The man arrested in connection with the 2000 slaying of Linda Watson and the subsequent killings of her mother and a neighbor is a veteran of the Tucson Fire Department.
The department said Monday that David Watson, 46, has been placed on unpaid leave following his arrest Saturday night on suspicion of three counts of first-degree murder.
David Watson has been employed as a firefighter since 1995. He was promoted to captain in 2007, the department said.
"The Tucson Fire Department is saddened to learn about the circumstances related to one of our employees. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of the victims," said Capt. Barrett Baker in a news release.
David Watson was arrested without incident at his home Saturday evening. He was booked into the Pima County jail.
He was the prime suspect all along, but it took investigators DNA technology, multiple tips over the years and 15 years of investigation to finally make the case, said Chief Deputy Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
There are a number of details about the investigation the sheriff's department cannot share until Watson gets his day in court, Nanos said.
"These are very hard cases. They're not easy to solve," he said. "Because I believe you did something is one thing, but to be able to prove it in court beyond a reasonable doubt β that takes a lot more."Β
Linda Watson was a 35-year-old mother involved in a custody battle, which the sheriff's department said may have been David Watson's motive in the three slayings, with the ex-husband over their 4-year-old daughter.
Court records showed a lengthy battle, which began in February 1998 when Linda Watson filed for divorce. Linda and David Watson fought over child custody and visitation, child support and division of property.Β
The battle continued even after Linda Watson disappeared from her northwest-side home on Aug. 21, 2000.
Sheriff's detectives discovered the door to Watson's home in the 2600 block of West Curtis Road open, a shattered coffee cup and traces of her blood.
Three years later, Linda Watson's mother, Marilyn Cox, 63, and her friend and neighbor, Renee Farnsworth, 53, were gunned down in the driveway of the same home. Cox had moved into the home after her daughter disappeared.
She had fought for the right to visit with her granddaughter and was returning home after dropping the child off following her first unsupervised visitation when she and Farnsworth were shot to death on May 7, 2003, Nanos said.
After that, the child was raised by her father and a stepmother, who have since divorced. The daughter is now 19 years old.
Officials declared Linda Watson dead in 2006, but her body wasn't found until 2011 when remains discovered in a desert area were identified as hers through DNA.
In 2007, the sheriff's department's cold-case unit definitely linked the three homicides and said information in the case was "snowballing." They said then that the suspect "had made some mistakes" they were capitalizing on. But no arrest was made.
The department "pushed forward" with new information and investigative leads from witnesses and Linda Watson's skeletal remains, Nanos said.
"We've always believed that David Watson was responsible for the brutal murder of his ex-wife, for the savage slayings of Ms. Cox and Ms. Farnsworth," he said. "Today, we believe we have enough to prove that."Β
