Watson Murder Case - Discussion

[Divedoggie]

Ok, to counterpoint my original premise...
I have to admit that when I first started watching the Dateline presentation, the first thing that flashed through my head was that this was a witch hunt. So, to look at things from a different perspective, the investigators have missed some glaring facts.

1. It was determined that the victim drowned. In order to drown a person must inhale water. Even in an out of air situation, the regulator will act as a cork as long as it stays in the victim's mouth. The victim was found with regulator in the mouth AND air in the tank. The turning the air off/on theory explains asphyxiation but not drowning. The cause of death was determined to be drowning.

2. There are many documented cases of soldiers, police officers and other professionals "freezing" at a critical moment, which resulted in the death of fellow soldiers or officers. This could easily be the case with Gabe.
Now if Gabe panicked, and then had a minute or so of indecision, it would explain his profile and the timeline. It would also explain his anger and desire to remove the flowers from the grave because her family was blaming him. It's tough to admit that you are too scared to deal with a problem, especially when you are a big strong man who has portrayed himself as an expert.

3. If she were in a passive panic and basically refusing commands when Gabe contacted her, then say she knocked his mask off, he very well could have frozen and felt helpless by the time the mask was back on and cleared.

4. He could have been feeling a lack of confidence before the dive and used the computer excuse to get his wits about him. Being hurried and separated from the group could have added to both diver's stress level.

I witnessed an "advanced" diver go into passive panic during descent and fail to do anything to control buoyancy in any way. I made contact with her at 85 feet where she was sitting placidly on the bottom with arms slightly reaching upward and asked her if she was ok. She signaled OK, so I asked her to use her inflator and handed it to her. She promptly dropped it and signaled ok again. This routine occurred a couple more times until I decided to inflate her BC for her. I had to hammer on the inflator button for about 5 seconds before she began to achieve neutral buoyancy.

Mind you, she was not my buddy, but I decided to take that role for the rest of the dive while my former buddy joined her former buddy. She refused to use her inflator in any capacity during the entire ascent, so I controlled her ascent as if she were a liftbag. We did a nice safety stop and then I got her positive at the surface. When we debriefed she said that she had enjoyed the dive and didn't recall her inability to take control of herself.

I've also seen divers bite the mouthpiece on the reg but keep their lips apart in an un-natural position which prevents a seal. She could have had this happen to her without Gabe knowing what was going on...
It is very likely that the Australian court got it right.

 

[morecowbells]

I also watched the Dateline story. Forgive me it I accidentally missed some information but I have a couple of questions about this investigation. If anybody could enlighten me, I would appreciate it. 1) When Gabe ascended to change his battery, was there anybody(i.e. a captain or assistant) on the boat who can back up his story? 2) Does anybody know how much Tina was weighted? I know that I frequently have a hard time with equalizing my ears. If I feel a squeeze, I slowly ascend by fining a couple of times and try again, and again if necessary. Despite being weighted down, it has not been a difficult task to ascend when needed without the need to inflate my hose. 3) I am assuming they were the last of their dive group to go down the mooring line(which leads to speculation that was the whole reason behind the dive computer snafu). It looked like a good number of divers on this boat. I cannot speak for that dive op, but when I have been on larger capacity boats, usually there is a dive master in the front and at the end of the group. Was that not the case with this dive? Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Ayisha]

We don't have the answers to all of your questions.

1) The others were on the boat. Not certain how much attention they paid to what he actually did.

2) Tina was apparently wearing 17 kg or 37.4 lbs of lead.

We have not heard of any issue with Tina equalizing her ears. It was Gabe that said he couldn't equalize his ears.

3) Yes, they were the last of their boat to descend.

4) Gabe and Tina refused the orientation dive which would have provided a professional with them on the basis that Gabe was an experienced rescue diver and took responsibility for Tina, a brand new diver with 11 dives.

 

[Ayisha]

1. It was determined that the victim drowned. In order to drown a person must inhale water. Even in an out of air situation, the regulator will act as a cork as long as it stays in the victim's mouth. The victim was found with regulator in the mouth AND air in the tank. The turning the air off/on theory explains asphyxiation but not drowning. The cause of death was determined to be drowning.

The cause of death for most people who die while SCUBA diving is usually drowning. What caused the drowning is often not known, such as in this case. Tina had no water in her lungs and asphyxiated. Drowning victims actually often have very little water in their lungs since the initial inhalation usually causes a laryngospasm, preventing further water intake.

In the Coroner's Report found at http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/Watson20080620.pdf the coroner excluded the four possible explanations of accidental drowning as well as any medication contributing to her death.

 

[Divedoggie]

2) Tina was apparently wearing 17 kg or 37.4 lbs of lead.

?? I wonder if her vest style BCD could even achieve neutral buoyancy whilst fully inflated!!??
That is an insane amount of lead.

 

[Ayisha]

It sure is a lot of lead no matter what exposure protection she was wearing. It is also more lead than what Gabe was wearing, which was 13 kg or 28.6 lbs. Tina was half Gabe's size, petite and thin.

My ladies small BC has a lift capacity of 25 lbs. I could not get off the bottom with 37 lbs even with the vest fully inflated. I suspect most small typical BC's have a similar lift capacity.

BTW, there was a full discussion of Tina's weighting in the previous thread about this.

 

[Divedoggie]

It sure is a lot of lead no matter what exposure protection she was wearing. It is also more lead than what Gabe was wearing, which was 13 kg or 28.6 lbs. Tina was half Gabe's size, petite and thin.

My ladies small BC has a lift capacity of 25 lbs. I could not get off the bottom with 37 lbs even with the vest fully inflated. I suspect most small typical BC's have a similar lift capacity.

BTW, there was a full discussion of Tina's weighting in the previous thread about this.

I guess that's what I get for joining this thread after seeing the Dateline presentation.
Was there any concensus in the discussion of Tina's weighting in that previous thread?
Maybe she couldn't convert kg to lbs. But, even 13 lbs seems to be more than she would need. If she was finning hard to maintain neutral bouyancy, she could have become exhausted and overbreathed her regulator, sucking water around the mouthpiece...

BTW..the Coronor's Report was a good read. Thx!

 

[Ayisha]

Not so much (a consensus). Most people thought she was very overweighted, but I don't think everyone thought that. It was in this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/234548-diver-indicted-2003-gbr-mishap.html starting from (I believe) post #490, but it gets revisited starting from post #1045. It could be at other points, but that's what I could pick out right now.

If Tina was trying to convert, it could have been from 17 lbs, since she was wearing 17 kg. It was Gabe that was wearing 13.5 kg. 17 lbs would still be a lot in a thinner wetsuit in warm salt water for her body type, which can be seen in the photo of her resting on the bottom as well as her wedding photos days earlier.

 

[DandyDon]

I don't think I have seen the weight issue before? Anyone know what suit she was wearing?

?? I wonder if her vest style BCD could even achieve neutral buoyancy whilst fully inflated!!??
That is an insane amount of lead.

I can see me wearing up to 30# maybe in saltwater and a 7 mil suit, but then I dive a 40# lift BC and drill on weight ditching first dive of every trip. One of my pet peeves (Ok I do have several for the klutz diver I am) is that so many dead divers are found with all lead still attached. One of my top general reminders: Get positive!

Hypothetically, a panicked, sinking diver might lose her mouthpiece, then choke enough on water that reinserting her second stage before passing out might not work, perhaps with laryngospasm in play. One of my other top general reminders: Keep the reg in your mouth until back fully on the boat.

Refusing the checkout dive was a big mistake by both.

 

[Divedoggie]

Well now, that was a good use of my Eveline Woodhead sped redding course...lol. Seriously though, wow...what a huge number of posts, links, etc.
There is a debate as to whether she had 18-20 lbs or 38 lbs. Either way, far overweighted. For that matter, Gabe was far overweighted as well, which shows his inexperience.

I think that the DM asked her how much weight she needed and she requested the amount she thought she needed in lbs, but was handed kgs. Her OW instructor stated that she was prone to panic. In her first true OW situation, she was hopelessly overweighted, her husband/buddy was at best rusty, and most likely inexperienced as well. Being Rescue Diver certified does not mean that the diver was adequately trained, nor does it denote experience. I certainly wouldn't dive or dine with Mr Watson, but the douche defense is actually seeming more plausible than murder.

The press and "documentary" tv shows have crucified Gabe already. The propaganda certainly sucked me in at first. Tina's parents, like any grieving parents were looking for a reason, an explanation for losing their daughter. The fire was fueled by certified divers who project how they think they would have reacted in the same situation. The parents became convinced of foul play and rallied others to their cause. Now, after 7 or 8 years, they cannot see that a terrible accident occurred, and that there is a witch hunt for Gabe.