An Alabama man who already served prison time in Australia after pleading guilty to a reduced charged in the death of his bride goes to trial Monday, accused of murdering her for insurance money. Tina Thomas Watson drowned during a scuba dive on the reef just days after her wedding in October 2003.
. . .Watson, 34, and Tina met in college. They wed and went to Australia to dive — a trip prosecutors claim Watson meticulously planned so he could kill the 26-year-old woman and make it appear like an accident.
Watson is accused of killing Tina Watson by turning off her air supply and bear-hugging her as she drowned while diving on a shipwreck in 2003. Don Valeska, an assistant state attorney general handling the case, argues Watson killed the woman believing he could collect on a modest life insurance policy. . .
I heard that he was caught destroying the flowers placed at his wife's grave. Classsy guy.
There's also a rather eerie photograph that was taken by other nearby divers where, in the background, you can see her laying on her back at the bottom.
A diving instructor swims to Tina Watson?s aid as she lies on the ocean floor while husband Gabe Watson surfaces. (Courtesy Townsville Bulletin/AP Photo)
AND the life insurance?
Instead, it was his wife's father, Tommy Thomas, an insurance agent, who collected her $33,000 life insurance policy.
Thomas claims his daughter came to him right before her marriage for advice. He claims Watson asked Tina to increase her life insurance to the max of $130,000 and make him the beneficiary instead of her father.
Thomas says he told his daughter to "deal with it later" and to tell Watson she had made the changes.
