Death of Tina Watson
unexplained murder in 2003 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christina Mae "Tina" Thomas Watson (13 February 1977 – 22 October 2003), was a 26-year-old American from Helena, Alabama. She died on her honeymoon on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia in 2003. She had only been married to her husband, David Gabriel "Gabe" Watson, for 11 days when she died. The doctor who performed the autopsy said she drowned in a scuba diving accident.[1]
Six years later, Gabe Watson was charged for murder and manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sent to prison for a year by an Australian court.[2] Six months were added to the prison sentence after an appeal that took place just six weeks later. The appeal was held as soon after the trial as possible because of concerns raised by Tina's father with the trial itself. However, the appeal judges had agreed with the trial judge on most of the issues except the six month increase in the prison sentence.
Tina was a Southern Baptist and a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She worked as a departmental manager at the small Southern department store chain, Parisian. She was buried at the Southern Heritage Cemetery, in Pelham, Alabama, USA.[3]