Seeking Justice for Zale and Saxon

Zale & Saxon

Zale Dudas was 9-years-old at the time of her death and a family member, Carrie Dudas said of her, “Zale was nine.  She just had her ninth birthday. Curious, blunt, and positive.  She was a positive spirit.” We also have the eulogy that Suzie gave her daughter at the service for her children: 

She arrived on Earth February 8, 2012. The best, most exemplary big sister, one half of the dynamic Zale and-Saxon-Duo. 

Beloved daughter. Mama-loving girl. She earned her fire silk dragon wings on April 23, 2021. 

She always wanted to fly. 

Zale is survived by her mother, and her loving family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, farm animals, pets, and a grieving community. 

Zale had a giant heart. She was connected to nature. She was a bridge to the wild. She found things she could use. She tinkered and engineered and created and played. 

She was a master lizard catcher. She made toys for the cat. She annoyed fish with bare hooks until they couldn’t stand it anymore, and let her catch them. 

She was a natural teacher, a caretaker, a practical farmer. 

As a younger child, Zale loved to hear One Monster After Another, as Sally Ann’s letter to Lucy Jane goes on fantastic journey when a stamp-collection Trollusk steals it from the mailbox. 

This beloved, much read story helped set her imagination on fire, and Zale devoured the Wings of Fire books as she became a more confident reader. 

She drew dragons every day, especially fire silk dragons and dragon babies. Zale’s dragons always had beautiful, but strong wings. She always wanted to fly.

Zale was a practical engineer, a farmer, a creative builder, a creator. A nurturer. For a period of time, Zale was mothered by the farm’s white turkey, named Cloud. When Cloud was smaller, Zale would carry the bird around like a purse. As Cloud grew older, she became the mother. Cloud would puff up and protect our girl.

Zale could prepare and cook eggs from a very early age. She would make lunches for me (Suzie), always nurturing, caring, supporting. 

She was brutally honest. 

She was a giver a gifts. 

She was known to climb to the very top of spindly-limbed trees, and come down, bearing gifts of frangipani blooms for farm visitors.

Zale did not like to brush her hair, or go to bed.

Every night of her life, I would give Zale a hug, a kiss on each cheek, an eskimo kiss, and a butterfly kiss. 

I will continue to do this forever, in my heart.

Saxon was two years younger than his older sister and Mike Dudas said of him, “Saxon was seven, so he was just starting to grow into the person that he was going to be.  He was completely fearless.”  It has also been said that Zale loved dragons and books while Saxon was a boy’s boy.  Mike said that Saxon was “wild” and “untamed.”  

Suzie mentions in a TikTok that she chose the name Saxon first, which means “people of the sword,” and she says it was so fitting for him. She didn’t find out what her children were before they came so she had Saxon picked out first, but her oldest ended up being a girl. She got Zale’s name from a diving friend of her mom’s and later learned it means“strength of the ocean,” which she also found fitting for her daughter who loved being in the water. 

Eulogy for Saxon Utah Nairne by Suzie

Saxon was born on this Earth on November 28, 2013. 

In his seven years of wild, outdoor life and love, he was a pant-hating, glitter glue loving, good natured destroyer. 

Saxon was known to roar up to groups of farm visitors on his mini four wheeler, and welcome others to pet chickens, cows, and lizards. 

He loved his arsenal of Nerf guns, and stories of boys on adventures, finding gold, saving the day. 

He left videos on my phone of himself as a trapped leprechaun, almost blending into the green around him as he and his sister played out their story.

Saxon loved being outside, but he also loved his screen time and snacks. Flight simulator brought him closer to his dream of flying. 

He had no fear of climbing out of the house, over the roof, and into my room to access my laptop and play online. 

He roared through life on his four wheeler, on the zipline, and running off the end of the paddle board in the pond. He loved evening swims with me in our pond. 

We always looked for alligators. He wanted to make everyone happy. He was naturally able to connect with others, and he helped people experience the world the way he did. 

Saxon’s unsolicited openness, his loving nature, made him comfortable touching others. 

He welcomed farm visitors, often responding with care and knowledge beyond his years, especially when a visitor had special needs or fear. He coaxed a student with Down syndrome onto the trampoline, and had her jumping with abandon, within minutes. 

He caught chickens and taught nervous adults to “pet with one finger.” He was a bridge to wild, a connection to nature, a smart, funny, loving heart and soul.

For all his wildness, Saxon was a snuggle bug. 

He was a Lover of his Mama. He would climb on my lap, hold my t-shirt, and rub it between his fingers while he sucked his thumb, at peace and happy. He wore out one of my bathrobes, snuggling with it. 

His attack hugs were epic. He flew into hugs. 

Every night, I would give him one big kiss on the lips, and he would do his best to keep me in the top bunk with him as he fell asleep. 

He was always touching, always protective, always sure I was there.

A special Thank you to Covi Smith Campbell, for putting Suzie’s words into writing 

Zale and Saxon were the children of Suzie Dudas and Rodney Nairne.  Both Suzie and Rodney were scuba diving professionals.  Suzie also runs a farm in Jupiter, Florida, which we will talk more about later.  Suzie and Rodney were separated and going through a divorce at the time of their deaths.  According to Suzie, she cared for Zale and Saxon 99% of the time. Rodney did not spend one on one time with the kids until this trip. He had been in Australia for months (I believe) and came into town at this time. He asked to have the kids and she knew her kids wanted to see their dad after his prolonged absence. 

According to Suzie’s TikTok, she goes into some detail about their marriage and divorce. She doesn’t use this term, but I hear evidence of coercive control- there was sexual manipulation at best, sexual abuse at worst. He increasingly isolated her friends and family. He proposed them having an open marriage and she finally decided not to compromise her own morals and values and they separated. 

Rodney’s primary residence was here on the farm, although we were living in separate rooms since April 2020. 

• Sept 2020 I served him divorce papers/ he hired his lawyer and emailed his lawyer to draw out the divorce, and he bought a plane ticket to go back to Australia for a few months. (He is an Australian citizen but has his green card through me/marriage since 2000)
• Jan 2021 Rodney empties the business bank account. Stops our business loan payments (a loan that was guaranteed personally by us both and default would have led to a lean on our farm). He then returns to Australia on an open ended ticket. He gives me access to the business banking after he leaves, which is when I find out what he has done.
• Rodney returns to Florida from Australia on Apr 16 2021 (giving me no notice)
• Rodney finds out that day that the loan did not default and that I was dating someone (especially significant because I married him at 21 as a virgin, which was very important to him) 

During this one week I pushed him to take full custody of our kids for the first time ever. One whole week in charge of them 24/7 (except they had school during the day and I was here to keep an eye on them but tried to not interfere with their interactions). Rodney was insisting on 50/50 custody to not pay me anything.

• I also told him my intention to continue farming (living with the children in Jupiter).
• I also gave him the ultimatum that he buy me out of our scuba business at a real price or I, with my new boyfriend were going to compete against him with an exact scuba business.

• Rodney spent the week doing activities with the children at the house, and then brought the children with him Friday afternoon Apr 23 2021. The kids had been in school all day that whole week, but he didn’t go do the work during any of those times and instead went with them. This was the first and only outing he did with the children

When he came back into town, she was dating someone. He had finally lost all of his control over her. It’s very interesting to me that very quickly after he learns he has lost all the control that both of his children end up dead in his care from a “freak accident” that when you really think about it, makes NO SENSE. 

What Happened? 

On Friday, April 23, 2021, Zale and Saxon went for a visit with their father Rodney.  Rodney took the kids to Marty Watson’s home, a fellow scuba diving professional.  Rodney was there to help Marty fix his underwater scooter. Suzie says he could have done this work any other time that week while the kids were in school, but he chose to bring them with him to do this particular job for whatever reason. 

 A student of Marty’s, who happened to be a nurse, was also at the home.  Rodney gave the kids permission to swim in the pool in the backyard.  Then Rodney, Marty and the student went to the garage where Rodney asked Marty for a scuba tank for the kids to play with.  Rodney went back to the pool to give the kids the tank.  According to Rodney, he then placed the tank at the bottom of the pool before returning to the garage.

The kids were left in the pool while the three adults were in the garage working on the underwater scooter.  The kids were left unattended for a period of time until one of the adults returned to the pool to check on the kids.  This is when both children were found at the bottom of the pool with the tank. 

Zale and Saxon were pulled out of the pool and CPR was attempted while the first responders were on the way.  Martin County Fire & Rescue arrived at 5:47pm and transported Zale and Saxon to the hospital.  According to one of the medical responders, Zale and Saxon could have been under water for at least ten minutes by the time they had been pulled out.  

Both Zale and Saxon were in critical condition on April 23rd.  Tragically, both passed away on Tuesday, April 27th, 2021, despite all efforts to revive them.

Suzie told us that her children only had one prior scuba diving experience when they were four and six years old.  They went with Suzie’s mom, who was a scuba diving instructor at that time.  Suzie said that she has never given her children a scuba diving tank to play with while swimming and to her knowledge, this was the first time that Rodney had done so as well. 

An investigation into the death of Zale and Saxon was launched.  

According to the police report, Rodney arrived at the home and went into the garage first. The homeowner, Marty was putting dive equipment together with the student that was there. Her job according to Suzie is an ER nurse. Rodney says hello to them, walks through the home where he also says hello to the homeowner’s wife and father- she was recovering from surgery the day before- and takes the kids out to the pool. 

Rodney then comes back to the garage and asks the homeowner for a scuba tank- he is given one and takes it out to the pool. He gives the kids the scuba tank to “play with” and goes back to the garage- presumably to work. He completes no work, waits a few minutes and goes back out to the pool to check on the kids. The others hear him yelling for help, and by the time they get out to the pool the children are laying on the deck. The nurse and homeowner start CPR until help arrives. 

It was determined that the tank that the children were given to play with was filled with helium rather than oxygen and it was unmarked.  Because the tank was filled with 100% helium, both kids passed out in the pool.  However, by the second week of May in 2021, the investigation was closed and both children’s deaths were ruled as an accident.  The State Attorney’s Office released the following statement in regard to the investigation: 

“I can confirm that our office has conducted an exhaustive review of the Sheriff’s comprehensive investigation along with additional information and materials provided by the mother of Zale and Saxon.  After significant legal research conducted by my Chief Assistant and one of my major crime prosecutors, it was determined that the State could not, in good faith, seek criminal charges in this heartbreakingly tragic event.  Stated quite simply, the law and the facts prohibit a criminal prosecution in this instance.  These findings and conclusions were communicated to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and they have concurred with our decision.  At an extensive in person meeting, our findings and conclusions were  communicated to the children’s mother as well as her civil attorneys.  During this meeting, my assistants answered questions and addressed concerns of the attorneys.  Our hearts go out to all those who loved Zale and Saxon and while we completely understand their desire that someone be ‘held accountable,’ unfortunately that accountability cannot be found within the criminal justice system.” 

The cause of death on the certificates is asphyxiation. 

Saxon was able to donate both his kidneys, liver, and his heart. Zale was able to donate both kidneys, liver, pancreas, intestines, heart and lungs. 

Immediately following the deaths of Zale and Saxon, Rodney filed a lawsuit against Marty in regard to the unlabeled tank that was given to him to give to his children.  Marty was served on May 5 and Suzie was made aware of the lawsuit.  She was advised to get a lawyer of her own and join the lawsuit so that should the case be settled, Rodney wouldn’t be the only person receiving any sort of compensation.  

The lawsuit also included the scuba diving company, Stuart Scuba, as they were the ones who provided Marty with the tank that was filled with helium.  Marty’s dive business’s insurance excluded him from the lawsuit because he was not instructing at the time of the incident.  The case is still in progress and one of the main focuses is the illegality of filling a scuba tank with only helium.

Marty is still a scuba instructor (last we have heard). Rodney is still diving and highly regarded in the diving world. Even seeming to have protection by that community online. Tyrella talked to Whitney Shanahan who has released several TikTok’s on this case, she attended a live stream that a scuba company in the area did and she asked about this case specifically and the dive shop owner got visibly flustered and would not answer. The level of protection these men both have to still be able to work in an industry that could have so many dangerous outcomes if not done properly- AND THOSE RESULTS HAVE BEEN SEEN- is astonishing. Neither of their names have ever been connected in media articles to the deaths of the children. They’ve been regarded as “victims of a tragedy.” 

I bet this man teaches that you analyze gas in every class he teaches. Absolutely no repercussions for either of them. 

Rodney may feel remorse for not having been diligent with his children’s lives, but there has been no evidence. Suzie will experience the repercussions of this every minute of every day. 

Scuba Diving/Scuba Tanks

Helium is not used in tanks for normal, everyday scuba diving adventures.  Scuba diving tanks are typically filled with air – 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen.  However, helium can be added to the mix (trimix) for very deep dives.  This is done to reduce the partial pressure of oxygen and nitrogen to avoid oxygen toxicity and nitrogen narcosis.  Divers that are going beyond recreational depths of 30-40m will use trimix.  Helium is used when diving to depths that are greater than approximately 150-165 feet. 

However, breathing in 100% helium from a scuba diving tank can cause asphyxiation.  When breathing in helium, it displaces the oxygen in your lungs, and if you do not have enough oxygen to breathe, you can become unconscious, which can result in death.  Not only can helium deprive you of oxygen and cause you to pass out, but it can also create an air embolism, or gas bubble, that can become trapped in a blood vessel causing a blockage.  The blood vessels can then rupture and hemorrhage.  Helium can also enter your lungs with enough force to cause your lungs to rupture.  

An article on Slate.com puts it this way- Breathing in pure helium deprives the body of oxygen, as if you were holding your breath. If you couldn’t breathe at all, you’d start to die in minutes—as soon as your body exhausted the supply of oxygen stored in the blood. But helium speeds up this process: When the gas fills your lungs, it creates a diffusion gradient that washes out the oxygen. In other words, each breath of helium you take sucks more oxygen out of your system. After inhaling helium, the body’s oxygen level can plummet to a hazardous level in a matter of seconds.

So what is the process for making sure that this sort of thing DOES NOT HAPPEN? There are actually industry standards that are in place for just that. One of which is that dive shops do not even provide 100% helium tanks to divers normally. It’s very strange that Marty was even able to obtain this in the first place. 

The reason helium would even be in a tank is that the deeper you go, you need the helium to be mixed in to make the diver be able to go down deeper. A mixture. Not pure helium. Literally no reason whatsoever that anyone would have a tank of 100% helium which is not breathable and would cause imminent death. 

Additionally, the homeowner was a technical diver instructor. Rodney was a technical diver, even having built very complex and technical dive equipment over the course of many years. According to Suzie (and other divers who have chimed in on comments), at ever level you are taught to analyze the gas in the tanks you are breathing from. There are multiple standards even for labeling the tanks- you label them clearly and use dates, and then the next time they’re checked they’re marked again for safety purposes. It is something that is so prevalent that it becomes second nature to divers and especially as they increase in knowledge and skill and know that tanks COULD contain something that is not air- it’s even more important to analyze the gas every.single.time. 

And if your kids are breathing from this tank? You couldn’t pay me any amount of money to not triple check that bitch before it’s used. 

-Rodney had known Marty had to have his scooter repaired since the failed scooter dive of Marty’s televised scuba dive to push button hill 

Other things you should know is Rodney was very respected in the scuba industry as an experienced diver and equipment manufacturer. He has articles he has written and was involved/invited to help with top explorers projects. He has even written/been published criticizing safety standards of some of the technical scuba industry as not being safe enough.

There is written documentation of all of this — his email to his lawyer, a sworn transcript deposition for our divorce, his article in the NACD journal. 

Suzie’s Farm

Suzie is a private farmer in Jupiter, Florida.  In 2017, she started a nonprofit on her farm called Nourishing Food for Thought.  Suzie’s goal with this organization was to educate her community on food and farming and to give people the opportunity to get outdoors and reconnect with nature, animals, and their bodies.  With Nourishing Food for Thought, Suzie was able to impact 2,000 individuals annually with hands-on tours, education groups, summer camps and volunteer hours. 

Suzie ran the farm with Zale and Saxon.  After the loss of her children, her community rallied around her to support her and her farm.  As of January of this year, Suzie was able to restart her farming activities and purchased some pigs and chickens.  Shortly after this, she began offering educational tours, demonstrations and workshops.  She also runs a summer camp for children ages 6-10 – the same ages as Zale and Saxon.  This is something that has been both very difficult and very rewarding for Suzie.  

However, Suzie’s ex-husband is now pressing for her to use his share of the property to force her to sell.  If she is forced to sell, she will lose the home she shared with her children as well as her nonprofit.  Suzie is attempting to appear in court with an offer to buy him out, however, he is trying to accelerate the process.  There is a GoFundMe set up and all donations will go toward her purchase of the land to continue and expand her nonprofit in the name of her children.  

Link to GoFundMe to Save Jupiter Creamery for Zale and Saxon

Next Steps

There is a petition on change.org to reopen the investigation into Zale and Saxon’s deaths.  The legal basis of the petition is that under Florida Statute 827.03 2(b), “A person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects a child and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the child commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775 083, or s. 775.084.”  Those who created and signed the petition believe that both Rodney and Marty’s actions meet this criteria for culpable negligence as outlined in the statute.

Change.org states that this petition is important because the loss of a child is an unimaginable pain that is made even more unbearable when justice isn’t served.  It says that it is crucial for the Martin County legal system, sheriff’s office and the State of Florida to demonstrate that negligence resulting in the loss of life, especially that of children, will not be tolerated.  Reopening this case and bringing charges against Rodney Nairne and Marty Watson will send a strong message that such acts of negligence are unacceptable and will be met with an appropriate legal response.

Suzie would like the case reopened so that her unanswered questions get answers.  Suzie would like to know exactly how her children died.  She has seen parts of the ME report, however, she has not seen how her children physically died.  There was no explanation about the unmarked tank.  She doesn’t know who the police used as a scuba diving expert to determine what happened with the tank.  Suzie would like to understand how both of her children passed out at the same time using one regulator.

  Change.org link to Reopen Investigation Into The Deaths of Zale and Saxon

Suzie’s Goal

When speaking with Suzie, she told us that her biggest challenge is that she doesn’t know how to make people take notice and she doesn’t know how to ask for support.  She knows that people as a mass can make a difference and that’s what we’re hoping can happen now.  

Ultimately, we need to talk about this.  Zale and Saxon were seven and nine years old.  Justice should be served for them.  Suzie should know exactly what happened to her children.  She also shouldn’t have to lose her farm, her livelihood.  Please consider signing the petition so that justice can be served.  If you are financially able, please also consider donating to her GoFundMe.  Both will be listed in the show notes and on our social media platforms.