Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Murder alleged as defense in dive death case
BY ROBERT SILK Free Press Staff
rsilk@keysnews.com
KEY LARGO -- Eugene "E.B." Jackson is no longer under investigation in the suspicious 2008 Key Largo scuba diving death of girlfriend Joanne Page.
But in a civil case stemming from Page's death, the dive boat operator the couple used that day is raising the possibility that Jackson murdered his lover.
Jackson "may have intentionally caused [Page's] death by causing trauma to her throat and neck," wrote Mark Hruska, attorney for the former It's A Dive Scuba shop in a Feb. 9 brief.
The contention is part of It's A Dive's defense in a negligence lawsuit filed against the shop by Page's daughter, Alexis Moose, on behalf of the estate. If Jackson killed Page, then It's A Dive would not be liable for her death, Hruska argued.
Now, with Hruska among those scheduled to depose the hotel builder from Salisbury, N.C. on July 13, it's likely Jackson will face questions under oath about what caused the bruises and fractures on Page's neck.
Such a deposition could shed light on the lingering mystery of Page's most unusual death.
As detailed in a Free Press story last month, Page, who was 51 and a mother of two, was visiting the Keys from North Carolina with Jackson when she died during a dive trip at French Reef off Key Largo on Oct. 30, 2008. Jackson and Page were separated from the dive boat and alone at the time, reports say.
An autopsy later revealed neck cartilage fractures and a series of small bruises to the muscles of the front part of Page's neck -- injuries that would suggest strangulation, Monroe County Medical Examiner Hunt Scheuerman said in a recent interview.
Nevertheless, Scheuerman, who was then relatively new to scuba-related autopsies, ruled the cause of death "undetermined.
"Had this person been on dry land, I unequivocally would have said this was strangulation," he told the Free Press last month.
Despite the medical examiner's official finding, the autopsy spawned a 10-month Monroe County Sheriff's Office investigation into Page's death. And since she and Jackson were alone when she died, the then-58-year-old Jackson was the investigation's sole target, records show.
But last September, the office of State Attorney Dennis Ward decided not to file charges in relation to Page's death. Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne recently said the medical examiner's finding of "undetermined" was key in that decision.
Jackson has previously told investigators he tried to save his girlfriend after he saw her floating on her back while he struggled against large swells to reach the dive boat, records show.
During the investigation he sat for two interviews with detectives but declined to sit for a voice stress analysis. Neither of the two interviews were conducted under oath.
Jackson declined to comment for this story and his attorney, Lawrance Craig III, didn't return phone messages from the Free Press. It's A Dive attorney Hruska also declined to comment for this story.
Strange mix
Meanwhile, the civil court case features a strange mix when it comes to who's making the allegations, and who isn't.
Moose brought the case in the spring of 2009 against It's A Dive and the Key Largo Marriott, where the shop was located. She claims that the parties failed to take the proper safeguards during Page's dive excursion and thereby caused her mother's death. She added Jackson as a defendant in January.
But Moose, through attorney Gary Juda, isn't accusing Jackson of any foul play against her mother. Rather, the suit asserts that Jackson was negligent in looking out for Page during that fateful diving trip.
Jackson, the suit claims, fractured Page's neck while attempting to keep her above water and otherwise failed to look after her in the manner a diving partner should have.
Juda didn't return phone calls from the Free Press.
Jackson denies any negligence in his former lover's death.
Page, reads an April 8 brief on Jackson's behalf, "realized and appreciated the possibility of harm or injury as a result of the danger and, having a reasonable opportunity to avoid it, voluntarily exposed herself to the danger, and thereby assumed the risk for the ultimate consequence."
Jackson has also filed his own negligence claim against It's A Dive and Marriott Key Largo Beach Resort.
But even though Page's daughter is claiming negligence and nothing more in suing Jackson, the couple's dive boat operator is still raising questions about what happened that Oct. 30 day.
If Jackson did intentionally kill Page, It's A Dive's defense reads, then his actions would be an "intervening cause that isolates [It's A Dive] from any liability for the damages and injuries complained of."
rsilk@keysnews.com
