A jury on Friday found a former Tucson Fire Department captain guilty of killing his ex-wife, her mother and her motherโs 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 Watsonโs mother, Marilyn Cox, 63, and Coxโs friend, Renee Farnsworth, 53.
After the verdict, Coxโs sisters, Pat Hinkle and Bobbie Kutasy, said they were โrelieved,โ but โthereโs still painโ in their family.
โI 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,โ Hinkle said.
โI donโt know how to react right now, because someone got hurt,โ 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 wasnโt 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 daughterโs killer and fought David Watson and his then-wife, Rosemary Watson, in court for visitation rights to Coxโs granddaughter, who was 4 years old when her mother disappeared.
In 2003, Cox and Farnsworth were fatally shot in Coxโs driveway by a lone gunman after Coxโs first unsupervised visit with the Watsonsโ daughter.
Hinkle described Farns-worth as an โinnocent lady who was just being a friend to my sister.โ
Members of the Watson family and defense lawyer Natasha Wrae declined to comment after the verdict.
County prosecutor Jonathan Mosher praised the โpatience and strengthโ of the victimsโ families.
โThis has been 100 percent draining for me to go through, and I canโt imagine what they have gone through,โ Mosher said.
Mosher also noted โinsightfulโ questions asked by the jury during the trial. Kutasy praised the jury for being โfocused every dayโ and a โgreat bunch of people.โ
The first trial of Watson ended with a hung jury in November. Mosher said the decision to pursue a second trial was โnot ever in doubtโ and he would have pursued a third trial if necessary.
The prosecutionโs 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.
