Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[vicdiver656]

When I was in Europe, this came across the news, and had a whole lot more details than were nice to know. First of all, it's hard to know the truth, because his wife was a very new diver, and was found at 90 feet, a little deep for me. Second, this man was a registered rescue diver, and made no effort to help his struggling wife. So, it's very hard to know the truth.

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

NOT TRUE! I can tell you with 100% certainty that I'm going to try to save my Wife Far harder than I have read that the diver in question tried or at the very least die trying! so Yes I can predict my own actions in This very same situation....Thank you very much. Sure it's up to the courts and not me but it's still a very lame rescue attempt by someone who was still supposed to be IN LOVE and just married. He is at least a coward if we are to believe that he "Just rocketed to the surface" he was afraid he was going to get the bends but in the end, his wife died. I'm not saying he is guilty of murder, I'm saying he is guilty of a lame rescue attempt and I believe that that lends people to be skeptical of his story

I agree with you...we discussed this same thing in this thread

 

[Crimson Ghost]

I think the concept of what we would do / what he didn't do has deviated slightly. For those that say "you don't know what you would do in a panic situation / or a pain situation" first off, your right - no way to know otherwise. BUT, this guy did not say he was having difficulties equalizing, he did not say he was panicked - he said that she was panicking and he was kicking as hard as he could and she was sinking faster, so he made the decision to surface - so he had clear thought and obviously a VERY controlled ascent.

So I say - that given THAT situation, I am saving my wife (ie, not murdering her and making up stories after the fact).

Now, if I were to off the little lady while diving - I must admit, I'd do it deeper, pull the reg and play keep away (being larger and stronger). wouldn't there be bruising if he actually did do the "bearhug" thing? I don't know, I just feel that given his story and the ascent rate that he's guilty - perhaps a very sick person that just decided to "see what would happen" or "see what its like to kill her".

But to mine (and probably others) point, given this situation with the stated details - I am going after my wife, I would give my life for hers in a heartbeat.

 

[ERIC.K]

I fully accept that this is what you would want to do, or that this is what you think you would do. But you have no idea what the circumstances of any accident will be, so its impossible to predict your own actions. Certainty becomes more possible when you have extensive training and experience, but most divers never have a reason to panic, so judging what you would do is futile. Even less do we have any idea what happened in this case, or how the defendant reacted. We should be fully skeptical, but I find it pretty slanderous how people like Nancy Grace automatically assume that because he is a man, it must have been murder. Had it been the other way around, we would automatically assume an accident.

LOOK SERIOUSLY, I'm not looking to get involved in any fight, but if you can sit there and say that you honestly wouldn't know how you would react to the dire events a LOVED one is experiencing then you have far greater problems than I. It appears that I'm not going to convince you of my actions past or present but being an Emergency Room nurse of 15 years and a EMT-I for 8 of those years I have far proven to myself that I am someone that wouldn't "ROCKET TO THE SURFACE" and then Chuckle that "I'm surprised I didn't get the bends" while the coroner is signing my wife's death certificate. The truth of the Matter was that this wasn't a cave rescue, not a wreck penetration rescue and on some of the dive boats i've been on a semi-trained free-diver could have at least attempted a more thoughtout and apparently more successful rescue then GABY here. I can assure you jviehe as God himself is my witness as I'm typing this I'm looking at my 2 year old and 6 month old Daughters as well as my wifes picture on the wall. I WOULD GO TO MY GRAVE PROTECTING MY FAMILY

 

[K_girl]

BUT, this guy did not say he was having difficulties equalizing, he did not say he was panicked - he said that she was panicking and he was kicking as hard as he could and she was sinking faster, so he made the decision to surface - so he had clear thought and obviously a VERY controlled ascent.

Correction - in the Nancy Grace story, there was a series of text screens that talked about the inconsistencies in his statements. These screens flashed by pretty quickly. He claimed that he did not go down for her for several reasons: 1) she was too heavy and sinking too fast, so he was afraid of getting DCS; and 2) his ear drums ruptured.

Mind you, the Nancy Grace report did not state that he said his ear drums were hurting, it stated that he said his ear drums ruptured and they did not discuss it. How reliable this information is, I can't tell you. Because it is CNN, I'm hoping that they checked their sources and their information is correct as reported. I still have the show on my Tivo.

 

[ERIC.K]

I'm NOT a big Nancy Grace fan, hated her ever since she halfway endorsed a Aruba tourism ban after the Natalie Calloway story, Obviously another awful story but I have always found the people of Aruba to be wonderful and I felt she unfairly judged the Island, So I'm not defending or judging his participation in his Wife's death, I am however judging his rescue attempts, I give him a F-. Let's not forget that a piece of the evidence is a recreational diver's recreational photo taken with a dead diver in the background and the conditions appear...I wasn't there, to be more than favorable to a succesful rescue, no silt outs, from the picture it doesn't seem like people are being drug miles out to sea by currents and it WAS'NT deep Another interesting piece of information that I found even more compelling for this story is the fact that Gabe married someone's daughter, Gabe apparently has not had any contact with his SOULMATE'S parents since 2000 and freakin 3 (2003) I would suspect that if, God forbid My wife had somehow died on our honeymoon that I would have certainly remained somewhat close and at the very least felt I had some type of dept to repay to my inlaws for not upholding vows of marriage to love and protect. I have the same feeling here that I did with the Scott Peterson case....maybe he did it, maybe he didn't but the story he has come up with just makes him pathetic in my book.

 

[ERIC.K]

Correction - in the Nancy Grace story, there was a series of text screens that talked about the inconsistencies in his statements. These screens flashed by pretty quickly. He claimed that he did not go down for her for several reasons: 1) she was too heavy and sinking too fast, so he was afraid of getting DCS; and 2) his ear drums ruptured.

Mind you, the Nancy Grace report did not state that he said his ear drums were hurting, it stated that he said his ear drums ruptured and they did not discuss it. How reliable this information is, I can't tell you. Because it is CNN, I'm hoping that they checked their sources and their information is correct as reported. I still have the show on my Tivo.

This guy was rescue diver trained right? sinking too fast to a HARD bottom? too heavy? how about ditching her weights MR. Resue diver. Lastly I have taken care or several Barotramatic tympanic membrane ruptures and all report decreasing pain after the rupture, certainly making a rescue easier. this story is pathetic all around

 

[Crimson Ghost]

Correction - in the Nancy Grace story, there was a series of text screens that talked about the inconsistencies in his statements. These screens flashed by pretty quickly. He claimed that he did not go down for her for several reasons: 1) she was too heavy and sinking too fast, so he was afraid of getting DCS; and 2) his ear drums ruptured.

Mind you, the Nancy Grace report did not state that he said his ear drums were hurting, it stated that he said his ear drums ruptured and they did not discuss it. How reliable this information is, I can't tell you. Because it is CNN, I'm hoping that they checked their sources and their information is correct as reported. I still have the show on my Tivo.

Interesting, that's not what he originally said in the police report - nor is it what the Dive guide (the one that picked him up) said that he said. Very sad.

I wish I saw the nancy grace story, has someone posted the transcript? so many posts its hard to catch up.

Eric - I hear you and fully agree man.

 

[K_girl]

Interesting, that's not what he originally said in the police report - nor is it what the Dive guide (the one that picked him up) said that he said. Very sad.

I wish I saw the nancy grace story, has someone posted the transcript? so many posts its hard to catch up.

Eric - I hear you and fully agree man.

Do you know where there is a link to the police report(s)? There was more than one interview as Sargeant Flynn stated in the MSNBC report and their report only showed bits and pieces of the first interview. So far, I don't think anyone in the public has seen the full police investigation file, so we don't know everything that Watson said in every interview. There was more than one interview conducted before he left the country, and I believe some interviews were conducted over the phone after he left the country. The only thing that has been officially published is the Coroner's findings. We are getting just bits and pieces of information that is referred to in the Coroner's findings.

If I get a chance to transcribe the relevant portions of the Nancy Grace show, I'll do that.

 

[ERIC.K]

K_girl's post of the interview with Gabe was most compelling for me and I thank you, I'm going to cut Gabe a break for a moment, just a moment. He was picked up by the Spoil Sport's inflatable but yet his wife was taken to another boat? and then cared for by medical professionals with Gabe on another boat? first of all if Gabe was truely fearing a dangerous rescue and decided to get to the surface wouldn't one want then to assess the situation and then become more involved in the rescue? shouldn't Gabe at least directed a search team to her last known spot? for me I felt it was implied that he simply returned to his dive boat. After hearing that his wife had been found wouldn't a person concerned for his wife's well being want to go to the dive boat where his wife was being cared for? after all he would have been the next of kin responsible for making medical decisions at that point. I can only imagine that I would have been in complete and utter agony knowing that the last memory of my NEW bride was lifeless and sinking and to know she was on another boat with CPR or at the very least treatment. Well you would have had to lock me in the head to prevent me from swimming to the boat where she was being treated. I have problems with this whole sory from top to bottom. Like I said pathetic and quite sad all around. I almost hope that he actually did have a hand in her death instead of believeing his pathetic story of his own strong self preservation reflex. Hell, If this is what we have to expect from dive buddies I might one day be assigned to i'm going tomorrow check my scuba shops next solo diver certification class. My whole problem, and I'll slow up my tirade, I would have expected a little more valant rescue attempt from a newlywed. All I see is a pathetic wuss with a pathetic story