Nov. 10, 2026
Cruise Ship Passenger Admits He “Snapped; Charged With Murdering Companion
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RSS Feed Cruise ship passenger, 48-year-old Jason Watford, made his first court appearance on murder charges after he admitted to federal agents he killed the woman he was traveling with to the Caribbean. Just six hours after leaving their Galveston, Texas port, a housekeeper reported she saw blood on Watford’s hands and clothing and witnessed the woman’s body on the floor. According to court records, Watford said he snapped following an argument, strangling the woman for several minutes before killing her.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Tuesday, November 10th, and it was supposed to be a seven-night cruise, but they barely made it six hours before authorities say a man killed the woman he was traveling with. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Even the authorities have in some way glamorized the headline for this story, Robes. Yeah. You pointed this out to me and I didn't believe you when you said it. But this is, listen to even how the federal government describes this crime.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: Murder on the high seas, colon, alleged cruise ship killer gets federal charges. I actually said to you, babe, what is happening with the Department of Justice? I have a clickbait headline. And I read it for you, and you're like, there's no way, the DOJ, that.
00:00:58
Speaker 3: That's their headline. I'm like, okay. You got up out of your seat.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: You walked over, and.
00:01:02
Speaker 3: You're like, holy hell. Murder on the high seas, colon. That sounds like I wouldn't even do that.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Usually I end up writing whatever you all see the title is in the write-up. I'm usually trying to come up with something that's interesting, yes, that gets you interested, that would make you want to listen. But I always try to stop short of being just full-on cheesy or click-baiting.
00:01:25
Speaker 1: Faking you out, yes.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: Right, I never would do that. So this isn't fake, but it's just high cheese factor.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: On a story that doesn't need you to work hard to find some drama. Robes, this is a hell of a story that begins with, Just the idea that authorities ordered a cruise ship that had just taken off to bring your butts back to port because we need to arrest somebody.
00:01:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, can you imagine?
00:01:55
Speaker 1: This is a hell of a story.
00:01:56
Speaker 2: Like thousands of people, a lot of folks save up their whole lives to go on a cruise like this, a seven night, as you pointed out, Western Caribbean cruise.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: They were headed to Costa Maya, Mexico. Then they were making.
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Stops in Honduras and Cozumel. So this was a whole big, awesome, exciting cruise.
00:02:13
Speaker 1: This company, MSC, I'm not as familiar with them. MSC?
00:02:16
Speaker 3: Yep, I'm not familiar. The MSC Seascape is the name of the ship. And so, yes, seven nights get unpacked. Everybody go to the bar, get to the restaurant, start having some fun.
00:02:27
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
00:02:27
Speaker 1: Do this. Literally. Literally.
00:02:30
Speaker 2: This couple, this man and this woman, can't make it six hours before she winds up dead? Yes, that is what we are hearing. So the federal government ordered this ship to turn around when they had to let federal authorities know that there was a dead woman aboard their ship.
00:02:51
Speaker 3: And according to.
00:02:52
Speaker 2: The criminal complaint, 48 year old Jason Watford and the woman who he boarded the ship with, they were in the restaurant, one of the restaurants on the ship. And everyone, I guess, saw them arguing, saw them fighting. So it was fairly well documented.
00:03:07
Speaker 3: It appears.
00:03:08
Speaker 1: Um, and yeah, there's, we have seen now, I guess the video of him being escorted off whatever port they came back to, but Galveston, they turned around and robes it. Initially the story came out and we, This person of interest or this suspect, we weren't sure exactly what had taken place or where this victim even was for a little while. But as they describe, and they have plenty of witnesses to that evening, and it sounds like Robes, he was talking to authorities quite a bit after he was arrested, but describing a fight that evening that they had in the restaurant. Who goes back? She goes back.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: He left and went to their room first. So he gets up and leaves her in the restaurant because he's upset. She follows him about 25 minutes later.
00:04:00
Speaker 1: They were specific with the time. Yes. I saw 25 minutes.
00:04:03
Speaker 3: They made it very clear.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: And yes, and by the way, there were almost 6,000 guests on this cruise ship. I mean, that's how huge this cruise ship was. So basically, he entered their cabin at 7.46 p.m. The victim went in 25 minutes later and then it was at 9.15 p.m. They see him leaving the room wearing different shirts and different pants.
00:04:31
Speaker 3: So he's switched clothes.
00:04:33
Speaker 2: But what happened in between then was the housekeeper came to deliver towels. And she literally, first of all, she said she saw blood on his hands and on his clothing. And then she saw what looked like a woman dead body.
00:04:49
Speaker 3: Face down on the floor. So yeah, she let her bosses know.
00:05:04
Speaker 1: And so, robes, we don't see these that often. This is the stuff of Hollywood.
00:05:11
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:05:12
Speaker 1: This is intriguing. This is fascinating now. And It makes you wonder what in God's name you're willing to plan to pay for, to book this trip, to go with this person. You can't make it six hours.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: What?
00:05:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, you and I were both saying that.
00:05:38
Speaker 2: I was like, look, and we'll get into his history in just a bit, but you've gotten enough of a sweet deal that you've secured a seven-night trip where you don't have to cook any food, you don't have to clean up your mess, you literally have a seven-night stay on a floating ship headed to paradise.
00:05:58
Speaker 1: Paid for.
00:05:59
Speaker 2: And I would imagine with somebody who you chose to be with, and okay, so you get into a fight, that first you know, the stress of getting to the ship, the stress of getting everything packed, the stress of just all that it takes maybe to head out for seven nights.
00:06:15
Speaker 3: Fine.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Every, every, I think couple has had a beginning of the trip fight, but six hours later, this is the aftermath. I mean, that's really hard to imagine that you couldn't get through a couple of hours and your first fight on your vacation is With it out ending in murder?
00:06:35
Speaker 3: I mean, that's insane. And he described in detail what he said happened. So he told the agents that, yes.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: That argument that everyone saw in the restaurant continued once she came back into the room.
00:06:50
Speaker 3: He admits to the agents that he struck her several times. And then this is the way he described it. He said he applied pressure. So, look, he basically flat.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: Out, according to court documents, has admitted that he was Beat her, I guess, enough where there was blood on him and blood on his clothing and strangled her to death.
00:07:32
Speaker 3: I mean, he's admitting it.
00:07:33
Speaker 1: This is what possibly could have set him off in such a short amount of time. They had a very public fight.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:07:46
Speaker 1: That it sounded like both had time to cool off.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: You would hope.
00:07:51
Speaker 1: There's a half hour in between. What in God's name happened?
00:07:55
Speaker 2: Right. And it's just hard to imagine that. And he did use the word snapped that the argument that they had, he apparently told officers it caused him to snap. And my God, just to think that you were willing to throw your entire life away, not just the vacation away.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: You know, you think about, you know, when you get in a fight, you think, Oh God, we've just ruined our vacation. We just spent all this money. And now we're supposed to be having fun and look what we're doing.
00:08:22
Speaker 2: No, I mean, and to think that all those people who paid all that money thought they were, and they were headed to paradise, had to turn around and go six hours back and then turn back around. And now they are, by the way, they are headed back out to paradise, but they've lost a full half day.
00:08:41
Speaker 3: At least, if not more.
00:08:43
Speaker 1: Okay, let me just, on a side note for everybody here for just a second, how would you feel as a passenger on this boat? Sweetheart, you talk about lost time.
00:08:56
Speaker 3: You got content.
00:08:58
Speaker 1: But robes.
00:08:58
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
00:08:59
Speaker 1: Now you're on a boat for the next week that someone was murdered on.
00:09:06
Speaker 2: Oh, I was thinking like influencers and all of these folks would be so excited to get onto their social media and brag.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: I'm asking how you would feel.
00:09:14
Speaker 2: As long as I wasn't like in the cabin on either side of the cabin.
00:09:19
Speaker 1: That's the difference for you.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: I don't think it would.
00:09:21
Speaker 1: I mean, we live in New York City.
00:09:22
Speaker 3: People get murdered here, I guess, all the time.
00:09:24
Speaker 2: I don't know. I wouldn't.
00:09:26
Speaker 3: No, that wouldn't bother me that badly. That would bother you. You would want to get off the boat.
00:09:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't feel good.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: I see it on your face.
00:09:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
00:09:32
Speaker 3: You wouldn't.
00:09:33
Speaker 2: Wait, you would not continue on the cruise?
00:09:36
Speaker 1: That doesn't feel right, baby. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel right. It's something just that there's an ick. How can I enjoy it? paradise how can i enjoy i am on a floating memorial now wow i am on a this is a whole crime scene everywhere that i am i don't know something weird about i don't know if i was there if i'd feel differently about it but it just feels icky.
00:09:58
Speaker 2: You know what?
00:09:58
Speaker 3: I do know you, and that reads. That is something. You'd be like, yeah, I think we're done. I think the whole vacation's shot. I'd be like, wait, what?
00:10:06
Speaker 2: I mean, if you have a target time of us leaving the apartment at 11.15, if it's 11.45, you're like, the day's over.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: Forget it. We'll just try again tomorrow.
00:10:14
Speaker 2: I'm like, it's only 30 minutes past when you thought we were supposed to leave.
00:10:18
Speaker 3: What are you talking about? You are all or nothing. That is true. That's fair. That makes total sense.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: But this is pretty remarkable when you consider this man. Yes, we said he was on vacation, right? But wait until you hear about his past. He had just started to taste freedom and now looks like he's headed right back to the very place he came from. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. We are talking about a very scary ride for a lot of folks. They thought they were heading to paradise, and instead they ended up having to turn back around and drop off a passenger who was being met by federal authorities, 48-year-old Jason Watford. He just made a federal court appearance. He's back in court again in a couple of days. But, yes, he is facing a murder charge, but this.
00:11:19
Speaker 3: Is no stranger. to the court system.
00:11:22
Speaker 2: This is a man who has a lengthy criminal history. Newsweek pulled up his public records. He was behind bars.
00:11:30
Speaker 3: For attempted murder. He was serving a 10-year sentence.
00:11:35
Speaker 2: He had drug charges, weapons charges. So this was a man who was newly released.
00:11:42
Speaker 3: He was free. He was heading to the Caribbean. He was heading to Mexico. It's hard to get your head around.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: Something that could have set him off that would have sent him straight back to this life, it seemed he was finally free from or free of.
00:11:57
Speaker 1: Do you have a handle? I'm sorry if I just missed it there. How recently he was in prison?
00:12:03
Speaker 2: Well, I know that his incarceration date, so he went to prison in March of, Yeah.
00:12:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: So if you put all of that together, I don't know exactly, but I would think in the last five years.
00:12:31
Speaker 1: Fairly newly released.
00:12:32
Speaker 3: Yes, he's been released from prison.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: Wow. From very serious charges that could have sent him back even further. So, yes, you want to think he's gotten out. He's turned his life around. He has his gal with him. They've done well enough that they've been able to afford a seven-night cruise to Mexico. What could she have done or said that would literally make all of that just evaporate where now he's headed straight back to prison? Man, Robes.
00:12:57
Speaker 1: No, I... And it could... We say five years. It could have been even more recent. Robes, but.
00:13:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's absolutely true.
00:13:06
Speaker 1: What set him off in that time? Again, he hasn't been... But it sounds like Robes, by all accounts, he has admitted.
00:13:14
Speaker 2: Yes, according to the affidavits that have been presented in court, he has fully explained his role in all of this to police.
00:13:21
Speaker 3: He was on the record. He said it.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: Look, and... The complaint they also recorded and they've got surveillance cameras on cruise ships so you can see who comes and who goes. no one else was seen entering or leaving the room. So when this woman, who, by the way, we don't have her identity yet, but when she was last seen alive walking into the cabin, the only person who had been in there and there was no one else who came back out again was Jason Watford.
00:13:50
Speaker 3: So that is very damning evidence.
00:13:52
Speaker 2: So if you've got the surveillance, you've got the physical evidence with blood on him and his own words, this seems like not something that needs to be investigated much.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: Further and he's 48 right he's 48 years old no idea how old she is and just wonder if i don't know she's an age she has kids yeah she's a mom herself just we don't know anything there just these are and again i know people are going on about their day in their lives and there might be some people in the ship not even aware Right. Of any of this. Well, I'm sure. Well, they had to make an announcement.
00:14:38
Speaker 3: But look, he's facing up to life in prison. And that's almost certainly what will happen next.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: It's just we need some more information about what happened and who this woman was. And we hope to get more of that when he makes his next court appearance later this week. But certainly not the start. Thousands of people were expecting. 5,900 people aboard that cruise ship as they were headed out to Mexico. And look, I guess it's a story they'll probably be telling for the rest of their lives. Well, we will continue to stay on top of this story.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: Just wanted to put it on your radar, everybody.
00:15:15
Speaker 2: We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:15:19
Speaker 3: We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Tuesday, November 10th, and it was supposed to be a seven-night cruise, but they barely made it six hours before authorities say a man killed the woman he was traveling with. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Even the authorities have in some way glamorized the headline for this story, Robes. Yeah. You pointed this out to me and I didn't believe you when you said it. But this is, listen to even how the federal government describes this crime.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: Murder on the high seas, colon, alleged cruise ship killer gets federal charges. I actually said to you, babe, what is happening with the Department of Justice? I have a clickbait headline. And I read it for you, and you're like, there's no way, the DOJ, that.
00:00:58
Speaker 3: That's their headline. I'm like, okay. You got up out of your seat.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: You walked over, and.
00:01:02
Speaker 3: You're like, holy hell. Murder on the high seas, colon. That sounds like I wouldn't even do that.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Usually I end up writing whatever you all see the title is in the write-up. I'm usually trying to come up with something that's interesting, yes, that gets you interested, that would make you want to listen. But I always try to stop short of being just full-on cheesy or click-baiting.
00:01:25
Speaker 1: Faking you out, yes.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: Right, I never would do that. So this isn't fake, but it's just high cheese factor.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: On a story that doesn't need you to work hard to find some drama. Robes, this is a hell of a story that begins with, Just the idea that authorities ordered a cruise ship that had just taken off to bring your butts back to port because we need to arrest somebody.
00:01:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, can you imagine?
00:01:55
Speaker 1: This is a hell of a story.
00:01:56
Speaker 2: Like thousands of people, a lot of folks save up their whole lives to go on a cruise like this, a seven night, as you pointed out, Western Caribbean cruise.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: They were headed to Costa Maya, Mexico. Then they were making.
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Stops in Honduras and Cozumel. So this was a whole big, awesome, exciting cruise.
00:02:13
Speaker 1: This company, MSC, I'm not as familiar with them. MSC?
00:02:16
Speaker 3: Yep, I'm not familiar. The MSC Seascape is the name of the ship. And so, yes, seven nights get unpacked. Everybody go to the bar, get to the restaurant, start having some fun.
00:02:27
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
00:02:27
Speaker 1: Do this. Literally. Literally.
00:02:30
Speaker 2: This couple, this man and this woman, can't make it six hours before she winds up dead? Yes, that is what we are hearing. So the federal government ordered this ship to turn around when they had to let federal authorities know that there was a dead woman aboard their ship.
00:02:51
Speaker 3: And according to.
00:02:52
Speaker 2: The criminal complaint, 48 year old Jason Watford and the woman who he boarded the ship with, they were in the restaurant, one of the restaurants on the ship. And everyone, I guess, saw them arguing, saw them fighting. So it was fairly well documented.
00:03:07
Speaker 3: It appears.
00:03:08
Speaker 1: Um, and yeah, there's, we have seen now, I guess the video of him being escorted off whatever port they came back to, but Galveston, they turned around and robes it. Initially the story came out and we, This person of interest or this suspect, we weren't sure exactly what had taken place or where this victim even was for a little while. But as they describe, and they have plenty of witnesses to that evening, and it sounds like Robes, he was talking to authorities quite a bit after he was arrested, but describing a fight that evening that they had in the restaurant. Who goes back? She goes back.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: He left and went to their room first. So he gets up and leaves her in the restaurant because he's upset. She follows him about 25 minutes later.
00:04:00
Speaker 1: They were specific with the time. Yes. I saw 25 minutes.
00:04:03
Speaker 3: They made it very clear.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: And yes, and by the way, there were almost 6,000 guests on this cruise ship. I mean, that's how huge this cruise ship was. So basically, he entered their cabin at 7.46 p.m. The victim went in 25 minutes later and then it was at 9.15 p.m. They see him leaving the room wearing different shirts and different pants.
00:04:31
Speaker 3: So he's switched clothes.
00:04:33
Speaker 2: But what happened in between then was the housekeeper came to deliver towels. And she literally, first of all, she said she saw blood on his hands and on his clothing. And then she saw what looked like a woman dead body.
00:04:49
Speaker 3: Face down on the floor. So yeah, she let her bosses know.
00:05:04
Speaker 1: And so, robes, we don't see these that often. This is the stuff of Hollywood.
00:05:11
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:05:12
Speaker 1: This is intriguing. This is fascinating now. And It makes you wonder what in God's name you're willing to plan to pay for, to book this trip, to go with this person. You can't make it six hours.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: What?
00:05:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, you and I were both saying that.
00:05:38
Speaker 2: I was like, look, and we'll get into his history in just a bit, but you've gotten enough of a sweet deal that you've secured a seven-night trip where you don't have to cook any food, you don't have to clean up your mess, you literally have a seven-night stay on a floating ship headed to paradise.
00:05:58
Speaker 1: Paid for.
00:05:59
Speaker 2: And I would imagine with somebody who you chose to be with, and okay, so you get into a fight, that first you know, the stress of getting to the ship, the stress of getting everything packed, the stress of just all that it takes maybe to head out for seven nights.
00:06:15
Speaker 3: Fine.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Every, every, I think couple has had a beginning of the trip fight, but six hours later, this is the aftermath. I mean, that's really hard to imagine that you couldn't get through a couple of hours and your first fight on your vacation is With it out ending in murder?
00:06:35
Speaker 3: I mean, that's insane. And he described in detail what he said happened. So he told the agents that, yes.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: That argument that everyone saw in the restaurant continued once she came back into the room.
00:06:50
Speaker 3: He admits to the agents that he struck her several times. And then this is the way he described it. He said he applied pressure. So, look, he basically flat.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: Out, according to court documents, has admitted that he was Beat her, I guess, enough where there was blood on him and blood on his clothing and strangled her to death.
00:07:32
Speaker 3: I mean, he's admitting it.
00:07:33
Speaker 1: This is what possibly could have set him off in such a short amount of time. They had a very public fight.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:07:46
Speaker 1: That it sounded like both had time to cool off.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: You would hope.
00:07:51
Speaker 1: There's a half hour in between. What in God's name happened?
00:07:55
Speaker 2: Right. And it's just hard to imagine that. And he did use the word snapped that the argument that they had, he apparently told officers it caused him to snap. And my God, just to think that you were willing to throw your entire life away, not just the vacation away.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: You know, you think about, you know, when you get in a fight, you think, Oh God, we've just ruined our vacation. We just spent all this money. And now we're supposed to be having fun and look what we're doing.
00:08:22
Speaker 2: No, I mean, and to think that all those people who paid all that money thought they were, and they were headed to paradise, had to turn around and go six hours back and then turn back around. And now they are, by the way, they are headed back out to paradise, but they've lost a full half day.
00:08:41
Speaker 3: At least, if not more.
00:08:43
Speaker 1: Okay, let me just, on a side note for everybody here for just a second, how would you feel as a passenger on this boat? Sweetheart, you talk about lost time.
00:08:56
Speaker 3: You got content.
00:08:58
Speaker 1: But robes.
00:08:58
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
00:08:59
Speaker 1: Now you're on a boat for the next week that someone was murdered on.
00:09:06
Speaker 2: Oh, I was thinking like influencers and all of these folks would be so excited to get onto their social media and brag.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: I'm asking how you would feel.
00:09:14
Speaker 2: As long as I wasn't like in the cabin on either side of the cabin.
00:09:19
Speaker 1: That's the difference for you.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: I don't think it would.
00:09:21
Speaker 1: I mean, we live in New York City.
00:09:22
Speaker 3: People get murdered here, I guess, all the time.
00:09:24
Speaker 2: I don't know. I wouldn't.
00:09:26
Speaker 3: No, that wouldn't bother me that badly. That would bother you. You would want to get off the boat.
00:09:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't feel good.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: I see it on your face.
00:09:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
00:09:32
Speaker 3: You wouldn't.
00:09:33
Speaker 2: Wait, you would not continue on the cruise?
00:09:36
Speaker 1: That doesn't feel right, baby. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel right. It's something just that there's an ick. How can I enjoy it? paradise how can i enjoy i am on a floating memorial now wow i am on a this is a whole crime scene everywhere that i am i don't know something weird about i don't know if i was there if i'd feel differently about it but it just feels icky.
00:09:58
Speaker 2: You know what?
00:09:58
Speaker 3: I do know you, and that reads. That is something. You'd be like, yeah, I think we're done. I think the whole vacation's shot. I'd be like, wait, what?
00:10:06
Speaker 2: I mean, if you have a target time of us leaving the apartment at 11.15, if it's 11.45, you're like, the day's over.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: Forget it. We'll just try again tomorrow.
00:10:14
Speaker 2: I'm like, it's only 30 minutes past when you thought we were supposed to leave.
00:10:18
Speaker 3: What are you talking about? You are all or nothing. That is true. That's fair. That makes total sense.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: But this is pretty remarkable when you consider this man. Yes, we said he was on vacation, right? But wait until you hear about his past. He had just started to taste freedom and now looks like he's headed right back to the very place he came from. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. We are talking about a very scary ride for a lot of folks. They thought they were heading to paradise, and instead they ended up having to turn back around and drop off a passenger who was being met by federal authorities, 48-year-old Jason Watford. He just made a federal court appearance. He's back in court again in a couple of days. But, yes, he is facing a murder charge, but this.
00:11:19
Speaker 3: Is no stranger. to the court system.
00:11:22
Speaker 2: This is a man who has a lengthy criminal history. Newsweek pulled up his public records. He was behind bars.
00:11:30
Speaker 3: For attempted murder. He was serving a 10-year sentence.
00:11:35
Speaker 2: He had drug charges, weapons charges. So this was a man who was newly released.
00:11:42
Speaker 3: He was free. He was heading to the Caribbean. He was heading to Mexico. It's hard to get your head around.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: Something that could have set him off that would have sent him straight back to this life, it seemed he was finally free from or free of.
00:11:57
Speaker 1: Do you have a handle? I'm sorry if I just missed it there. How recently he was in prison?
00:12:03
Speaker 2: Well, I know that his incarceration date, so he went to prison in March of, Yeah.
00:12:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: So if you put all of that together, I don't know exactly, but I would think in the last five years.
00:12:31
Speaker 1: Fairly newly released.
00:12:32
Speaker 3: Yes, he's been released from prison.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: Wow. From very serious charges that could have sent him back even further. So, yes, you want to think he's gotten out. He's turned his life around. He has his gal with him. They've done well enough that they've been able to afford a seven-night cruise to Mexico. What could she have done or said that would literally make all of that just evaporate where now he's headed straight back to prison? Man, Robes.
00:12:57
Speaker 1: No, I... And it could... We say five years. It could have been even more recent. Robes, but.
00:13:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's absolutely true.
00:13:06
Speaker 1: What set him off in that time? Again, he hasn't been... But it sounds like Robes, by all accounts, he has admitted.
00:13:14
Speaker 2: Yes, according to the affidavits that have been presented in court, he has fully explained his role in all of this to police.
00:13:21
Speaker 3: He was on the record. He said it.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: Look, and... The complaint they also recorded and they've got surveillance cameras on cruise ships so you can see who comes and who goes. no one else was seen entering or leaving the room. So when this woman, who, by the way, we don't have her identity yet, but when she was last seen alive walking into the cabin, the only person who had been in there and there was no one else who came back out again was Jason Watford.
00:13:50
Speaker 3: So that is very damning evidence.
00:13:52
Speaker 2: So if you've got the surveillance, you've got the physical evidence with blood on him and his own words, this seems like not something that needs to be investigated much.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: Further and he's 48 right he's 48 years old no idea how old she is and just wonder if i don't know she's an age she has kids yeah she's a mom herself just we don't know anything there just these are and again i know people are going on about their day in their lives and there might be some people in the ship not even aware Right. Of any of this. Well, I'm sure. Well, they had to make an announcement.
00:14:38
Speaker 3: But look, he's facing up to life in prison. And that's almost certainly what will happen next.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: It's just we need some more information about what happened and who this woman was. And we hope to get more of that when he makes his next court appearance later this week. But certainly not the start. Thousands of people were expecting. 5,900 people aboard that cruise ship as they were headed out to Mexico. And look, I guess it's a story they'll probably be telling for the rest of their lives. Well, we will continue to stay on top of this story.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: Just wanted to put it on your radar, everybody.
00:15:15
Speaker 2: We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:15:19
Speaker 3: We'll talk soon.