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NANCY GRACE
Gabe Watson U.S. Murder Trial Begins
Aired February 21, 2012 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. After a dream wedding, a romantic honeymoon featuring a couples` dive trip turns deadly. There in the clear blue waters far below the surface, the blushing bride sinks to the ocean floor while the brand-new groom manages to make it to the top to breathe the fresh air, and go home to collect what he believes to be a big, fat insurance check. The groom remarries immediately. And the U.S., specifically the state of Alabama, brings the groom back to home turf for murder charges.
Bombshell tonight. The honeymoon murder trial commences in a U.S. court of law. We obtain raw footage of the groom with bolt cutters ripping out bouquets flowers laid at his bride`s grave.
Also, we learn at the viewing of the young bride`s dead body in the casket, the groom is joking about a million-dollar life insurance policy and about his bride`s, quote, "perky" breasts in the coffin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The couple wed in Alabama.
GABE WATSON, CHARGED WITH MURDERING HIS WIFE: And both of her arms out...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For only 11 days.
WATSON: You know, almost like looking at me, reaching her arms up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The drowning death of his newlywed bride.
WATSON: You know, reached, stretched up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two people knew what happened in the depths of the reef.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Australia, on the Great Barrier Reef.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of them is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On a dream honeymoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No signs that anything was wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabe and Tina Watson are on a dive at the reef.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something went terribly wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are under water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Versions of events that Gabe gave the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The stories changed multiple times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Witnesses say they saw Gabe Watson give his wife a bear hug.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Locked in some sort of an embrace at the depth of 49 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This photo.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This picture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shows Tina slumped on the seabed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Completely chilling. You can see the final moments.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators believe, at that point, he turned off her air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re just one step closer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let her sink to the bottom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One step closer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To getting justice and peace for Tina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. The honeymoon murder trial commences in a U.S. court of law. Tonight, we obtain raw footage of the groom with bolt cutters, ripping out bouquets of flowers laid at his bride`s grave.
Also, we learn at the viewing of his bride`s dead body lying there in the casket, the groom joking about a million-dollar life insurance policy and about, quote, his bride`s "perky" breasts in the coffin.
We are live and taking your calls. Straight out to Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com. Alexis, let`s go back to the beginning. What happened?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: This beautiful couple gets married. They go on a wonderfully romantic honeymoon to Australia. They go on a scuba diving trip. Gabe, the husband, is an experienced scuba diver. It`s new for his new wife.
And they`re under water. He says that she struggled. He went to help her. He couldn`t help her, so he quickly swam up to the top, 50 feet, quickly swam up to get help. Meanwhile, his wife was lying on the bottom of the ocean floor.
GRACE: OK, hold on. Hold on. Wait a minute. Ellie Jostad, what does Alexis mean by she was new at diving? Because I`ve got a problem with that. You have to be certified, at least to some degree, to go diving, unless you`re at one of these resorts that will let anybody put on scuba gear and jump into the water. What do you know, Ellie?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. And this woman, Tina Watson, her friends say, wasn`t somebody who liked the water. They were really surprised when she took up scuba diving at her husband`s insistence. So yes, she was very inexperienced.
But prosecutors say that he actually said, You know what? I`m an experienced diver. I`m a rescue diver. I`ll take responsibility for her. That`s why they agreed to go on this dive, because she thought he could help her.
GRACE: You`re seeing a shot right now of her body at the bottom of the ocean. Take a look. There she is. There`s the bride, Christina, Tina Watson, just 26 years old from Birmingham, Alabama, absolutely a gorgeous young bride there on a special honeymoon dive couples-only trip. While her husband swims to the surface, she lies barely moving her arms and legs as she gets weaker and weaker and weaker there on the ocean floor.
Ellie, we were taking it from the top. Start at the beginning. Tell me the story.
JOSTAD: Right. So they are on this dive. Gabe Watson, in his account, he says that they were diving in a very strong current, that he didn`t think that this was safe, so he claims that he was trying to signal to her that they should go up to the top, get out of the water.
But he says something happened, that she panicked, that she swatted at his mask, knocking it off his face. And he says by the time that he got it back on, she was already sinking down to the ocean floor and that he decided he couldn`t get to her, he couldn`t save her. So instead he decided to, as he put it, rocket back up to the surface and get help.
GRACE: OK. To Michael Gast, president and founder of the National Academy of Police Diving, joining us out of Plantation, Florida. Michael Gast, for any experienced diver, we know his story is complete BS because all you have to do is go to the struggling individual and yank their air -- their buoyancy vest, and they`ll shoot straight up to the top.
Yes, they might have a problem going through various stages of the water. You`re supposed to take a safety stop every 30 feet. But to save your life, you could shoot straight up to the top if someone simply pulled a cord or pushed a button. And your life vest would fill up, you`d shoot straight up to the top. Is that correct, Michael Gast?
MICHAEL GAST, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF POLICE DIVING: That is correct. And every diver that goes through any sort of dive training is taught how to rescue themselves and/or their partner. That`s why they dive together.
GRACE: Ellie Jostad, what can you tell me about the groom saying she swatted his mask off?
JOSTAD: Right. He claims that that`s why he wasn`t able to assist her, that in her panic, she knocked his mask off his face. So he says he was trying to get it back on, and by the time he`d done that, she was too far away for him to help her.
GRACE: That`s right, Ellie. Let`s take a listen. Let`s hear it from the horse`s mouth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: I know she squeezed it. Whether she squeezed it hard enough or didn`t squeeze the right thing or it wasn`t working, you know, I don`t know.
That`s when, you know, I won`t say panic, but you know, I could tell at that point, you know, I mean, she was scared before, but at that point, I could tell that, you know, she was frightened. And that`s when I realized, you know, something`s going on.
Thoughts going through my head were, I`m going to get (INAUDIBLE) back to (INAUDIBLE) get her back to the anchor rope and she could either pull herself up it, or she can hold it until I can go get somebody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. That`s from NBC`s "Dateline." That`s Watson explaining what happened, in his version. But of course, anybody that`s ever dived knows that is complete BS, all right?
Back to you, Michael Gast. Because you only have a minute or two to save somebody`s life, and in that situation, isn`t it true that for your very first dive, in order for an open water dive, you are taught -- in fact, you are forced by your instructor to take off your mask, completely take it off under water, and then put it back on, hold it up, blow out through your nose and clear the mask, get the water out, and continue to dive?
So if she had swatted his mask off, the very first thing even a new -- a novice diver would do would be lean back and clear the mask, right?
GAST: That is correct. That`s one of the reasons -- because when you get that water in your face and up your nose, sometimes people tend to be scary of that. And because of that, they require all open water and advanced open water students to be able to prove that they have that skill under (ph).
GRACE: We are taking your calls. We are live in Alabama. This occurred, of course, in Australia. And what a legal wrangle it was to bring this groom back home for trial on home turf.
Also, to Leah Brandon, morning anchor, WERC. Leah, what can you tell me about him standing at the viewing of his wife`s body, her body in the casket, and he is laughing and joking at the funeral home to some of her bridesmaids about a million-dollar life insurance policy and about her, quote, "perky" breasts?
LEAH BRANDON, NEWSRADIO 105.5 WERC (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. It`s shocking. It`s stunning. Gabe Watson is standing beside one of Tina Watson`s best friends, and he says to her, I`m so glad she didn`t have a million-dollar insurance policy, or else they`d be coming after me for murder, ha, ha.
And the best friend is standing, talking to Gabe and wants to say something comforting to him at this time. And she says, Wow, look how pretty Tina looks. Look how beautiful she looks. And he responds by saying to her, Well, at least her breasts look perky in the casket.
GRACE: At least her breasts look perky in the casket. OK, Raymond Giudice, I`m going to go to you on that one. Unleash the lawyers -- Sue Moss, New York, Raymond Giudice, Atlanta, Dwane Cates, LA.
But before you answer that question, Giudice, I want you to see this video. Roll it, Liz. We have obtained raw footage of the groom. He`s walking toward his wife`s grave with box -- with bolt cutters, and he`s yanking up flowers at her grave and throwing them away. You`re seeing video from "The Townsville (ph) Bulletin."
But before we get to tearing the flowers off her grave, let`s go to the perky breasts, Ray Giudice. At the funeral, at the viewing of her dead, stiff body -- this is his bride -- he`s laughing at the coffin about a life insurance policy and about her perky breasts. Weigh in, Ray.
RAYMOND GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, if I had advised him, I would tell him, Don`t say stupid comments. Make sure you`re appropriately sympathetic and caring amongst the family and friends.
However, people say and do ridiculously stupid things under enormous stress. And if this is an accidental death, or in his defense, an act of cowardice for failure to save his wife, which I think at best case it is, then he was under enormous stress.
GRACE: I`d like to see Raymond`s face when he says something like that. I don`t -- there he is. OK, I believe you used the words "ridiculously stupid" and "enormous stress."
FYI, Ray, under the water, nobody has any weight whatsoever. You`re buoyant. Sue Moss, he claims she was too heavy to bring up to the surface. You`re weightless under water!
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Absolutely. He`s a rescue diver and he couldn`t revive her? There`s witnesses that his arms were around her! Well, that`s easy enough. Not only do you have your own mouthpiece, but every diver has an extra mouthpiece for their buddy! Just take that mouthpiece and shove it in her mouth!
This guy was trained to survive (ph) divers who were in peril, and what did he do? He let his wife fall to the bottom of the ocean? I`ve heard of the seven-year itch, but this is crazy!
GRACE: Cates, weigh in.
DWANE CATES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, I`ll tell you what. The thing is, is that -- is that when a person panics, you`re trained even as a rescue diver, if somebody`s panicking, that you`ve got to save yourself. And if she panicked and if she knocked his mask off, he`s got to kick away from her.
GRACE: Put him up!
CATES: He`s got to clear his mask. And when he cleared his mask, he looked down and there she was, you know? And...
GRACE: OK, Cates, have you ever...
CATES: ... he couldn`t get back down for her...
GRACE: ... dived before?
CATES: ... so he went to he surface.
GRACE: Have you ever dived before?
CATES: I am a certified diver. Absolutely.
GRACE: OK, well...
CATES: I`m a certified diver.
GRACE: ... Mr. Cates, don`t even try with me because I`m a certified diver, as well.
To Michael Gast. What Cates just said, knowingly said, is completely the opposite of the truth because what you do -- having your mask taken off of you is not an emergency under water, is it, Michael Gast?
And isn`t it true that what he should have done is simply take her spider, take her extra breathing apparatus, and put it in her hand and let her breathe through that, or even yet buddy breathe. In other words, go up to the surface, you take a breath, I take a breath. You take a breath, I take a breath. Even novice divers have to learn to buddy breathe, don`t they, Michael?
GAST: Yes. All divers learn to do that. They learn to use their extra regulator. But also, the first thing you do with any rescue circumstance is you remove the weight belt, get the weight off the victim so that you can get them to the surface.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never think that your daughter will leave for her honeymoon...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and her husband will kill her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) camera (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tina was 26.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabe Watson originally told police Tina got caught in strong currents and panicked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His story of what happened that day changed 16 times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Initially, it had been what appeared to be an accident.
WATSON: She was looking up, had both her arms out, you know, reached -- stretched up, you know, almost like looking at me, reaching her arms up to grab. I did everything I could, but we lost her. And you know, I -- you know just pretty much lost it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s video from "Dateline" of Gabe Watson explaining his wife`s death under the water.
Ellie Jostad, who was that rubbing his back while he was coming up with that big, fat lie?
JOSTAD: Nancy, I`m not sure.
GRACE: Who is that?
JOSTAD: I believe that`s his mother, but I am not positive about that.
GRACE: You believe it`s who?
JOSTAD: His mother.
GRACE: OK. All right. You know, that makes sense because only a mother`s love -- oh, wait! Not just a mother`s love. I now know, Alexis Tereszcuk, that very shortly after his wife`s death, he remarries. Hello? His bride -- it`s like a revolving door with this guy. And not only that, you`ve got the dead wife and the new wife -- my, I thought it was the same person! Help me out, Alexis.
TERESZCUK: You are exactly right. These girls are the spitting image of each other, beautiful, beautiful blond women. He marries the second girl just very shortly after his first wife dies. In fact, they went to high school together. He knew her for the entire time that he was married.
And in fact, while he was in Australia in jail, she was writing him dirty, sexually explicit love letters, talking about what she wanted to do to him when he got out of prison -- no respect at all for the girl in her hometown that had died, but just absolutely going after this man. Got married to him, and she, in fact, lives in the same house where the married couple lived.
GRACE: Are there some -- oh, whoa! There you go. What is this, Alexis? What is this photo of her in the swimsuit? And there`s one of her holding up...
TERESZCUK: This is the second wife...
(CROSSTALK)
TERESZCUK: ... the woman that married the man.
GRACE: Yes...
TERESZCUK: These are her personal pictures. This is her and this is her new life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigating a suspicious death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drowning death of his bride of 11 days, Tina Thomas Watson, during their Australian honeymoon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabe Watson was a certified rescue diver.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He and Tina were swimming, then she panicked, knocking off Gabe`s regulator and mask.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He couldn`t save his new wife when she panicked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just made no sense at all. That`s not what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) says that the newlyweds were locked in some sort of an embrace at the depth of 49 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) was trying to save her. Then they split apart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened in Australia?
WATSON: If I go to the bottom and she`s unconscious or something, I don`t -- other than dumping her equipment, I don`t know of anything else to do. So I thought, Well, you know, I`m halfway down. If I go all the way down, I can`t come back up quick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is video from NBC`s "Dateline." What is he talking about!
To you, Michael Gast, president and founder of the National Academy of Police Diving. He says, the groom -- he says that he is certified in rescue diving. But he -- according to his own story, everything he said damns him. It`s everything opposite of what you`re supposed to do. And I know. I had a similar diving accident at about 140 feet under the surface of the ocean.
Explain with your demonstrative -- with your scuba gear there, explain what he`s saying happened and what he should have done, Michael.
GAST: OK. One of the first things you want to do is make them buoyant. And so the best way to do that is to release their weight belt or their integrated weights. But then you could also inflate their BCs (ph). You`ve got your own BC also. You got your own weight belt. So it`s a redundant system. And you just keep the regulator in their mouth and you keep them in control and you pull them up to the surface. As they come up, they become...
GRACE: Show me the regulator.
GAST: The regulator...
GRACE: Show us what you`re talking about.
GAST: ... is right here on the right side. That`s what you put in their mouth. It goes right into the mouth. They breathe through it. You`ve got a purge button to be able to clear it. You`ve got an inflator on the other side which is able to inflate the BC to make you more buoyant. You`ve got your...
GRACE: It is so easy to do, isn`t it. You just squeeze with either hand.
GAST: It`s very...
GRACE: And not only do you have a breathing apparatus, you have a spare one at your side...
GAST: Yes.
GRACE: ... which I call a spider. Explain.
GAST: Well, yes, the secondary one. This is the safe (ph) air here, but there`s other ones where you have just an octopus with a second alternate regulator, and they both hang down and they`re both accessible.
GRACE: And isn`t it true...
GAST: You want to get them...
GRACE: ... Michael Gast, if everything goes sideways, you learn to take off your equipment and swim to the surface.
GAST: That`s correct, but that`s a last ditch. Once you get your weight belt off, you`re going to go up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The honeymoon trip that ended with the death of Tina Thomas Watson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gabe Watson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He and Tina were swimming, then she panicked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn`t a plausible story. It didn`t make sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Loving god of --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The couple wed in Alabama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had both her arms out.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: For only 11 days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, almost like looking at me. Reaching her arms up.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The drowning death of his newlywed bride shows --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reached, stretched up.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Two people knew what happened in the depths of the reef.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In Australia on the Great Barrier Reef.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: One of them is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They`re on a dream honeymoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No signs that anything was wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Gabe and Tina Watson are on a dive at the reef.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And something went terribly wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They are underwater.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Versions of events that Gabe gave the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The stories changed multiple times.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Witnesses say they saw Gabe Watson give his wife a bear hug.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Locked in some sort of an embrace at the depth of 49 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This photo --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This picture --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- shows Tina slumped on the seabed.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Completely chilling. You can see the final moments.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Investigators believe at that point he turned off her air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re just one step closer.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Let her sink to the bottom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One step closer in getting justice and peace for Tina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. The honeymoon-murder trial has commenced in the state of Alabama. This, after bringing the groom home from Australia. But he had time to immediately remarry a look alike bride. Don`t get confused. This is his original wedding video and there`s the dead wife compared to the new wife.
We are taking your calls but first I want to go to Jim Shirley, insurance agent. He came home to what he thought was going to be a huge life insurance policy. I want to get your thoughts on death on a scuba dive.
What about it, Jim Shirley?
JIM SHIRLEY, INSURANCE AGENT (via phone): When you write an insurance policy there`s a question that asks about if you scuba dive, if you parasail, if you race cars, things of that nature, hazardous occupations or hobbies. The underwriter can evaluate the risk if -- usually I`ll be able to write a scuba diver if they`re a professional scuba diver, it can be rated. It can be not rated at all. It would be up to the underwriter.
GRACE: Let me ask you this. According to my information, Tina`s father said Tina came to him and said, Gabe wants me to up my life insurance policy. What do you make of it, dad? Now would that set of an alarm in your mind? You`re an insurance agent, Jim Shirley.
SHIRLEY: Absolutely. You know, usually after or after you have a child or if your wife gets pregnant, that`s when you become concerned about life insurance. People come to me usually when they`re starting a family and not until then. So it`s very odd concerning that the travel policy, I don`t know if you read the contract, it may have been in the big surprise when he found out that there was a driving exclusion in it. I`m sure it wasn`t asked on the travel policy although I don`t sell travel insurances. It`s written by travel agents.
GRACE: Jim Shirley, insurance agent, joining us out of New York, you couldn`t be more correct. Woops. There`s a scuba diving exclusion to the life insurance policy.
To you, Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com. Isn`t it true, Watson tried to claim travel insurance just four days after Tina`s death and then he sued for payment?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, REPORTER, RADAROLINE.COM: He did, you`re absolutely right. Just four days after she died he tried to get a $45,000 settlement. The thing was, when they -- when the agency started looking into the death they said this is really suspicious. This is not exactly an accidental death or anything. And when they started questioning him, they -- first they denied it. He sued them, said you have to me, they said, well, we really question this. And then he miraculously dropped the case when they started questioning the true manner of how his wife died.
GRACE: Joining us out of New York, psychologist, Dr. Caryn Stark.
Caryn, maybe I`m projecting after the death of the fiance but it seems to me just 96 hours after a sudden, an unpredicted death, going after the insurance company for insurance money is a little unusual, just 96 hours, Caryn Stark?
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, it would give the ability, Nancy, as you well know, to be bale to block everything that just happened and only think of personal gain. And in this respect we see that this is occurring over and over again that he`s able to make jokes. That`s the kind of personality who can distance himself. And it makes him very suspicious because as you know someone who is a sociopath is able to completely object by the other person, make jokes, look for money, look for gain, act greed, act crying, and turn the whole thing off.
GRACE: You know he didn`t act too well because he was standing over her dead body talking about her breasts and a life insurance policy.
Out to the lines, Samantha in Minnesota. Hi, Samantha. What`s your question?
SAMANTHA, CALLER FROM MINNESOTA: Hi, Nancy. I was just curious like, was he married to the other girl when he married Tina?
GRACE: No, he was not. He got married shortly after her death and, as a matter of fact, let`s show you that photo again, Liz. The resemblance is uncanny. They were not married at the same time.
But Alexis Tereszcuk with Radaronline.com, is there a suggestion of a love triangle this soon after his first marriage?
TERESZCUK: There is because he knew his second wife in high school. He`d known her for many, many years. The marriage to his first wife was 11 days long. It`s very suspicious. And especially considering the very intimate letters that she sent to him, it seems like there`s a much longer relationship.
GRACE: Alexis. Alexis.
TERESZCUK: Yes.
GRACE: Why are you saying intimate? They`re XXX, raunchy, suggestive. They`re --
TERESZCUK: They are.
GRACE: Over the top. So, you know, when you say intimate, you`re really, you`re really putting perfume on the pig.
TERESZCUK: I did try to clean it up a little bit. But you`re absolutely right. They are so explicit. She talks about the sexual acts that she wants to do with him when he gets out of jail. She talks about really lewd mix names for his body parts. They are absolutely XXX rated.
GRACE: I think graphic would be a good description. They`re not just romantic. OK. So all of this is going on immediately in the days following his wife`s death.
Unleash the lawyers, Sue Moss, Ray Giudice, Dwane Cates.
You know, Sue Moss, I hardly know which is more probative, him cutting up the flowers off his wife`s grave. Let`s see that video, Liz. Or what we were just describing graphic letters from the new woman, soon to be his new wife? What about it, Sue?
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY & CHILD ADVOCATE: Absolutely. I just hope the second wife doesn`t have a bathtub because this guy just can`t be trusted. With this first wife, I mean, she didn`t have a prayer if this guy shut off the air. And then bear-hugged her? Could you imagine what those last moments must have been like when your fiance is killing you?
GRACE: Ray Giudice, what -- is there any way -- everybody you`re seeing video from the "Townsville Bulletin." Is there any way to stop this from coming in at trial?
RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. Yes. I -- you used the key legal word, probative, relevant evidence. Long after the death, unless there`s some way that they can trace his relationship with this second wife that precedes the death of the first wife to show some mysterious love triangle, I don`t think it comes into evidence.
GRACE: Well, Dwane Cates, obviously it will go to frame of mind, motive, intent, course of conduct. Obviously it goes to what he was thinking at the time of her death. And by the way, there is evidence that the equipment was working but she just wasn`t breathing. It had been somehow untapped. Weigh in, Cates.
DWANE CATES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, from what I understand is the theory is that he shut her air off and then he -- her air back on. The problem with that there`s not one person that testifies that they saw his hands on the air valve. Number two --
(CROSSTALK)
CATES: -- right about all the rescue things, the problem is nobody has dealt with the fact that what you do when you`re dealing with somebody that`s panicking and combative, and that changes the whole rescue scenario.
GRACE: Really? Because, Ellie Jostad, what the eye witnesses say? It`s not that she was fighting him. Describe the bear hug evidence, Ellie Jostad.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. Well, this is a little bit of a sticking point here because the defense`s witness or actually on cross the state`s witness said that he saw him holding her but he did stop short actually -- and Cates is right, he did cut off short of saying he saw him manipulating the air valve. So it`s unclear how the state`s going to get that in at this point.
GRACE: We`re showing you a reenactment right now. Let`s go back to the reenactment that we were just showing, Liz.
This is what the witness saw. They saw the new groom come up bride and fiddle with her air tank there on the back.
What about it, TJ Ward? What does that say to you?
TJ WARD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, POLYGRAPH AND VOICE ANALYSIS EXPERT: Well, that -- that right there shows some evidence that something did happen and of course the mere fact that he`s changed his stories several times in interviews. So this is going to play a key part.
GRACE: Another important -- another important fact raised by TJ Ward, the fact that he changes his story in police questioning.
Quick break, our family album is back, showcasing your photos. Here are Iowa friends, the Pearsons. Mom Alisa, 19-year-old Lincoln, 13-year- old Hunter. They love the New Orleans Saints and being outdoors. They`re also from a family full of twins.
Share your family photos with us through iReport Family Album. Go to hlnTV.com/Nancygrace and click on "Nancy`s Family Album."
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The honeymoon trip that ended with the death - -
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Drowning death of his bride of 11 days, Tina Thomas Watson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never think that your daughter will leave for her honeymoon and her husband will kill her.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Gave Watson originally told police Tina got caught in strong current and panicked. Her father believed otherwise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually had a diver that was on the (INAUDIBLE) sport with them that came to see me. He told me that that didn`t happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The statement that he made today still stands. It made no sense at all. That`s not what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Testimony that followed suggested Watson turned off his wife`s air supply and let her sink.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grabbed her hand but she was, you know, maybe five feet below me or something like that. I don`t really know. I went down. Started kicking down. And I was kicking down. But as fast as I was kicking down to go get her --
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GRACE: Well, that`s not what the eyewitnesses say what happened. You`re seeing video from "Dateline" of Gabe Watson trying to explain to police what happened the day his new bride died on a honeymoon scuba trip.
We are taking your calls. But first to you, Dr. Michelle Dupree, medical examiner, forensic pathologist.
Dr. Dupree, thank you for being with us. How long does it take for someone to die once their air supply is cut off?
DR. MICHELLE DUPREE, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER AND FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Nancy, it doesn`t really take very long. It can me as much -- if you`re under the water, say, up to maybe a few minutes. Three minutes maybe.
GRACE: You know, Tina Watson sank to a depth I`m hearing between 49 and 89 feet, and remained there for about 10 minutes before another diver brought her to the surface.
At what point would she have lost consciousness, Dr. Dupree?
DUPREE: Again, that`s going to depend on, you know, what she was actually doing before then. But someone can lose consciousness within a few minutes really.
GRACE: And I want to go back to Leah Brandon. The jury is hearing evidence right now here on home turf in Alabama. Is anybody on the jury a diver?
LEAH BRANDON, MORNING ANCHOR, NEWSRADIO 106.5 WERC: That I am not quite sure if they are or not.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Cynthia in Kansas. Hi, Cynthia. What`s your question?
CYNTHIA, CALLER FROM KANSAS: Does anybody know exactly how many days she had been gone before he had remarried?
GRACE: I think it was a couple of years but I don`t know exactly when he rekindled his relationship with the new wife.
What do you know, Alexis Tereszcuk? When did they start dating?
TERESZCUK: I believe that it was very shortly after his first wife`s death, within a year. The thing that is really interested is her friends say they thought she was dating his cousin so when she told everybody that she was engaged to Gabe, they were really surprised. They thought that this was not the relationship they expected her to be. So there was a lot of duplicity going on in that relationship.
GRACE: It sounds like they were trying to trick everybody. Alexis?
TERESZCUK: You`re exactly right. They were, and they were trying to keep it low key because obviously he knew that there was a lot of scrutiny following him. And she was covering it up. But they definitely went public when he was in jail.
GRACE: To Michael Gast, founder of National Academy of Police Diving.
Michael, what`s so ironic is that all this happened just 49 feet below the surface of the water. Forty-nine feet. You could swim that in seconds. Just kick your legs, you`d go straight up. She could so easily have been saved. Victims are weightless underwater. Even if she were fighting, albeit he`s a big guy, all he had to do is grab her under the armpits and pull her up. That`s all he had to do. Or yank heir buoyancy control, her BC, and shoot to the top.
MICHAEL GAST, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF POLICE DIVING: That`s correct. There`s so many things that you can do to rescue a person if you`ve got the training, obviously it should be easier to do. Panicked divers are one of the criteria they use for any rescue trained person is how to deal with the panic diver and not to get yourself into a strait so that you`re becoming a victim also.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Matthew in New Jersey. Hi, Matthew. What`s your question, dear?
MATTHEW, CALLER FROM NEW JERSEY: Yes, my questions is, by any chance do you think he did this for the insurance policy?
GRACE: Matthew, I think he did it for the insurance policy and to get with the new bride. That`s what I think.
And I want to go quickly out to Ellie Jostad. How long had they dated? Chronicle their courtship for me. The first wife. The dead wife versus the second wife.
JOSTAD: Yes. Right, Nancy. Well, they met when they were in college. So they had dated two, three years but as Alexis said there was a time that they were broken up. She was pursuing another relationship with a different guy. And then the friend suddenly heard, nope, I`m back with Gabe. We`re getting engaged. So that was a big surprise to everybody. And they were married just about five or six months later.
GRACE: Alexis Tereszcuk, the trial ongoing right now. What`s going to be different in this trial than all the evidence we`ve had before other than what we know about him removing the flowers. Cutting them up with bolt cutters at the grave. Comments that he`s made. The remarriage.
TERESZCUK: Her best friend, Tina`s best friend, is testifying that Gabe showed her pictures right after the funeral at the family party that - - it was a picture that he took of Tina standing in front of a sign that warned about drowning. It was just more evidence showing that he was joking about this.
GRACE: What about it, Caryn Stark? Showing off photos of her standing by drowning warnings before her death? He comes home and shows them off.
STARK: He should not be capable of doing that. It`s such a sign that his emotions were raw. He had no feeling or he could not be joking or talking about perky breasts or showing those photographs. It could never happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually he said, is she alone or other people around? And I remember thinking a thought going through my mind, where is this going. And he said, I don`t know any other way of telling you this. There`s been an accident, Tina drowned.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was looking up, had both her arms out, you know, reached, stretched up, you know, almost like looking at me, reaching her arms out to grab, so I kind of upended myself, you know, head first, and I remember going down, you know, reaching and at this point I was thinking, you know, I am going to grab a hold of her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You`re seeing video from NBC`s "Dateline."
Is it true, Ellie Jostad, that he changed his story to police?
JOSTAD: Yes, Nancy, he did. In fact that`s what started this whole investigation. They said when they went back and they reviewed his statements, that there were inconsistencies.
GRACE: Inconsistencies in his statement like what, Elle?
JOSTAD: Like for example he said that he`d asked another diver for help, but then when they went and talked to the divers, they said none of us were asked for help by him. There were things that he said happened they couldn`t confirm.
GRACE: And isn`t it true, Leah Brandon, morning anchor, WERC, that while they tried to revive her, he didn`t even stand over her or offer to help. He walked off, and also Leah Brandon, at what stage are we in the trial?
BRANDON: Well, you`re exactly right, Nancy. First of all, while they were trying to revive his bride of 11 days, the woman he loved, the woman he had just married, taken on the trip of a lifetime to the Great Barrier Reef, he wasn`t even on the same boat. In fact, he was on another boat, getting hugs from people and one of the people in the trial did testify that he acted like he was crying, but there were no tears.
We are in week two now of the trial. We are on day number seven.
GRACE: Getting hugs while his bride died. Getting hugs on another boat while his bride died.
Let`s stop and remember, Army Staff Sergeant Gary Lee Woods, Jr., 24, Lebanon Junction, Kentucky. Killed in Iraq on a second tour. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, two Army Commendation medals, three Army Achievement medals. Loves music, playing trumpet, trombone, piano, drums. Camping, fishing. Beautiful blue eyes. Leaves behind parents, Gary and Becky, a Gold Star mother, stepparents Pat and Debbie. Sister Britney.
Gary Lee Woods, Jr. American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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