Texas Man Accused of Cruise Ship Murder has Kankakee Ties

The man accused of strangling his lover to death while aboard a cruise ship near Galveston, Texas, on Sunday has ties to the Kankakee area. Forty-eight-year-old Jason L. Watford has been identified as being from Tyler, Texas, but a search of local Court records shows Watford was tried and convicted of attempted first-degree murder in a Kankakee County Corutroom  in February 1996. Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said that Watford beat and strangled a woman over the weekend following an argument aboard the M-S-C Seascape.  FBI records say Watford admitted choking the woman for several minutes during an argument in their cabin.  A maid later found her lifeless on the floor and blood on Watford’s hands and clothes.  He was taken into custody when the ship returned to Galveston on Monday.