MSC Seascape号邮轮乘客被控谋杀同行女子：船只被令返航Galveston、48岁男子面临联邦指控
美国司法部德克萨斯州南区联邦检察官办公室11月10日宣布，48岁的 Tyler 居民 Jason Watford 已被拘押并被控谋杀。检方指控，11月8日晚，Watford 与同行的一名女子在国际水域一艘邮轮的客房内发生争执后，多次击打对方，并用双手和手臂将其勒死。涉事邮轮是当天从德克萨斯州加尔维斯顿县 Galveston 出发的 MSC Seascape 号，船只随后被当局下令返港。
据联邦刑事诉状记载，两人当晚先在船上餐厅争吵，随后回到客房继续争执。Watford 向联邦调查局调查人员表示，自己当时「失控」，多次击打这名女子，并勒住其颈部约四到五分钟。诉状说，当晚约9时，一名客房服务员敲门送毛巾时察觉异常，这名女子被发现时面部有多处伤痕、已经死亡；船上安保人员先行将 Watford 扣留，邮轮公司当晚约11时向联邦调查局 Texas City 驻地机构报告船上发生疑似凶杀。
MSC Seascape 号11月8日下午约4时从 Galveston 出发，原定进行七晚的西加勒比海航程，停靠墨西哥 Costa Maya 与 Cozumel 以及洪都拉斯 Roatán。11月9日清晨约5时20分，该船掉头返航，当天上午靠回 Galveston，Watford 被带下船、收押于 Galveston 县监狱等候联邦程序；邮轮当天傍晚重新出港继续航程，定于11月15日返回 Galveston。Watford 定于11月10日在 Galveston 向美国联邦治安法官 Andrew Edison 首次出庭，法庭记录显示他目前没有登记在案的律师。
联邦调查局 Texas City 驻地机构的海上联络探员正牵头调查，美国海岸警卫队、Galveston 港警察局、海关与边境保护局和邮轮公司协助，案件由助理联邦检察官 Anh-Khoa Tran 起诉。司法部说，若罪名成立，Watford 最高面临终身监禁和25万美元罚款。遇害女子的身份因尚待通知家属而未公布，Galveston 县法医办公室定于11月10日进行尸检。司法部同时提醒，刑事诉状只是指控，被告在经正当程序被定罪之前推定无罪。
（来源：美国司法部）
MSC Seascape Passenger Charged With Murdering Fellow Guest: Ship Ordered Back to Galveston as 48-Year-Old Faces Federal Charge
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced on Nov. 10 that Jason Watford, 48, of Tyler, has been taken into custody on a charge of murder. Prosecutors allege that on the evening of Nov. 8, following a dispute in their room aboard a cruise ship in international waters, Watford struck a female passenger several times before strangling her with his hands and arm. The ship was the MSC Seascape, which had departed Galveston, Texas, that day and was ordered by authorities to return to port.
According to the federal criminal complaint, the two argued first at a restaurant aboard the ship and then continued the dispute back in their cabin. Watford told FBI investigators that he "snapped," struck the woman multiple times and choked her for about four to five minutes. The complaint says that at about 9 p.m., a housekeeper who knocked to deliver towels became aware something was wrong; the woman was found with multiple facial injuries and was dead. Ship security detained Watford, and the cruise line reported a suspected homicide to the FBI's Texas City Resident Agency at about 11 p.m.
The MSC Seascape departed Galveston at about 4 p.m. on Nov. 8 for a scheduled seven-night Western Caribbean cruise calling at Costa Maya and Cozumel in Mexico and Roatán in Honduras. At about 5:20 a.m. on Nov. 9 the ship turned back, docked in Galveston later that morning, and Watford was taken off and booked into the Galveston County Jail on a federal hold; the ship departed again that evening to resume its itinerary and is due back in Galveston on Nov. 15. Watford was set to make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison in Galveston on Nov. 10, and court records listed no attorney for him.
An FBI maritime liaison agent from the Texas City Resident Agency is leading the investigation, assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Port of Galveston Police Department, Customs and Border Protection and the cruise line, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anh-Khoa Tran is prosecuting. If convicted, Watford faces up to life in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine, the Justice Department said. The woman's identity has been withheld pending notification of her family, and the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office scheduled an autopsy for Nov. 10. The Justice Department noted that a criminal complaint is a formal accusation, not evidence, and that a defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
来源：美国司法部
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：邮轮资料图（Ovation of the Seas 号，非事发船只）。照片：Frans Berkelaar，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本站档案图复用。 / Photo: File photo of a cruise ship (Ovation of the Seas, not the vessel involved). Photo by Frans Berkelaar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. GSM archive image reused.
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