Casefile True Crime - Case 51: Tina Watson

Episode Date: April 22, 2017

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and one of Australia’s most famous tourist attractions. Its warm, clear waters and tropical marine life make it popular with scuba divers the world over. --- Researched and written by Anna Priestland For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-51-tina-watson

In the Coral Sea, off the coast of Northern Queensland lies the Great Barrier Reef. Stretching 2,300km along Australia's north-eastern tip, it covers an area of approximately 344,000 square kilometres. An underwater maze of almost 3,000 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. 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. Dive operators rely on the 3 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 at remote locations. One of the most famous shipwrecks of the reef is the SS Yongala, which disappeared in 1911.

The Yongala was a passenger ship which was en route from Melbourne to Cairns, 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 is known as one of the world's most intact and pristine shipwrecks.

The sea floor surrounding the shipwreck is vast and sandy, making the Yongala 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 coloured 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 off 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 metres long and lies 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 hit the water, sound stops completely, until you hear the tremendous whoosh of your breath through your breathing ear and the blooping sounds of bubbles surrounding you. Your vision adjusts to the filtered light, then the dull, sometimes echoing sounds creep

into your ears, the clicking and crunching of fish eating the coral and the distant groans and drumming sounds of fish you can't yet see. It's then your sight takes over, taking in the iridescence of tropical sea life and plant life unlike anything on land. Divers describe humpback whales sometimes breaching in the distance as they prepare to dive the Yongala, dropping down to one of the most amazing underwater sites imaginable. Divers say underwater photos will never do it justice. Gliding through the wreck of the Yongala, with its 100 years of marine growth, with the current

pulling you along, is a mesmerising 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, Alanda.

They moved to Louisiana for a time before permanently moving to Birmingham, Alabama, in the late 90s. Tina was happy and outgoing, a blonde, dimpled 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 PSVT, 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 PSVT, 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 boyfriends as a teenager and young adult, and her first serious relationship resulted in a short engagement. But according to her friends, Tina's 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 basketballer. The 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. He 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 a boyfriend to get for her. But by the time of this New Year's Eve party, they were both single. And after a fun night, Tina agreed to go out with Gabe. Within a few weeks, they were dating. After graduation, Tina started managing the children's clothing department for a store

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 her 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 also 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 about 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 to Tina 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. Even his parents on the other hand still had reservations. Tina told one of her coworkers 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 Thomas' 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 humour. The two families were just different. Glenda Watson, Gabe's mother, called Tina's parents to invite them to dinner after the

engagement. Cindy Thomas responded, Why? 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

and their plans to wed continued. The date was set for October 2003. They purchased a 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 is her insurance was up for re-enrollment 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 cancelling 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 and 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 sparked the assumption at the time that Tina's parents had threatened not to pay. Reverend Greer, 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 up front about that. Gabe didn't mind, he saw himself as her protector. It became well known that Tina's parents were not happy about the upcoming wedding

and the tension came to a head at the rehearsal dinner. Reverend Greer, 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 Tina up in a limo on the way to the church, a 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, Dad, 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 deserved to be taken care of. Tina and Gabe 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 at the wedding. As the newlyweds left the reception, they were showered with cheers and 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 her back open

so I could 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 a night in a hotel, Gabe and Tina returned to their marital home the next day and packed 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 diver.

He'd carried out over 50 dives 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, Pelham, 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. This 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, Gabe's. They planned to fly into Sydney for a week and then travel up to Townsville in Queensland.

Gabe made contact with a dive company he heard about through one of the instructors at the quarry. The dive company was Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, and Gabe booked the seven-night cruise of the Great Barrier Reef aboard the Spoilsport. 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 40m visibility, other sites where walls drop off to 300m, and the famous Drift Drive down to their SS Yongala. They 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 Amanda went with her to the dive quarry at Pelham where they had done their training. Gabe's 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, but gives an indication of how long you can spend at your current depth.

Sometimes if you stay too long, and if you are ascending too quickly. Gabe's wireless tank pressure transmitter was a separate part to the computer and was attached to his tank. It wasn't the most up-to-date model, it only recorded information once the diver was below four metres, but it did the job Gabe needed so he had no need to replace it. When the guy at the shop returned the dive computer to Tina, he said that the batteries were in backwards. Two days after their wedding, Tina and Gabe set off for 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 a week touring the sites 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 genuinely happy together and appeared to be loving Sydney On October 21st, they flew to 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 Wulgarakuba 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.

Gabe and Tina arrived in Townsville on the first day of a record hot spell. That day would mark the first of 114 days, almost 4 months of temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius or 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Perfect weather for the diving ahead. That evening, October 21st, Gabe and 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 spot, 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 stern and the cabins through the centre moving towards the bow. The dive deck 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 freshwater 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 sat the two inflatable dinghies used to ferry divers to their water entry positions. On the top was the sun deck with sun lounges, chairs and shade. In 2003 the spoil sport was one of around 1500 boats and aircraft which were licensed

to tour in the Great Barrier Reef. At 10pm spoil sport departed Townsville into the night, it was heading 48 nautical miles southeast to the shipwrecked SS Yongala. 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 Wade 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 dive, 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 Yongala dive. However Tina with her 5 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 tame dives and the most inexperienced divers. Yellow being a mid-level dive and mid-level divers. Red being the most difficult dives and 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 whiteboard explaining any obstacles or safety requirements, the current conditions under water, 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. Divers 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 newly weds of just 10 days.

They met two other American couples, close friends who had been diving together for 35 years, Ken and Paula Snyder and Doug and Ginger Milsen. They described Gabe and Tina as a lovely and happy couple. Having kids around at the same age they instantly took a liking to Gabe and Tina and they quickly adopted them into their group. They described Tina as bubbly and beautiful, a really sweet and kind woman who was lovely to everyone. They said Gabe didn't say a lot but he seemed friendly.

Seeing as the Yongala is in open water the dive is subject to currents and weather and not always diveable. 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 2am in the morning, mooring about 100 meters from the Yongala.

When Gabe and Tina woke up around 6.30am the spore of 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 7.15am and got ready for their first dive briefing. That morning weather conditions were very good, the only issue was the current. Wade 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 at the stern, where lines lead 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 Yongala, enabling them to explore the wreck, drifting with the current. As the diver reaches the end of the deck they come to another line that is anchored. The diver can then hold onto 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, marked by attaching an air tank. This is where each diver upon their ascent up to the surface must stop for 3-5 minutes to avoid decompression sickness, commonly known as the bends. This is mandatory for the Yongala dive, seeing as you descend to 100 feet, or 30 metres. That morning, Brian, an experienced diver working for the dive company, and Louise, a volunteered deckhand on her first trip on the spoil sport, went out in the rubber dinghy and dived down to fix air tanks and regulators to the lines 5 metres down.

Other depths were also clearly marked. Brian reported the current was strong. Louise said it was very strong. The briefing started about 8.30am, with Wade describing the conditions and how the dive could be approached. He went over the visibility, currents, safety procedures, and how long they would dive for. Divers follow a set routine and are instructed on how to navigate the wreck. Every diver has a buddy.

You descend with your buddy and ascend with your buddy. Gabe and Tina were again offered an orientation dive by Wade, and again they said they didn't need one. Between 9 and 9.30am, Gabe, Tina, and the rest of the passengers of the spoil sport started getting into their wetsuits and checking their gear. As they were doing this, another dive boat arrived at the wreck site, the Jazz 2, also from Townsville. A dinging of divers went ahead of Gabe and 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 Yongala. When everyone was organised, they did a backwards roll into the water together. According to the dive log, the time was 10.15am. Just a few feet below the surface, Gabe noticed his dive computer on his wrist beeping at him.

He needed to know why it was beeping. He signalled to Tina to go back up, and as they came to the surface, Gabe said he realised that the battery was in backwards. Gabe and Tina got back in the dinghy and went back to the spoil sport 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 spoil sport 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 she would be able to descend properly. But reports on this are conflicting.

Gabe asked Uzi, a crew member, for a coin, and he opened 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 wide glazed eyes. She said they seemed out of breath and uncomfortable, if not a bit panicky.

When the information recorded on Gabe's dive computer, after resetting the battery, he entered the water again 13 minutes later. This time, the trip director Wade Singleton, another crew diver, and three other passengers were with them. When they got to the dive access point at the buoy, 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 10-metre depth point, they went across four metres 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, they were 20 to 30 feet from the line, just out of their sight. Divers from the other boat, the Jazz II, were descending at this point and not far behind

Gabe and Tina. Gabe and Tina were on the back section of the wreck when Tina signalled to Gabe 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 inflate hers. The BCD holds 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 did an attempt to inflate Tina's vest. Maybe he panicked, but 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 to 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, you never leave your buddy. Tina drifted down, down to the sandy bottom of the sea. Arms stretched towards her husband of 11 days as he was swimming away from her. Gabe's dive computer showed he never went deeper than 54 feet, 16 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, lighting her vest and pulling her up, was all he needed to do. There is 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. I'm amazed I didn't get the bends or something. As fast as I could, ripping gear off as I went. He said he ruptured or heard his eardrum on the way up. Dr. Stoots was diving at the same time as Gabe and Tina. He wasn't on their boat, he was on the Jazz 2 and one of the divers who had descended

after Gabe and Tina. Dr. Stoots quote, I saw a diver falling basically and she was moving her arms in a strange way. Then I saw another diver come into the picture and I 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 kneaded him in the groin and 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 Spore Sport dinghy and grabbed a hold of a boy which was attached to the line from the Jazz 2. He told a crew member what had happened and the crew member immediately radioed the Spore Sport, an emergency was called.

Crew on Lookout Judy on Spore Sport stated that Gabe was 10 to 12 meters from Jazz 2. They collected the boat's emergency oxygen resuscitation gear. Crew members Uzi Barnai and David Lemsing were the nominated rescue divers. They immediately geared 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 Wade noticed 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 diver 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 high-tailed 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.

Wade 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 held 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 Wade ascended at a much faster rate than Gabe did. Other divers including lead divers from the Jazz 2 watched Wade pulling Tina up and followed them to the surface. Dr. Stutz, 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, swam 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 2-2.5 minutes. Wade bought Tina to the surface just as the rescue team from the spoil sport arrived at the access point in the dinghy. Tina was taken to the back deck of the Jazz 2 where they pulled her on board. Resuscitation attempts had been commenced.

John Downey was a passenger on board spoil sport. He was also an emergency trauma surgeon. He was on board the spoil sport at this point and he was taken over to the Jazz 2 to help. Tina's mouthpiece and mask 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 Singleton quote, Once we hit the surface, we got Tina onto another vessel and we started first aid, CPR.

I think there was about 4 or 5 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. Susie Barnard quote, She had no water, which was unusual. If someone is under water and drowns, normally they have water from when they inhale. Gabe had been taken back to the spoil sport before Wade had even surfaced with Tina. The two American couples who they had become friendly with were on board, Paula and Cam Snyder and Ginger and Doug Milsen.

They saw Gabe being brought back to the spoil sport without Tina. At the time they were down on the dive deck as he was climbing on. Paul Snyder quote, We were up on the back of the deck getting our stuff ready to go in for a second dive and Ken noticed that Gabe was without Tina and looking kind of flustered and disturbed. Ken Snyder 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 too, 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 Sniders and the Milcens and a few others were surprised that Gabe didn't request to be taken over to the Jazz too. He just stayed on the spoil sport with them. The passengers described his behaviour as a little odd. He didn't seem too stressed that his wife was being resuscitated on another boat. He didn't ask to go 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 onto the Jazz too and assisted in the attempts to resuscitate Tina. They worked on her for 40 minutes. At 11.21 am she was pronounced dead. Dr. John Downey travelled back to the Spore Sport by dingy. 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, some fell down, everyone was crying. For the wheeze 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, Jazz too. They took him over, Wade testified that Gabe was crying and sobbing on the way. Meanwhile, the divers in the water continued their dives, 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 too surfaced, they were taken to the Spore Sport until the

staff and doctors worked out what to do. Dr. Downey and Dr. Stoots had a conversation on the back deck of Jazz too. They and 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 had each seen under the water. It didn't seem clear what had actually happened. Tina's body was taken back aboard Spore Sport and everyone headed back to Townsville.

On board the Spore Sport, a couple of passengers claimed that Gabe 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 behaviour seemed odd, others described a husband devastated

about his wife dying, crying and very upset. When the boat docked at Townsville, Senior Constable Glenn 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 and Gabe's diving equipment as well as all paperwork from the Spore Sport. 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 in Gabe's 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 to 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 Garinger determined that the majority of Gabe's statements were consistent with other versions he had told. But there was a major difference, which would lead to a second interview. Paula Snyder was with Gabe. Afterwards, a statement was prepared based on the interview. By this time, police had been given information by the doctors and rescue divers out there that day. No one seemed to have any idea how Tina died.

Her mask and mouthpiece were 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 mutually buoyant in the water unless they were over-weighted, or unless someone turned their air supply off. Detective Campbell, quote. When Detective Garinger 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 to why Tina died underwater on that given day. Detective Senior Constable Kevin Garinger, 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 re-entered 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's then noticed that she's some 5 or 10 feet below him. He starts to swim down but realizes there's nothing he can do. As a result, he starts to 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. This would eventually question every person from both boats. Not everyone was questioned face to face, and not everyone was questioned straight away, but everyone involved in the actual incident was interviewed at some stage by police. Gabe phoned his father, David Watson, from the police station.

It was about 6am in Birmingham when Gabe's family received the call. Gabe told his father that Tina had drowned. The rest of the conversation was just a blur, David Watson said. Gabe also spoke to Reverend Greer, who had only just married them. Reverend Greer, 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 ears.

Paula had been with Gabe 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 ears. Small seeds of doubt 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 inform 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 onto his dive computer for evidence, which seemed to satisfy Gabe. So it's 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 3am. A death report was issued that night at Red.

Approximately 10.30 on Wednesday, the 22nd of October 2003, the deceased person entered the water with her husband as her dive buddy to scuba dive on the historic shipwreck the Yongala. 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 dive vessel. The deceased became fatigued, so her husband began towing her. The deceased panicked and grabbed her husband's dive regulator. He looked into her eyes and saw her eyes were wide open, but 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 seafloor. He retrieved her and made an emergency ascent to the nearest dive vessel, Jazz 2, where 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 Gabe left the police station. The Mike Ball dive company at first refused to put Gabe up in accommodation, but after Gabe suggested he just sleep aboard the spoolsport 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 $7000 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 Ball Expeditions originally agreed to pay for three nights accommodation for Gabe, but when it came time to pay, they only paid for one.

On October 22 at 8.36 am, 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 back 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 Greer. Greer asked Tommy 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. Greer 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 Greer 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. Greer 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 Alanda, Tina's sister, had gotten to work that morning, she didn't know her sister had died, but everyone else did. Alanda 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 it 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 as Tommy arrived home to his wife Cindy and daughter Alanda, he left numerous voicemail messages for David Watson on his home phone, work phone

and 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 10 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 Alanda were all in the basement as they could all hear what was being said on the basement handset. Cindy wanted to speak first. The first thing Cindy asked Gabe was, are you okay, are you hurt? She then asked him what happened. Gabe told them the story.

Through flooding tears, Cindy said, it's okay. They knew 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 Alanda got off the phone, they still had friends in the house for support. One of those was Kelly, who had brought Alanda home from work. Kelly was a scuba diver. Tommy told the story Gabe had just told them. Kelly said it didn't sound right to her. For the next four days, neither David nor Gabe called Tommy or Cindy. Gabe visited a GP about his ears.

The GP confirmed that he had mild barotrauma and his ear drums were red. A grief counselor arranged for Gabe 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. Gabe and Glenda Watson went to the Townsville morgue to see Tina's body. Detectives Geringa 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. But 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's things. 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. Plus it was reported when Tina's mask and regulator came off, there was only a small trace of white foam and vomit, and no water in her mouth. Unconsciousness was possible following a laryngospasm, 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 Geringa and Senior Constable Lawrence. The police hadn't called Gabe 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 Geringa had this to say about the second interview.

Four 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 mild, five out of ten. In his 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, it 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 interview, 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 Police and spoke to an officer called Glenn. Tommy was surprised to hear Glenn say that accidental drowning was just one of the possibilities they were looking at. Glenn 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 Gabe's 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 26th, 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 Gabe and 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, it would be up to Gabe. Tommy wasn't happy. He didn't think it should be up to Gabe at all.

He said, Cindy and 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 were 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 Gabe to 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 to Atlanta, and then finally Birmingham, five flights to get Tina home. When descending into Auckland, Gabe had ear pain so severe that paramedics had to take him from the plane and he was transported to hospital. Tests showed his ears were fine. As 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, it 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 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 sand 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, Ken and Paula Snyder

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. Ken Snyder 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 a Reverend Greer. The tension was so high, funeral directors opened two parlours to separate the families. Greer said it was clear that Thomas' 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, Greer 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 Watson's 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 countertop in disgust and I said there is something weird going on here.

After the funeral, neither the Watson family nor Reverend Greer called Tina's family again. Gabe attended grief counsellors 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 at his and Tina's home. His mother Glenda, quote, he didn't drink, date, party, go on trips, spend 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, no. 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 that Tina's family felt Gabe was somehow involved. After the funeral, Gabe 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. It was correct that 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's salary, which was around $34,000. This would go to her father Tommy. Prior to their honeymoon, Gabe requested that Tina increase the premium to facilitate an

increasing payout in the event of accidental death, and as her husband, make him the beneficiary. The update he wanted would mean the payout would be increased to about $175,000, and that money would go to Gabe, instead of $34,000 going to Tommy. Gabe made several inquiries into new life insurance policies in the lead-up to their wedding. Mark Hughes of OM Hughes Insurance had drafted quotes for $250,000 policies for Gabe, but in the end, Tina and Gabe's policies stayed as they were. Mark Hughes' notes dated September 8th, 2003, read,

Gabe wants to take a look at life insurance after the wedding, touch base in early December. When organising 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. It read, Please refer to the attached insurance policy under the heading General Exclusions and 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 realise scuba diving was an activity not covered in the policy he purchased. The travel agent who organised the honeymoon was apparently aware they would be scuba diving, but didn't arrange the correct cover. The Watson's 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 her assets. Gabe already had taken $12,000 of Tina's debt on his credit card because with her debt-to-income

ratio, she wouldn't qualify for the mortgage. Gabe had spent almost $5,000 on the funeral. He 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 their 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, Tommy contacted Ken Snyder. 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 story.

He explained that a distressed or panicked diver 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 over-weighted. He felt that Gabe's story that Tina became too heavy and at that point she began to sink was impossible. According to Ken, if Tina was 5-10 feet below Gabe as he claimed, that was only 2-3 fin kicks away.

There should have been no reason why Gabe couldn't have gotten to her, inflated her BCD and brought her up. He had rescue 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 Gabe his story didn't make sense.

Ken Snyder, quote, What really rang one of the loudest bells is when Gabe said she was 10 feet below him, comes out stretched 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 that really changed everything when he said that. And two days later, Gabe sending word through his attorney that because he was her husband, even though they'd only been married 10 days, that he had a right to all her stuff and I needed 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 first hand 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 he wanted to know was, if Gabe had actually come across to Tina while we were doing resuscitation on her. I was 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 he wouldn't go over there while they're trying to resuscitate her is, 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 get to have several conversations with the police.

They were indeed suspicious and said that it was a continuing, ongoing investigation. It had now been said out loud, suspicions were that Gabe deliberately drowned Tina. Ben Snyder and his friend Doug Milsen 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 Helena Police Department, Alabama. Flynn called Queensland police and learned of their suspicions.

Things didn't seem to be adding up. Police had already begun to piece the situation together. They had received statements from other divers who had serious doubts over Gabe's story. They also had the autopsy results and the analysis of dive equipment. These things, together with the inconsistencies in Gabe's account, meant police started to believe there was a real possibility Gabe had deliberately caused 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. It 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 Charlie Oswald. They were to report to David Glasgow, a coroner who specialised in marine and dive deaths.

A few days later, Gabe's lawyers in Alabama were informed that Australian police were lodging a submission to Interpol regarding the US 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 analysed every second and every centimetre

of the dive. They watched the tapes again and again of Gabe's 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 re-interviewed, 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 are quotes from Detective Sergeant Gary Campbell and Detective Senior Constable Kevin Garinger. Campbell, Detective Garinger and I sat down and broke down the record of interview and statement of Gabe, literally at 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, a Mr. Stempler. And he's taking a photograph of his wife. In the background, you can see Wade 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. Garinger. Gabe also mentioned in his statement that after he left Tina, he encountered two divers, and he was quite direct 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. Garinger. And there was nobody that had a single male diver approach them on the diver 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 his 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 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 that then raised the question with us.

What was he trying to hide? Garinger. 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 it 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 its logbook function. It showed the time Tina hit the water was 7.28pm, which incorrectly was still on Alabama time. The dive log function showed that Tina went through a depth of 89 feet, or 27 meters,

and 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 of 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 ascent 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 9 meters. The Yongala 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 spoil sport. He told the dive crew as well as police in both his interviews that this fixed the problem. An expert who worked for the company that made Gabe's dive computer told police and later testified at the inquest that if the battery was in backwards in the wrist component of the computer it would not sound an alarm, it 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 dive experts questioned why police didn't test Gabe's or Tina's transmitter. 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. Louise, 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 up.

He also put the regulator on her tank. Louise 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 vest. 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 she was carrying over 20 pounds or 9 kilos of weights. The amount of weight a diver carries on either a weight belt or in pockets within their BCD

as Tina had are dependent on the diver's 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 freshwater diving like the quarry they had trained in to 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 air making it impossible to go down further. In order to kick down you physically have to let air out of your BCD. A stressed and panicky diver may forget to let air out, meaning they would be unable to swim down. 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 to how she could have become unconscious. Police believed there was a real possibility that Gabe turned her air supply off and then 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. And diet expert Michael McFaddean 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 to Tina becoming unconscious approximately one and a half minutes, Gabe would then have to turn her valve back on. McFaddean suggests that Tina would have spat her mouthpiece 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.

McFaddean believes that Tina showed passive panic as opposed to full blown grasping for life panic. An important indication of conditions underwater is the air consumption used from a diver's tank. It's known that after their first dive attempt both Gabe and Tina returned to the spoil spot and their air was refilled to full. After that for the time that Tina was underwater she used a considerable amount of air, more than would be expected for the dive.

Expert divers have said this can be attributed to working against the current with a higher breathing rate or panic. When a diver panics they breathe faster and they use more air. If Gabe turned Tina's air supply off it would expect there to be more air left in the tank but a considerable amount had been used. Detective Sergeant Campbell commissioned a 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's 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 inexperienced 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 panic could even explain passing out. But if Tina didn't choke on vomit and her regulator was in and her air supply was on

how did panic explain 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. It took Gabe nearly three minutes to 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 ascent 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 Gabe had only descended to 15 meters and it took in 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 dive 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 has picked up

Tina on the ocean floor and gone to the surface he has covered twice the distance in 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. The next prominent point was Gabe's 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 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 realised that Gabe had manifestly downplayed his 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. 1.

Dropping her weights. 2. Sharing air from a second regulator. 3. 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 to save. 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 the couple had given to the trip director Wade Singleton during their interview when they boarded the sport. 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 Jr. Pool training dives were done in a normal swimming pool and the other dives were done

at the Bluewater 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 8 metres 25 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, fire truck and various structures to explore as you dive. Gabe's first dive was recorded in his logbook as a snorkel. That was listed as being done in the aquarium at Disneyland. He then received his certification over four dives, two at the quarry and two 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 to Bluewater quarry to train with Tom Jackson Jr. again. This time they trained for their advanced open water, nitrox and rescue diver certificates. During their rescue 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 Rex 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 $1,850 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 and did numerous one on one pool dives with her to get her confidence up. When she had to move 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 4m enclosed pool she held the side and would not move into the centre. The group then moved to the open quarry and descended 20 feet. Douglas Keckler 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 Yongala. 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 categorised as a green, yellow or red diver. As well as this each dive itself is categorised 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 diver's colour by conducting the personal interview as well as having the diver fill out a form detailing their experience. They also check the diver's qualifications and go over their logbooks.

Once these are all completed the trip director labels the diver into their tanks with coloured tags to signify to other staff what level the diver is. The traffic light system sets. A green diver is someone who has completed less than 15 ocean dives. They can dive in conditions of less than half a metre 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 dives can only be conducted by an insured, Mike Ball dive experience dive

staff member, not regular crew. After the orientation dive if the diver is assessed with marginal skills they cannot 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 has completed between 15 and 50 ocean dives. They can dive in conditions of less than one metre swells and a moderate current. A yellow diver must attend the orientation briefing and debriefing prior to first dive. A red diver is someone who has completed more than 50 ocean dives.

They can dive in conditions of more than one metre swell and a strong current up to 20 knots. A red diver can still be required to undertake orientation dives. The Yongala Shipwreck dive was regarded as a red dive. When Gabe and Tina were interviewed they handed over their logbooks and 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 dived 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 metres. Half of Gabe's dives were less than 10 minutes and half his dives were at a depth of less

than 30 feet 9 metres. Of 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 logbook showed she had completed five dives since her training. Approximately 90 minutes dive time in total. All dives under 30 feet or 9 metres and no ocean dives whatsoever. Tina's three training dives were all listed as aborted dives.

Gabe nor Tina mentioned to Wade during the interview that Tina had some panic issues and although Tina's 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 Yongala 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 Gabe and Tina declined but by law and under the Safe Scuba System Wade should

have insisted Tina be taken on an orientation dive. Outlined here are the responsibilities and duties which must be carried out by the dive company and the issues which were found in relation to Tina's case. 1. Duty of care. Trip director ensures that divers are correctly tagged according to the Safe Scuba System colour. The Gabe nor Tina's tanks were tagged with the appropriate colour referring to their level of skill.

2. Ensure all elements of Safe Scuba System are implemented. Wade did not tag passengers and he did not insist on orientation dives. He also didn't put up a list of each diver and their colour status as was required. 3. Dive site selection. Yongala, doers last day and a half of expedition. Between April and August can doers first day if weather is okay.

The spore sport went to the Yongala on the first day of the expedition but it was October so outside the guidelines. 4. Each guest fills out safe diving procedures form. Forms were not completed correctly. 5. Individual meeting with trip director, husbands and wives meet separately so as not to influence each other's answers.

Gabe and Tina were interviewed together. 6. Experience level coded plus orientations required noted on the Safe Diving Procedures form. Gabe was coded incorrectly and it should have been insisted that Tina be given an orientation dive. Gabe was also not 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 the consequences.

For example death. Tina didn't sign a waiver form. Four months prior to Tina's death the operations manager for Mike Ball Dive 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 colour guests' names. This 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 underwater and 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 for how play was involved back home in Alabama. Detective Brad Flynn from the Helena Police Department quote I 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 Garinger quote In mid to late 2005 we had discussions with Brad Flynn at the Helena 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 behaviour 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 that Garinger was talking

about. Arguments had started between Gabe and Tina's family over Tina's grave. Detective Brad Flynn 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 Tina's 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 that 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 notice that he wanted Tina moved. What? Why would you want to assume 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 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 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 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 make 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. Does it 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 claimed that Tina didn't like plastic flowers, so he was removing men for her. Gabe'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 Geringa, quote,

When we first embarked on the investigation, my initial thoughts were this was just the tragic drowning. We spent a couple of years investigating and as much as we followed the evidence, we couldn't corroborate Gabe's version. We kept coming up with all these lies 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 Yongala. I believe Gabe claimed there was a problem with his dive computer to get Tina back out

of the water and back to the spoil spot. That enabled the majority of divers to progress through the dive site, and thereby there were fewer witnesses as to what was going to unfold. When they re-entered the water, Gabe has taken Tina far enough away out of what he perceived to be the visible range of other divers. Police completed test dives and numerous re-enactments, including re-enactments at the Yongala. 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 air off. I believe she is fought back, and probably one of the few truths that Gabe has said underwater. She did damage some of his diving gear. She has probably dislodged his mask and or regulator. In a very short time though, she has been rendered unconscious. He then realizes that he has to turn her air back on, and he swims down onto her descending

body and turns her air tank back on, and this is the observations of Dr. Stutz, 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 or on the air tank, and we determined that it could be done. We thought we could show the means and opportunity in which Gabe had taken Tina's life, but we thought that we were lacking substantially in a motive. Around this time in 2005, Gabe had taken legal action in Alabama's Jefferson County Circuit Court to recoup the cost of their trip after the travel insurance company refused a payout.

Gabe was seeking $45,000 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 the Australian investigation into his wife's death 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.

It took several years of the Australian investigation to him 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, hard second look. Go do it. Gabe was over two years after Tina's death that investigators from Operation Charlie 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 Tina. In a sense that they never viewed any physical assaults but controlling behaviour. 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 that Gabe had purchased an engagement ring, had told her about it, had even shown her where it was sitting inside his 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 and 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 bride's maid 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 learnt 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 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 US congressman, a US senator and the Helena police chief urging them to have the matter investigated as a murder. In April 2006, Tina's family and Helena police went public with their suspicions that Gabe had killed Tina. They believed foul play was involved and started to share their suspicions and their feelings for Gabe nationwide.

Reverend Greer quote, I have no doubt that Thomas' believe everything they say but I see this as vindictive grief, somebody has to pay for what happened. Prussia was put on Queensland investigators from Operation Charlie 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 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 Geringa quote, Tina died in October 2003 but the investigation into Tina's death was very complex and protracted and spanned 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 Stutz was one of the doctors who attempted to revive Tina when she'd been brought to the surface. Detective Flynn from Helena Police, Alabama had flown to Boston and interviewed Dr Stanley Stutz. 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 Nulls from Queensland Police flew to Rhode Island, New York to interview Dr Stutz 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 Stutz 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 was in danger. Her eyes were wide open. The larger male diver, diver two, 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 diver 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 two were circling the torso of diver one. I am not in a position to say what the hands of diver two were doing behind her back. The arms of the male diver two 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 one's body movements did not change. There was no organized structure to her movements. When they separated, the male diver two ascended towards the surface. While diver one descended, I was able to make visual contact with her after the separation of the two divers for a 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 female, appeared lifeless. The third diver was holding diver one's 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 breakthrough witness account the investigators needed. Detective Flynn quote, When I went and interviewed Dr Sturz, who was very adamant about what he saw. So that was huge in our part because never in his statements did 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 Sturz 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 to sound more sinister. There is also criticism that Sturz 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 Sturz, Campbell and Knowles flew to Alabama. At 6.15 am 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 Gager from the FBI. Campbell turned on a recording device before entering, they seized the Gabe's computer as well as other documents. Gabe's father David and 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 blonde 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, they took various other statements, including one from Tina's father Tommy. Back in Australia on the 9th of May 2007, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions pleaded guilty in the Cairns 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 $187,000. Six weeks later, investigators from Operation Charlie Oswald produced a review statement of the investigation to the coroner David Glasgow. After reading the report submitted by police, the coroner David Glasgow caught an inquest into the death of Tina Watson. The investigation was criticised by some people for taking so long, but coroner Glasgow commended the investigation, quote.

Upon being fully resourced, Detective Gary Campbell has produced a mild inquiry as detailed and complete a picture as I have seen in my writeless 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 dive, and that 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 extent in a later interview, and others not. Gabe's counsel submitted that there is no logical and identifiable motive that might be able to explain this death as one of murder, and that police had misinterpreted evidence of witnesses wearing consistent. To quote the defense, police investigators have at some point determined that Gabe was guilty of murder and have endeavored 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 cannot 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 concern. Investigators took thorough steps to review and investigate all statements in their endeavor to determine what did occur during the fatal dive.

During the couple who Gabe says he tried to alert upon his assent to get help for Tina, they responded via email and denied 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 could not dismiss Gabe's claim that he did in fact contact a diver during his assent. Faced with the denials on the one hand, and Gabe's contrary assertion on the other, I

would be less than humane not to concede this has caused me concern as coroner. I do accept Mr. Zillman's submission that I cannot take the email denials 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. Stutz, who had a different version

of events. Gabe's counsel said that the evidence against his client, which could seem 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 as impartial an 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 in 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, I now propose to formally charge him and then address him through his solicitor in the terms of section 104 of the Justices Act. Gabe Watson, I formally charge you that on the 22nd day of October 2003, at the site

of the historical shipwreck Yongala, 48 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. Gabe Watson, you will have the opportunity to give evidence on oath before me and to call witnesses, but first I am going to ask whether you wish to say anything in 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 that 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 Gabe 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. Gabe 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 Gabe Watson. Gabe's lawyer indicated he would oppose extradition. Back in Alabama, the Helena 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. Flynn'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 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 love 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 fine. He left America with an outstanding murder indictment, he left here fully expecting to stand trial for murder. Gabe ordered a plane to Australia after a six week process of preparing a criminal justice

visa. When Gabe 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'll get a call from the Department of Public Prosecutions. He goes, Tommy, I've got some good news.

Paul 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 on 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 get a call just as we anticipated. They've asked us to consider a manslaughter plea. 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 indicted for. We want that to go to court in front of a jury with the evidence presented just like it should be. With Brad Flynn, quote, we knew that it was out of our hands.

The decision had already been made. Damn 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 DPP stated that Gabe Watson's manslaughter plea was accepted after a careful and thorough examination of the admissible evidence. The manslaughter plea 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 had just left her to die. Detective Flint, 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. That Gabe panicked, had a split second to make a decision, and had made the wrong one.

The judge's sentence was made taking only these factors into account. The judge, Justice Peter Lyons, noted that Gabe voluntarily returned to Australia. He said it was significant because Gabe didn't know that he wouldn't be charged with murder. He also noted Gabe's guilty plea. Justice Lyons, quote, you do not seek to pretend that your actions were other than what they were. You've failed to make any reasonable attempt to take the deceased to the surface. I therefore accept that you are 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 of 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 twelve month term.

Associate Professor David Field, 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 manslaughter. What would be a bad thing, of course, is if the charge had been reduced to manslaughter when in fact they could have proved murder. The coroner thought that the man should be committed for murder, but the coroner only had to be satisfied that a jury could convict. 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 DPP should have produced 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 10ers life was worth more than 12 months. Quote, Levying a 12 month sentence on Watson sends a terrible message to foreigners. If you desire to kill your spouse, Queensland should be your homicide destination. 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 is allowed to take the easy way out. He pleads guilty to manslaughter, and then, laughingly, it looks like he is the victim as the sentence is being read. On July 17, 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 six 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. 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, Troy King, Quote, I don't believe that a man who drowns his wife should be shown leniency, and 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 Tina, and not to just protect Tina, but to honour 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, and their lawyers were looking

at was even though Tina's death occurred in Australia. If any elements of the crime were planned in Alabama, conspired in Alabama, and executed in Alabama, then they may be able to hold Gabe criminally responsible for that. Don 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 I'm 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 Tina into training to dive, tricked 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 know to do now to try and get

justice for her and make up for that. The justice that she deserves. In all of this, as bad as everything has been, Wade 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 and their attorneys were well aware what Tommy and the Attorney General were threatening. Gabe's father, David quote, I think we were aware that Thomas's and Troy King were inspiring, 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 and years, and the Watson's 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 the Attorney General, who is of course elected, is 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 to not guilty of murder. Any blame has been paid for. His whole life has been in upheaval. His name has been 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 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 over 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 agree to take the death penalty off the table. On October 22, 2010, seven years to the day after Tina boarded the spoilsport, Alabama state prosecutors obtained the two capital indictments against Gabe Watson in Jefferson County. Gabe was released from prison on November 11, 2010. He was transported to an immigration detention centre in Melbourne until an official written statement confirming he would not face the death penalty if convicted was received by Australian authorities. On November 25, 2010, Gabe was deported to the US and 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 planned for the murder in the state of Alabama. They heard that in the week 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 even in curfews. The murder trial was

set to commence on May 23, 2011. 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 or possessions. On April 7, 2011, a month before the trial was due to begin, circuit judge Tommy Nail 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 date because most of the prosecution of witnesses lived outside the US. 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 sat emotionless 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 at Tina's graveside out of court. The prosecution tried to keep them in, quote, these are the defendant's own actions caught on videotape, vandalising his dead wife's grave. The judge ruled against the prosecution and said that any evidence of Gabe's behaviour 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 favourable to Gabe than to the prosecution. The defense was starting to run the show. Then Mike 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 and Mexico,

where they made drift dives in brisk current, dove to a depth of 50 feet and struggled with visibility of less than a metre. Mike Moore, quote, we had to go and get a diver sitting on the bottom and inflate their 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, 10 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 sighed in shock as the judge made his 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, Gabe 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. It was a bonehead move. It seemed irrational then with everything going on and my state of mind. Either 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, it just sort of rules it out. 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 courtyards.