Texas man charged with murder of woman on MSC cruise ship

Watford faces one count of felony homicide and was scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court in Galveston on Tuesday afternoon. No attorney was listed for him.

The FBI launched an investigation into an alleged homicide aboard the MSC Seascape. Authorities directed the ship to return to port following an incident involving a passenger. The vessel docked in Galveston at about 5.30 a.m. local time on Monday, a day after embarking on a planned seven-day cruise around Mexico and the Caribbean.

According to the four-page criminal complaint, signed by Thomas Plew, an FBI taskforce officer assigned to maritime crimes, crew members found the unidentified victim deceased and face down on the cabin floor. Watford was sitting in a corridor outside scrolling through his phone, the affidavit says.

The document states that Watford admitted to investigators that he and the woman argued while eating in a restaurant on Sunday evening, while the ship was in the Gulf of Mexico, and continued to fight after they returned to the cabin. Watford admitted that the escalation of the verbal dispute caused him to “snap.”

“He struck Victim 1 multiple times causing blood to emit from her mouth, and on to his shirt, pants, and hands,” the complaint said, adding that an FBI team found bloodstained clothing belonging to the victim on the cabin floor. “Subject further advised that, at some point during the altercation, he began to choke Victim 1 with both hands. Subject stated that he also wrapped his right arm around Victim 1’s 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.”

A female member of the Seascape’s housekeeping staff raised the alarm when she brought towels to the cabin, saw blood on Watford’s hands and pants after he opened the door slightly, the affidavit said. She also said she glimpsed what appeared to be a woman lying motionless on the floor and alerted other crew personnel. Three other crew members said they saw Watford leaving the cabin in different clothes than when he answered the door to the housekeeper.

“Subject was observed sitting on the hallway floor outside the room scrolling on his smart phone,” the document said. He was detained by the ship’s security team and handed over to the FBI after Seascape docked.

The ship returned to its itinerary later on Monday. The prosecution is proceeding in federal court, which has jurisdiction for crimes committed on board US vessels in international waters.