Date | 22 October 2003 |
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Time | 11:27 a.m. (AEST; UTC+10:00) |
Location | Yongala wreck Great Barrier Reef Townsville, Queensland Australia |
Coordinates | 19°18′27″S 147°37′31″E / 19.30750°S 147.62528°E |
Participants | Tina Watson and Gabe Watson |
Outcome | Death by drowning |
Deaths | Tina Watson |
Burial | Southern Heritage Cemetery, Pelham, Alabama, U.S. |
Inquest | Townsville |
Coroner | David Robert Glasgow |
Suspects | Gabe Watson |
Charges | Murder |
Convictions | Manslaughter (Australia) |
Tina Watson was a 26-year-old American woman from Helena, Alabama, who died while scuba diving in Queensland, Australia, on 22 October 2003. Tina had been on her honeymoon with her new husband, American Gabe Watson, who was initially charged by Queensland authorities with his wife's murder. Watson pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
Evidence presented at the trial included Watson's differing accounts of what had happened on that day, of the couple's diving experience (or lack thereof), and of Tina's life insurance. While Watson was serving his term in Australia, authorities in Alabama flagged an intention to charge him with murder at a later date. After his release, he was deported to Alabama on the condition that he would not be sentenced to death if found guilty of murder. Watson was then put on trial, but on 23 February 2012, Judge Tommy Nail dismissed the murder case due to lack of evidence.