Cruise ship murders and missing passengers highlight safety concerns: experts

Whereas cruise ships have lengthy served as a favourite of People on the lookout for a trip, headlines highlighting violent crimes have marred the trade for many years. 

Through the years, tales of lawlessness on cruises have each captivated and horrified vacationers, with consultants typically declaring how the distinctive setting typically serves as a hotbed for unhealthy actors and troublesome occasions. 

“Identical to subways invite crime as a result of criminals have a ‘captive viewers,’ cruise passengers are ‘captive’ for an excellent longer time, as leaping off into the ocean just isn’t actually an choice,” Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist, advised Fox Information Digital. “A cruise ship looks like a world unto its personal. It feels such as you’re on one other planet or no less than one other nation, so it looks as if there are fewer penalties.” 

The sense of fewer penalties is echoed by Chicago-based lawyer Andrew Stoltmann, who added that cruise ship passengers are subjected to the native legal guidelines wherever the ship is docked. 

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A Carnival cruise ship departs port in Miami, Fla.  (iStock)

“Maritime regulation is extraordinarily advanced and it shifts relying on location,” Stoltmann stated. “No matter flag the ship flies, that regulation is what’s relevant whereas the ship is crusing. However whereas the ship is docked, it’s that nation’s regulation that applies. This makes it extraordinarily advanced and lots of occasions it’s laborious to determine.”

Finally, consultants level to a combination of relaxed inhibitions and inconsistent strategies of reporting crimes as among the main catalysts for headlines involving murders, rapes and vacationers going lacking on the excessive seas. 

“There’s clearly a notion by the general public that these cruise ships are very protected they usually have their very own police pressure or safety pressure,” Stoltmann stated. “Sadly, this normally merely isn’t true. And since these ships are sometimes in worldwide waters, lots of the similar authorized protections we take pleasure in right here in america merely aren’t relevant on the excessive seas.”

In latest months, headlines about cruise hassle have included the mysterious loss of life of Florida teen Anna Kepner and a lawsuit filed by the household of a person who says their liked one was killed after Royal Caribbean served him practically three-dozen alcoholic drinks. These are simply the newest in a long time of scares and scandals marring the trade: 

Amy Bradley disappears whereas on a household trip

In 1998, 23-year-old Amy Bradley launched into a Royal Caribbean Worldwide cruise together with her household for a seven-day journey to the tropics to have fun her latest school commencement. 

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Amy Bradley vanished from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship whereas touring together with her household in March 1998.  (Courtesy of Netflix © 2025)

Nevertheless, the celebration rapidly turned tragic when Bradley vanished from her stateroom because the ship was making ready to dock in Curaçao, sparking a large seek for the aspiring sports activities psychology pupil that in the end stays unsolved. 

On the night earlier than her disappearance, Bradley and her brother, Brad, have been having fun with a night on the Rhapsody of the Seas nightclub, the place the pair remained till the early morning hours. She was final seen asleep on the stateroom cabin’s balcony by her father. 

A few half an hour later, Bradley had vanished. 

An intensive seek for the latest school graduate ensued, however authorities have been unable to find Bradley. The vessel continued its scheduled stops and in the end returned to Puerto Rico 4 days later. 

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Numerous theories have swirled concerning Amy Bradley’s disappearance, however authorities have by no means made any arrests within the case.   (Courtesy of Netflix © 2025)

Since her disappearance, numerous rumors have swirled round what occurred to her, with some theories suggesting she had fallen overboard and drowned, or that she had deliberately jumped from the balcony to take her personal life. 

On the time of the search, Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard Lt. Sjoerd Soethout advised reporters she might have fallen from the ship’s balcony, The Related Press reported. The FBI additionally uncovered “no proof of foul play” following an investigation into Bradley’s disappearance.

The case in the end ran chilly. 

Years after her disappearance, Bradley’s mother and father have been despatched a sequence of sexually specific photos of a lady primarily based within the Caribbean by an nameless tipster. 

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Amy Bradley disappeared whereas on a Royal Caribbean Worldwide cruise together with her household for a seven-day journey to the tropics to have fun her latest school commencement.  (Courtesy of Netflix © 2025)

The girl, recognized solely as “Jas,” was seen posing provocatively whereas deliberately protecting any identifiable markings, resembling Bradley’s tattoo of a Tasmanian Satan spinning a basketball. 

The photographs additional solidified Bradley’s mother and father’ idea that their daughter had been kidnapped and bought into intercourse trafficking. 

Nevertheless, regardless of varied leads all through the years and the FBI releasing age-progressing photographs of Bradley in 2017, she has by no means been discovered and authorities have but to cost anybody with against the law referring to the case. 

Husband pleads responsible to murdering spouse on Alaskan cruise

In 2017, Kenneth Manzanares and his spouse, Kristy Manzanares, boarded the Emerald Princess cruise ship with their daughters for a visit to Alaska. 

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The couple obtained right into a contentious argument in entrance of their daughters whereas inside their stateroom, wherein Kristy Manzanares advised her husband she wished a divorce and that he ought to disembark the ship when it reaches port in Juneau, in response to prosecutors. 

Because the battle escalated, Kenneth Manzanares ordered the pair’s daughters out of the room, prosecutors stated. After they heard their mom scream, they tried to re-enter the room – which was locked. 

The ladies then accessed the room via a related balcony, the place they witnessed their father “straddling Kristy on the mattress, hanging her within the head with closed fists,” in response to prosecutors. 

Kenneth Manzanares then tried to hurl his spouse’s physique over the balcony railing, however his in-laws managed to interrupt into the room to cease him. 

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Following the assault, Kristy Manzanares “had a extreme head wound, and blood was unfold all through the room on a number of surfaces,” in response to an FBI arrest affidavit. 

She subsequently died from her accidents, with authorities ruling her reason behind loss of life was as a consequence of blunt pressure trauma to the pinnacle and face. 

Kristy Manzanares’ brother-in-law, recognized in courtroom paperwork as D.H., advised investigators that upon coming into the room, he discovered the sufferer lined in blood on the ground and Kenneth Manzanares inside with blood on his palms. 

Kenneth Manzanares allegedly advised D.H. that, “She wouldn’t cease laughing at me.”

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In 2020, Kenneth Manzanares pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide costs after prosecutors alleged he was his spouse’s killer. 

He was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 2021, however solely served a couple of weeks of his sentence earlier than he was discovered unresponsive in his Juneau jail cell – with investigators ruling out foul play in his loss of life. 

Florida cheerleader discovered lifeless on Carnival cruise ship 

Final month, 18-year-old Anna Kepner, a Florida highschool senior, was discovered lifeless inside her household’s cabin aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship. 

Kepner’s physique was found stuffed beneath a mattress and lined with life jackets contained in the room she was sharing together with her 14-year-old brother and 16-year-old stepbrother on Nov. 7, with the cruise returning to the Port of Miami the following day. Her trigger and method of loss of life have been reportedly a murder by mechanical asphyxiation.

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Anna Kepner was recognized by her household because the passenger who died onboard the Carnival Horizon. (Instagram/Anna Kepner)

Whereas nobody has been charged in Kepner’s loss of life, courtroom filings submitted by her 16-year-old stepbrother’s mother and father point out the teenager is being checked out as a possible “suspect” by the FBI.

Buddies and kinfolk near Kepner have spoken out to accuse the 16-year-old of appearing inappropriately towards the sufferer up to now.

Talking to reporters exterior Kepner’s memorial service, her ex-boyfriend recalled a time when he was on a 3 a.m. FaceTime name together with her when she dozed off. Shortly after, he witnessed Kepner’s stepbrother enter her room. 

“I used to be like, ‘What the hell are you doing in her room?’” he stated. “Then he obtained scared and ran away, and I heard his footsteps working via the home ‘trigger he obtained caught.”

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Anna Kepner, her father, stepmother and several other siblings in a household photograph. (Shauntel Kepner/Fb)

Over a month later, authorities haven’t made any arrests within the case and the investigation stays ongoing.

Household sues Royal Caribbean, alleges 33 drinks led to man’s loss of life

In December 2024, 35-year-old Michael Virgil launched into a four-day tropical getaway to Ensenada, Mexico, along with his long-time fiancée and the couple’s younger son, who has autism. 

The household boarded Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas whereas it was docked in Los Angeles, however have been knowledgeable by crew members that their room was not but prepared, in response to a wrongful loss of life lawsuit filed by Virgil’s household. 

They have been subsequently invited to go to a bar with dwell music whereas they waited, however the couple’s son grew stressed and left along with his mom to examine on the standing of their room. 

FAMILY SUES ROYAL CARIBBEAN AFTER MAN ALLEGEDLY SERVED 33 DRINKS DIES ABOARD CRUISE SHIP

Michael Virgil’s household has filed a wrongful loss of life lawsuit claiming the 35-year-old was killed by crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas as they tried to subdue him after serving him over 33 alcoholic drinks in December 2024. (GoFundMe)

Inside hours of the ship’s departure, Virgil was allegedly served no less than 33 alcoholic drinks, which have been included beneath the corporate’s just about limitless “Deluxe Beverage Bundle” that Virgil had bought. 

After consuming practically three-dozen drinks, the swimsuit states, Virgil turned more and more agitated and combative whereas making an attempt to find his household’s cabin. 

As Virgil grew extra belligerent, safety and crew members allegedly tackled him to the bottom and restrained him for a number of minutes. In the course of the altercation, the employees captain directed crew members to inject Virgil with the sedative Haloperidol and use three cans of pepper spray to subdue him, the criticism alleges. 

Virgil was subsequently pronounced lifeless shortly after the incident. 

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Michael Virgil may be seen kicking a door previous to being taken down by safety on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas.  (Obtained by FOX 11 Los Angeles)

The medical expert later decided Virgil’s loss of life was a murder, with the trigger being “mixed results of mechanical asphyxia, weight problems, cardiomegaly and ethanol intoxication.” The report additionally pointed to “mixed results of mechanical asphyxia, weight problems, cardiomegaly and ethanol intoxication” because the supply of Virgil’s harm.

Virgil’s household has since filed a wrongful loss of life lawsuit in opposition to Royal Caribbean, in search of judgment for damages beneath the Dying on the Excessive Seas Act, together with lack of assist, inheritance, previous and future earnings and internet accumulations. They’re additionally in search of funeral and medical bills, lack of companionship and safety and psychological ache and struggling, amongst different claims.

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Royal Caribbean didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark. 

“We’re seeing an extremely alarming variety of severe accidents and fatalities on cruise ships of late,” the household’s lawyer, Kevin Haynes, stated. “Our objective is to pressure systemic change in the best way this trade operates to make sure that no individual or household experiences tragedy like this once more.”

Fox Information Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.