Haunting detail behind seemingly innocent underwater photo that led to husband's murder trial
A haunting detail in a photo of a man and his wife underwater scuba diving led to a murder trial.
The image taken in 2003 was that of Gabe Watson and his new bride, Tina Watson, on their honeymoon. Just 11 days after getting married, the American couple were scuba diving from a dive boat in Queensland, Australia.
However, Tina, 26, went missing after a strong current had caused them to drift off course. Then a photo accidentally taken by a fellow diver showed her lifeless body laying on the seabed floor.
Gabe was first put on trial for Tina's murder in 2009 and reportedly broke down in court when he was shown the photo.
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As reported by The Mirror, he explained: "As soon as we let go, we were moving, moving quite a bit... it was definitely not what I was expecting, and neither was Tina."
He claimed in a 2012 interview with Elizabeth Vargas that they couldn't swim against the current to get back, and that he'd told his wife to fill up her buoyancy compensator so that they could float back up, but he revealed that it didn't work as 'nothing happened' from the inflater hose.
"That was when I realised, you know, We're -- This isn't good. We're in trouble. So I reached out and grabbed a hold of the b.c. strap right there." he said.
"And I just pulled her in, and then I turned and started heading back to the anchor rope."
Then disaster struck as he said that on their ascent, he felt a 'whack' across the face from Tina, displacing his mask, and as he let go to readjust it, he looked back to see his wife 10 feet down and continuing to sink, as reported by ABC News.
"She was face up, and she had her arms up. She was reaching out for me to grab ahold of her," Watson said.
"I kinda just turned on my head and gave a few kicks down to see if I could grab her, and she was still out of arm's reach. And that I just decided I got to go find somebody."
He then swam to the surface, later admitting: "I don't think I was making rational choices at that point. I don't know what I would have done had I stayed with her. I don't know that there's anything that I was actually capable of doing."
He said he then called for help, with a dive master going down to find Tina and bring her up, after which several crew members and passengers made numerous attempts at resuscitating her for 40 minutes.
After initially being charged for murder by Australian authorities, Watson was later plead guilty to the charge of negligent manslaughter, and he served 18 months in an Australian prison for a four and a half year sentence, ABC News reported at the time.
A murder retrial in Alabama was thrown out by a judge in 2012 due to a 'lack of evidence' to convict him.
According to The Guardian, Judge Tommy Nail acquitted Watson on his own, agreeing with defence that prosecutors had failed to prove that he had allegedly planned to kill his wife for insurance money.
Diving medical expert Dr Carl Edmonds said that 'it all fits together... as a very common drowning accident'.
Additional words by Joshua Nair.
Anish Vij