A photo of a husband and wife scuba diving appears innocent, but a detail in the image led to a murder trial.
The image showed Gabe Watson and his newlywed wife, Tina Watson, diving off the coast of Queensland, Australia in 2003.
Just 11 days after their wedding, tragedy struck when 26-year-old Tina was caught in a strong current and later found lifeless on the ocean floor.
The haunting discovery was made when a fellow diver accidentally captured a photograph of her body resting on the seabed.
Watson was later accused of her murder and put on trial in 2009. Reports indicate he broke down in court when confronted with the image.
Recalling the moments before the disaster, Watson described the unexpected force of the current.
"As soon as we let go, we were moving, moving quite a bit... it was definitely not what I was expecting, and neither was Tina," he told the court, as reported by The Mirror.
In a 2012 interview with ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas, Watson claimed he had instructed Tina to inflate her buoyancy compensator to ascend, but nothing happened. "That was when I realised, you know, We're -- This isn't good. We're in trouble. So I reached out and grabbed a hold of the b.c. strap right there," he said.
As they attempted to return to the anchor rope, Watson described feeling a sudden impact.
"I felt a 'whack' across the face from Tina," he stated, explaining that his mask was displaced.
As he adjusted it, he lost his grip on her and saw her sinking.
"She was face up, and she had her arms up. She was reaching out for me to grab ahold of her," Watson recalled.
Despite making an effort to reach her, Watson said she remained out of arm’s reach. He made the decision to swim to the surface for help.
"I don't think I was making rational choices at that point. I don't know what I would have done had I stayed with her," he admitted.
A dive master later retrieved Tina's body, and crew members attempted CPR for 40 minutes, but she could not be revived.
Initially charged with murder by Australian authorities, Watson later pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter.
He served 18 months of a four-and-a-half-year sentence in Australia.
In 2012, an Alabama judge dismissed a murder retrial due to insufficient evidence.
As reported by The Guardian, Judge Tommy Nail ruled in favor of the defense, agreeing that prosecutors failed to prove Watson planned to kill his wife for insurance money.