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Thread: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

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    Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32


    Husband to stand trial for new wife’s death while scuba diving in 2003
    By Mike Celizic
    TODAYShow.com contributor
    updated 8:26 a.m. MT, Wed., Dec. 3, 2008
    A day hasn’t gone by during the past five years that Tommy Thomas hasn’t thought about how and why his newlywed daughter died while scuba diving with her husband on their honeymoon in Australia.

    He still doesn’t have an answer, but an Australian court’s decision to indict Gabe Watson on charges of murdering Thomas’ daughter, Tina, brings Tommy Thomas one step closer to seeing the mystery played out in a court of law.

    “It has been a long five years. It’s been a painful five years,” Thomas told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira from San Diego on Wednesday. “It’s good to see that Tina is finally going to get her day in court and the justice she deserves. That’s what we wanted.”

    That day in court is still some time off. In June, Australian police decided that there was enough evidence to charge Gabe Watson with Tina’s murder. It took five months before a judge in Australia formally charged Watson with murder and set a trial date for Feb. 3 in Townsville Colonial Court in Queensland. If Watson does not voluntarily appear to be tried, extradition proceedings could take many months more.

    And there is no guarantee that American courts will order an extradition.

    Watson declined an invitation to appear on the program, but his lawyer, Bob Watson, told TODAY, “Gabe is innocent of any wrongdoing relating to the demise of his wife.” He did not tell TODAY if Watson would appear for trial or fight extradition, but he has been quoted in a Birmingham, Ala., newspaper as saying, “It could be to our benefit to resist [extradition] and see if the American legal authorities side with us.”

    Thomas said the years of waiting and uncertainty have taken their toll. “It’s been very difficult for our family,” he told Vieira. “This has been all about trying to get the truth about what happened to our daughter and trying to get justice for Tina. As long as I’m breathing, I’ll be working toward that.”

    Gabe and Tina Watson became husband and wife in Alabama on Oct. 11, 2003. Eleven days later, Tina was dead, the victim of a drowning while scuba diving with her husband on a shipwreck off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

    Gabe Watson was a certified rescue diver. He told police that his wife got caught in a current and panicked. He said she tried to rip his mask off, and that he was unable to bring her to the surface, so he decided to return to the surface for help while she sank to the ocean floor.

    Another diver on the expedition, Gary Stempler, took a picture of Tina Watson on the ocean floor, some 100 feet below the surface, lying motionless on her back, her arms stretched upward as if reaching for help.

    Police initially ruled the death an accident. But nagging questions and inconsistencies and changes in Watson’s story prompted police to reopen the investigation. After re-enacting various possible scenarios in the water, they theorized that Watson grabbed his new wife in a bear hug and shut off her air supply until she drowned.

    He then turned her air supply back on and let her sink to the bottom as he swam to the surface, purportedly for help, police said.

    Police said that Watson changed his story 16 times during the lengthy investigation. Other divers among the more than 20 people on the expedition also questioned Watson’s account. One of them, Ken Snyder, told NBC News that on hearing Watson’s story, he replied, “Gabe, that didn’t happen, and you better come up with something else because that story didn’t happen.”

    Thomas told Vieira that 65 witnesses testified and more than 100 exhibits were presented during the four-week hearing earlier this year that led to Watson’s being charged with murder. Thomas attended the entire hearing and said he will be in Australia if Watson is tried.

    “Part of wanting to get to the truth of what happened to Tina was being there and hearing firsthand what they saw and heard,” Thomas said.

    Tina Watson was 26 when she died. She had a life insurance policy, but she reportedly had rejected her husband’s request to name him the beneficiary. He filed a claim after her death, but received no money from the policy, Thomas has said.

    Tina’s family have said that Watson, a former high school football player, had shown a bullying and controlling side after he and Tina were engaged. Alabama newspapers have reported that Gabe Watson has a business manufacturing bubble-pack.


    Thomas said he has spoken to his former son-in-law just once since his daughter’s death on Oct. 22, 2003.

    “That was a couple of weeks after the funeral,” he told Vieira. “It was actually the day before Thanksgiving, in his attorney’s office at his attorney’s request. I haven’t spoken to him since. That’s been over five years ago now.”


    URL: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28030877/

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    I remember this case.  This jackass actually took underwater pictures of himself with his dead wife in the background.  What kind of sick fucktard does that shit?  Hw about, when they find him guilty, instead of a long prison term for which the Aussie taxpayers will surely foot the bill...we just stick the barrell of a 12 gauge up his ass and pull the trigger?  That way, all they're out is the price of a shotgun shell or two.
    Don't like what I have to say? I respect that. Go fuck yourself.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...21/2281595.htm

    Sorry for the big picture, but you can see Tina dead on the ocean floor on the bottom right of the pic.




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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    Wow, that's a crazy picture. I hope this guy gets what he deserves and her family can begin putting their lives back together.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    I remember seeing a story on this...

    It will be hard to prove he did it...

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    That picture is pretty sad. I can't even imagine what her father thought upon seeing that.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/05/australia.bride/index.html

    Alabama man jailed in scuba honeymoon death

       
    (CNN) -- An Alabama man was sentenced to 4½ years in prison Friday for his wife's death during their honeymoon in Australia nearly six years ago.

    David Gabriel Watson pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the October 2003 death of Tina Watson, an Australian court spokesman said.

    Watson was 26 when she drowned while diving around the "Yongala" shipwreck, about 42 miles off the coast of Townsville.

    Watson had told police that his wife appeared to panic 45 feet underwater and drowned accidentally. However, authorities found inconsistencies in his account.

    As evidence of a motive, investigators cited her father's statement that Watson had asked her to maximize her life insurance and make him the beneficiary shortly before their wedding.

    The insurance company confirmed that Watson asked about her policy after her death, investigators said.

    Townsville Coroner David Glasgow noted in his inquest findings that David was an experienced diver while his wife was a novice.

    The couple married in Birmingham, Alabama, and left for Australia two days later.
    ONLY 4 1/2 YEARS!?!?!

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    [quote author=dreamer1627 link=topic=17516.msg1297201#msg1297201 date=1244201962]
    http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/05/australia.bride/index.html

    ONLY 4 1/2 YEARS!?!?!

    [/quote]Even better...
    David Gabriel Watson will serve just one year.
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31118903/
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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    That makes me sick. It must be awful for her family to not get any true justice for her murder.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    I still don't understand how this guy just serves one year of a four and a half year sentence just by pleading guilty.  What idiot decided to give this guy an option of 4 and a half years for pleading guilty?  I hope the family of the bride sues this guy for all he's worth in a wrongful death suit.  I know it won't bring her back, but at least it's some sort of justice.  This guy should not get away with murder this easily.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    [quote author=LilDevil link=topic=17516.msg1297470#msg1297470 date=1244227311]
    I still don't understand how this guy just serves one year of a four and a half year sentence just by pleading guilty.  What idiot decided to give this guy an option of 4 and a half years for pleading guilty?  I hope the family of the bride sues this guy for all he's worth in a wrongful death suit.  I know it won't bring her back, but at least it's some sort of justice.  This guy should not get away with murder this easily.
    [/quote]

    I'm guessing that the prosecutors felt that they didn't have strong enough evidence to be sure of a conviction, so they went with a plea. Makes me sick.

    And it gets even better. I read that he has control over her burial plot. He refuses to have a headstone put on it. Her family noticed that flowers and trinkets they left at the gravesite were going missing, so an undercover police officer did some videotaping and caught the husband grabbing the stuff and throwing it in a ditch. What a piece of shit this guy is. Her poor family. Here is the article on that: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7692155&page=1.

    Oh, and I think he's either engaged again or remarried. At any rate, he's suckered another woman into marrying him.
    <br /><br />I want to go to Heaven for the weather and Hell for the company.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    Tina Watson was 26 when she died. She had a life insurance policy, but she reportedly had rejected her husband’s request to name him the beneficiary. He filed a claim after her death, but received no money from the policy, Thomas has said.
    He must of known someone was intitled and therefore would make a claim, right? I wonder how many other divers where on the expedition and how no one saw the &quot;bear hug&quot;.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    http://tinasstory.googlepages.com/

    This page has links to all the stories written and a lot of vids of different newscasts and coverage.&nbsp; I wish all cases were organized like this...

    I hope that while he is in jail.. her family and friends go and leave tons of flowers on her grave that he can't touch!!!!

    He IS remarried.&nbsp; His new wife's name is Kim.&nbsp; Wonder if they've ever gone scuba diving together...

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    Man Guilty in Wife's Honeymoon Death AP
    posted: 11 HOURS 26 MINUTES AGO&nbsp; BRISBANE, Australia (June 5) -- An American man pleaded guilty and was sentenced Friday for the manslaughter of his wife, who drowned during their honeymoon scuba diving trip in Australia. Her body was found on the ocean floor.
    In move that outraged the victim's family, David Gabriel Watson will serve just one year of the four-and-a-half-year sentence in the death of his wife of 11 days, Christina Mae Watson. She died in 2003 as the couple dived off the tropical coast of Queensland. The suspended sentence is not unusual in such crimes in Queensland.&nbsp; David Gabriel Watson pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter in the death of his bride, Christina, who drowned as the Alabama couple scuba dived on their honeymoon in Australia in 2003. Watson was sentenced to 4-1/2 years, but a court in Brisbane suspended all but a year, outraging Christina Watson's father.
    David Gabriel Watson pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the scuba diving death of his wife on their honeymoon in 2003.
    Watson, of Birmingham, Ala., was to stand trial in the Queensland Supreme Court for murder, which carried a potential sentence of life in prison, until the prosecution accepted the guilty plea to the lesser charge.
    Prosecutor Brendan Campbell told the court the manslaughter plea was accepted on the basis that the 32-year-old Watson — trained to rescue panicked divers — failed in his duty as her dive buddy by not giving her emergency oxygen.
    Campbell said Watson allowed his wife to sink to the ocean floor without attempting to retrieve her, and he did not inflate her buoyancy vest or remove weights from her belt.
    &quot;He virtually extinguished any chance of her survival,&quot; Campbell said.
    Outside court, Christina's father, Tommy Thomas, said his family was in disbelief over the sentence.
    &quot;I'm sure that the entire Australian nation as well as our country back home shares in the shock at what we've just seen, because it's a total injustice ... it's ludicrous,&quot; Thomas said. &quot;It's an embarrassment to everyone involved. We believe that Gabe Watson murdered our daughter.&quot; Watson married Christina in a ceremony described by her friends as her dream wedding in Birmingham on Oct. 11, 2003.
    Eleven days later, a dive instructor found her lying on the bottom of the ocean during a weeklong Great Barrier Reef scuba diving trip off the coast of Townsville city. Watson told police her death was an accident.
    Coroner David Glasgow formally charged Watson with murder last June. Glasgow said it was likely Watson killed his wife by holding her underwater and turning off her air supply. The coroner said a possible motive was her modest life insurance policy.
    Watson turned himself in last month to answer the murder charge in the northeastern city of Brisbane.
    An experienced diver who has since remarried, Watson had said in videotaped police interviews that 26-year-old Christina, a novice diver, started having trouble a few minutes into their dive. He said he decided to go for help rather than attempt a rescue himself. One of the dive leaders pulled the woman to the surface, but efforts to resuscitate her failed.
    A fellow diver told Glasgow's inquest last year he saw Watson engaged in an underwater &quot;bear hug&quot; with his petite wife, after which he headed to the surface while she sank to the ocean floor.
    Watson told police his wife knocked his mask off and then sank too quickly for him to retrieve her. But the prosecution rejected his explanation, saying it would not have been possible for her to sink rapidly.
    2009-06-05 06:34:08

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    Watson who has since remarried! That's incredible.
    Well I hope everyone feels safe knowing a murderer will soon be out.
    Where are the vigilantes when you need them.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    I always wonder about women who willingly date/marry men like this - I know everyone deserves a&nbsp; second chance (thanks Bar None Autos!) but in the case of cold-blooded murderers... no.

    That Drew Peterson asshole has killed his last two wives, and until the last month or so was engaged again (apparently the bride-to-be didn't think 2 of 3 former wives dying under mysterious circumstances was a clue that Drew is a scary, creepy man).

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    I can't believe this guy is doing any time at all.&nbsp; Talk about an unprovable crime.&nbsp;

    If he did it, he is a scumbag who got off easy, but what if he didn't?

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    Yeah, I saw this story a while ago on T.V.&nbsp; Sad this guy is getting away with one year for such a creepy murder.&nbsp;

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    This is totally a thread already.&nbsp; And I'm too lazy to link it.&nbsp;

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    [quote author=MBPearls link=topic=17516.msg1298082#msg1298082 date=1244315979]
    I always wonder about women who willingly date/marry men like this - I know everyone deserves a&nbsp; second chance (thanks Bar None Autos!) but in the case of cold-blooded murderers... no.

    That Drew Peterson asshole has killed his last two wives, and until the last month or so was engaged again (apparently the bride-to-be didn't think 2 of 3 former wives dying under mysterious circumstances was a clue that Drew is a scary, creepy man).
    [/quote]

    You would be absolutely astounded at the men that manage to get women in this world. Murderer, abuser, deadbeat dad, every shitty guy can manage to get somebody. Its amazing! You'd think a girl would take a hint from a history, but apparently some just don't.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    [quote author=Chompin link=topic=17516.msg1298158#msg1298158 date=1244328447]
    I can't believe this guy is doing any time at all.&nbsp; Talk about an unprovable crime.&nbsp;

    If he did it, he is a scumbag who got off easy, but what if he didn't?
    [/quote]

    Unfortunately they can't prove his guilt by how he is acting after her death, but it sure proves it for me. Why would a husband who supposedly loved his wife refuse to get her a headstone and destroy any flowers or momentos left on her grave!?! That screams guilty to me.

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    I didn't see this story when I searched for some reason? It's been on Dateline a few times..
    This guy is getting off -- fuck 'justice'

    Scuba murder charge changed 'to avoid costly trial'

    The father of a woman who drowned in north Queensland while on her honeymoon says the Queensland Government wanted to avoid a murder trial to save money.

    Tommy Thomas says his daughter's husband, who has been jailed for her manslaughter, should instead have stood trial for murder.

    But Mr Thomas says prosecutors struck a plea deal against the family's wishes.

    David Gabriel Watson, 32, was jailed for 12 months last week after pleading guilty in Queensland's Supreme Court to the manslaughter of his wife Tina Watson.

    The court found he allowed Tina, 26, to drown during a diving trip to Yongala wreck off Townsville in 2003, while the couple were on their honeymoon.

    Mr Thomas says Queensland's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) did a deal to accept the manslaughter charge to save the cost of a lengthy murder trial.

    He says the number of witnesses would have taken up a lot of expensive court time.

    &quot;I personally think - and a lot of the people close to me that have discussed this with me agree - that it was really more about money than anything else,&quot; he said.

    &quot;The fact of the matter is, just take a look at the fact that we've got 65-plus witnesses all over the world.&quot;

    Mr Thomas also says the DPP took five-and-a-half months to review the evidence after a coroner charged Watson with murder.

    &quot;We had very little communication with the DPP in that time and it was very discouraging to us because we really did not understand why they were taking so long to review the case,&quot; Mr Thomas said.

    The DPP has declined to comment today, but on Tuesday said there was no prospect of proving beyond reasonable doubt Watson was guilty of murder.

    Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick says he is still considering whether to appeal against Watson's sentence.

    Media reports last week suggested United States authorities would lobby for an appeal and might seek to have Watson charged with murder again when he is deported to his home state of Alabama.
    RIP Faggot Charles
    "That is it, no murder/suicide for me if it mean's that they will use my DMV photo in the news." - poppy213

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    Re: Tina Watson, 26 killed on honeymoon by husband Gabe Watson, 32

    Photos:


    David Gabriel Watson has been jailed for the manslaughter of his wife Tina.


    An unsuspecting diver poses for a photo while Tina Watson lies dying on the ocean floor.
    RIP Faggot Charles
    "That is it, no murder/suicide for me if it mean's that they will use my DMV photo in the news." - poppy213

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    An Alabama man is going on trial in Birmingham on a capital murder charge in the death of his bride, who drowned during their honeymoon trip to Australia.

    A judge will consider motions and begin jury selection Monday in the trial of 34-year-old Gabe Watson, who's accused of drowning 26-year-old Tina Thomas Watson during a diving trip just days after their wedding in 2003.

    Prosecutors claim Watson wanted the woman dead for life insurance money, so he turned off her air supply. Watson already has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Australia and served 18 months in prison there.

    The defense says the woman's death was a tragic accident.

    Australia deported Watson after he finished his prison term there with an agreement that he wouldn't face the death penalty in Alabama.

    Read more: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/nat...#ixzz1mGxa7Mbk
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    Last edited by puzzld; 02-13-2012 at 06:07 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
    lol at Nestle being some vicious smiter, she's the nicest person on this site besides probably puzzld. Or at least the last person to resort to smiting.
    Quote Originally Posted by nestlequikie View Post
    Why on earth would I smite you when I can ban you?

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