Gabe Watson, infamously known as the “honeymoon killer,” is now leading a peaceful family life in the United States, decades after his wife’s mysterious death during a scuba diving trip on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Residing in Birmingham, Alabama, Watson returned to the U.S. 15 years ago, following his extradition from Australia. He had served an 18-month prison sentence for the manslaughter of his bride, Tina, during their honeymoon in Queensland.
Known formally as David Gabriel Watson, he currently resides with his wife, Kim, a science teacher at a local middle school, and their two children. Their home, complete with a basketball hoop in the driveway, reflects a typical suburban American lifestyle, as reported by the Courier Mail.
The family lives in a tranquil neighborhood, where residents greet each other warmly and children wait for school buses each morning. The community embodies a sense of calm and routine.
At 48, Watson is engaged in the family packaging supply business, which he took over from his parents. The business is situated in an industrial area characterized by numerous abandoned buildings adorned with graffiti and overgrown vines.
Interestingly, his workplace is just a couple of doors away from the founding chapter of Alabama’s Vikings Motorcycle Club, adding a unique touch to the industrial locale.
Despite countless podcasts, media articles, online interest and a movie, Watson’s criminal past is virtually unknown in Birmingham, Alabama’s second biggest city, with a population of about 200,000.
It was reported staff at a diner have never heard of Watson nor his notorious ‘honeymoon killer’ moniker.
Gabe Watson (left) pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his bride Tina
Watson is living in Birmingham with wife Kim (right)
More than two decades on, Tina’s mysterious death still musters speculation while internet sleuths and podcasters regularly resurface the case online.
A movie based on the events titled ‘Fatal Honeymoon’ was released in 2014.
Watson and Tina had been married for just 11 days when she died while scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef at the Yongala shipwreck off Townsville in October 2003.
Watson was an experienced rescue diver but Tina was a novice.
A Queensland coroner who examined Tina’s death formally charged Watson with his bride’s murder in 2008.
The coroner said claims made by Tina’s father Tommy Thomas that Watson had asked his bride to ‘increase her life insurance and make him the beneficiary’ could ‘provide admissible evidence of a motive for murder’.
‘There are only two persons who know or knew what in fact actually occurred. One is Tina who cannot tell us and the other, Gabe,’ Coroner David Glasgow said in 2008.
In an infamous photo from the watery scene of the fatal dive, Tina’s body is depicted floating horizontally along the ocean floor.
In an infamous photo from the watery scene of the fatal dive, Tina’s body is depicted floating horizontally along the ocean floor
Tina and Watson married in 2003
Tina died while scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef
Watson eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and, on appeal, was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison.
Watson pleaded guilty on the ‘basis of causing his wife’s death by being criminally negligent as her dive buddy’ and ‘not for intentionally inflicting harm’.
‘The consequences to the life of Mrs Watson as a result of his breach of duty were virtually guaranteed,’ the Queensland prosecution said during the court case.
‘He virtually extinguished any chance of survival by allowing her to sink to the sea bed.’
Watson was extradited to the United States to face a murder charge after serving his 18-month jail term in Queensland but only after the Australian government secured a promise from US officials he would not face the death penalty in Alabama.
In the US case, prosecutors alleged Watson turned off his wife’s air supply underwater and held her down to drown her before switching the air back on.
Watson’s defence lawyers argued Tina panicked and knocked off her husband’s face mask and regulator which led him to swim to the surface to summons help.
Witnesses present during the tragic diving excursion criticised Watson for his behaviour in the aftermath of the dive.
Kim and Watson live in a quiet part of Birmingham, Alabama
Gabe (pictured with new wife Kim) was jailed for 18 months
Those witnesses told the court Watson ‘made no effort’ to move to the nearby boat where people were attempting to resuscitate Tina.
Watson was eventually acquitted in 2012 after an Alabama judge found ‘there was not enough evidence for the murder trial to proceed’.
Watson also copped backlash after he removed flowers and tributes left by Tina’s family at her grave site.
He later defended using bolt cutters to remove the floral display left by her parents, admitting it wasn’t his ‘finest hour’ which he blamed on the ‘grieving process’.
Watson now lives just a 25-minute drive away from Tina’s mother Cindy who still shares regular tributes to her daughter online.
Last October, on the anniversary of Tina’s death, Mrs Thomas posted online: ‘I’m thinking of the two of them up in heaven together and yes I’m crying but a smile also thinking of these beautiful memories.’
Mrs Thomas also shared an image with the words: ‘my child and pieces of me live in heaven’.
She also posted ‘Tina would forever be 26 years old’.
