A jury on Friday found a former Tucson Fire Department captain guilty of killing his ex-wife, her mother and her mother’s friend.
The Pima County Superior Court jury reached its verdict Friday afternoon after deliberating since Thursday morning.
David Watson, 47, was convicted of one count of second-degree murder in the 2000 death of his ex-wife, Linda Watson, 35. He also was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the 2003 fatal shootings of Linda Watson’s mother, Marilyn Cox, 63, and Cox’s friend, Renee Farnsworth, 53.
After the verdict, Cox’s sisters, Pat Hinkle and Bobbie Kutasy, said they were “relieved,” but “there’s still pain” in their family.
“I take no great pleasure in seeing anybody have to spend the rest of their life in prison away from their family, but these are the choices he made,” Hinkle said.
“I don’t know how to react right now, because someone got hurt,” Kutasy said.
Linda Watson disappeared in 2000 from her house in the 2600 block of West Curtis Road. Investigators found blood in several locations inside the house.
Three years later, her skull was found near the Silverbell Mine northwest of Tucson. The skull wasn’t identified as hers until 2011, due to a mistaken assumption it belonged to someone who died after crossing the border illegally.
Cox tried to find her daughter’s killer and fought David Watson and his then-wife, Rosemary Watson, in court for visitation rights to Cox’s granddaughter, who was 4 years old when her mother disappeared.
In 2003, Cox and Farnsworth were fatally shot in Cox’s driveway by a lone gunman after Cox’s first unsupervised visit with the Watsons’ daughter.
Hinkle described Farns-worth as an “innocent lady who was just being a friend to my sister.”
Members of the Watson family and defense lawyer Natasha Wrae declined to comment after the verdict.
County prosecutor Jonathan Mosher praised the “patience and strength” of the victims’ families.
“This has been 100 percent draining for me to go through, and I can’t imagine what they have gone through,” Mosher said.
Mosher also noted “insightful” questions asked by the jury during the trial. Kutasy praised the jury for being “focused every day” and a “great bunch of people.”
The first trial of Watson ended with a hung jury in November. Mosher said the decision to pursue a second trial was “not ever in doubt” and he would have pursued a third trial if necessary.
The prosecution’s case was difficult and depended on circumstantial evidence, Mosher said, but he and prosecutor Nicol Green knew it was a strong case.
One difference between the first and second trials was that the prosecution brought in witnesses from outside Arizona for the second trial, Mosher said.
A sentencing hearing for Watson is scheduled for April 17.
