NCL Dawn - woman passenger overboard off New Jersey coast - Page 2

**Ally** · 05-16-2008, 05:02 AM

The family have accepted that no foul play was involved. That is good as it will bring to a close those nagging and the 'what if' thoughts. It will always be hard to accept the circumstances of Ms Jordan's death, but the FBI have confirmed NCL's account, so the family sadly have no choice but to accept it too. Very sad all round.

Quote:

Based on a preliminary investigation, the FBI does not believe a crime occurred when a Pine Hill woman fell overboard from a cruise ship, the vessel's operator said Thursday.
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Mindy Jordan, 46, plunged from the Norwegian Dawn on Sunday evening when the ship was about 45 miles northeast of Atlantic City. The Coast Guard has suspended a search for the woman, who had just started a New York-to-Bermuda cruise.

Some of Jordan's relatives, who were suspicious of initial accounts of the fall, did not dispute the latest view.

"We certainly have faith in the FBI," said her sister, Julie August of Mount Laurel. "That's all we wanted to know all along -- what happened?

Jordan's family had questioned an account provided by the woman's boyfriend, Jorge Caputo of Pine Hill, that she had climbed onto a balcony railing. They said that was out of character for Jordan, a licensed practical nurse and mother of two teenagers.

The ship's owner, Norwegian Cruise Line, on Wednesday said surveillance cameras showed Jordan was alone at the time of the incident. It said she fell while trying to climb between adjacent balconies.

On Thursday, the cruise line said the FBI "has confirmed" its preliminary investigation "was consistent" with the company's account.

"At this time, they (the FBI) do not believe that a crime has been committed," the company said. An FBI spokesman could not be reached.

Caputo, who flew back from Bermuda on Thursday, also was unavailable.

During a two-day investigation at the ship, FBI agents and Bermuda authorities conducted "extensive interviews" with Caputo and examined Jordan's sealed stateroom, the firm said.

August said family members declined an invitation to travel to Bermuda to see the ship's surveillance footage, now held by authorities.

"None of us wanted to watch our loved one plunging to her death," said Jordan's sister. "There's no nice way to say it."

Missing woman's kin accept FBI report | CourierPostOnline.com | Courier-Post

**Ally** · 05-22-2008, 10:28 AM

Sadly things have not quite been accepted by Mindy's family. I can only imagine how hard it is for a mother to understand, let alone accept, what happened in a case like this...

Quote:

Even though video surveillance footage from the cruise ship which Mindy Jordan fell to her death from shows no foul play, her mother still wants the FBI to investigate.

American mother-of-two Mindy Jordan, of New Jersey — plunged from the Norwegian Dawn 45 miles northeast of Atlantic City on May 11 after witnesses said she was climbing from balcony to balcony.

The FBI, who have been investigating the case, says no foul play was involved. But Ms Jordan's mother Louise Horton, of Bordentown, New Jersey, is not satisfied, The Associated Press reports.

The report, posted on newsday.com said: "Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line says surveillance video from an interior hallway shows that Jordan was alone in their room from 7.36 p.m. until 7.53 p.m., when an exterior camera shows her falling from the balcony.

"The cruise line has said its preliminary investigation indicated that Jordan, a 46-year-old nurse and mother of two teenagers, slipped while trying to climb over from her room's balcony to a neighbouring balcony where her boyfriend, Jorge Caputo, was visiting with friends."

Mrs. Horton, told The Associated Press that the cruise line told her about the surveillance video, which hasn't been made public and that she doesn't believe the video shows exactly what happened leading up to the fall.

"If that happened, how would they know that?" she was quoted.

The report continued: "Cruise line spokeswoman AnneMarie Mathews said that the exterior video shows the railing of the balcony, but not the area inside of that.

"She said she had not seen it and was not certain whether it shows what Jordan was doing before she fell. Mark Mershon, an FBI assistant director, told Fox News that the video quality is not clean enough to determine exactly what happened.

"But, he said, 'The information that we have acquired does not suggest a crime, but that is not definitive.'"

Mrs. Horton had declined the cruise line's offer to fly her to Bermuda to see the video and pick up her daughter's belongings.

The Royal Gazette