U.S. diver accused of honeymoon killing

This seems highly unlikely to me that a scuba diver would kill his wife, scuba diving is the be all end all to lifes problems and worries, I doubt a man would murder his obviously adventerous and fun wife while enjoying one of the most rewarding, and exciting hobbies around. Scuba diving is dangerous, a panic attack underwater could lead to an easy drowning death. I'm not saying that there is no way a man could kill his wife in this fashion, but seriously an amazing australian, scuba diving, honeymoon, dosnt sound like something i would plan on taking if I was secretly planning to murder my wife. I lovely vacation to Bratislava, or Iraq would probably be better for this type of trip. My friends all it takes is one mouthfull of water to drown, and all it takes is a little bit of panic to make a death like this happen.

So many questions but my number one, which goes to motive is, did he ever attempt to collect on the insurance?

THE FACT THAT HE WANTED HER TO MAKE HIM THE INSURANCE BENEFICIARY IS NORMAL. ASA MARRIED COUPLE, I AM SURE SHE WOULD HAVE WANTED ANY INSURANCE MONEY HAD HE DIED ON THEIR TRIP. THAT IS WHAT MARRIED PEOPLE DO. IF SHE FELT SUSPICIOUS ABOUT HIM NOT TO MAKE HIM BENEFICIARY, THEN SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE ON THE TRIP, AND CERTAINLY NOT HAVE MARRIED HIM,

what is strange is that another diver brought her to the surface-he had to go for help-I don't buy it, he was an experienced diver! very suspicious

There are so many variables to this that one cannot assess guilt on story alone. Rescuers are taught to assess the situation and to never put yourself in a dangerous situation that would result in making yourself a victim as well. There just aren't enough facts here to form an educated opinion.

I have thirty years of scuba experiance and I will say this. In an emergency situation like this your instinct, especially for a US FROG is to get your buddy to the surface. He is a highly trained US diver and he didn't follow the most basic procedures. His story has changed and it is weak. He left his buddy (the woman he loved??) lying on the bottom, she lied to him about changing her beneficiary (her gut instinct?), the video of his explanation is wrought with pauses as he thinks about "what happened". Way to calm in how he talks...the authorities have this one right. If found guilty he will rot in hell. For what a few hundred thousand in life insurance proceeds? Another self centered loser...

I agree on the part of the insurance $$ is a normal thing when couples get married. Me and my wife did the same thing. I'll be damned if my in-laws would get all the money if something happened to my wife. We have the bills they don't.
On the drowning as a "murder weapon" is a smart one if he wanted to kill his wife. Strangulation, shooting, stabbing and poisoning all leave marks, bruises and evidence all over postmortem. If you want to drown her just knock her regulator out or turn off her tank. Anyway you look at it this is most likely the worst way to die!

Sounds like they need to get Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy on the defense team for the groom- he is experienced with leaving a person in need and going to get help, and returning hours later when he can do no good.

I don't agree on the insurance. If my spouse to be was making a big deal about my naming him as beneficiary BEFORE we were even married I would have to wonder. So I have to ask, he's an experienced diver, a RESCUE diver no less, he doesn't go to her assistance but instead goes to get help at what would appear to be a leisurely pace (as the diver who recovered her body went deeper than the husband claimed HE went and returned with her body faster than it took the husband to resurface) told several different stories to the police, his OWN dive watch (sorta a mini computer telling depth gone, time, etc) does not support his story, did her try to make a claim on her insurance and if so how long did it take him to do so.

I watched the Dateline account of this gruesome crime and heard all the family members talk about Tina and that guy she married. I believe he did it; the insurance policy being the motive. What other reason would there be to kill her?? She did the training necessary for this, even though she didn't want to. She did the training because they were going to honeymoon here and this was the way to bond with him. The scuba trainer even said she didn't want to do the training, so the husband played on her fear and killed her. I will be very pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong.

What's the deal with the date? Is the year 2003 or 2008?

I agree with the poster about the first instinct is to help your partner; in this case his new wife! How could an experienced diver ever think that swimming to the surface, calling for help, waiting for it to arrive, THEN going to save her could possibly be the best course of action? I have a hard time believing a guy who most likely also was dramatically stronger and bigger than his wife could be "worried" so that he would rather let her go than save her. This guy is about as guilty as it gets.

I have a little diving experience, and I think the husband's story just doesn't add up, I believe he killed her. It might make a little more sense if they were in really deep water, then if for some reason she was just sinking without even trying to surface (very unlikely, unless she was unconcious), and he couldn't catch her, it MIGHT make sense for him to surface after descending to the limits of safe diving. He could have gone down after her to at least 120 feet before really getting into trouble. I've dove off reefs that were in water several hundred feet deep, and you have to really watch your depth, it's easy to drift down farther than you want to go. If someone started sinking fast in water that deep, there's only so much you can do. But the bottom was ONLY 100 FEET. If she was sinking, he would know that all he had to do is follow her to the bottom, and he could grab her, inflate her BC and ascend. To abandon her at 45 feet just doesn't make any sense at all. You don't abandon your dive buddy, much less your wife, at 45 feet when that person is in trouble. There is a lot more that doesn't make sense about his story, but that really stands out for me.

Another thing that doesn't make sense about his story, if she was just sinking, in free fall, she would have been moving with the current, he should have been able to catch her with a couple of good kicks, because he would have been moving with the current also. Also, one reason divers are taught never to dive alone, and never to leave their buddy, is because there's always a chance you could run out of air, or your equipment could malfunction. Each diver has 2 regulators (hose and mouthpiece you breathe through), 1 is a backup. If your buddy is in trouble, you offer them your spare regulator, you don't leave them. Going to get help doesn't make sense, because if your buddy's not getting air, they will be dead long before you get back. You stay with them and make sure they can breathe. He actually had rescue training, if he wanted her to live, he would not have left her. There was no risk to him to follow her to the bottom and grab her, and a whole lot of risk to her for him to leave her to "go for help."

its a tough one! i tried scuba diving and i got clausterphobic quick and got out.initialy i didnt know i was untill i did it.so that could of happened to her .the only thing is leaving her on the bottom to go for help.thats the smoking gun.no one would do that to the one you love,leave them alone....she must of been petriied before she died .

MSNBC should not have a photo of the dead lady on the site. For God's sake, don't they care about the relatives first? Bad taste.

"In the interviews, Watson said his new bride apparently had trouble a few minutes into the dive, panicked and clutched at his mask, pushing it off his face. He described seeing her, with her eyes wide and arms outstretched toward him, sinking into the deep.

The groom, an experienced diver who had completed a dive rescue course, was acting as a so-called dive buddy for his less-experienced wife. He told police he decided to go for help rather than following her to the sea floor and attempting a rescue."

Certified PADI diver here since 1977, and according to the article quoted above HE FAILED MISERABLY both as a diver, buddy, and husband. His first reaction should have been attempt to calm his panicked wife, drop both his and her weight belts, attempt to buddy-breathe, inflate the BCs and surface ASAP. This individual acted irresponsibly that is very true; but I fail to see 'murder' here as the authorities are implying. Negligent homicide maybe if one stretches it.

Lots of questions and no answers....How much experience did the victim actually have? It's a little late now, but was the victims dive equipment impounded and examined by qualified personnel, and in whose presence? Is it still impounded? Who is guarding the chicken coop? Article states, panicked minutes into dive, perhaps a failure to turn on air supply? Maybe an empty cylinder? So many variables here. But one FACT still remains clear.....'buddy/husband' FAILED TO ACT APPROPRIATELY!

collin339290: Seems like the perfect opportunity to me. What does SCUBA diving being adventurous and fun have to do with wanting your wife dead?

I'm an experienced scuba diver and absolutely do not believe that any single diver out there, not one, especially one who has significant experience such as the husband, would choose to swim away from a diver in distress (sinking, arms outstretched to him, eyes wide open), choosing instead to seek help from someone else who may be minutes away to even offer any assistance. This is more unbelievable given the fact that the diver in distress was his new bride, and he knew that she was inexperienced as a diver. BS, his story is utter BS. Each and every single diver reading this would have tried to get her to the surface immediately and not swim away from a SINKING human being. Your underwater training prepares you for situations such as this. Now, imagine if your loved one was in a pool and started to sink to the bottom; you see them calling for your help. You're an experienced swimmer and are standing there, watching them sink. Do you jump in immediately to help them or do you go inside the house looking for help? Look at the picture in the story - someone else was heading to help the poor woman laying at the bottom of the floor - if he was searching for help - where is he in the picture? Wouldn't he be leading them to his new bride? What about the diver in the picture posing for the camera - he was close by, why didn't the husband ask for their help - the photographer too.

I think he killed her. I've no experience with diving but I couldnt abandon a loved one like that, it makes no sense, if you're heading to the surface, at least they have a chance. On the video, he sounds unemotional, and cold until the very end and then his emotions seem forced and phony. Did you notice he doesnt look the authorities in the eye? The whole thing sounds hinky. Re: the insurance, I can see wanting insurance if they share a lot of debt, but if they dont???

Anything can happen diving. I have been diving since 1996. Narcosis, panic, bad aluminum tanks with no oxygen in them. I have seen rescue instructors panic and a person will rip that regulator write out of your mouth. I don't care who you are it happens. Also a diver wouldn't give up a great dive like the once in a lifetime dive they were on. There is a situation overlooked. If both divers have been having trouble (witch it looked like) the mind a different depth act different. Decending to rapidly for even the most expierianced diver can cause narcisis. ALL DIVERS have had life threatning situations. Some do die. The only way to see the situation is to go on a dive and forget something. It's not like OH I FORGOT my tooth brush trip. Its like filters haven't been changed at the place filling the tanks, Of didn't inspect
the inside of the tank for oxidation(this removers all the oxegen from air and only leave nitrogen).
Brand new tanks can even have this condition. There is more to this story. If they were fighting all the time and he was thinking about the money. There is probably a two year clause for such a policy.
So I Highly doubt he killed her for the money. And it would be way too hard to plan it. If you cant breath diving your gonna panic and shoot for the suface. In the picture sure does look like thats what he is doing. Hes pumping realy hard with those rock hard fins for the suface. Checking his guages. He's in distress also. If you agree you must be a diver, if you don't you need to get out of the house more(couch potato)

collin, what a knucklehead. the guy's trained in rescue but instead of making an attempt, for his new bride, he bails on her?! and just how do you justify a trip w/your wife to iraq? I want to know bc I want send my ex there.

Interesting story, did anyone see the one liner that he lived in a home he "inherited" from his former model wife? Just wondering how she died...

Thrawn, there's no picture of him heading for the surface, and his dive computer shows his ascent was slower than needed for safety, between 2 and 3 minutes to go up 45 feet. The picture was taken by another diver, and shows the wife already laying on the bottom, the person swimming towards her is the divemaster who just saw her and realized she was in trouble. Everything you say about a diver in distress applies to the wife as well, a diver in distress does not just throw up their hands and sink while looking mutely at their husband. According to his story, the husband was never in distress, his wife supposedly knocked off his mask, he let go of her to fix it, and she started sinking so fast he couldn't catch her. He never said she tried to rip his regulator out of his mouth, or even that she couldn't breathe, according to him she just passively threw up her hands and sank. His story is full of holes.

Also, if someone grabs your regulator out of your mouth, you have a backup, and you put it in your mouth. I learned that in a basic dive certification class. Certainly, fear of having someone grab your regulator would not make most people leave their dive buddy in 45 feet of water, unless they really didn't like their buddy very much. And, all of the wife's equipment checked out, none of it malfunctioned, and nothing was wrong with her tank. Her air was turned on, and her regulator was in her mouth. If he turned off her air, he had to turn it back on.