Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[Dadvocate]

Okay, Trish, I see your point. With all of us contemplating what the investigators might have in their possession which they haven’t disclosed, perhaps there is something in these days prior that they are keeping a secret.

I’d agree with you that it would look very bad if he did sell the house. But honestly speaking, looking bad, whether that be in police interviews, poorly timed civil law suits, or in in cutting flowers free at cemeteries, doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem for him. Not the brightest bulb, as we all know.

The jealously angle is interesting. Are you suggesting that his motive might have been that some Outback Jack type swooned her with his Aussie ways, or that she already had a wandering eye given that their relationship was not on the most stable of grounds? From the assests being referenced, the insurance policy, the house, or what have you, it does seem that there wasn’t a whole lot of financial “security” that he brought into this union. Most, if not all of the money, seems to have been contributed from her. If that is true, $130,000 US might be more of a motive than mere numbers suggest.

Anyway, don’t jealous people tend to snap in the heat of the moment generally, killing their spouses in a fit of rage the minute they are prompted? Waiting until a dive trip to get his revenge would have taken a devious mind and a degree of patience. I’m not sure Gabe fits the bill with either of these.

Cheers!

 

[Ayisha]

Dadvocate, it was reported on CNN a few weeks ago, as well as on this thread, that the husband was angry about an affair that the victim had and that the alleged affair could have been a motive. It was unclear whether the affair was proven or when it may have happened.

 

[Dadvocate]

I’ve read the transcripts from the interview, and a couple of things jump out for me. Not sure if they mean anything of course.

Gabe says his initial reason for not continuing down to the bottom in pursuit of Tina to circa 30 meters was that he was worried that he could not go up afterwards without the risk of getting hit (she had by his account already sunk deeper after knocking off his mask and dislodging his primary stage).

Then he says that he swam to the anchor line (the buoy line at the bow of the wreck?) and shouted his wife’s name repeatedly “through” his second stage while pointing in her general direction to people already on the line doing safety stops. It is not clear how far up he swam to get to them, but it is clear that he wasn’t at or near the surface using his words.

They simply looked at him so he says. Have any of these people on this buoy line commented on this rather odd behavior? I recall others in this thread saying that no one mentions seeing Gabe at all during that crucial period of time. This would be very damaging if it is true.

After doing this and getting no real response, he then “rocketed to the top” (with a 2 minute interval as his computer says). If his testimony is correct, that means he would have first met the people on the buoy line somewhere between the surface and the top of the wreck, which would definitely make the unexplained time to the surface look that much worse. How long does it take to shout “Tina, Tina, Tina” through your reg while pointing in her direction and getting no response? By claims that he made the decision to go for help was the most timely option he felt he had. I can’t imagine that it took all that long to do this and recognize that they were not getting his gargled message underwater through his second stage. If his words are to be believed, he did his rocketman directly thereafter, leaving zero time for a two minute gap.

If he ended up rocketing to the top after being at the buoy line, why then didn’t he simply do this controlled energency ascent in the first place after Tina sank deeper while he did have a hold of “the left side of her BC”? This is a huge discrepency since he would have disregarded the very same danger in “rocteting up” while he was with her as he claims to have done later when the people on the line didn’t recognize the danger his wife was in.

Gabe’s account:

I pretty much turned and, pretty much just rocketed to the top and I just swam up to the top ah and that was one of the things I thought about later we were talking all those people that from that point I, you know I’m amazed that I didn’t end up with the bends or something oh, you know and you know the only thing I did in going up there you know kicking back was I made sure that you know as I was going back to the rope that I wasn’t going up quicker than the bubbles were, um that was something that I remembered from you know about descending you know ah but I know when I got to those people and they didn’t know what I was talking about I just turned and kicked and went straight up to the top

He seems to have realized that he just got through commenting on the danger in surfacing too quickly and then clumsily changes his words midstream to have him going up “with his bubbles” before making the last leg to the surface quickly.

Clearly this behavior is terribly un-rescue-diver like, not to mention being boarderline panicked and perhaps incriminating. In addition, his inability to refer to dive terms is quite telling, but then he doesn’t show himself to be that well spoken in non-diving terms either.

When Det. Lawrence asks him to focus on the dive “step by step” Gabe seems to have no clue about important things: his weight, Tina’s weight, why he didn’t inflate his BCD and dump his/her integrated weights, etc.

Quick side note: Can one get that much weight in a standard integrated weight system by the way? That seems an awful lot, and Gabe claims that neither of them had belts on during this dive.

I get the impression that Det. Lawrence starts this process looking for reasons to nail the dive op, but then things start to focus more on Gabe and his memory of convenience regarding the turn of events.

The conversation with Gabe and his mother between tape 2 and 3 is also quite interesting. Gabe laments having to undergo the process and just wants to get it all over with. He harbors criticism of the dive op for what he deems was poor dissemination of information about the dive; yet he doesn’t want to take the time to outline what exactly the dive op had done incorrectly to warrant this critique.

And what is this business about “needing a hug” with a woman that his wife apparently mocked the day before? His wife, by his own accounts, has just gone missing in the chronology he is telling. Why would he tell that little tidbit and make her look bad? Very odd.

And Gabe’s mother being an educator, well that is scary in and of itself.

Thanks for the update, Ayisha

Cheers!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

It was revealed that the police had contacted the only Asian looking male (that is Gabe's discription of the person he approached on the mooring line) and the person swore he was NOT approached by anyone as Gabe described. That was revealed in the inquest. They have been unable to find anyone who was in the water that day from either boat who was approached in the water by Gabe. Wouldn't you remember someone approaching you and yelling at you gesturing (at one point he even said he grabbed the person) on a dive where someone DIED? Anyone does that to me on a normal dive I would notice, and document it in my dive log as an unusual event.

The whole thing stinks. 130K to some people is A LOT OF MONEY! as someone mentioned it doesn't appear he brought a lot of assets into the relationship.

That said, after reading the interview and so on. I am amazed he gets his shoes on without assistance. Thinking up, planning and executing this with an IQ that appears to be just slightly higher than room temperature????? Not sure. Glad someone else will work it out with more information that we have access to. I do believe he is at the very least partially responsible for her death.

 

[ERIC.K]

Dadvocate, we all can pry holes in the guy's story. I felt that it was also interesteing to find out how much weight she was reported to have on, who told her to put that much weight on? Gabe? what was the lift capacity of her BC? having that much weight on could give his story credence if she was "SINKING" too fast like he testified. I'm surprised that a dive master or a deck hand would not have seen her putting that much weight into a BC. Every, and I mean every dive boat I have been on seem to really pay close attention to the weight a person wears. My wife, being a little top heavy, if you get my drift seems to always draw attention when she puts on extra lead for different conditions, every single time.

 

[Dadvocate]

Eric

I'm still curious about how one could get that much weight in an integrated BC. I would have difficulty in doing so with my SQ Balance. And I agree that if she had that much weight on, it would prove to be something that would help his version of events. I also agree that many people could find ways to poke holes in his disjointed account.

As many have already said, flighty memory and dodgy accounts do not make a murder conviction alone. There would have to be more I would say.

Cheers!

 

[MikeFerrara]

Mike you were implying earlier that this incident was justification to rule Australia and Australian live-aboard operators as potential safe dive options.

No different than any other tourist area.

Now you take issue with the additional requirements they put in place to keep people safe by providing computers. I'm baffled.

Don't be baffled. Requiring computers has nothing to do with keeping divers safe.

It seems you have some pretty negative views on dive training and divers skill levels.

Just being realistic.

I won't try to convince you otherwise as it appears to me you have made up your mind based on the information you are willing to accept and are not interested in any facts aren't consistent with your conclusions.

By all means, try to convince me.

 

[ERIC.K]

There is noway I could get that kinda weight into my BC a Seaquest proQD. I still have the velcro pockets instead of their new mechanical version. I would have been dropping lead everywhere! It would seem to me however that if he allowed his wife to wear that much weight is at least neglegent, My wife is a intregral part of my scuba rig setup and I check her rig before every dive, hopefully if I had loaded my rig with that much weight my wife would have called me out....if he suggested her using that much weight, for me it would only help his alibi regarding her sinking to the bottom, maybe he wanteed her to sink like a rock I have gone through alot of the transcripts and I have something to say about almost all of his interviews. He certaily isn't the brightest diver or criminal. lastly I have been on quite a few dive boats and I still cannot remember a dive boat that didn't take an extreme interest in folks getting rigged up. every dive boat I've been on would have seen or know how much weight I'm stuffing into my BC.

 

[Ayisha]

It was revealed that the police had contacted the only Asian looking male (that is Gabe's discription of the person he approached on the mooring line) and the person swore he was NOT approached by anyone as Gabe described. That was revealed in the inquest. They have been unable to find anyone who was in the water that day from either boat who was approached in the water by Gabe.

Last fall, there was info in the early reports that Gabe and Tina were the only ones left in the water towards the end of their dive. Everyone else from their boat was apparently back on board before the incident happened. People were beginning to descend from the other boat as the incident was in progress, hence the Dr eyewitness. The police said that the battery changing stall was a ploy to separate the couple from the rest of the group, which supports the earlier info that the couple were the only divers left in the water from that boat.

It would be interesting to know what actual time (ex. 10:30 AM) the other divers (on Gabe's boat) computers showed as their arrival at the ascent line up to and including the safety stop and arrival at the surface in relation to Gabe's actual times. This would show whether it was even possible that they were at the ascent line at the same time.

It would also be interesting to know what exact time the Dr and the rescuer made the discovery according to their computers in relation to Gabe's computer/version of events.

I guess that might be too much to ask to download everyone's computers for comparison, but if they were mostly rentals accessible at the shop, that should be easier for police than if they were customer-owned on different continents.

BTW, getting that much weight strictly into a BC without any type of weight belt would be pretty difficult/impossible in most BC's - especially if she is wearing a pretty small one.

Does anyone know what brand BC's they were wearing? It should be pretty easy to check online for the maximum capacity per weight pocket and the lift capacity for most common brands.

 

[bubba105]

Last fall, there was info in the early reports that Gabe and Tina were the only ones left in the water towards the end of their dive. Everyone else from their boat was apparently back on board before the incident happened. People were beginning to descend from the other boat as the incident was in progress, hence the Dr eyewitness. The police said that the battery changing stall was a ploy to separate the couple from the rest of the group, which supports the earlier info that the couple were the only divers left in the water from that boat.

I believe both the guy who went to the bottom to get her & the diver in the photo were from Mike Ball's boat, so, at least those people were still in the water.

BTW, getting that much weight strictly into a BC without any type of weight belt would be pretty difficult/impossible in most BC's - especially if she is wearing a pretty small one.

Page 5 Tape 2
WATSON: er I think on that dive I think I had close to thirty pounds and I bet she had two eight, she may’ve had between eighteen an twenty, something like that

LAWRENCE: mmm

WATSON: um but I don’t, I don’t know for a fact I just remember you know the weight, weight belt up under underneath the thing underneath the tray ah, the trays are under there I know I remember her pulling out you know some of the bigger ones um you know I do it, I know she asked asked somebody where the you know the smaller weights are and there was a bin you know kind of across from us where those were, but I don’t know exactly how much weight

LAWRENCE: ok, did she carry a weight belt as well as what was in her BC?

WATSON: no, just we both had the integrated


I don't think 20 lbs is too much weight. I remember reading in the interview that Gabe mentioned taking off "just the top" of his wetsuit, which I took to mean a farmer john 2 piece suit. If she were diving the same, even a 5 mm suit, 20 lbs isn't crazy overweighting. Did it come out somewhere that she had more weight?