Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found.
Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.
Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this podcast.
Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Hi everyone, I'm Deb.
And I'm Shelby.
Welcome back to Dying to be Found, our own little true crime podcast that we like to say is open to interpretation to our listeners.
In case you're a new listener here, we have a little family thing going on where I pull in different family members to tell stories too.
Shelby is my daughter, and apparently we both share the same fascination of true crime.
Shelbs, how are you today?
Good.
What's going on?
Nothing. Like I said earlier, it's about 25 degrees cooler today, supposed to get some rain, but it's a day off, so I can't complain.
Well, you know, by this afternoon, it's going to be that 20 degrees hotter, so enjoy it while you can.
Mother Nature does not know what she's doing right now.
Right? Exactly.
Hey, did you get that article I sent on that great white shark washing up on the shore of the Outer Banks?
I did. It was fake.
Oh, was it fake? How so? I mean, I looked at it, but you know, me and sharks.
Yeah, there's this Outer Banks photographer. They use some kind of technology to create crazy pictures like that, and so they've got a Facebook page, and yeah, that's one of many.
Okay, well, that's good to know because you and I have been to the Outer Banks multiple times, and if that's what's creeping around out there, you know darn well I'm not getting in the water.
Yeah, well, there's probably, last I heard, I think it was somewhere between 13 and 15 great whites that have pinged in my area.
Where? In North Carolina?
Yeah, in the Outer Banks.
Oh, holy moly. Oh my god. Nope, nope, nope. Can't do it.
So how do you feel about scuba diving? Do you see yourself ever doing that?
I want to.
Knowing that there are 15 pings?
I would be very, very, very scared, but I, yeah, not today.
Face your fears, Shelbs.
Yeah.
All right, well, today we are taking a trip out to the Great Coral Reef of the Northeast Coast in Australia. I know you've heard of the Coral Reef. It is so majestic. Is that one of the natural wonders of the world? Listeners, tell me if I'm right there.
I have no idea. Do you know how I heard about the Great Coral Reef?
How?
I'm pretty sure it was in Finding Nemo.
That movie came out when I was like 13.
I mean, you know, you learn a lot from Disney.
You really do. That's such a good movie.
Hey, did you listen to my episode on the Diatlov Pass?
No, I have not.
They used the movie Frozen to do some scientific research on that, and you're just going to have to go back and listen to it.
Yeah, which one was that?
Diatlov Pass.
How in the world do you spell that?
I don't know. Just go when you look on the podcast. It's pretty near the top because it's a very recent episode.
And if I really must tell you, it's episode number 57. And today we're on 61. So it's pretty recent.
All right. So we are headed over to the Great Coral Reef and we're going to be talking about Gabe and Tina Watson, who was a newlywed couple and decided that Australia would be the Great Coral Reef.
And decided that Australia would be the perfect vacation spot to take their honeymoon.
Wow.
I mean, who doesn't want to go there, right?
I think that would be a beautiful spot for our honeymoon.
The only thing that scares me to death, as I've heard, they have very, very, very large spiders.
So if you live in Australia, please tell me what part I can go to where I don't have to see those.
Apparently, Australia has all the poisonous critters out that way. So I know it's beautiful, though. It's absolutely gorgeous.
I would like to visit there one day. So, yeah, tell me the same because, Shelby, I don't know if I told you your cousin that lives in Tasmania.
She got in the car to go to work one day and she's driving along, Shelby, and a tarantula plopped into her lap.
Oh, my God. No.
What in the world would you do? I think I would probably crash into something.
I would too.
Oh, and then I've seen pictures where they like to kind of tuck themselves into your car handle, like when your car door opener.
Oh, my God.
They tuck themselves away in there. So you better be checking your handles before you open your door.
Oh, that's scary.
Yeah, it is.
Thank you.
Yeah, absolutely. No, thank you.
All right. Well, in January of 2001, Christina Mae Thomas and David Gabriel Watson met at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and soon began dating.
For the purpose of this episode, Shelbs, I will refer to the couple as Tina and Gabe Watson because they do eventually get married.
They married in October 2003 and planned out a really cool honeymoon that involved going on a cruise, going scuba diving in Queensland, Australia.
Again, it sounds majestic. It sounds fantastic.
Yeah, I agree.
Today, we're going to take that trip along with Gabe and Tina to Queensland, which is on the East Coast of Australia.
Tina had planned the perfect honeymoon, which should have been just over a two week period.
She and her new husband would visit the Sydney Opera House, take a river cruise, go to the zoo, see the migrating sea turtles.
And last but not least, they plan to go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea.
I mean, how about that vacation?
Yeah, that sounds wonderful.
Before their honeymoon, the only thing Tina really needed to prepare was to take a couple scuba diving lessons.
She did this and eventually had 11 dives to her name before the trip, which they scheduled to begin on October 13th.
So I don't know exactly how long the training is.
I know it's a big process. You have to do book work, classwork, then you have to do some dives in order to certify.
And I know a lot of people who are not near the ocean, sometimes they certify in a swimming pool, like an Olympic sized swimming pool.
Oh, wow. I did not know that.
So you can't just sign up for scuba diving. You actually have to do the lessons and all that.
Oh, yeah, it is a process because naturally we don't breathe underwater and there's a lot involved.
I know that you have to watch the pressure. It's kind of like going up in an airplane shelves.
You know how the pressure changes.
Yeah.
Same concept. You have a tank of oxygen on your back.
So, I mean, there's just a lot involved and you really, really have to make sure that you go through the coursework and get all that done.
But she had 11 dives behind her and was feeling confident.
So they were planning that trip on October 22nd, 2003.
Tina and Gabe signed up to dive a 50 foot wreck of the SS Young Gala.
I believe it's a 350 foot ship that sunk in the Coral Sea back in 2001.
And this was day one of a seven day diving excursion, traveling by way of the Spoil Sport,
a luxury resort ship that carry 25 passengers, 12 crew members and three commercial divers.
Kind of sounds like what's that show that you like to watch?
Below Deck. Love it.
Yeah. Oh, gosh. Yeah. That reminded me back in the days of being a flight attendant and serving customers and stuff like that.
So, yeah. So to me, this the description of this cruiser was a lot like a ship you would see on Below Deck.
And on the day that Tina and Gabe went out to dive the shipwreck, they got prepped,
they checked their gear and planned to descend down through a designated area where the couple could use a rope tied to the side of the ship.
So, yeah, they apparently when you go out, they're like, OK, take this rope down.
It'll it'll get you where you can start swimming freely around the ship and exploring.
So here is what I guess what I'm going to say authorities believed may have happened,
because when you go scuba diving, Shelby, I had already mentioned all the certification process that you have to go through.
You have to take that depth of water into consideration with the air pressure or with the pressure and everything like that,
because there's something called an air embolism.
And in layman terms, an air embolism occurs when air bubbles enter into your vein or artery,
which blocks the passageway and can travel to vital areas of your body like your brain or your heart.
Wow.
The one way that you can get an air embolism is to encounter pressure changes to your body,
obviously, like when you're going diving, because you're going down to certain depths.
I know that I've had friends that have told me that they go scuba diving and you kind of have to do it really gradually.
What as you go into deep water like that, because of those health risks, you basically swim down to a certain a certain depth.
You stay there for a little while, let your body acclimate, and then you keep going down a little bit further.
I really don't know how far down they went.
But unfortunately, Shelbs, Tina drowned on that very first day of scuba diving within one hour of diving.
Oh, I know.
Some say it was because she was simply inexperienced and this was a very first open water dive.
But things can go wrong because her new husband, Gabe, was with her to tag team.
So he witnessed everything.
Wow.
Oh, that's so sad.
Ultimately, Shelbi, Tina's death was ruled by an Australian pathologist as an accidental drowning due to this air embolism I described.
However, once news of Tina's death hit the news media, Gabe came under immediate scrutiny,
because although Gabe gave his account of events, it seemed that he and Tina were not the only ones diving that day.
Gabe had witnesses to what could have potentially happened.
Any thoughts on witnesses?
Oh, I'm just I'm curious to hear the story.
I don't I mean, they couldn't have been too far down.
I don't know.
I just I don't really have much.
I just want to hear more.
Okay.
Well, two witnesses came forward to give a very telling story of what happened the day Tina died.
The divers had video equipment and actually took two photos, one in which it looked as if Gabe was giving Tina a bear hug.
This is where one of the divers stated that they saw Tina and Gabe swimming together.
And it looked like Gabe may have been trying to save Tina, possibly in a diver down situation before letting her go.
And the only reason I knew what diver down was honestly was from that Van Halen album back in the day.
That's the only reason I knew that was diver down.
Oh, that's funny.
Mm hmm.
Now, the second photo was that of Tina lying on the ocean floor.
Wow.
You know, you're not going to be the only divers out there.
So the swimmers had that camera.
They took pictures of Gabe giving Tina a bear hug, possibly to be trying to save her.
And then the next photo was her lying on the floor, lying on the ocean floor.
I have a thought and you know I'm not reading ahead.
Yeah.
If he is trying to save her and they just got married, he would not let her go to the bottom of the ocean floor.
He would be bringing her up.
Are you sure you're not reading ahead?
I'm positive.
You're lighter underwater, so she's not that heavy.
No, she's not.
And yeah, you're right.
You have a point.
After Tina was taken to the boat, the divers were interviewed where they stated that Gabe was acting rather peculiar.
Instead of trying to help revive her, after all Shelby, he had advanced scuba diving certificates.
He asked the surrounding people simply for hugs.
He didn't want to be seen.
He didn't want to help revive her.
He wanted hugs.
That is quite odd.
Yeah.
Along with that, he was making strange clucking noises and did appear to be crying.
I think it was one of those instances where he looked to be crying but didn't produce tears.
So that's what's going on with him.
Something very fishy is going on.
It is.
No pun intended, right?
Because this is definitely a serious situation here.
Yeah, sorry.
When Tina was pulled to the surface, her equipment was inspected and it appeared that she still had two-thirds of a tank of air remaining in her air tank.
So you're right, Shelby.
Gabe left her on the floor.
He was not the one to bring her up.
There was another diver that had brought her up to the surface and it only took 90 seconds to do that.
It took Gabe twice as long to travel half that distance, which in all, I believe it was about 30 meters that he was swimming or 98 feet in all.
You know I'm bad with measurements.
So how about I give you some visuals?
How are you with measurements?
Um, not that great.
Okay, good.
Because I'm going to give you some visuals on some things that are about 30 meters or 98 feet in length.
Yeah, I need feet.
If you say meters, I have no idea what that means.
They say that on below deck too and I'm like, I don't know what that means.
Okay, so you can envision this then because 98 feet is the same length as 30 meters and I do do this for our international listeners.
So here's some thoughts.
A blue whale like the kind that swallowed Jonah.
Can you envision that?
Yes.
How about a stretch limo?
Absolutely.
A basketball court?
That makes sense.
Yeah, that's pretty big.
And last one is the distance between baseball plates on the softball field.
I know you can envision that one.
That's my favorite.
All right, let's get back to Gabe's accounts on what happened here.
Gabe had advanced certification in open water scuba diving and as a rescue diver.
Wow.
So let me put some things into perspective for you here.
Gabe had 55 dives under his belt.
His new wife, Tina, had 11.
Only Tina had never been in open water like this.
She had only begun training in preparation for her honeymoon diving excursion.
Now when I say open water, I don't know from the articles that I read if she was in an Olympic size swimming pool.
If she was in a lake, I'm not sure where she was.
But she was nowhere near in the same depths and conditions that she was when she went on this scuba diving excursion.
This excursion was classified as very dangerous due to red flag conditions and strong currents.
And you know what that means because you live on the coast.
The excursion itself was not recommended for new divers.
There's definitely a distinct difference between Gabe and Tina's experience here.
According to other divers around the newlywed couple, Gabe didn't even make an attempt to save Tina when it was obvious that she was in distress.
However, he did give multiple accounts as to what happened that day while they were scuba diving on October 22, 2003.
Due to those red flag conditions, Gabe stated that he and Tina realized very quickly that the current was too strong and they would need to resurface.
He states that he signaled to Tina to fill up her inflator hose, which I'm assuming helps you ascend?
Because I don't really know much about that.
Now remember, they have to ascend very carefully because of that pressure.
So you all, if you're listening out there, DM me and let me know if I'm getting a little closer to this because I feel like I can understand the process.
We'll just go from there.
So Gabe goes on to say that Tina did not understand his instructions.
Basically, he's using sign language underwater, Shelby.
And I'm pretty sure there's got to be specific hand gestures that you use as far as diving so that everybody understands sort of like sign language.
You have your own language there.
Yeah.
Apparently, Tina began to panic.
And when he did go in to help her, she knocked off Gabe's mask as she tried to go near that rope that I had mentioned that goes along the ship to help with the descend ascend.
Given the fact that Gabe had those advanced diving certificates, authorities believe that this is contradictory to being taken by surprise when Tina knocked his mask off.
I can see that happening if somebody's panicking underwater.
I would do the same too, because I think not just the fact that I'm terrified of sharks coming up on me while I'm doing that, Shelby, but you're relying on an air tank and you're relying on equipment to help you breathe.
That's just to me.
I don't think I could do that.
I guess that would be sort of like claustrophobic to me.
I just don't think I could do that.
Yeah, no, that makes sense.
As Gabe retrieved his mask and repositioned it on his face, this is when he saw Tina sinking to the ocean floor.
Gabe stated that he had problems with his dive equipment and left Tina alone when he resurfaced to fix it.
He later stated that he had batteries in backwards for that equipment that he was using.
Now, remember, this is on his 30 meter, 98 foot ascend to go fix his equipment as he left his wife behind.
Yeah, on 55 dives, he wasn't sure.
He put the batteries in backwards.
I don't know.
It's not adding up.
I don't trust him.
Okay.
He also believes that Tina was carrying too much weight and it dragged her down.
I don't know about that, because when you're underwater, you're a little buoyant, right?
You're more lightweight.
Gabe's account as to the witnesses who said that they saw him grab Tina, then let her go while she was sinking.
He stated that he was in over his head and was swimming away to get help, which he did.
When he resurfaced, Gabe was closer to a different diver boat than the one that he and Tina had boarded to go out on their excursion.
Tina was retrieved from the ocean floor and CPR was performed for the next 41 excruciating minutes.
Unfortunately, Shelbs, they could not revive Tina and she was pronounced dead by two doctors on board at 1121 a.m.
Wow.
All right.
There has to be some sort of motive behind why Gabe allegedly may have wanted to do away with his wife.
I'm not saying that this is what happened.
I am definitely taking his account into consideration here because I can kind of see where he's trying to help his wife.
If she has that air embolism, I get it.
I mean, there's just a lot going on here.
At least this is what prosecutors in both Australia and the U.S. had argued.
What is the age old reason, Shelbi, why someone wants to off their spouse?
Think about it.
I don't know, they're tired of them, but they're newly married.
So true.
They're on their honeymoon.
They're only married for two weeks at this point.
Well, according to investigators, Gabe would have stood to inherit 210,000 U.S. dollars or 283,000 Canadian dollars in life insurance.
Wow.
That's not really that much money.
No, I mean, that's pretty standard as far as policies that you would get.
200,000 seems reasonable.
But what Gabe didn't know, or maybe he did, he was not the beneficiary of Tina's life insurance policy.
Her dad was.
I mean, that makes sense simply because, you know, I kind of see things like this a lot at work and deal with tons of beneficiary information.
With them only being married for two weeks or so, so far, she probably hadn't had time to change any of that over yet.
So I would think, I mean, if he was smart, that he would have realized that his name wasn't on that insurance policy yet.
Yeah, it sounds like she already had that in place when they got married.
So yeah, like you said, turning over the paperwork, it's a process, man.
When you get married, you got to go to the Social Security office.
You've got to contact car insurance for coverage on new cars.
You've got to do life insurance.
You've got a ton of things to do.
And if she was just married...
Promise I'm not reading ahead.
I feel like sometimes I say things and then it's like, well, you're saying that like two seconds later.
Because no, I'm actually having just a regular conversation with you and you're smart.
You're logically thinking about this.
So no, no worries.
Absolutely.
It's a process.
You just have a lot of things.
But if she's planning that honeymoon, changing paperwork over is probably the last on her list of things to do.
Almost four years later and I'm still trying to do that mess.
It's the most annoying thing.
What more do you have to do, Shelbs?
I just got my last name changed on one of my debit cards last week.
I know.
I get it.
I had to do it too.
Did I tell you about when that lady backed into my car and I was talking to the police officer
and you have to fill out one of those written statements or whatever?
And I asked the officer and he looked at me like I was a freaking idiot.
Why?
Because of your name changes?
Yeah.
I was like, I don't know which name you want me to put on this seat.
And he was like, what do you mean?
I was like, well, my social security card, it says my new name, but I haven't gotten my driver's license corrected just yet.
Oh man.
And at this point, like it's probably a good year or two that I had changed my social security card.
And he just, he probably went back and told people about that.
Did I tell you about the time when I was getting my citizenship?
I don't know.
That was a long time ago.
Pretty much the same scenario.
Homeland security did not like it that I didn't have my name changed.
They didn't like it at all.
Oh, wow.
That's another story for another day.
Yeah.
Like, can you get in trouble for that though?
Because I have a driver's license.
I have two driver's licenses in my wallet.
One still says my maiden name and then one says my married name.
Shelby, you have an alias.
You can get in a lot of trouble for that.
You should only have one.
Oh, really?
It's like having two passports.
Oh, and you have them conveniently in front of the computer right now.
That's hilarious.
Yeah, because I'm really, I need to be better about putting stuff back where it belongs.
So if I don't put one of them or the right, I know I always use my the right one, unless I can't find it.
Then that's when I use the other one.
Oh my God, Shelby.
All right.
So I shouldn't do that.
I'll have to ask for it.
You should have one.
I'll have to ask for it.
You shouldn't do that.
Uh, hmm.
I'll let you figure that out.
I don't know though.
You seem to, you live in a small town and you seem to know all of the police officers there.
So I think you'll be okay.
No, not so much anymore.
Okay.
Well, then don't.
We got a lot of new kids.
Okay.
Kids.
Well, don't get yourself arrested by the kids.
No.
All right.
Even though the pathologists determined that Tina's death was an accident, the Australian courts still pursued Gabe as the primary suspect in this case.
In 2008, Gabe was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter due to negligence.
Wow.
In his own words, during a 2012-2020 interview, Gabe states that he pled guilty to not rendering proper aid and not saving his diving buddy.
So he did not confess to anything in questionable circumstances.
And I don't blame him.
I'm sure his lawyer told him not to, right?
Wow.
Prosecutors begged to differ.
They argued that leaving Tina on the ocean floor was enough to send a man to prison for murder.
Now, one of the photos, Shelby, that I looked at shown in court was that of Gabe giving Tina that bear hug that I had mentioned.
Does it sound odd or peculiar?
I'm not really sure.
I was just going to say, I don't know.
If she was panicking underwater, I can see maybe him trying to bear hug her.
I don't know, to maybe calm her down.
But the fact that him letting her go and, I mean, if she's lifeless going all the way down to the bottom of the ocean, that's the odd part.
Absolutely.
Don't forget, she may have had that air embolism.
Oh, yeah.
Well, authorities believe this is what happened.
When Gabe went in for that hug, imagine putting your arms around somebody.
He turned Tina's oxygen tank off in order to suffocate her.
Then after Tina was dead, he turned the tank back on and swam away.
Wow.
I mean, I suppose I can kind of see what the prosecutors are saying here.
But let me reiterate that this is what the prosecutors are saying what happened, not what I'm saying what happened.
Gabe pled guilty.
He was placed on trial in Brisbane, Australia, and was sentenced to four years behind bars, but ultimately served 18 months in an Australian prison before he was released.
And that would be because he did plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter due to negligence.
So that's what he was charged with.
He took a plea deal.
Yeah, I would probably say that's close to a plea deal.
Sure.
Well, it's not over yet because once Gabe was released from the Australian prison, he was held in a detention center until both Australia and US officials could work out details of his extradition back to Birmingham, Alabama.
According to CNN, Australian authorities would not release Gabe to US officials until they received assurances that Gabe would not receive the death penalty in the United States should he be convicted for Tina's murder.
He would or he would not?
He would not.
They would not release him until the United States prosecutors agreed that he would not receive the death penalty if he was convicted for Tina's murder in the United States.
Wow.
Because Australia had their time with him, it's Birmingham's time.
Agreements were made and Gabe was deported and detained once he touched down in the Los Angeles, California airport and he was taken back to Birmingham, Alabama to stand trial.
During that trial in 2012, Gabe was charged with murder for pecuniary gain.
Did I say that right?
I hope it's got something to do with life insurance and kidnapping.
Where a felony occurred.
So that part doesn't make sense to me.
Why would he be charged with kidnapping with a felony?
Yeah, no, it doesn't make any sense.
Well, unfortunately, Birmingham prosecutors could not afford to fly in witnesses from Australia to testify on Tina's behalf.
And although they had information taken from the Australian courts showing what could have happened to Tina, the reenactment team would not be able to cross examine in the United States.
And remember, Shelby, this is all pre-COVID.
So video conferencing was not a thing at that time in 2012.
But in today's courts, you can certainly do that.
There's so many different ways to get around that now.
Yeah.
Taking full advantage of the situation, Gabe's defense attorneys disputed all charges against Gabe Watson in front of a grand jury and requested that he be set free due to lack of evidence.
To our listeners who are not in the United States, felony cases are brought in front of a grand jury who listens to the case to decide if there is enough evidence to take a case to trial.
In Gabe's case, Tina's death was considered a capital case and it was indeed brought before the grand jury, which has a judge that oversees the case before the defendant stands trial.
So there's a process before it even goes to trial.
After much debate between the prosecutors and defense, who do you think the judge sided with, Shelbs?
Hmm, the defense, it sounds like. I don't know.
Okay. Yeah, you're right.
After two weeks of proceedings, Judge Tommy Nail ruled in Gabe's favor, stating that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to try him for a crime worthy to send him to a jury trial.
Wow.
Judge Nail also rebuked any possibility that Gabe had killed Tina for insurance money.
He was quoted as saying, the defendant buys an engagement ring.
He gives it to his future bride.
He marries her.
He plans a trip halfway around the world that's paid for him by his family.
He did all of that and planned it all out here so he could go over there and kill her so that he could get the same engagement ring he purchased.
I see what he's saying there.
The judge is trying to reason that Gabe would have had no reason to go halfway around the world to kill his wife.
And that makes sense.
Oh, I agree.
Ultimately, Gabe had just escaped a life sentence without parole if he was convicted for this crime or alleged crime.
Because again, there's a couple of stories going on here.
Gabe's behavior after he returned home to the United States continued to cause alarm to local family and local prosecutors.
In 2009, Gabe was caught on police video cameras using bolt cutters to cut flowers away from Tina's gravestone.
Apparently, Tina's parents had fixated a stake at their daughter's grave that Gabe didn't like.
He later stated that Tina would not have liked it either because the flower arrangements were made of plastic and he always bought her fresh flowers.
You see anything wrong with that?
He's grieving.
Yeah, but so are her parents.
Why would you do that?
I don't know.
I couldn't find in the article if they receive permission.
I mean, you know, once you marry somebody, you give them away and you belong to the spouse.
So cutting ties here, I understand both parties were grieving.
I don't know if Gabe or Tina's parents paid for that cemetery plot.
Therefore, I don't know who had the right to put the flowers on the stake there.
But also shelves.
Gabe's defense on his actions that day when he used those cutters to get rid of the flower stake.
He said that he was still grieving, obviously.
Plus, he had just spent those years in Australian prisons for her murder.
Plus, stood trial in America.
Obviously, he's under a lot of stress.
I get it.
But I guess my question here is, could Gabe have had additional charges for vandalism?
I don't know.
It's his wife's grave site.
Long story short, Gabe Watson paid his debt to society in Australia.
He was acquitted for any wrongdoing in America and eventually remarried a woman around 2008
that, in my opinion, Shelby, when I was looking at these articles,
she bears somewhat of a similar resemblance to Tina.
But no judgment here.
You have types.
Wow.
Yeah.
You have a type and you kind of stick with that, right?
Yeah.
So how about the diving company that took Gabe and Tina out on their excursion that day?
Should they be held accountable?
What do you think?
I would think no.
I would think that they'd have to sign some kind of waiver before diving,
saying that the diving companies should not be held liable for any unfortunate events.
True.
And sometimes, even when you do that, they are still found accountable.
Yeah.
This company was fined $6,500 under the Workplace Health and Safety Act of 1995
for failing to comply to safety procedures,
which included the fact that Tina was a novice diver and should not have been allowed to
participate in that red flag dive that day due to those strong current conditions.
So that makes sense.
Yeah.
Tina nor Gabe participated in a dive orientation.
Although the excursion company had three professional divers,
the couple was never supervised in open water.
And to be clear, Tina did refuse diving orientation and they let her dive anyway.
Oh, wow.
Well, Shelbs, that is the story of Gabe and Tina Watson.
We would love to receive feedback from our listeners on this storyline
or any of our other episodes.
Be sure to DM us on Instagram and let us know what you think.
So there you have it, Shelbs, Gabe and Tina Watson.
That was a really good one.
I enjoyed that one.
I want to watch the 2020 episode.
Yeah, I'm sure you can probably find that on YouTube.
YouTube, yeah, that's what I was thinking too.
Well, thank you.
Do we have a teachable moment today?
We do, Shelby.
Always on Dying to be Found, never on Dying to be Found the Dash.
Teachable moment.
Quit being judgy.
Shelby, this case is a perfect example of how people can make assumptions based on what they hear.
And you're hearing the details of Gabe and Tina Watson from me.
And you know me, I'm going to bring you the storyline with as much integrity as possible.
But do you think Gabe is guilty?
Don't answer that.
It's a hypothetical question.
My point is that everybody's interpretation is a little different.
Look at how Australia and the United States officials took a different stance on Gabe's guilt or innocence.
My teachable moment here is to take care not to judge until you know 100% of the facts.
Otherwise, you're succumbing to gossip.
Do your own research and don't take our word for it as far as what happened in this case.
Too many times, Shelby, we assume things and you know what happens when we assume.
You know that saying, right?
Yes.
So that's my teachable moment.
That's a good one.
Thank you.
All right.
Well, thanks for listening.
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