LOS ANGELES — An Alabama man who served prison time in Australia for his wife’s drowning during their honeymoon returned Thursday to the U.S., where he faces murder charges that could carry a much stiffer punishment.
Gabe Watson, 33, arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday morning from Melbourne, Australia. Watson cleared customs within an hour and was taken away in handcuffs.
He was booked at a local police substation after his arrival, said Los Angeles police Lt. Aaron McCraney. Watson will likely make a court appearance in Los Angeles before being sent back to Alabama.
Alabama Attorney General Troy King said Australian authorities showed too much leniency to Watson, who served an 18-month sentence in that country after pleading guilty last year to manslaughter. Tina Watson, 26, drowned in 2003 while scuba diving with her husband of 11 days.
Gabe Watson will not fight extradition to Alabama because he wants to be home with friends and family, said his attorney, Brett Bloomston. Bloomston accused the prosecutor of grandstanding and trying to emotionally sway the grand jury by convening its session on the seventh anniversary of Tina Watson’s death.
“His goal has been to get to Birmingham to get home to his family, to answer these charges immediately upon release of his custodial sentence in Australia,” Bloomston said.
Prosecutors think Watson hatched a plan to kill his wife while they were in Alabama, which gives the state jurisdiction over her death.
Bloomston said Watson acknowledged in his plea in Australia that he committed a negligent act, failing to do enough to save his wife. But Watson denies deliberately trying to kill her.
Tommy Thomas, the 55-year-old father of Watson’s late wife, said he views the upcoming court proceedings as a chance to resolve unanswered questions about his daughter’s death. He thinks she was murdered.
Gabe Watson, an accomplished diver, was dubbed the “Honeymoon Killer” by the Australian media after his wife drowned during a scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef.
In 2008, the Queensland state coroner found there was sufficient evidence to charge Watson with her death, and he was officially charged with murder a few months later.
In 2009, Gabe Watson — who had remarried — traveled to Australia to face trial. Officials in Queensland state argued he killed his wife by turning off her air supply and holding her underwater.
Queensland Coroner David Glasgow said a possible motive was Tina Watson’s modest life insurance policy. Bloomston said a $33,000 insurance payment was made to Tina Watson’s father.
Tina Watson’s father said his daughter told him before she died that Gabe Watson wanted her to increase the value of her life insurance policy and name her husband as the beneficiary.
