various vehicles and interesting objects mimicking shipwrecks
originally Gabe had been planning a trip to the Great Barrier Reef alone as his father and grandmother had offered to
pay for it as a graduation gift after meeting Tina and getting her into diving Tina suggested that they take the trip
to Australia as their honeymoon friends didn't think the diving honeymoon sounded like Tina's ideal vacation but
Tina said she was looking forward to it and had always wanted to see the turtles
they decided they would go for two weeks in a light-hearted way the first week would be Tina's choice and the second
week gapes they planned to fly in the Sydney for a week and then travel up the chancel in Queensland Gabe made contact
with the dive company you heard about through one of the instructors of the quarry the dive company was Mike ball
dive expeditions and Gabe booked the 7-night cruise of the Great Barrier aboard of the spoil sport on the cruise
they would do around 25 dives three to four per day visiting reef sites including remote reefs with water so
clear there is 40 meter visibility other sites where walls drop off to 300 meters
ended the famous drift drive down to their SS young gala that would take all their own dive equipment except tanks
and they spent the weeks prior getting ready two days before the wedding Tina's best friend to me and I went with
her to the dive quarry at Pelham where they had done their training games dive computer hadn't been working so he put
it in for a service at the shop the dive computer is like a digital watch on one
half and a transmitter on the other half the watch part is worn on your wrist and
measures not only time and depth that gives an indication of how long he can spend at your current depth warns if you
stay too long and if you are ascending too quickly Gabe's wireless tank pressure
transmitter was a separate part of the computer and was attached to his tank it wasn't the most up to date model had
only recorded information once the diver was below 4 meters but it did the job Gabe needed so he had no need to replace
it when the guy at the shop returned at the dive computer to Tina he said that the batteries were in backwards two days
after their wedding Tina and Gabe set off her Australia they had to stop over in Houston and Los Angeles before the
long flight over the Pacific Ocean to Sydney they arrived on October 15th 2003 then spent almost the week touring the
sights of Sydney they went to a play at the Sydney Opera House took ferries across Darling Harbour and went on a
river cruise they visited the aquarium and Taronga Zoo on a video they filmed they seemed to genuinely happy together
and appeared to be a loving Sydney on October 21st they flew the Townsville in northern Queensland Townsville is one of
the gateways to the Great Barrier Reef the launching point for the next part of their adventure Gabe had been looking
forward to this for years Townsville's traditional indigenous owners the bindle and a wool Gary Cooper
people were the first to inhabit the region with nearby archaeological sites dating back 10,000 years an important
symbol for the bindle people is the shooting star they believe that the direction the shooting star Falls there
is either danger coming or someone from that direction is in need of help or in danger
Gavin Tina arrived in Townsville on the first day of a record hot spell that day
would mark the first of 114 days almost four months of temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius or 80 degrees Fahrenheit
perfect weather for the diving ahead that evening October 21st Gavin Tina went down to the marina at
Townsville to meet their crew the night was clear and mild the perfect night to see shooting stars carrying their
luggage and all the dive gear they had brought from home they were excited to walk aboard the spoil sport a 100 foot
catamaran fitted with 13 private cabins a lounge area and three decks the lower deck had a large dive deck on the spoon
and the cabins through the center moving towards the bow the dive that consisted
of two rows of racks for the dive tanks running lengthwise with bench seats and hangers for wetsuits a large camera and
storage table ran through the middle with fresh water camera rinse tanks before the stairs which led up to the
second mid-level deck at the back was the dive platform with entry and exit down a ladder either straight into the
water or onto a dinghy the main mid-level deck was where the galley and common areas were a sofa and TV area and
the eating areas at the back of this level set the two inflatable dinghies used to ferry divers to their water
entry positions on the top was the Sun Deck with sun loungers chairs and shade in 2003 the spoilsport was one of around
1,500 boats and aircraft which were licensed to tour in the Great Barrier Reef at 10 p.m.
spoilsport departed Townsville into the night it was heading 48 nautical miles southeast to the shipwrecked SS Young
gala Gabe and Tina unpacked in their cabin then headed up for the meet-and-greet with the other passengers
the time to get to know each other and relax the trip director was way too singleton the first thing he did was
conduct his necessary interviews with each passenger this was company policy it was also policy that everyone must be
interviewed separately by the trip director even if you are a married couple so no one can influence your
answers but on this occasion Gabe and Tina were interviewed together trip director Wade singleton quote I first
met Tina and Gabe on the night prior to that particular dive all the guests come
on board and they have to have an interview with me we established that Gabe was a rescue diver 50 or so dives
under the belt so a competent capable diver Tina was a relatively new diver it was
suggested that we take Tina for an orientation dollars but they were quite adamant that they were happy to dive
together and didn't need the orientation dive as such during their introductory interview Gabe and Tina had to show
their diving qualifications policy is that proof is to be shown including logbooks of previous dives Gabe showed
the record of his 55 dives which qualified him as a red diver showing he was very experienced and skilled to cope
with the conditions of the young garlic dive hallelu Tina with her five dives was seen as a green diver a novice Mike
ball expeditions categorize their divers and also their dives into a traffic light system Green being the most team
dives and the most inexperienced diverts yellow being a mid-level dive ended mid-level divers red being the most
difficult dives and to the most experienced divers we will go over this in more detail a little later the crew
explained that Wade and other dive staff would do a specific briefing before each
dive diagrams would be drawn on a white board explaining any obstacles or safety
requirements the current conditions underwater as well as any particular dangers including sea life after being
interviewed all the passengers set up their gear on the back deck the gathering amongst passengers was held on
the mid-deck guests enjoyed champagne and fruits they mingled and everyone introduced themselves to each other Gabe
and Tina were the youngest couple and received lots of attention for being newlyweds of just 10 days they met two
other American couples close friends who had been diving together for 35 years ken and Paula Snider and Doug and ginger
Milson they described Gav and Tina as a lovely and happy couple having kids around at the same age they instantly
took a liking to Gavin Tina and they quickly adopted them into their group they described Tina as bubbly and
beautiful I really sweet and kind woman who was lovely to everyone they said the Gabe didn't say a lot but
he seemed friendly seeing as the young Galah he's in open water the dive is subject to currents
and weather and not always die verbal normally it is done as one of the last dives of the week although not protocol
if the weather on the first day was better for diving at the wreck the boat would head there first so on Gabe and
Tina's trip that's exactly what they did they arrived at the shipwreck site just
before 2 a.m. in the morning mooring about 100 metres from the young Gullah when Gabe and Tina woke up around
6:30 a.m. the spoil sport was mooring a little closer to the wreck they woke to deep blue water lapping around them and
for a couple of hours they were the only boat at the site the passengers all sat
down to breakfast around 7:15 a.m. and got ready for their first dive briefing that morning weather conditions were
very good the only issue was becoming way too said it was strong the dive itself is what is
known as a drift dive large boys sit on the surface of the water at each end of the shipwreck
one at the bow and one of the stir we're lines laid down to anchor points on the ship divers descend holding the
lines until they reach the bottom from there the current naturally carries the diver 300 feet across the young Gullah
enabling them to explore the wreck drifting with a cone as the diver reaches the end of the deck they come to
another line that is anchored the diver can then hold on to the line and follow it back up to the surface where they are
picked up by the dinghy or they can follow another navigation line directly back to the spoil sport each line down
to the wreck is what is called a safety stop mark by touching an air tank this is where each diver upon their ascent up
to the surface must stop at three to five minutes to avoid decompression sickness commonly known as the bends
this is mandatory for the young guard dive seeing as you descend to 100 feet or 30 meters that morning Brian an
experienced developer working for the dive company and Louise a volunteer deckhand on her first trip on the spoil
sport when out in the rubber dinghy and dive down to fix air tanks and regulators to the Lions five meters down
other depths were also clearly marked brian reported the current was strong Louise said it was a very strong
the briefings start at about 8:30 a.m. with Wade describing the conditions and how the die-off could be approached he
went over the visibility currents safety procedures and how long they would die for divers follow a set routine and are
instructed on how to navigate the wreck every diver has a body you descend with your body and descend with your body
Gabe and Tina were again offered an orientation dive by Wade and began they said they didn't need one between nine
and a 9:30 a.m. Gabe Tina and to the rest of the passengers of the spoilsport started getting into their wetsuits and
checking naked as they were doing this another dive boat arrived at the wreck site that jazz - also from Townsville a
dinging of divers went ahead of Gavin Tina as they were still sorting out their gear but there was no rush the
trip had only just begun Gabe and Tina tanked up and descended the steps of the boat into the large
dinghy with six other divers they were taken the short distance to the bow access point of the young Galah when
everyone was organized they did a backwards roll into the water together according to the dive log the time was
10:15 a.m. just a few feet below the surface Gabe noticed his dive computer on his
wrist beeping animal he needed to know why it was beeping he signaled to Tina to go back up and as they came to the
surface Gabe said he realized that the battery was in backwards Gabe and Tina got back in the dinghy and went back to
the spoilsport to get the problem sorted a female diver and her father who were on the surface getting additional
weights said Gabe told the crew member in the dinghy that his computer wasn't recording the air in his tanks the crew
member assumed that it meant Gabe was having trouble with the pressure that was in the dive tank the crew member
said they were both fine and relaxed they climbed back on board the spoilsport and put their tanks on the
racks where one of the other crew members topped up their air tanks it's possible at this point that Tina added
more weight to her belt as she complained that she didn't feel that should be able to descend properly but
reports on this are conflicting Gaber asked the Uzi a crew member for a coin and he opened to the battery
compartment removed the battery and reinserted it back in the opposite way he said that fixed the problem and the
computer worked as Gabe and Tina were getting ready to dive again the dinghy took some of the other divers out first
and then came back for them Louise the volunteer deckhand said that when she saw Gabe and Tina back on the
boat they were both red in the face and had wider glazed eyes she said they seemed out of breaths and uncomfortable
if not a bit panicky from the information recorded on Gabe's dive computer after resetting the battery he
entered the water again thirteen minutes later this time the trip director waged singleton another
crew diver and three other passengers were with them when they got to the dive access point at the boy Gabe and Tina
descended before the others Tina first and then Gabe followed 30 seconds later by Wade and the others a
few of the early divers were already on their ascent up and saw the group descending below as they surfaced Gabe
says that after descending down to the ten meter depth point they went across four meters towards the top of the wreck
this took them approximately three minutes the following part of the story is Gabe's account of what happened next
for approximately one minute they went along the top of the wreck to the south at this point there were 20 to 30 feet
from the line just out of their sight divers from the other boat the Jazz two were descending at this point and not
far behind to gaben Tina Gabe and Tina were on the back section of the wreck when Tina signaled to gate to go back to
the dive line they had just let go of Gabe said the current was a lot stronger than what they felt comfortable diving
in Tina put out her hand and Gabe took it to assist her along Gabe knew they were not in a good situation as they
were swimming Tina was dropping downwards vertically Gabe momentarily let go of her
so he could use his right hand to inflate his buoyancy control device or BCD and motioned to Tina to
fate hers the BCD hold your tank and when inflated with air it keeps you neutrally buoyant it has a system that
uses air from your tank to inflate it Gabe said he thought Tina was inflating hers but she continued to drop he
grabbed her by her vest and tried to pull her towards the line Gabe thought if he got her to the line
she could hold on and they'd be okay to ascend it's not clear why Gabe didn't attempt to inflate Tina's vest
maybe you panicked and as he dragged her she flung her hands across his face and
knocked his mask off sideways filling it up with water he let go of her - clear his mask but then he realized his
regulator was not in his mouth he grabbed the spare octopus regulator and used that he took a breath and when he
reached for Tina again she was dropping further away from him he upended himself
and tried to swim down after her her arms stretched up towards him her eyes wide panicking he could see she was in
distress she was struggling Gabe said I remember shouting through my regulator Tina Tina Tina he tried to grab her by
this stage she was around five feet below him he couldn't swim down fast enough she was out of reach he was
kicking down there was no use she was sinking too fast it seemed like she was weighed down too heavily and didn't have
enough air in her vest he panicked he was trained to go after his buddy he was trained to go after her but he
didn't instead he went to the surface as a diver he never leave your buddy Tina drifted down down to the sandy
bottom of the sea arms stretched towards her husband of eleven days as he was swimming away from her
Gabe's dive computer showed he never went deeper than 54 feet sixteen and a half meters so from the point he let go
of her he only went down a few more feet to try to save her one to one and a half
meters at most from a technical perspective there was no reason that Gabe couldn't have
continued to swim down and save Tina as she was dropping expert divers estimate three to four kicks at the very most and
the right procedure inflating her vest and pulling her up was all he needed to do there's a chance that by now Gabe's
vest was actually overinflated but he should have known to dump the air and swim down Gabe was a certified Rescue
Diver Gabe later said he saw some fellow divers near the anchor rope and tried to
give them the distress signal he approached someone on the line shaking them trying to get help but no
one reacted no one under the water that they remembered this happening in a panic he swam up to the surface and in
his own words said I pretty much rocketed to the top on the maze thought I didn't get the bends or something as
fast as I could ripping gear off as I went he said he ruptured or hurt his eardrum on the way
up dr. studes was diving at the same time as Gabe in Tina he wasn't on that boat he was on the
Jazz - and one of the divers who had descended after Gabe in Tina dr. stutes quote I saw a diver falling
basically and she was moving her arms in a strange way then I saw another diver coming to the picture and not thought my
perspective was that he was helping her and he came and sort of came on top of her almost like a sort of mounted
position and from my perspective I thought he was had his hands around her to try and bring her to the surface
something happened maybe she pulled his regulator out of his mouth or kneed him in the groin and that they split apart
as Gabe swam to the line and then up to the surface for help Tina sank to the bottom
Gabe's computer recorded a maximum breathing rate alarm and a maximum ascent rate alarm at some time during
the swim when Gabe surfaced he had been underwater for a total of seven minutes Gabe came up right next to the
spoilsport dinghy and grabbed ahold of a boy which was attached to the line from
the Jays tooth he told a crewmember what had happened and the crewmember immediately radioed the spoilsport an
emergency was called khru on Lookout duty on spoilsports stated the gate was 10 to 12 meters from jazz - they
collected the boats emergency oxygen resuscitation gear crew members Ozzy Bono and David Lim Singh were the
nominated rescue divers they immediately aired up and got in the dinghy ready to
go down back underwater the trip director Wade singleton had let go of the line and was about to drift across
the wreck a dive photographer was taking photos when way to notice the diver lying on the seafloor quote I was in the
water for about six or seven minutes when I saw a diver lying away from the wreck on the seafloor it all happened
very quickly but the thought processes were what's the daughter doing where's their buddy there were no bubbles and it
was at that point that I realized that something wasn't quite right and that's when I just hightailed it over to the
person and made out that it was Tina something was wrong she was lying on her back her eyes were open wide placed his
right arm under her right arm and put his hand on her regulator depressing the purge button and forcing air into her
mouth he used his left arm to cradle her head and hold her inflator putting air into her BCD he needed to drop some
weights Tina's weights were integrated into her vest so he decided he would drop his
weight belt by doing this and putting some air into his BCD he ascended with her he cradled Tina in a hug position
with her face facing upwards to keep her airway open other divers descending the
line saw Wade come up with Tina they watched as she was pulled up eyes wide open one said she had blood coming from
her nose dive computers would later show that way descended at a much faster rate than
Gabe did other divers including lead divers from the jazz to watch the weight pulling Tina up and followed them to the
surface doctor stutes who had seen Tina falling to the bottom and saw the diver whom he presumed was Gabe grabbing her
in a type of bear hug swim over to the dive access point line and informed others what was happening and what he
saw down below Tina had been underwater for a total of 10 minutes according to her computer 3 minutes longer than Gabe
if Gabe was on his ascent as Wade went to rescue Tina it is assumed that Wade bought Tina up in two to two and a half
minutes Wade bought tended to the surface just as the rescue team from the sports board arrived at the access point
in the dinghy Tina is taken to the back deck of the Jays to where they pulled her on board
resuscitation attempts had been commenced John Downey was a passenger on board spoilsport he was also an
emergency trauma surgeon he was on board the sports board at this point and he was taken over to the Jays to to help
Tina's mouthpiece and mast were both still in place on her face and mouth apart from a small amount of foam and
vomit no water gushed from her mouth which indicated to the divers that she had not taken in water they saw no blood
coming from her nose Wade is singleton quote once we hit the surface we got Tina onto another vessel and we started
first aid CPR I think there was about four or five of us there was a couple of emergency room doctors we were just
doing whatever we could to give her the best chance of survival Suzy bond I quote she had no water which was unusual
if someone is underwater and drowns normally they have water from when they inhale Gabe had been taken back to the
sport before Wade had even surfaced with Tina the two American couples who they had become friendly with were on board
Paula and Ken Snyder and ginger and Doug and Milson they saw a gay being brought
back to the sports sport without Tina at the time now we're down on the dive deck
as he was climbing on Paul Schneider quote we were up on the back of the deck getting our stuff ready to go in for a
second dive and can notice the gabe was with the artena and looking kind of flustered and
disturbed ken Schneider quote I went up to him and said Gabe what's going on where's Tina and he said she didn't come
up and I said Gabe what happened and he said she was overweight and panicking and was flailing and knocked his mask
off and knocked the regulator out of his mouth he said by the time he got that back she was sinking hands towards him
feet first sinking staring at him and I said Gabe you left her and he said I had to get
assistance and I just stared at Gabe for a long time and I said Gabe tell me that
didn't happen you never ever ever leave a diver in that situation you just don't
Gabe story didn't add up for Ken it was then they saw what was happening on the back of the Jazz - Tina receiving CPR
one of the wives went over to Gabe and asked if she could do anything for him he said I need a hug according to Gabe
he was told Tina had been brought back up and doctors from another dive boat had an IV in her arm and they were
working to save her Gabe quote it was just a huge relief I just thought they were rehydrating her
or something the Snider's and the Milsons and a few others were surprised that Gabe didn't
request to be taken over to the Jazz - he just stayed on the spoil sport with them
the passengers described his behavior as a little odd he didn't seem too stressed
that his wife was being resuscitated on another boat he didn't ask the guy over there to see her Gabe would later state
that he couldn't handle that type of thing and didn't want to see Tina being resuscitated dr. stutes who saw what
happened underwater had resurfaced on to the Jays too and assisted in the attempts to resuscitate Tina they worked
on her for 40 minutes at 11:21 a.m. she was pronounced dead doctor John Tierney travelled back to the sports sport by
dinghy Gabe said he knew he wasn't coming to tell him his new bride just had a headache Gabe asked is she okay
John is she okay John said I don't have good news she didn't make it we did everything we could but we lost her
everyone grabbed onto each other son fell down everyone was crying the ways the volunteer deckhand was asked to
comfort Gabe she spent some time with him in his cabin he relayed again what happened he said the current was too
strong he said she was too heavy and he couldn't lift her as she dropped he asked to go and see her on the other
dive boat just - they took him over Wade testified that Gabe was crying and sobbing on the way meanwhile the divers
in the water continued their diet nearly all unaware of what had happened a group of divers saw Wade's dive belt
and one retrieved it but didn't think much of it at the time when the divers from the Jazz - surfaced they were taken
to the spoilsport until the staff and doctors worked out what to do dr. Downey and dr. stutes had a conversation on the
back deck of jazz - they in senior staff discussed what had happened and it was mentioned - that Tina and Gabe had come
back up with problems on their first dive attempt and also that Tina had been panicky at depth
they discussed what they add each scene under the water it didn't seem clear what it actually happened Tina's body
was taken back aboard spoilsport and everyone headed back to Townsville on board the spoilsport a couple of
passengers claimed to that gate was playing cards or at least sitting with a group of people who were playing cards a
few passengers stated he didn't seem like a husband who had just lost his wife on the trip back
Gabe addressed the other passengers about losing Tina there are many conflicting views on what he said some
stated it was something like as you know my wife died today this really sucks while some passengers felt Gabe's
behavior seemed odd others described a husband devastated about his wife dying crying and a very upset when the boat
docked at Townsville Senior Constable Glen Lawrence and Senior Constable Paul Campbell from the Townsville Water
Police boarded Lawrence took charge of the inquiry Tina's body was transferred to the Townsville morgue
they took Tina engaged diving equipment as well as all paperwork from the spoilsport a brief interview was
conducted with Gabe on board by senior constable Lawrence he recorded this in his notebook saying Gabe appeared to be
in shock there had been a few different variations engaged story by this point not huge changes but little things but
he had no explanation for why he a trained Rescue Diver left Tina to drift down as he swam to the surface all
passengers and crew were transported to Townsville police station by this time murmurs among the group had already
started as the how and why this could have possibly happened Gabe was formally interviewed at Townsville District
Police Headquarters that evening during Gabe's first interview detective Senior Constable Kevin Gehringer determined
that the majority of gapes statements were consistent with other versions he had told but there was a major
difference which would lead to a second interview Paula Schneider was with Gabe afterwards
a statement was prepared based on the interview by this time police have been given information by the doctors and
rescue dog is out there that day no one seemed to have any idea how Tina died her mask and
mouthpiece was still intact not a lot of water had expelled from her mouth the only person with her was Gabe her
buddy who had left her to sink to the bottom a diver shouldn't sink they should be neutrally buoyant in the
water unless they were over weighted or unless someone turned their air supply off detective Campbell quote when
Detective Garin Gary and I were assigned to the investigation I could not see how
Tina's death would be suspicious Gabe was married only 11 days to Tina they seemed quite happy with each other but
basically we kept coming back to the point there was no reasonable hypothesis as the white teen had died underwater on
that given day detective Senior Constable Kevin Garin go quote Gabe told me that he and Tina entered the water
and that as a result of a malfunction with his dive computer they had to abort the first dive a short time later
they've reentered the water a second time and at about 15 meters depth tina indicated that she wanted to resurface
they've started swimming back to the diver access point and at some stage Tina has panicked and knocked off his
mask and regulator Gabe had to let Tina go and fix himself up he then noticed that she some five or 10 feet below him
he starts to swim down but realizes there's nothing he can do as a result he starts the surface on the
way up he bumps into two divers and has problems communicating with them that there's a difficulty he then continued
to the surface where he raised the alarm as far as suspicion was concerned I myself am NOT a diver whilst I thought
it was unusual for him to leave his wife of 11 days people do strange things when
they're panicked police would eventually question every person from both boats not everyone was questioned face-to-face
and not everyone was questioned straightaway but everyone involved in the actual incident was interviewed at
some stage by police Gabe found his father David Watson from the police station it was about 6:00
a.m. in Birmingham when Gabe's family received a call Gabe told his father that Tina had dreamed the rest of the
conversation was just a blur David Watson said Gabe also spoke to reverend gree who had only just married them
reverend gree quote he was devastated haunted by Tina's image feeling helpless Paula Snyder was with Gabe during his
first police interview and during this call to his father while Gabe was describing what happened paula overheard
him say that he had heard his is paula had been with dave since he first came out of the water he never mentioned in
any retelling of his story before this point that he had heard his small seeds of death had started to plant themselves
in those around Gabe his story appeared to change Gabe asked his father to contact Tina's father Tommy Thomas and
informed him of Tina's death he didn't want to call him himself just yet before Gabe left the police station that night
he had a heated discussion with senior constable Campbell which was overheard by a few others it had something to do
with Gabe's dive computer Campbell issued a duplicate receipt for the police to hold on to his dive computer
for evidence which seemed to satisfy Gabe ssoas believed Gabe thought initially that he wasn't going to get it
back others being interviewed remained at the police station throughout the night some still there at 3:00 a.m. a
death report was issued that night at red approximately 10:30 on Wednesday the 22nd day of October 2003 the deceased
person entered the water with her husband as her dive buddy to scuba dive on the historic shipwreck the young gala
at a depth of 45 feet the deceased signaled to her husband that she wanted to surface they both began swimming
against the current towards the dye vessel the deceased became fatigued so her husband began telling her the
deceased panicked and grabbed her husband's died Ephrata he looked into her eyes and saw her eyes were wide open
there was no response the deceased then sank to the seafloor a dive instructor in the area at the time has seen the
deceased on the sea floor he retrieved her and made an emergency ascent to the nearest the dive vessel just to wear
full resuscitation commenced there appears to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding this death at
this point in time it was late in the evening when Gav left the police station the Mike bought dive company had first
refused to put gave up in accommodation but after Gabe suggested he just sleep aboard the sports board as he had
nowhere else to go they quickly changed their minds and put him up at a local Holiday Inn although
the others may very well have been able to continue their week of diving on board the vessel the $7,000 trip that
Gabe and Tina had paid for would now go unused so Gabe stayed at the Holiday Inn
and his mother Glenda flew out almost immediately to be with him a statement from the Holiday Inn said
that Mike Bal expeditions originally agreed to pay for 3 nights accommodation for Gabe but when it came time to pay
they only paid for one on October 22nd at 8:36 a.m. Tina's father Tommy Thomas was on a business trip in Florida he
worked as a management training consultant for a life and accident insurance company he answered his phone
and was taken slightly aback when he realized the person on the other end was Gabe's father David who asked him if he
was alone Tommy said there were people around but he could talk David said quote I don't know how else to tell you
this but there has been an accident and Tina has drowned Tommy dropped to his knees David then
handed the phone over to Reverend gris-gris Russ told me if there was anything he could do to which Tommy
asked if they could just keep it quiet at least until he could get home to tell his wife and other daughter himself
Grier agreed devastated Tommy went to the airport to fly home while at the airport he attempted to ring David
Watson back but he got his voicemail instead of calling Tommy back himself David got Reverend agrea to call him
back Tommy wanted to know a little more he realized in his shock he didn't get any information
how and when Tina died Grier told Tommy he didn't know any of the finer details but warned him news about Tina's death
was already out it seemed a lot of people knew about Tina's death before her family even did when Al and Tina's
sister had gotten to work that morning she didn't know her sister had died but everyone else been a lander was taken
home to her parents house by a friend while Tommy took the one-hour flight home from Florida Tommy later found out
that before he even got home Gabe's mother Glenda was awaiting a lift to the airport to fly to Australia
she was packed and had her tickets and visas this confused Tommy as there was only two hours since he had heard of
Tina's death how long had they known without telling him over the following couple of hours says
Tommy arrived home to his wife Cindy and daughter Orlando he left numerous voicemail messages for David Watson on
his home phone work phone and a cell phone so did another friend of Tommy's but David never returned any of their
calls Tommy got in contact with the American consulate in Australia trying to get information about how their
daughter died the official asked Tommy what he knew Tommy said he didn't really know
anything and had no idea how to contact Gabe and Gabe's father wasn't returning his calls over ten hours had passed
since David had called Tommy and told him about Tina but they still had not received a call from Gabe they couldn't
work out why Gabe hadn't called them an hour later the consulate official called
Tommy she had Gabe on the line and said she could connect them Tommy Cindy and Orlando were all in the basement as they
could all hear what was being said on the basement he and said Cindy wanted to speak first
first thing Cindy asked Gabe was a you okay here you heard she then asked him what happened Gabe told them the story
through flooding tears Cindy said it's okay Tina you you were going for help Gabe
told them he was ripping his gear off as he ascended Cindy said did you go over to be with her were you calling her name
when they were trying to resuscitate her Gabe replied yes I went over I was trying to get her to come back but we
just lost her Tommy and Cindy told Gabe they loved him and that if he needed them to fly over they would when Tommy
Cindy and Orlando got off the phone they still had friends in the house for support one of those was Kelly who had
brought a lander home from work Kelly was a scuba diver Tommy told the story Gabe had just told them Kelly said I
didn't see an write to her for the next four days neither David nor Gabe called Tommy or Cindy Gabe visited a GP about
his years the GP confirmed that he had mild barotrauma and his eardrums were red
a grief counselor arranged forgave to see a lawyer to help with some legal papers he had to sign by then his mother
Glenda had arrived Glenda Watson quote I knew if I cried he would be lost forever he felt like he
had to stay strong for me he could talk to you but I don't think he was aware of
a lot of things he said I don't really know what it means to lose a wife because she was only my wife for 11 days
but as far as losing the other half of me my soulmate I do gaben Glenda Watson went to the
Townsville morgue to see Tina's body detectives Gehringer and Lawrence went with them they stayed in the waiting
room while Gabe and his mother entered the viewing room after a short while Glenda came out and left Gabe alone with
Tina detective Lawrence was just outside the door which had been left open he would later state I overheard Gabe say
in a low mumbled voice I am so sorry I never meant to hurt you I shouldn't have kept taking you down I'm sorry I
couldn't stop it the post-mortem examination was carried out by Professor David Williams at the Townsville
Hospital 24 hours after Tina died the autopsy eliminated any medical conditions including her heart condition
and eliminated any sort of death from marine stings the cause of death drowning the cause of drowning
undetermined accidental or deliberate undetermined there were four possible explanations of accidental drowning but
all were ruled out these were Tina's pre-existing heart condition excluded as a possible cause choking on vomit as a
preliminary event excluded placer was reported when Tina's mask and regulator came off there was only a small trace of
white foam and from it and no water in her mouth unconsciousness was possible following a Lehren gossip as M which is
a closing of the vocal cords which can completely constrict breathing but this was discounted as the cause of death
and whilst accepting anxiety and panic could have been a factor it was not the cause of Tina's death it was noted that
there was a possibility she was deprived of oxygen prior to drowning all of Tina's equipment was tested and found to
be operating in perfect order a second interview was conducted with Gabe on October 27th five days after Tina died
Gabe attended the interview with his mother Glenda and it was conducted by Detective Senior Constable Gehringer and
Senior Constable Lawrence the police hadn't called gave to come in Gabe requested another interview so he could
clarify some points from the first interview he gave the night Tina died Glenda held his arm and rubbed his back
as he spoke in this interview Gabe claimed he didn't know anything about the dive before they did it he wasn't
aware of the difficulties only what Wade singleton had told them in the briefing
he also denied that Tina was offered an orientation dive detective Senior Constable Gehringer had this to say
about the second interview several days later Gabe indicated to me that he wished to clarify a few matters in his
first statement Gabe mentioned that the currents were a little above my would five out of ten any second statement
he'd made mention that they were the strongest currents that he'd ever experienced himself and as far as he was
concerned there was the currents that triggered Tina's distress Gabe also made mention in his second statement that in
no way did his diver rescue certification train him to bring an unconscious diver to the surface it
seemed to me as if there was some blame-shifting going on after this second beat of you Gabe was allowed to
leave the country to bury his wife two days after Tina's death while Gabe was still in Australia Tina's father
Tommy Thomas called Queensland police he was still trying to get a hold of David
Watson who wasn't returning his calls and he hadn't heard from Gabe since that first phone call tommy was becoming
irritated he felt like no one was telling him anything he called Townsville place and spoke to
an officer called Clem Tommy was surprised that here Glen saved that accidental drowning was just one of the
possibilities that were looking at Glen wouldn't say what else they were looking
at but Tommy didn't need an explanation he was aware that there could be more to
gape story Tommy had been feeling uneasy from the very second he heard Gabe say he couldn't save Tina the police hadn't
yet determined it was definitely an accident there were so many questions still unanswered
Tommy's uneasiness only grew it wasn't until October 26 four days after Tina's death that Tommy
heard from the Watson family again David visited Tommy and Cindy he visited with Reverend Greer and his wife David
apologized for not returning any of Tommy's calls or coming to visit sooner he said that he just didn't know what to
say David said gaben Glenda were doing okay and he would keep Cindy and Tommy up-to-date with any correspondence but
had no more information to share Tommy brought up arranging the funeral he said he wanted to purchase a plot for Tina as
well as neighboring plots for the rest of their family including Gabe if he wanted to be buried with Tina later
David said he couldn't answer that would be up to Gabe Tommy wasn't happy he didn't think it should be up to Gabe at
all he said Cindy you know I didn't have a lot to say to him after that the following day
tommy and Cindy attempted to make arrangements for Tina's funeral but we're told the Watsons had already made
arrangements there was also a problem with the power of attorney frustrated tommy was able to call the Holiday Inn
in Townsville and speak to Gabe Tommy asked gave the sign over power of attorney so he could arrange the funeral
but Gabe said no and told Tommy to wait until he returned home on November 1st 2003 Gabe and Glenda flew home with
Tina's body they had to fly from Townsville to Brisbane then to Auckland in New Zealand then Los Angeles on
toward Atlanta and then finally Birmingham five flights to get Tina home when descending into Auckland Gabe had a
pain so severe that paramedics had to take him from the plane and he was transported to hospital tests show
disease were fine those critical of Gabe believed he was faking it to avoid meeting Tommy at the airport upon his
return but he and his mother did make it back to Alabama with Tina's body when Gabe landed back home and coincided with
a shocking photo being released to the world's media the underwater photographer who had descended the wreck
dive with Wade singleton that day the one Wade was with when he noticed that Tina lying on the sea floor had
developed his underwater film one of the photos showed Tina in the background lying on her back on the scene with Wade
swimming to her aid the photo was blasted across the front pages worldwide whilst Tina's funeral was being arranged
the two American couples Canon Paula Snider and Doug and ginger Milson had themselves returned to the United States
they were having trouble wrapping their heads around what had happened they discussed their concerns at length they
had their suspicions and decided to speak with Tommy but they didn't want to seem tactless or say anything that would
upset him 10 Snider tracked down the funeral home where Tina's funeral was being held Ken asked the funeral
director if he could leave a message for Tommy Thomas the message was if you would like to speak to somebody or some
people who were on the actual dive boat we would be more than happy to talk with
you Tina's funeral was conducted by Reverend degree the tension was so high funeral directors open to two parlors to
separate the families Greece said it was clear that Thomas's were upset quote when I said she slipped away from Gabe
her mother said I would have never left my daughter in relation to Gabe Greece said he hung back at the funeral quote
he said I've had three weeks with Tina this is for everybody else he tried not to intrude on their grief he knew how
they felt about him before the funeral started some of Tina's closest friends viewed her body
Tina's best friend Amanda went up with Gabe she alleged that Gabe turned to her and said at least her breasts are perky
she also alleged he said I'm so glad she didn't have a million dollar insurance policy or they'd be coming after me for
murder Gabe took off Tina's wedding and engagement rings put the wedding ring back on Tina's finger and put the
engagement ring in his pocket although there was clear tension there was no actual conflict at the funeral although
some claim Gabe wasn't present when Tina was actually buried the wake was held at
the Watsons house Gabe showed a video and photos of the honeymoon he showed Amanda a photo of
Tina from Sydney standing next to a sign saying caution drowning in relation to Gabe
Amanda said the following after the funeral I tried my very best to stay friends with Gabe until I got that
Christmas card it was a picture of the two of them from their wedding on the inside of it said who's that sexy guy
next to Tina oh yeah that's me and he put a smiley face on it I just threw it down on the counter talking
disgust and I said there's something weird going on here after the funeral neither the Watson family nor Reverend
degree called Pena's family again Gabe attended grief counselors and a support group for young widows Gabe wasn't
coping he stayed at his parents house for a couple of months before his brother moved in with him that he's in
Tina's home his mother Glenda quote he didn't drink date party go on troops spent money he came back and started
working on paying off her debt that was just the kind of kid he was his father David quote he never smiled he never
laughed he would come to the office but to say he was involved or participating know at some point he began to hear the
talk the mysterious death of Tina was being questioned by people in Alabama and in Australia and word was starting
to get out the Tina's family felt Gabe was somehow involved after the funeral game started to sort
out Tina's estate Tommy still wanted Gabe to pass over power of attorney to him but Gabe declined he was after all
Tina's husband that was correct a Gabe had asked Tina to adjust her life insurance and increase the policy her
current policy was that in the event of her death the payout was equivalent to one year salary which was around $34,000
this would go to her father Tommy prior to their honeymoon Gabe requested that Tina increased the
premium to facilitate an increasing payor in the event of accidental death and as her husband make him the
beneficiary the update you wanted would mean the payout would be increased to about one hundred and seventy five
thousand dollars and that money would go to Gabe instead of thirty four thousand
dollars going to Tommy Gabe made several inquiries into new life-insurance policies in the lead up to their wedding
mark use of om whose insurance had drafted quotes for two hundred and fifty thousand dollar policies for Gabe but in
the end Tina engaged policies state as they were mark uses notes dated September 8 2003
read Gabe wants to take a look at life insurance after the wedding touch base in early December when organizing the
honeymoon Gabe also took out travel insurance after returning home he put an application in for trip interruption and
medical benefits Gabe received a letter back from the travel insurance company at read please
refer to the attached insurance policy under the heading general exclusions end of limitations part G of benefits not
payable for sickness injuries or losses stated while participating in skydiving hang gliding bungee jumping scuba diving
or deep-sea diving Gabe didn't realize scuba diving was an activity not covered in the policy he
purchased the travel agent who organized the honeymoon was apparently aware they
would be scuba diving but didn't arrange the correct to cover the Watsons family
friend and attorney bob austin guided Gabe through various legal issues following Tina's death bob austin quote
it was up to him to marshal assets Gabe already had taken $12,000 of Tina's debt on his credit card because
we've heard debt to income ratio she wouldn't qualify for the mortgage Gabe had spent almost $5,000 on the funeral
it would get less than he spent if he ended up with her estate it was an insolvent estate to think
somebody would kill somebody for $30,000 when they had just taken on $12,000 of that debt and spent $10,000 on a
honeymoon trip the logic just escapes me but I must say as soon as I heard the story I knew there was going to be
somebody saying he didn't do the right thing following the funeral Tomi contacted cam Schneider he wanted to
hear what he had to say and the two of them met for a coffee Tommy had not had a conversation with anyone else who was
on the spoil sport other than Gabe he hoped that Ken would be able to answer some of his questions tommy was haunted
by his daughter's death the vision he had from the story Gabe gave him was too much to bear his
daughter sinking feet-first arms stretched out towards her new husband staring him in the eyes
Gabe unable to keep hold of her too heavy for his grasp letting her go so he could go for help
tommy was completely unaware of the context of his daughter's death he had no knowledge of scuba diving he knew
nothing of the process of helping someone who's in distress the buddy system currents air pressure nothing
ken Snyder told Tommy that he had many problems with Gabe's thorry he explained that a distressed or panic to divert
kicks and scrambles for air instinct is to go for the surface for Tina to be calmly floating down feet first she must
have been unconscious or heavily overweighted he felt the Gabe story that Tina became too heavy and at that point
she began to sink was impossible according to Ken if Tina was five to ten feet below Gabe as he claimed that was
only two to three fingers away there should have been no reason what Gabe couldn't have gotten to her inflated her
BCD and brought her up he had rescued diving training he had been trained to do that diving is a buddy situation it's
never okay to leave your buddy ken told Tommy that he challenged Gabe on the boat and told Gabby story didn't
make sense Ken Snyder quote what really rang one of the loudest bells is when Gabe said she was ten feet below him
arms outstretched and sinking looking up at him I said Tommy this is difficult because I've never heard of a diver in a
full-out panic mode sinking serenely to the bottom of the ocean a full born panic attack in a diver will
make that diver crawl right over the top of someone to get to the surface and my
experience tells me that live people don't sink dead people sink Tommy Thomas quote and to that really changed
everything when he said that and two days later Gabe's sending word through his attorney
that because he was her husband even though they'd only been married ten days that he had a right to all her stuff and
donated to get it all together as quickly as I could and turn it over to him like right now I made a decision
that week that we had to go to Australia because I had to go see the police firsthand if I could and I needed
somehow or other to meet the guy that brought her up one of the biggest questions Tommy had was what was Gabe
doing while doctors were trying to save Tina's life he had heard from Ken and elsewhere through the grapevine that
Gabe had almost hid when Tina was being resuscitated which is different to what Gabe told them he never left her and was
calling out her name Tommy flew to Australia to meet Wade singleton Wade singleton quote admittedly I was
apprehensive about the meeting but he was fantastic and all he was after was facts about what had happened and one of
those who wanted to know was if Gabe had actually come across the Tina while we were doing resuscitation on her always
able to tell him that he didn't come across he actually stayed on the other boat while that was happening Tommy
Thomas quote why if you're on this boat and she's on a boat just over there why are you not going over to her
because anybody else would and why once somebody comes back and tells you she's dead would all of a sudden you go over
now the only reason you wouldn't go over there while they were trying to resuscitate her
he was afraid they would and she knew what he had tried to do to her and once he knew she was dead it didn't matter I
did yet to have several conversations with the police they were indeed suspicious and said that it was a
continuing ongoing investigation it had now been set out loud suspicions were that Gabe deliberately drew on Tina Ken
Snyder and his friend Doug Nelson suspected it Tommy now suspected it and police suspected it Queensland Police
advised Tommy to involve Alabama police in the case Tommy went to Detective lieutenant Brad Flynn of the Halina
Police Department Alabama Flynn called Queensland Police and learned of their suspicions things
didn't seem to be adding up Queensland police had already begun to piece the situation together they had received
statements from other divers who had serious doubts over gates story they also had the autopsy results and the
analysis of dive equipment these things together with the inconsistencies in gauged account meant police started to
believe there was a real possibility Gabe had deliberately caused the Tina's death officially they were unable to
rule the death accidental and they were unable to rule out foul play the case was officially declared a criminal
investigation and was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Branch CIB detective sergeant Gary Campbell was
appointed to review the case there was now July 2004 nine months since the death of Tina the investigation had been
ongoing since Tina's death but it was only now it was declared a criminal investigation the investigation was
named Operation Charley Oswald they were to report to David Glasgow a coroner who specialized in marine and a
dive deaths a few days later Gabe's lawyers in Alabama were informed that Australian police were lodging a
submission to Interpol regarding the u.s. side of the investigation Gabe was told that Australian police had not
concluded their investigation into Tina's death Detective Sergeant Campbell was a
thorough investigator who left no stone unturned together with his team they interviewed
witnesses who had not yet been interviewed they worked with scientists at the James Cook University to study 3d
renders of the shipwreck they studied weather conditions on the day and analyzed every second and every
centimeter of the dive they watched the tapes again and again of gauged second police interview he gave with his mother
to them he did not cut the figure of a grieving husband there was a few days after his new wife's death and he was
describing the incident for police for the second time without tears or breaking down and his story had changed
little things had been added witnesses who had already been interviewed were reinterviews and that
was difficult because they were now scattered all over the world they poured over the exhibit photos and the
technical information from the dive which had since come through the following a quote from detective
sergeant Gary Campbell and detective Senior Constable Kevin Gehringer Campbell detective Gehringer and I sat
down and broke down the record of interview and statement of game literally eight times down to individual
lines and phrases to clearly establish what he alleges occurred underwater we had also come into possession of a
photograph taken by another diver and mr. stemple and he's taking a photograph of his wife in the background you can
see wage singleton diving in the direction of Tina lying on the ocean floor yeah it's one of them photographs
I think that's one in a million we had a specific location on the ocean floor where Tina was photographed the
significance of that is that it contradicted what Gabe told us about where he had left tina Tina's body
should have been found on the wreck or adjacent to it not 16 meters away from the wreck at a 90-degree angle to the
currents Gehringer Gabe also mentioned in his statement that after he left Tina he encountered two divers and it was
quite the wrecked and quite firm in that he substantially shook these divers pointed in the direction that he'd last
seen Tina trying to raise the alarm Campbell we contacted every crew and passenger on both vessels that were
moored at the location on the day of the death Gehringer and there was nobody that had a single male diver approached
them on the dive the descent line and to try and raise an alarm with them one of
the really big things that we focused on was Gabe's version where he said he rocketed to the surface to seek help for
Tina we investigated Gabe's dive computer and he's version in relation to it giving out an audible alarm when he
first descended with Tina we carried out tests on the dive computer in the hyperbaric chamber both with the
batteries incorrectly and with them in incorrectly and what we found is that with the battery in back to front the
computer merely doesn't work it's unable to put out an audible alarm Campbell his
actions in relation to the dive computer were a straight out lie and to that then
raised the question with us what was he trying to hide Gehringer we were looking
for innocent explanations but at the end of the day there were just too many lies
too many inconsistencies I honestly think that just prior to her death she was fighting for her life police tested
the dive computers of Gabe Tina and Wade singleton they didn't take Gabe's transmitter which links to his dive
computer apparently this would have given more information to police there has been no explanation from police as
to why they didn't test Gabe's transmitter but some believe that may have resulted in different findings from
the computer in relation to the air supply and air pressure Tina's computer was a very basic model
and couldn't be plugged into a computer to be downloaded so they used the two logbook function it showed the time Tina
hit the water with 7:28 p.m. which incorrectly was still on Alabama time the dive log function showed that Tina
went to a depth of 89 feet or 27 meters and who was underwater for 10 minutes until she surfaced with Wade her ascent
rate showed that she came up at the maximum recordable rate which makes all five segments with the warning system
light up the too fast graphic was flashing this shows Wade rushed to the surface to try and save her life
Tina's dive computer also showed information regarding previous dives on previous dives her cent rate also lit up
all five segments of the ascent warning system and the too fast graphic appeared
this is often an indication of panic and confirmed what Tina's dive instructor said about her during training she was
panicky the computer history also showed that the maximum depth Tina had ever dived to in the past was only 30 feet
just over nine meters the young garlis shipwreck dive was over three times the depth Tina had ever dived before even at
16 meters when Gabe and Tina let go of the dive access line Tina was already deeper than she had
ever been before Gabe's dive computer was a more advanced model and was able to be plugged into a computer to read
its record Gabe's computer history showed that after Tina picked up Gabe's dive computer from the quarry dive shop Gabe
took out the batteries and replaced them again the night after the wedding this reset the internal clock in the computer
back to the default date of January 1st 1996 the computer consisted of two parts
the transmitter as well as the wristwatch each of which took a separate battery when Gabe came back up from his
first dive attempt saying his wrist dive computer was beeping at him he said that
he took the battery out and put it back in the other way he did this back on board the spoilsport he told the dive
crew as well as policing both his interviews that this fixed the problem an expert who worked for the company
that made the Gabe's dive computer told police and the later testified at the inquest that if the battery was in
backwards in the wrist component of the computer there would not sound an alarm that would just not operate in order to
sound an alarm the battery would have to be backwards in the transmitter which is
attached to the regulator the beeping would be the transmitter alarming Gabe that his wristwatch computer was not
receiving a signal so basically flipping the battery in just the wristwatch alone
would not stop any alarm Gabe never mentioned flipping the battery in the transmitter just the
wristwatch it is this information that would cause controversy later on as diavik spurts
questioned why police didn't test gabe's or Tina's transmen on tests on the transmitters could have provided crucial
information especially on air pressure from the dive tanks police then pieced together statements from the dive crew
and passengers in order to paint a picture of gabe and tina getting ready for their dive luiz the volunteer
deckhand had watched the gabe and tina gear up she said that Gabe was trying to put the
regulator on the wrong way she also said that Tina was very clumsy and didn't really seem to know what she was doing
Gabe was very controlling of the situation and had been the one to put Tina's BCD on as it was hard to do what
he also put the regulator on her tank the we said that after their first dive attempt when they returned to the boat
she was on the dive deck when Gabe asked where the extra weights were for Tina's
best Gabe said Tina felt she needed more weight as she didn't think she could get
down Louise didn't see Tina or Gabe collect more weights she just heard Gabe talk about it in fact no one saw them
adding more weight but when Tina's gear was examined it showed you is carrying over 20 pounds or 9 kilos of weight the
amount of way to divert carries on either a weight belt or in pockets within their BCD as Tina had are
dependent on the divers size their height and their weight tina should have been carrying about 8 pounds of weight
not 20 she had more than twice the amount she should have with the amount of weight Tina was carrying her BCD was
never going to float properly even if she pumped air into it it's well-known that when going from fresh water diving
like the quarry they had trained in two saltwater diving you need to add more weight but to put 20 pounds on Tina was
either irresponsible or deliberate regarding Gabe trying to swim down and save Tina an explanation as to why he
didn't is that he may have faced resistance from his BCD it may have been so inflated that when he tried to go
down after her it had too much hair making it impossible to go down further in order to kick down you physically
have to let air out of your BCD a stress than panicky diver may forget to let area meaning they would be unable
to swim in the autopsy showed a small amount of water in Tina's lungs this could have been caused by Tina passing
out with the regulator still in her mouth her mouth relaxing a little and a small amount seeping in but she had to
be unconscious for this to occur and there was no explanation from the autopsy as the how she could have become
unconscious police believed that there was a real possibility that Gabe turned her air supply off and to them when she
passed out turned it back on so no one would be the wiser and because she was heavily weighted she
dropped to the bottom Australian dive expert Michael Macfadyen disagrees he said for Gabe to turn Tina's air off he
would have to hold her and twist her valve it may have taken up to one minute to turn the valve off and for Tina to
breathe all of the remaining air from the hoses after her last breath it would take approximately 30 seconds for any
attempt to swim to the surface to cease and for Tina to pass out so from the time of starting to turn the valve off -
Tina becoming unconscious approximately one-and-a-half minutes Gabe would then have to turn her valve
back on Macfadyen suggests that Tina would have spat homeopathy out in a panic so Gabe would have had to either
hold it in place or put it back in after she became unconscious also that Tina would have been making desperate
attempts to get to the surface Macfadyen believes that Tina showed passive panic
as opposed to full-blown grasping for life panic an important indication of conditions under water is the air
consumption used from a divers tank it's known that after their first to dive attempt both Gav and Tina returned to
the spoil sport into their air was refilled to full after that for the time that Tina was under water
she used a considerable amount of air more than would be expected for the dive expert divers had said this can be
attributed to working against the current with a higher breathing rate or panic when a diver panic they breathe
faster and they use more air if Gabe turned to Tina's air supply off you would expect there to be more air left
in tank but a considerable amount had been used Detective Sergeant Campbell commissioned the report on the quality
of the air in Tina's tank in case something in the air quality had resulted in her death the report
concluded that there was nothing in the tank that could be caused for Tina's death there was much discussion around
the conditions of the current at the dive site some divers said it was mild and others said it was strong enough to
make in experienced divers panic panic could explain the extra air used from Tina's tanks it could be that Tina had a
panic attack in extreme situations penny could even explain passing air but if Tina didn't choke on vomit and her
regulator was in and her air supply was on how did panic explained death an analysis of Wade Singleton's dive
computer showed that he took two minutes to ascend the almost 30 meters to the surface with Tina
they took Gabe nearly three minutes the surface from 15 meters and Gabe wasn't pulling anybody up technically Wade
ascended at an unsafe rate meaning he could have gotten the bends but he did it because he was trying to save Tina's
life Gabe's ascent profile on his dive computer didn't show the bat out of hell tearing his gear off a scent that he
described to Tina's family detective sergeant Gary Campbell quote when we compared it to the results that had come
back from his dive computer we found that the Gabe had only descended to 15 meters and it took him between two and
three minutes to reach the surface to raise a call for help speaking to various people in the dive industry this
was classed by some as literally pedestrian under the given circumstances we compared that Diet profile of Gabe's
to the dive profile of Wade singleton Wade singleton had gone to twice the depth and from the point that he is
picked up Tina on the ocean for and gone to the surface he has covered twice the
distance he nearly half the time in addition to that he was carrying Tina who was not assisting in her own ascent
Gabe told police in his interview quote I probably never swam so fast in my life
detective Senior Constable Gehringer quote the next prominent point was gaged statement that Tina was sinking quicker
than he could keep up to her obviously we sought the opinion of a number of expert divers and all of them stated
that Gabe could have reached to Tina very easily in fact just with a couple of kicks of
his fins we also did research into his rescue qualifications and what we found is that he had been trained in bringing
unconscious divers to the surface so we realized that Gabe had manifestly downplayed these qualifications in
relation to his rescue certification the conclusion was that an experienced diver
or someone with training in rescue diving as Gabe had should have been able to save Tina in three simple steps one
dropping her weights to sharing air from a second regulator three inflating her or his BCD for a controlled ascent to
the surface no one could accept the notion that Tina was too heavy or too out of reach the safe with the amount of
experienced divers suggesting that it seemed like the result of a terrible accident at the hands of two very
inexperienced divers investigators looked into Gabe and Tina's diving experience they also had to
cross-reference this with information a couple had given to the trip director wade singleton during their interview
when they bought at the spoilsport something didn't add up Gabe trained at the dive site dive school at Pelham
quarry in Alabama with his high school buddy Mike Moore their instructor was Tom Jackson junior pool training dives
were done in a normal swimming pool and the other dives were done at the blue water quarry there was a private course
with just Gabe Mike and their instructor they paid extra for the accelerated course to become certified you have to
do four open water dives in water deeper than eight meters twenty-five feet but this didn't mean in the open water of
the ocean these open water dives were within the quarry in which they built timber structures to create separate
pools although very cold the disused quarry has great visibility no current and is
often described as very easy to dive at the bottom there are old cars school bus
firetruck and various structures to explore as you dive gabe's first dive was recorded in his logbook as a snorkel
another was listed as being done in the aquarium at Disneyland he then received his certification over for dives - at
the quarry and - in Florida at Morrison Springs an inland spring dive site also not in true open water but enough to be
certified his underwater training at that point had been a total of 157 minutes gabe then moved on to some ocean
shipwreck dives in florida before he and mike returned the blue water quarry to train with Tom Jackson Jr again this
time they trained for their advanced open water nitrox and to rescue diver certificates
during their rescued diver training they practiced saving each other and bringing
each other up to the surface with the three easy steps Mike however said he didn't think the
rescue training was anywhere near enough to get the skills required agency standards allow instructors to teach the
minimum standards but that can mean their students are poorly prepared for diving the open ocean or great depths
Gabe then did some more ocean dives at wrecks in Florida and he and Mike took a diving trip to Mexico Tina followed in
Gabe's footsteps and decided to get her diving certificate in early 2003 so that
she could go diving with Gabe on their honeymoon she spent eighteen hundred and fifty bucks on scuba gear before she
even started so she was adamant she was going scuba diving the first day of her course was one-on-one with Tom Jackson
jr. in a pool Jackson described her as extremely panicky the next day Tina didn't even
show up when Jackson called her she said she found her mask difficult he enticed
her back indeed numerous one-on-one pulled odds with her to get her confidence up when she had the movie out
of the pool into the open water training in the quarry she was in a group the dive master Douglas Keckler who was
assisting Tina's training said that when they started in the four meter enclosed
pool he'll decide and would not move into the center the group then moved to the open
quarry and descended 20 feet Douglas K Clark quote I had taken a position directly behind Tina as I had
identified her as the student most likely to have problems during a section of the training where students had to
perform basic dive skills Tina panicked and shot towards the surface my job at that point was to
assure that her ascent was done at a controlled speed and to make sure she had a functioning regulator in her mouth
Tina did improve after more lessons and went on to receive her certification police had no choice but to investigate
Mike ball diving expeditions there were questions over whether the company had breached the laws and been negligent
permitting Gabe and Tina to dive the young gala as we mentioned before the company breaks divers down into a
traffic light system and uses this system to implement what is known as the safe scuba system in direct relation to
each divers experience and abilities they are categorized there's a green yellow or red diver as well as this each
dive itself is categorized as a green yellow or red dive that way for example a green diver who has the least
experience is only able to do a green dive unless they are under supervision they determine a divers color by
conducting the personal interview as well as having the diver fill out a form detailing their experience they also
check the divers qualifications and go over their logbooks once these are all completed the trip director labels the
diver into their tanks with colored tags they signify to other staff what level the diver is the traffic light system
says a green diver is someone who has completed less than 15 ocean dives they can dive in conditions of less than half
a meter swell and a minimum current a green diver must do a reef and wreck orientation dive first night dive must
be an orientation dive orientation divers can only be conducted by an insured my fault dive experience dive
staff member not regular crew after the orientation dive if the diver is assessed with marginal skills they
not do a dive without supervision if they are assessed with good skills no further supervision for green divers is
required a yellow diver is someone who is completed between 15 and 50 ocean dives they can dive in conditions of
less than one meter swells and a moderate current a yellow diver must attend the orientation briefing and a
debriefing prior to first the dive off a red diver is someone who has completed more than 50 ocean dives they can dive
in conditions of more than 1 meter swell and a strong current up to 20 knots a red diver can still be required to
undertake orientation dives the young girl a shipwreck dive was regarded as a red dive when Gabe and Tina were
interviewed they handed over their logbooks and do they completed their forms the form asked Tina and Gabe how
many dives they had completed not how many ocean dives Gabe wrote 55 dives for himself his logbook stated 56 dives but
one being the snorkel wasn't included this put him into the red diver category and as a result he had little
questioning from Wade but there was a problem with that the amount of ocean dives Gabe had completed was only 15
these were all supervised and he had not died in the open ocean for over four years Gabe didn't reveal any of this in
his interview and Wade didn't ask Gabe's average dive depth was 46 feet or 14 meters half of Gabe's dives were less
than 10 minutes and half his dives route at depth of less than 30 feet nine meters over Gabe's 55 dives only 13 had
been completed without supervision in reality Gabe was a green diver he may have just crossed over into yellow but
he certainly wasn't a red diver Tina's log book showed shared completed five dives since her training
approximately 90 minutes dive time in total all dives under 30 feet or nine meters and - no ocean dives whatsoever
Tina's three training dives were all listed as aborted dos Gabe norteña mentioned at the way during
the interview that Tina had some panic issues and although Tina's a logbook stated her training had aborted dives
Wade didn't ask her why Tina was well and truly a green diver under the code of practice she was still
allowed to dive the young gala but she required an orientation dive and even then depending on the outcome of that
she may have required supervision from a dive master Wade offered Tina an orientation dive twice both times Gav
and Tina declined but by law and under the safe scuba system Wade should have insisted Tina be taken
on an orientation dive Outland here are the responsibilities and duties which must be carried out by the dive company
and to the issues which were found in relation to Tina's case one duty of care trip director ensures the divers are
correctly tagged according to the safe scuba system color neither gave naughtiness tanks were tagged with the
appropriate color referring to their level of skill to ensure all elements of safe scuba system are implemented Wade
did not tag passengers and he did not insist on orientation dollars he also didn't put up a list of each diver into
their color status as was required three dive site selection young Galah doers last day and a half of expedition
between April and August can do his first day if weather is ok the spoilsport went to the young gala on the
first day of the expedition but it was October so outside the guidelines for each guests fills out safe diving
procedures form forms were not completed correctly five confidential meeting with
trip director husbands and wives meet separately so as not to influence each other's answers Gabe and Tina were
interviewed together six experience level coded plus orientations required noted on the safe diving procedures form
Gabe was coded incorrectly and it should have been insisted that team to be given
an orientation dive Gabe was also know qualified to be Tina's guide on the dive the manual also states that if a person
refuses to do an orientation dive as required by the safe scuba system then they must sign a form that warns them of
their consequences for example death Tina didn't sign a waiver form four months prior to Tina's death the
operations manager for might board eye of expeditions Craig Stevens sent a memo to all staff about the safe scuba system
titled dive procedures and workplace health and safety in the memo Stevens said he was aware that some staff
including trip directors were not always complying with marine safety dive procedures it also stated that if
procedures weren't followed and something went wrong then quote you may be liable to litigation a week later he
sent another memo reminding all trip directors that they must ensure green yellow and red highlighter pens are used
to color guests names police believed there was a possibility that Gabe had pressured Tina into getting certified
assuring her and her family that he would take care of her they believed he knew how anxious she was and knew she
would panic under water and he used it to his advantage to kill her but they didn't have a motive as investigations
continued in Australia Tina's family continued to push their claims foul play was involved back home in Alabama
detective grant Flint from the Helena Police Department quote I've got assigned to this case during my first
week as a detective I was real dismissive about it at first I said you know there's no way there's anything to
this I'll just call up the Australians and find out what I can for the family and
that'll be it Flynn spoke to Detective Senior Constable Gehringer quote in mid to late 2005 we had discussions with
Brad Flynn at the Halina Police Department and we undertook the process of a mutual assistance agreement for him
to speak further to witnesses Brad also assisted us with some of the unusual behavior that Gabe undertook upon his
return to America and it wasn't just the reports of Gabe's strange comments around the time of
Tina's funeral or even the information regarding Tina's life insurance the guarantor was talking about arguments
had started between Gabe and Tina's family over Tina's grave detective for Brad Flint quote in speaking to the
Thomases there was a lot of tension with their relationship with Gabe and his family Tina's father had started telling
me that for some unknown reason the flowers that his family were placing on a grave were mysteriously disappearing
Tommy Thomas told Flynn that every weekend he would visit in his grave and place flowers there but by Monday or
Tuesday they would be gone tommy said we were pretty suspicious of it being him but the fact of the matter is why would
he do such a thing it didn't make sense detective Flynn I'll get a call shortly thereafter that Gabe had served a notice
that he wanted Tina moved what why would you want to extreme your recently dead wife's body you know why well he wants
to put it in a plot that he owns okay where is the plot that he owns about 100 yards away I had to go to the cemetery
and videotape it it was a cold blustery rainy day and it was like there was a higher power saying I am not happy with
what's happening here Tommy Thomas the day that happened was one of the worst days of my life
Gabe didn't come his father showed up with his friend and the two of them just kind of nonchalantly sat around while my
daughter was dug up loaded on the back of a dump truck and moved my thoughts kept thinking God Tina I cannot believe
if you're there and you're watching that you're having to see this detective Flynn after she was moved to the other
plot the flowers continued to mysteriously disappearing I needed to know who was doing it so I set up a
surveillance operation in the cemetery about 50 yards away and camped out for a couple of days and waited and waited and
waited and finally I've got what I expected Gabe pulls out a set of three-foot bolt cutters spends the next
10 minutes working on the cable finally you can see him pull the stake up grab the flowers tosses them in the street
tosses the cable in the garbage can and it drives away and I was just numb every
emotion in my body was exploding does looking at that video make me say that Gabe Watson killed her no I can't say
that does looking at that video made me think that his priorities are way out of
line and that obviously there is some deep-seated animosity and hatred towards the Thomas family that maybe we
underestimated absolutely there's a make me look at him from a different perspective you'd better believe it
according to Gabe's lawyer Gabe had meticulously cared for Tina's grave and took great care of it he claims that
Tina didn't like plastic flowers so he was removing them for her game's lawyer would also later argue that Gabe
removed the plastic flowers not because of animosity towards his wife but because of animosity towards his in-laws
who were calling him a murderer back in Australia the investigation into Tina's death had developed a theory detective
Senior Constable Karen ger quote when we first embarked on the investigation my initial thoughts were this was just a
tragic drowning we spent a couple of years investigating and as much as we followed the evidence we
corroborate Gabe's version Detective Sergeant Campbell quote we kept coming up with all these lives from Gabe and
our suspicions were growing substantially to the point that we believed that Gabe Watson had murdered
Tina on their honeymoon at the shipwreck SS young gala I believe Gabe claimed if there was a
problem with these dive computer to get Tina back out of the water and back to the spoil sport that enabled the
majority of divers to progressed through the dive site and thereby there were fewer witnesses as to what was going to
unfold when they rented the water gave his taken Tina far enough away out of what he perceived to be the visible
range of other divers police completed test dives and numerous reenactments including reenactments at the young gala
they tested whether it was possible to turn someone's air off under the conditions and within the time frame
Detective Sergeant Campbell quote I believe Gabe has pulled Tina face-first under his chest and from there he has
turned her off I believe she is fought back and probably one of the few truths that Gabe is set underwater she did
damage some of his diving gear she is probably dislodged his mask and/or regulator in a very short time that she
has been rendered unconscious he then realizes that he has to turn her air back on and he swims down under her
descending body and turns her air tank back on and this is the observations of dr. stutes who observed Tina and Gabe
underwater we tested our theory that someone of Gabe's build could embrace someone of Tina's build and turn off her
on the air tank and we determined that it could be done we thought we could show the means and opportunity in which
gave had taken Tina's life but we thought that we were lacking substantially in a motive around this
time in 2005 game had taken legal action in Alabama's Jefferson County Circuit Court to recoup the cost of their trip
after the travel insurance company refused to pay up Gabe was seeking forty five thousand dollars for the accidental
death plus compensation for trip interruption medical expenses phone calls taxi fares fees for extra credit
card statements and unspecified punitive damages for mental and emotional anguish
the action was dismissed by the court some years later in May 2008 it was dismissed at Gabe's request on the
grounds of the Australian investigation into his wife's there caused him to reasonably apprehend that he risked
self-incrimination in the case Gabe's Australian legal team had suggested to Gabe that it was not in his
best interest to pursue the insurance damages claim after citing the ongoing Australian investigation and risk of
self-incrimination Gabe's us-based lawyer Bob Austin added that Gabe would not be going back to
Australia voluntarily the following section quotes from the ABC news programme death Down Under
detective Flynn there was a need for Queensland detectives to come here but when we started to present that to some
of the superiors down there in Australia there was a lot of reluctance their feeling being that this was just a
tragic accident that took several years of the Australian investigation team pushing and pushing and pushing and not
giving up we finally got the approval they needed to be able to say okay look we believe it does deserve a good heart
a second look go do it it was over two years after Tina's death that investigators from operation Charley
Oswald flew to Alabama to meet detective Flynn and interview further witnesses Detective Sergeant Campbell quote when
we were conducting our inquiries in America we came across several witnesses who had witnessed some for want of a
better word low level forms of domestic violence by Gabe towards Athena in a sense that they never viewed any
physical assaults but controlling behavior they were at a pizza shop one day and Tina hadn't done exactly what
Gabe had wanted and he entered into the pizza shop and picked up some pizza and threw it at her the information we had
from various witnesses was the gaben purchased an engagement ring had told her about it had even shown her where it
was sitting inside the unit and told her she wasn't allowed to have it until basically he was ready to give it to her
Tina's father Tommy Thomas quote he tells her if she looks in the bag he's going to take it back into when she
first told me about that I said tell him to take it back tell him to do whatever he wants to do with it
why should you care don't let him do that for whatever reason she let him whether it was because of the fact that
she'd been a bridesmaid at all of her friends weddings and her sister's wedding to a point where she was telling
me daddy I guess I'm just going to be an old maid and I'm going to live downstairs police then learned from
Amanda Tina's best friend what had occurred prior to the wedding when Tina and Gabe broke up and then got back
together they discovered it happened it just before the engagement Amanda quote finally it got to the point where she
was like I don't know where we are right now I'm not really happy with it and that was about the same time when my
cousin was living in Atlanta and they had always kind of been attracted to each other and I mentioned well you know
Xander's living in Atlanta you could go you know just see how it would work out she went to see Xander for the weekend
and she discovered that it wasn't going to work out for them Gabe found out about this and he was furious two weeks
later at Easter Gabe proposed to Tina Amanda asked Tina if she was really happy about the engagement Tina took a
minute before saying yeah I guess so all this new circumstantial information led
Queensland police to ask themselves whether Gabe had motive to kill Tina over a combination of anger at her
infidelity as well as financially benefiting from her life insurance Tina's parents had endlessly lobbied for
police and governments in both countries to take view that Tina's death was not an accident but a case of premeditated
murder letters were written to the Queensland Police Commissioner a u.s. congressman a u.s. senator ended the
Halina Police Chief urging them to have the matter investigated as a murder in April 2006 Tina's family and Halina
police went public with their suspicions that Gabe had killed Tim they believed foul play was involved and started to
share their suspicions and their feelings the gay but nationwide Reverend degree quote I have no doubt
the Thomases believe everything they say but I see this as a vindictive grief somebody has to pay for what happened
pressure was put on Queensland investigators from operation Charley Oswald to make a decision and submit
their report coroner Glasgow who they were reporting to quote unless there is some decision on the matter soon the
father will generate considerable publicity over the perceived a lack of action over the death of his daughter
this lack of action will by implication reflect badly on the office of the coroner and on Queensland police you
will gather from my comments that I am concerned this matter has real potential for political embarrassment of a major
nature detective Senior Constable Gehringer quote tina died in october 2003 but the investigation entertainers
death was very complex and protracted in spend several years we had to track down
every witness that was at the Young gala on that day and those witnesses were now
scattered in a number of different countries all around the globe and in the process of that we had a major
breakthrough in the case we'd finally found an eyewitness dr. Stanley's thoughts was one of the doctors who
attempted to revive Tina when she'd been brought to the surface detective Flynn from Elena police Alabama had flown to
Boston and interviewed dr. Stanley's thoughts this is the witness who saw a diver who we thought was Gabe giving
another diver who we thought was Tina a bear-hug the following year on April 17th 2007
almost three and a half years after Tina's death Detective Sergeant Campbell and acting Detective Inspector Scott
Knowles from Queensland Police flew to Rhode Island New York to interview dr. Stewart again they needed to clarify
some things and had additional questions they also wanted him to demonstrate the
exact embrace that he saw so they could recreate it in another reenactment in this interview stood said the following
quote when I saw a diver one Tina my belief was that she was in distress her arm and leg movements were
disorganized and this is what caught my peripheral vision I believe that my training in accident and emergency
enabled me to recognize she was in distress I saw fear and distress on her face the look on her face was awful and I had
the belief that she knew she's in danger her eyes were wide open the larger male diver Dada - Gabe moved
on top of her and was basically a mirror image of her position they were horizontal diver one the female facing
upwards and the other two the male facing downwards the arms of the female diver one were outstretched to her sides
and her legs were moving flapping slowly up and down the arms of the male diver -
was circling the torso of diver one I am not in a position to say what the hands
of divers who were doing behind her back the arms of the male diver - were circling the torso of the female diver
one under her armpits this embrace lasted approximately 30 seconds however it is likely it was even less maybe 10
seconds when the two divers separated the female diver ones body movements did not change there was no organized
structure to her movements when they separated the male diver - ascended towards the surface while diver one
descended I was able to make visual contact with her after the separation of the two divers first short time diver
one was becoming progressively weaker as she was descending from this position at
this time I could not see the ocean floor diver one essentially disappeared into the blackness while I had the two
divers under observation I observed a no interaction between the two where either
of the divers masks or regulators came loose or appeared to come loose after diver one disappeared from my view I
accelerated my descent past the other divers in my group to catch my dive instructor I did this by going hand over
hand down the line I caught my instructor and started communicating did you see that did you see that in
reference to the two divers separating and diver one falling to the floor it was somewhere between 30 seconds to a
minute when I saw the third diver Wade with diver one diver one the femur appeared lifeless the third diver was
holding Dada ones regulator in her mouth and there was vomit coming from her mouth I then pointed out diver one and
three to my instructor and communicated that I should go to the surface to assist as a doctor my dive instructor
instructed me to remain with my dive group this was the brag through witness account the investigators needed
detective Flynn quote when I went and interviewed dr. Stewart who was very adamant about what he saw so that was
huge in her part because never in his statements that Gabe ever state that he had her in a bear hug he was always at
arm's length with her nothing any of that sort so that was a very vital piece of evidence to us the statement given by
dr. Stuart's has been cause of great debate as you have heard this account given a few years later is much more
detailed than the version he gave initially at the time of Tina's death and it has been argued that
investigators misinterpreted his description of the embrace the sounder more sinister
there is also criticism that Stutz was never interviewed properly at the time of Tina's death so he was never able to
give anything other than the brief version he did after interviewing Stewart's Campbell and Noel's flew to
Alabama at 6:15 a.m. on the 23rd of April 2007 they executed a search warrant on Gabe's home the warrant was
executed with the help of Special Agent Greg gage er from the FBI Campbell turned on a recording device
before entering they seized to Gabe's computer as well as other documents Gabe's father David and a lawyer Bob
Austin arrived shortly after Gabe and Austin agreed to speak to the Queensland police his mother Glenda quote he was
starting to be part of society again when they showed up it literally just threw him he was right back where he
started by this time Gabe had started a new relationship he was dating Kim a girl he
went to high school with Kim was two years below him at Hoover High they were photographed together in the high school
yearbook in 1997 Kim said by the time they met up again they had spent hours talking on the phone and she knew
virtually everything that had happened Kim bore a striking resemblance to Tina shoulder-length straight blond hair big
smile although Gabe denied he saw any resemblance the following day Campbell and Knowles
conducted another interview with Gabe it was done at his lawyer's office after the interview that took various other
statements including one from Tina's father Tommy back in Australia on the 9th of May 2007 mic board I of
expeditions pleaded guilty in the Cannes Magistrates Court for failure to comply
with its own safety procedures the company was fined $6,500 under the workplace Health and Safety Act with no
recorded conviction the maximum fine that could have been given was 187 thousand dollars six weeks later
investigators from operation Charley Oswalt produced a review statement of the investigation to the coroner David
Klesko after reading the report submitted by police the coroner David Glasgow according inquest into the death
of Tina Watson the investigation was criticized by some people for taking so long
but coroner Glasgow commended the investigation quote upon being fully resourced detective Gary Campbell has
produced - my enquiry as detailed and complete a picture as I have seen in my role as coroner the inquest started in
the Townsville coroner's court on November 13th 2007 four years following Tina's death it ran for 11 days then
returned for two days in January and again in April and June the coroner finally passed down his findings seven
months later on June 20th 2008 he deliberated a considerable amount more than 65 witnesses from around the world
gave testimony in person or by telephone Gabe Watson chose not to appear before the inquest but he was represented by
mr. Steve Zillman Tina's parents Tommy and Cindy were represented by mr. Harvey Walters Gabe's counsel submitted that
Gabe did not in fact give numerous versions of the events of the fatal dog enter the suggestion of multiple and
inconsistent versions was not accurate coroner Glasgow quote I have spent considerable time reviewing Gabe's
written and oral statements including the video records and have noted many inconsistencies which in some instances
were clarified to some in a later interview and others not games counsel submitted that there is no
logical and identifiable motives that might be able to explain this death there's one of murder and that police
had misinterpreted evidence of witnesses were inconsistent to quote their defense
police investigators have at some point determined that Gabe was guilty of murder and have endeavoured to construct
a case to that end rather than to simply gather evidence the coroner's response I have seen no
evidence of that there are only two persons who know or knew what in fact actually occurred one is Tina who could
not tell us and the other is Gabe it appears certain that at some point in time investigators considered some of
Gabe's explanations lacked credibility and it further appears to me that investigators gave Gabe the opportunity
to clarify matters which may have caused the concern investigators took thorough
steps to review and investigate all statements in their endeavor to determine what did occur during the
fatal dogs regarding the couple who Gabe says he tried to alert upon his assent to get help for Tina they responded via
email and denied that this ever occurred the coroner had this to say although admissible at the inquest this
would not be admissible in a criminal proceeding and that being so I could not take such denials into consideration in
determining if a prima facie case of murder was established against Gabe as a consequence I cannot dismiss Gabe's
claim that he did in fact contact a diver during his ascent faced with the denials on the one hand engaged contrary
assertion on the other I would be less than you may not to concede this has caused me concern as coroner I do accept
mr. Suleiman's submission that I cannot take the email denars into account in my
determination I therefore treat the issue as if I have no comment from these two divers in that issue
Gabe's changing story was examined by the inquest including the claim cross-referenced with expert testimonies
that Tina was quote too heavy and I lost grip on her I tried to lift her to the surface
this account was also crossed with the evidence of dr. stutes who had a different version of events Gage council
said that the evidence against his client which could see him stand trial for the murder of his wife was largely
circumstantial after all of the evidence was heard the coroner gave his findings
quote I have to say that I thought it was a very thorough and complete investigation and is impartial and
investigation as I've seen counsel submitted there were four possible medical reasons which would explain the
drowning now firstly she had suffered a pre-existing condition a heart condition
and the evidence from her specialists were that had been corrected and that was not a factor causing her death
secondly there was a submission that it could have been caused by vomiting there
was no evidence that that had obstructed her airway or the third matter where the
vocal cords could have closed as a result of that obstruction there was no evidence of that and the final matter
that panic could have resulted in her drowning I was satisfied that none of them or even a combination of them was a
sufficient explanation for her drowning I deliberated quite a lengthy time and I
came to conclusion that there was sufficient evidence there that a jury if they looked at it they could come to a
conclusion that they had been any intent and that Gabe had deliberately murdered
his partner I am satisfied there is evidence of sufficient reliability on each of these identified matters which
when viewed in the context of all of the evidence satisfy me that a properly instructed jury could make a finding of
guilt against Gabe Watson on a charge of murder in mr. Watson's absence Anya proposed to formally charge him and then
address him through his solicitor in the terms of section 104 of the justices Act
gave Watson I formally charge you that on the 22nd day of October 2003 at the site of the historical shipwreck Young
gala forty-eight nautical miles southeast from the port of Townsville in the state of Queensland Gabe Watson
murdered Tina Watson I request you advise your client that I have today addressed him in the following terms
okay Watson you will have the opportunity to give evidence on oath before me and to call witnesses but
first I'm going to ask whether you wish to say anything in the answer to the charge you need not say anything unless
you wish to do so and you are not obliged to enter any plea you have nothing to hope from any promise and
nothing to fear from any threat there may have been held out to induce you to make any admission or confession of
guilt anything you say will be taken down and may be given in evidence at your trial I now ask gave Watson through
his solicitor do you wish to say anything in relation to this charge or enter any plea to the charge no your
honor coroner gave Watson is committed for his trial to the next criminal sittings of the Supreme Court to be held
at Townsville in the state of Queensland on a date to be advised by the Director
of Public Prosecutions I direct a warrant for the commitment for trial pursuant to section 108 of the justices
Act 1886 to be issued for the arrest of the defendant gave Watson games lawyer indicated he would oppose extradition
back in Alabama the Halina police were stunned detective Flynn quote it was like thank you God somebody else that
has more credibility than me says you know what it's not wasted time I believe you I believe that there is something
here Tina's family felt that their years of lobbying for answers had finally paid
off Tommy Thomas quote Gabe got charged with murder in June and two months later
after a brief from what I understand one or two week engagement he got married I'm sure she's a very good person but I
suspect she doesn't know all the facts of the case on August 15th 2008 Gabe married to Kim Lewis Gabe said Kim's
been very accepting of my past he also confirmed that there was no issue between them over him keeping photos of
both Tina and Kim in his home office quote she knows that Tina and I were crazy in love and she doesn't make me
have to forget that it's been nearly five years on November 28th 2008 five years after
the death of Tina Gabe was indicted for murder in Australia he knew it was coming
extradition proceedings began Gabe and his lawyers fought hard against extradition but then suddenly on May
18th 2009 Gabe indicated he would no longer be fighting extradition and he would voluntarily fly back to Australia
it wasn't a case of him growing tired and giving up on the extradition fight it's believed Gabe had accepted a plea
deal something he his family and his lawyers denied Gabe's father David quote much to his
credit and I loved him for it Gabe said let's just go deal with this he insisted on going by himself saying I
don't want anybody crying everything will be fallin he left America with an outstanding murder indictment he left
here fully expecting to stand trial for murder Gabe boarded a plane to Australia after
a six-week process of preparing a Criminal Justice feasel when games surfaced in Brisbane there had been an
agreement made if they dropped the charge from murder to manslaughter Gabe would plead guilty he would plead guilty
to not having killed Tina but to not doing enough to save her Tina's family were livid Tommy Thomas was already in
Australia quote I get a call from that Department of Public Prosecutions he goes Tommy I've got some good news
well Gabe Watson's got off a plane in Brisbane this morning and he's under arrest and I said what in the hell have
you all done and he said what I said what kind of deal have you all made I had gotten no indication from the DPP
that there was even a possibility that he was going to get on a plane and come over in his own his attorneys had
indicated all along that he would fight extradition to the very end all of a sudden what changed and I just couldn't
help but believe there had to be some kind of deal made I'll get a call just as we anticipated they've asked us to
consider a manslaughter plate and I said look we don't support it in no way form or
fashion all we want is what he got charged for and what he was invited for we want that to go to court in front of
a jury the evidence presented just like it should be Detective Brad Flynn quote we knew that it was out of our hands the
decision had already been made dan what the family thought damn what the police thought this was going to be a moral
victory for the DPP they could chalk it up as a conviction and we can put that money to other Australian interests and
forget about everybody and I knew that that's what was going to happen Tommy Thomas when we went into court we still
had this this hope in our mind that the judge would see through it that he would
dismiss it and say we still had to go to trial when Gabe Watson appeared in court
that morning the indictment read murder but it was obvious from the words used that he knew that the DPP would accept
an alternative charge of manslaughter and he actually said not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter
the prosecution immediately accepted Gabe's plea the Queensland to tape a page stated that Gabe Watson's
manslaughter plea was accepted after a careful and a thorough examination of the admissible evidence the manslaughter
play meant that from then on the Crown prosecutor was prevented from putting any evidence to the court suggesting
that Gabe had deliberately killed Tina instead the basis of their case was that he'd failed in his duty to her as her
dive buddy and it just left her to die detective Flynn quote failure to render aid to a dive buddy I mean you've got to
be kidding me to me it was the equivalent of taking a homicide and convicting him of jaywalking despite the
objections of Tina's family the manslaughter case was presented they gave a panicked had a split second to
make a decision and had made the wrong one the judges sentence was made taking only these factors into account the
judge Justice Peter loins noted that gave voluntarily returned to Australia he said it was significant because Gabe
didn't know that it wouldn't be charged with murder he also noted Gabe's guilty plea justice liens quote you do
not seek to pretend that your actions were other than what they were you failed to make any reasonable attempt to
take the deceased to the surface I therefore accept that you're guilty of a very serious departure from the standard
of care which was incumbent upon you with the result that your conduct is deserving of criminal punishment I
consider that burden has been increased by the very extensive publicity which these events have occasioned I also
accept that in that period you have been subject to accusations over which you are not guilty
justice Lyons sentence gave to four years jail but suspended three years of the sentence so Gabe would only serve a
12-month term associate professor David fueled an academic and former prosecutor
quote there is a belief that he only came back to Australia because a deal had already been done that in itself
isn't a bad thing if the evidence only pointed to me in sort of what would be a bad thing of course is if the charge had
been reduced to manslaughter when in fact they could have proved the murder the coroner thought that the man should
be committed for murder but the coroner only had to be satisfied that a jury could invent the DPP has to look at it
from a broader perspective if there are no reasonable prospects of a conviction you don't waste public
money prosecuting and what they would have to prove was that he intended to kill her and that's a very difficult
thing to prove but clearly public opinion is swinging towards the fact that the deep a patient all the evidence
they had and allowed a jury to make its own decision devastated at the ruling Tommy Thomas said he wasn't at all
surprised that the judge ruled in that way because he didn't hear any of the evidence Queensland attorney general
Cameron dick called the ruling manifestly inadequate and filed an appeal in the Queensland Court of
Appeals the Alabama Attorney General sent a legal brief to Australian prosecutors that said Tina's life was
worth more than 12 months quote living a 12-month sentence on Watson sends a terrible message to foreigners if you
desire to kill your spouse Queensland should be your homicide estimation Tommy Thomas made a
statement outside the court quote I believe that probably the entire Australian nation as well as our own
country back home shares with us the shock over what we have just seen it's a total injustice it's ludicrous what we
have seen he's allowed to take the easy way out he pleads guilty to manslaughter
and then laughingly it looks like he's the victim as the sentence is being read on July 17th 2009 the appeal was heard
by the Queensland Court of Appeals three judges heard the appeal the prosecution
requested an increase to Gabe's prison sentence in order for him to serve an extra 18 months a total of two and a
half years one of the justices wanted to dismiss the appeal another supported an
extra 18 months behind bars the Chief Justice met them in the middle with his ruling it was ruled that Gabe would have
an increase to his sentence of 6 months therefore serving a total of 18 months quote stupidity is revealed
rather than wickedness malice is nowhere to be found in this respect the case must be less seriously regarded than the
ordinary domestic killings where there is a distinct intention to harm detective Flynn quote when we got back
from the sentencing Tommy and I looked at each other and I said I'm not done we're not done now it's my turn I'm
going to see what I can do in my backyard with my rules with my people behind me and - let's see where we go
the Attorney General in the state of Alabama truly King quote I don't believe that a man who dreams his wife should be
shown leniency and to that's what is my perception happened I think we need to go ahead and make arrangements with our
investigators and what we're seeking to do is to protect to Tina and not to just
protect Tina but to honor her memory with a just sentence I don't believe she got that in Australia and I'm going to
do everything in my power to make sure she does get it back at home in Alabama Alabama is a separate sovereign state so
there is no double jeopardy that attaches I am NOT seeking to prosecute him on the same charges that he was
prosecuted on in Australia I seek to prosecute him for charges that began in Alabama if that's what the evidence
shows what the Attorney General detective Flynn Tina's family ended their lawyers were looking at was even
though Tina's death occurred in Australia if any elements of the crime were cleaned in Alabama conspired in
Alabama and executed in Alabama then they may be able to hold Gabe criminally responsible for that done Valeska
assistant attorney general quote every jury in Alabama in my opinion could see how this case went down how it started
here and culminated off the Barrier Reef where Tina died now I cannot promise you
100% no prosecutor can if you want a percentage I'd say on 85% convinced that I can win this case they planned to
charge Gabe with two counts capital murder and kidnapping with trickery alleging Gabe tricked Athena
entertaining to dive trip her into going diving in Australia and tricked her to go diving that day in the state of
Alabama a person found guilty of murder can face the death penalty not only can they face the death penalty Alabama is
the only remaining state in the United States that allows a judge to overrule the jury and impose the death penalty
themselves on the topic of capital punishment the Attorney General said Alabama is not a barbaric state that's
looking to execute innocent people Alabama is a justice loving state that believes when its citizens are harmed
the people who are responsible should face a just sentence in a court of law they started requesting all details
evidence and findings from the Australian investigation including the coroner's inquiry Tommy Thomas quote
there are so many horrific visions of what happened to our daughter I should have figured out some way to
stop her from marrying him and I should have protected her because that's what fathers are supposed to do and I'm doing
everything that I need to do now to try and get justice for her and to make up for that the justice that she deserves
in all of this as bad as everything has been waged Singleton's been my hero because he tried to save my daughter he
did everything he could to bring her up from the surface he got her up as quickly as possible he even helped in
the resuscitation attempts he did everything he could do what Gabe should have done at that point Gabe's family
into their attorneys were well aware what Tommy under the attorney-general were threatening Gabe's father David
quote I think we were aware the Thomases and Troy King were conspiring but I'm not sure I appreciated the significance
at that time I was still under the impression he would come home and we would begin to put our lives back
together it's scary Gabe's family were advised by their lawyers to keep quiet and wait it out Tina's family had been
so vocal campaigning for years in the years and to the Watsons felt that they had just sat in the background and
weren't doing anything David Watson quote I'd be reluctant to go against our attorneys but in my heart I think had we
been just as vocal and just as outspoken would it have changed anything we really
felt like we were giving Tina a measure of respect by not engaging in this we're
scared to death that keeps me awake at night but now Attorney General Troy King without knowing anything about the case
wants to put my son to death it's time to speak out I don't think Gabe will get justice in
Alabama because I think far too many people have already made their mind up if he's guilty of murder and to the
Attorney General who is of course elected he's just going along with that Gabe's friends said things like never in
a million years would anybody who knows Gabe think he did this and there's never been a doubt in my
mind that this was anything other than an accident Gabe had a boat a lake house he was not in need of money he had
investments he was making better than the average Joe and he never cared about money Gabe's mother
Glenda quote he was found not guilty of murder any blame has been paid for his whole life has been in upheaval his name
is being slandered his whole personality has been on public display and it has not been accurate I want nothing more
than for Gabe to come back to Birmingham salvage his reputation and to get on with his life
just before Gabe's release in Australia the Queensland Attorney General refused to hand over any evidence that could
lead to Gabe being convicted in the state of Alabama they were very vocal about the fact that the death penalty no
longer existed in Australia therefore they wouldn't be handing out any evidence unless the state of Alabama took the
death penalty off the table Attorney General Troy King wasn't happy he felt that the attorney general's office in
Queensland were obstructing a criminal process in Alabama but he did agreed to take the death penalty off the table on
October 22nd 2010 seven years to the day after Tina boarded the spoilsport Alabama state prosecutors obtained at
the to capital indictments against Gabe Watson in Jefferson County Gabe was released from prison on November 11th
2010 he was transported to an immigration detention center in Melbourne until an official written
statement confirming he would not face the death penalty if convicted was received by Australian authorities on
November 25th 2010 Gabe was deported to the u.s. and are then charged with capital murder and kidnapping with
trickery once Gabe arrived home he remained in custody for almost three weeks until his bond hearing in the
Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham Alabama at the hearing the court heard that Gabe's motive for
murder was financial gain and that he had claim to the murder in the state of Alabama they heard that in the wake of
their wedding Gabe asked Tina to increase her life insurance policy by more than three times and to make him
the beneficiary the judge told the prosecution quote motive is not sufficient to convict somebody you got
to have some facts Gabe was released on a $100,000 bond by Judge Tommy nail the bond included additional conditions Gabe
had to wear an electronic monitoring device and obey evening curfews the murder trial was set to commence on May
23rd 2010 11 before the trial the probate court removed Gabe as an administrator of Tina's estate
appointing her father as administrator after leaving her grave unmarked for almost three years until 2009 in light
of the incident exhuming her body earlier Gabe was ordered to stay away from her grave as administrator tommy
requested personal effects of Tina's be returned to the family Gabe appealed against the ruling and
refused to provide the court with a list of Tina's possessions and refused to hand back photographs all positions on
April 7th 2011 a month before the trial was due to begin Circuit Judge Tommy now
indefinitely postponed the trial after state cutbacks left Alabama courts short on security they wouldn't be able to
proceed until more bailiffs could be found to help deal with the expected crowds of the trial judge nail said he
would have to shut down the other 11 courtrooms just to cope with the volume of people who would be present for
Gabe's trial the prosecution asked for up to 60 days notice on a new trial day because most of the prosecution of
witnesses lived outside the u.s. that was approved the defense asked the court to grant a motion to dismiss all charges
against Gabe entirely on the basis that they were vindictive and violated the principle of double jeopardy by trying
him again in another jurisdiction over the same circumstances this was denied but prosecutors agreed to drop the
charge of kidnapping with trickery they continued with just the charge of murder
on the 13th of February 2012 what would have been Tina's 35th birthday the trial
started with the death penalty off the table Gabe Watson faced life in prison without
parole the trial was expected to last three weeks and expected around 10 Australian
witnesses to fly over for their testimonies including Queensland Police Detectives and dive experts outside
press from all over the world had assembled Gabe said a motionless in the packed courtroom while the prosecution
and defense both delivered their opening statements Kim Gabe's wife sat by him every day one by
one the prosecution called their witnesses dive experts friends and family Wade singleton Ken
Snyder and others the defense argued to keep the video of Gabe destroying flowers attend his graveside out of
court the prosecution tried to keep them in quote these are the defendants own actions caught on videotape vandalizing
his dead wife's grave the judge ruled against the prosecution and said that any evidence of Gabe's behavior
following Tina's death was inadmissible Tommy Thomas was also blocked from giving evidence regarding Gabe's alleged
attempts to increase Tina's life insurance prosecutors highlighted the point that
Gabe stayed on the spoil sport for 40 minutes while doctors worked on resuscitating Tina on another boat a
short distance away Gabe explained quote that's not something I can handle I don't ever want
to see one of my loved ones being worked on like that ever it became apparent to
those sitting in the courtroom that prosecution witnesses were starting to appear more like defense witnesses
because what they said in answer to questions from the defense was equally or sometimes even more favorable to Gabe
then to the prosecution the defense was starting to run the show then mark Moore took the stand Gabe's
old friend who he had done his dive training with Mike confirmed all the diving they had done together and
confirmed that he and Gabe practiced rescuing distressed and unconscious divers as part of their rescue
certification course Mike testified that both he and Gabe did open water dives in
Florida into Mexico where they made a drifted olives in Briscoe current dive to a depth of 50 feet and struggled with
visibility of less than a meter Mike Moore quote we had to go and get a diver sitting on the bottom and in fly
at BCD to get them Gabe and I did it to each other jurors then heard the interview where Gabe told Queensland
police he had not been trained to bring anyone to the surface in his rescue course under cross-examination Mike
Moore acknowledged that all of their open water dives were under supervision On February 23rd 2012 ten days into the
trial the prosecution rested after the prosecution finished presenting their case the defense made a motion for an
acquittal saying the prosecution had not produced enough evidence this is a common occurrence
the defense often tries to get the case dismissed before they present their argument although it's rare for a judge
to agree with the defense and grant an acquittal but in this case judge nail agreed with the defense quote the only
way to convict this man of capital murder is to use speculation and conjecture the state has failed to
establish an intentional killing this case is dismissed Gabe covered his face with his hands and
visibly sight in shock as the judge maybes ruling loud cheering and clapping erupted in the court from Gabe's
supporters Gabe looked on the verge of tears as he embraced his lawyers and family
Gabe's defense attorney addressed the waiting press quote we all wanted justice what little information that was
presented by the prosecution the judge determined just wasn't enough Gabe's father David Watson quote every
court that had looked at this case determined my son did not intentionally kill his wife
I'm just so relieved hopefully he can put his life back together I hope everyone can begin to heal the rest of
his life would determine his legacy Gabe is a good kid Tommy Thomas quote there just seems to
be a lot more protection for the accused than there does consideration for the victim a week after his acquittal gage
sat in his attorney's office for an interview with the local Birmingham News during that interview Gabe said quote I
just came to the realization one day that I did what I did I can't change it so I just have to accept it and go on
with life never that I can remember at least outside of friends and family did I hear anyone say I can't imagine what
it would be like to lose your wife on your honeymoon I think that was totally forgotten in relation to the incident of
him removing flowers at Tina's grave he said quote sitting here now looking back
at me then I can say it was stupid there was a bonehead move that seemed irrational then with everything going on
and my state of mind they the people forgive and forget that or they choose to remember that I think there's been
too much hurt on both sides and I think it's time for everybody to get on with their lives the trip director Wade
singleton quote I haven't been able to come up with an innocent explanation I've tried I've thought of different
possibilities but with the inconsistencies that were there they're just sort of rules our doubt
unfortunately I don't know if we are ever going to find out exactly what happened after the judge acquitted Gabe
prosecutor Don Valeska spoke to some of the jurors quote I've just contacted some of the jurors they've already
spoken to the press here and said that if they had to vote on this case Gabe would not be leaving the courthouse
[Music] [Music] you

Case 51: Tina Watson

In the Coral Sea, off the coast of Northern Queensland, lies the Great Barrier Reef. Seen clearly from space, It is the largest living structure on earth. It is a World Heritage Site and known as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Tourists are drawn to the warm, crystal clear waters and bright tropical marine life. A scuba diver’s paradise.

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research and writing – Anna Priestland Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

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Brief Summary

Tina Watson drowned during her honeymoon dive, leading to a controversial investigation and trial of her husband Gabe Watson for manslaughter.

Key points

Tina's Parents' Concerns. Tina's parents express reservations about her diving lessons and Gabe.
Gabe and Tina's Dive Adventure. Newlyweds Gabe and Tina embark on a thrilling dive, but things take a dangerous turn.
The Distress Signal. Gabe realizes something is wrong as Tina begins to panic underwater.
The Tragic News. Tommy Thomas receives the devastating news of his daughter's drowning from David Watson.
Gabe's Grief. Gabe's conflicting emotions are on display as he navigates the aftermath of Tina's death.
Suspicion Grows. Tommy and others begin to suspect Gabe's involvement in Tina's death after the funeral.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is going to be a good day, this is what I want.

Tina reassures her father before the wedding.

14:11WatchNov 19, 2018

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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