Search continues for passenger who went overboard on Christmas

[mercedes]

At 8 p.m. on Christmas night, a surveillance camera on a Caribbean cruise ship captured the image of a woman in a bathrobe falling over the railing. Two days later, her husband accepted condolences from a fellow passenger and announced his immediate plans — a trip to the ship’s casino.

The husband, identified as Ray Seitz of central Florida, had reported his wife missing around 4 a.m. Friday, eight hours after the camera recorded the image of the woman identified as his wife, 36-year-old Jennifer Seitz. No announcement was ever made to other passengers, and the ship continued on its way as if nothing had happened, according to Jim and Suzanne Nestor, who talked about the incident with TODAY’s Lester Holt Monday in New York.

“He had a plastic bag filled with quarters,” Jim Nestor said, recalling his meeting with Seitz on Saturday. “He said to me that he was going to the casino to see if he could change his luck.”

Nonchalant behavior

In a report filed for NBC News by Kerry Sanders, other passengers reported similar behavior by Seitz in the wake of his wife’s disappearance.

One passenger, Carter Scurry, described Seitz as “nonchalant.” The man, Scurry said, showed “no remorse.” Scurry said Seitz told him, “Yeah, she might have jumped overboard.”

Ray Seitz was not detained by police after leaving the ship Sunday in Miami and has not been charged with a crime. The FBI searched the ship for evidence on Sunday before it took on a new load of passengers and embarked on another cruise. Authorities have not said if they suspect an accident, suicide or foul play.

Jim Nestor is a retired state trooper from Connecticut. He and his wife expressed surprise at the way the disappearance of Jennifer Seitz was handled by the crew of the Norwegian Pearl, a cruise ship operated by the Norwegian Cruise Line.

There were “no announcements. No cabin checks. Nobody showed a picture of her. It was all word of mouth,” Suzanne Nestor told Holt. “From what I understand, somebody’s mother had called a passenger because she had seen it on the news.”

Other passengers learned of the death while watching cable news on the shipboard televisions.

‘Poor protocol’

Speaking as a law enforcement professional, Jim Nestor said that what he saw of the crew’s investigation showed “definitely poor protocol. I thought we should at least have been notified that something like this had taken place on the ship.”

The Nestors described Ray and Jennifer Seitz as a couple determined to enjoy themselves. “They were a couple that was there to have a good time,” Jim Nestor said. “They were definitely different, in my opinion. They were loud; they were what I consider wild ... They stood out a lot more than other people.”

The two couples had met earlier in the cruise when they participated in an on-board game called “The Not Quite Newlywed Game,” modeled on the TV show “The Newlywed Game.” The Nestors, the long-married couple in the group, said their understanding was that the Seitzes had been married one year.

During the game, Jim Nestor talked with Ray Seitz and his wife Suzanne talked to Jennifer Seitz. “She told me [that] after this cruise they were going back to Orlando, where they lived, and she was already packed for another trip to go up north to Bridgeport, Conn., and spend New Year’s Eve in Manhattan,” Suzanne Nestor related.

A video of the onboard game show is blurry and showed little detail of the Seitzes, who were “Couple No. 1” on the show. When word began to spread around the ship that a woman was missing, Jim Nestor said he told friends in the group he was traveling with, “I bet it was Contestant No. 1.”

‘Kind of tight-lipped’

After Jennifer Seitz went missing, Ray Seitz continued to move around the ship. One passenger told NBC News he even saw Seitz keeping company with another woman. When Jim Nestor talked to Ray Seitz, he said he couldn’t say anything.

“He was kind of tight-lipped,” Jim Nestor told Holt. “He was talking through his teeth. He told me that he was being watched. He said he was told by the captain he could get out of being confined to a room if he stayed on his own and didn’t deal with any other passengers on the trip.”

The Nestors said that news of the disappearance became like a murder mystery among the other passengers. With no information coming from the cruise line, rumors abounded.

Cruise lines are not required to report deaths, but an investigative report by The Naples News in February 2007 reported that more than 12 million people take cruises every year. From 1999-2007, 97 cruise ship deaths were recorded by the Broward County coroner’s office, the paper reported. From 2004-2007, the Miami Dade County coroner recorded 33 deaths. Most are due to natural causes, and most occur among the large number of retirees who take cruises.

The Mexican Navy and U.S. Coast Guard have been searching waters off Cancun, Mexico, since Friday. Searchers report there is little hope of finding Jennifer Seitz alive.

[coloradocruisers]

Jurisdiction?

Foreign or international waters...Bahamian registered ship. Can the FBI do anything besides investigate crimes on the high seas?

Just asking. I don't know. The husband did seem to be acting very suspiciously. Still hoping they find her...

[mercedes]

UPDATE (4:23 p.m.) The US Coast Guard has suspended its search for missing Norwegian Pearl passenger Jennifer Seitz, 36. A Coast Guard spokesman said the Coast Guard and Mexican Navy had searched 4,200 square miles, "and ultimately the case was suspended as of 3 p.m. today." Asked if there was a chance the search would resume, the spokesman told USA Today, "only if new evidence comes to light." The FBI investigation into whether or not a crime occurred continues.

UPDATE (2:52 p.m.): Norwegian Cruise Line just issued its second statement on the matter of the passenger missing from the Norwegian Pearl, saying simply, "NCL is cooperating fully with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who is investigating the cause of the incident in which a female guest traveling on Norwegian Pearl went overboard the evening of Dec. 25, 2008, when the ship was off the coast of Cancun, Mexico. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the guest during this difficult time."

Meanwhile, all sorts of reports are surfacing including from ship passengers. Fellow passengers appearing on the "Today" show said Jennifer Seitz, 36, and her husband earlier on the cruise had been contestants on the live-stage "Not So Newlywed Show." One report had the couple celebrating their first anniversary on the Christmas cruise. There were reports Seitz may have been a one-time newspaper reporter, now working as a freelance writer.

A spokesman for the US Coast Guard said this afternoon they are still in "active search" mode off the Gulf Coast in conjunction with the Mexican Navy. So far they have seen no signs of the missing woman, the spokesman confirmed.

Authorities are reportedly examining video recordings of a woman falling from the ship.

[mercedes]

The case of the woman who fell off the Norwegian Pearl off Cancun on Christmas is taking bizarre twists and turns as the FBI continues its investigation into whether a possible crime was committed.

Family members of Jennifer Seitz, 36, released a statement to her hometown paper, The News Chief in Winter Haven, Fla., saying Seitz was upbeat about the western Caribbean cruise but that they suspect she jumped overboard.

Meanwhile, there were reports that her husband, Raymond Seitz, may have been arrested on a domestic battery charge earlier this year. Celebrating their first anniversary on the ship, the couple was accompanied by Jennifer's mother who joined Raymond in reporting her missing.

In the statement to The News Chief, the family said, “Jennifer was in a very happy and uplifted mood both before and during the cruise.” But they also added that Jennifer had had “emotional issues” and “The family suspects that Jennifer chose an unfortunate ending to her life. She was a beautiful and caring person and will be truly missed by all who love her.''

Still, while interviewed on On the Record with Greta on Fox last night, FBI spokesman Mike Leverock said the agency was continuing to investigate the matter, “trying to determine if a crime has been committed on the high seas of an American citizen.”

He said both Raymond Seitz and NCL had been cooperating in the investigation.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which called off its search for Seitz yesterday, is meanwhile reviwing safety compliance on the ship. A Coast Guard spokeswoman confirmed such a review is standard operating procedure in these cases. "We look from a general perspective, whether the railings are high enough, and if general safety procedures are in order," the spokeswoman said. She added that the Coast Guard had inspected the Norwegian Pearl on Dec. 14, "and there were zero violations."

And then there is former NYPD detective Pay Brosnan, also appearing on On the Record with Greta last night, who used the forum to bash cruise ship safety in general.

“Look at the history of maritime cases on the high seas, ranging from sexual assault -- particularly the homicides or the missings,” Brosnan said. “First of all, there's a whole confluence of investigative bodies. Whose flag was on the boat? Whose water? Then the FBI comes in, and there's just no evidence.”

Brosnan added, “It's really a perfect -- it's a perfect series and circumstances to commit a serious crime."