Federal prosecutors charge Jason Leon Watford with homicide aboard MSC Seascape

FBI affidavit describes Watford’s admissions and crew response

Federal prosecutors charged Jason Leon Watford with one count of felony homicide after crew members aboard the MSC Seascape found a woman dead in a cabin. The Texas passenger was detained after the ship returned to Galveston early Monday, one day after the planned cruise began, and was scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court Tuesday afternoon.

The MSC Seascape had embarked Sunday on a planned seven-day cruise around Mexico and the Caribbean. The ship’s security team detained Watford and handed him to the FBI after the vessel docked in Galveston at about 5:30 a.m. Monday. The ship returned to its itinerary later that day.

According to the FBI affidavit, crew members found the unidentified victim deceased and face down on the cabin floor. Watford was sitting in a corridor outside the cabin and scrolling through his phone.

A female member of the housekeeping staff raised the alarm after bringing towels to the cabin. After Watford opened the door slightly, the employee saw blood on his hands and pants and glimpsed what appeared to be a woman lying motionless on the floor, the affidavit said. The employee alerted other crew members.

Three other crew members said they saw Watford leaving the cabin in different clothes from those he wore when he answered the door for the housekeeper. The complaint also recorded that Watford remained in the hallway outside the room and scrolled on his smartphone.

The criminal complaint says Watford and the woman argued while eating in a restaurant Sunday evening while the ship was in the Gulf of Mexico. The pair continued fighting after returning to their cabin. Watford told investigators that the escalation of the verbal dispute caused him to “snap.”

The complaint states that Watford admitted striking the victim multiple times. “He struck Victim 1 multiple times causing blood to emit from her mouth, and on to his shirt, pants, and hands,” the complaint said. An FBI team found bloodstained clothing belonging to the victim on the cabin floor.

Watford also admitted beginning to choke the woman with both hands and wrapping his right arm around her neck from behind while she was lying down. “Subject stated that he applied pressure to Victim 1’s neck for approximately four to five minutes and released his hold only after becoming exhausted,” the document said.

The four-page criminal complaint was signed by Thomas Plew, an FBI taskforce officer assigned to maritime crimes. The document presented the arrest allegations and quoted Watford’s statements about the argument and his actions in the cabin.

No attorney was listed for Watford. The prosecution is proceeding in federal court, which has jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard U.S. vessels in international waters.