Woman missing on the Pearl

[AmyinVail]

Show me the womb! I'm ready to book another cruise.

 

I think the intrigue lies within the unknown. Many of us have cruised multiple times and have found ourselves in certain situations; too much to drink on a balcony, in a disagreement with a spouse, looking at the water with allure, thinking of opportunities passed, etc.....but have never fell overboard.

 

It's interesting to see this situation in fruition after we've all been there and wonder....what happened?

 

I'm drawn to it like I was with that little Orlando girl Caylee....again, the unknown. I hope that this woman (if the choice was hers) is with peace now.....or if the choice wasn't hers, the person responsible is forever without peace.

 

Either way - we might never know.......

[thecruisers723]

First let me say I know nothing about this website except that I see that it has tons of information about past cruise incidents and already has a significant amount of info on this one as well. But here is the link I found:

 

http://www.*****************/Jennifer_Seitz.html

 

Here is some of the info that they report, some of which has not yet been shared on this blog:Red-headed Jennifer Seitz, has been further identified as Jennifer Ellis-Seitz, age 36, of Florida. She was married to Raymond Seitz for about a year before the cruise. The couple met in Orlando, Florida. Jennifer was reported to be originally from Winter Haven, Florida. Reports that she was from the Houston, Texas area are incorrect.

Jennifer was staying in cabin 11122 with her husband Raymond and mother Donna Ellis. The cabin was a mini-suite.

Passengers aboard the cruise ship learned that the couple had only been married a year, when the couple participated in a ship-board game show known as, The Not So Newlyweds.

Raymond and Jennifer were participants on a cruise ship game show called “The Not So Newlyweds” where it was learned they have been married for about a year, and had their first date in Orlando, Florida.

Jennifer Ellis attended and graduated from Queens University Of Charlotte with a degree in English in 1995.

Most recently, she wrote an article published online at the dockwalk.com web site titled, Battling The Bulge On Board. The site indicates it is an "essential site for captains and crew". It is unclear how Ellis-Seitz fit into the scheme of the site theme.

She is listed as the owner of NewsHound Communications and identifies herself as a full-time professional writer.

In the past she wrote, compiled and posted breaking news stories for floridatoday.com. She also collaborated as on-air personality at WKMG Local 6 (CBS) First News. Her credits also include The Ledger and the Tampa Tribune.

She was working on her second novel.

She was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists; Florida Council of Teachers of English, Member Phi Theta Kappa national honor society, Member, Florida Council of Teacher’s of English, Member and the Society of Professional Journalists.

[thecruisers723]

Looks like the site was blocked out. It's ************ dot com.

[derf5585]

Jennifer Ellis-Seitz Identified as Woman Missing from Cruise Ship (PHOTOS)

from

http://www.bittenandbound.com/2008/12/28/jennifer-ellis-seitz-identified-as-woman-missing-from-cruise-ship-photos/

 

Profile

Jennifer Ellis-Seitz

Owner of NewsHound Communications

Orlando, Florida Area

from

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/jennifer/ellis-seitz

 

Facebook

from

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Ellis-Seitz/1459955411

[AmyinVail]

derf5585 -you should be an investigative reporter. You supply the BEST links!!!

[renalrn]

Indeed! I just find it so hard to wrap my head around any of the prior speculation... My marriage is great, so no pushing; I can't imagine not wanting to be alive - or doing something that would be so devastating to my loved ones; I don't sleepwalk or use alcohol to excess... but who knows? If we had lost everything we'd worked for in the stock market, maybe we'd conspire to commit fraud!

 

Or maybe I've just read too many detective novels. :)

 

Perhaps it was a planned insurance scam with the hubby, they brought a lifelike mannequin on board, dressed in passengers clothes, tossed it so the cameras could catch it. Hopefully this is what happpened and she is sitting in Ixtapa sipping Margaritas.

Or...maybe it was Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick.

[nothriver]

very interesting article with even more interesting posts at True Crime Report dot com

[derf5585]

WINTER HAVEN, FL -- Neighbors in the Knotty Pine drive area spoke about their concern and sadness that their friend Jennifer Seitz was reported missing by her husband while aboard the ship Norwegian Pearl about 15 miles east of Cancun, Mexico.

from

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Winter-Haven-woman-missing-from-the-Norwegian/uc4DdvsL9EWk91-7KeWrhQ.cspx?rss=794

[Eeyoregon]

Yes, this will now work against me in my efforts to convince my son to let me take my granddaughter on a Disney cruise. "Too dangerous & she may fall overboard."

 

You can take ME on a Disney cruise :D! I have been on them and the railings are even more secure than on other lines. Every single railing is lined with plexi glass and are at least chest high on a person that is 5 feet 5 inches. I had to stand on a chair :eek: to see what was happening below when the ship suddenly stopped to assist a distressed Italian sailboat!

[tiggerfan616]

Originally posted by Derf5585

Facebook

from

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jenni...itz/1459955411

 

That Jennifer is a 2009 grad student from NJ per her facebook profile.

[beachchick]

Yes the ship knows if you are not back.

 

last year when we were on the Celebrity Constellation in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we were scheduled to leave port at 7:30 pm- and had to be back on by 7- at 6:30 pm they called my stateroom asking me if I knew where my hubby was-SCARED me to death-as it turned out-he was the only person who had not reboarded-and they wanted to leave port earlier. as soon as he boarded-10 minutes later-they started leaving.

 

Please read my first post on this thread. There are rare computer glitches.

 

However, in a case like this, I can't imagine that could have been the case because my DH and I always have the time before sailaway together. If they had dinner together, then obviously he knew she was onboard. If they didn't reboard together, he still would have been looking for her much sooner if he thought there was a chance she hadn't made it back on the ship. (OTOH, as I mentioned earlier, the computer glitch we had could also have gone the other way and accidently recorded that someone reboarded when they hadn't. I think that would be a "once in a blue moon" deal though. Much more likely that it would be like what happened to us and the computer didn't record a reboarding properly.)

 

We always make sure we're both onboard before sailaway (on the very rare occassions we don't disembark or reboard together). That's how our whole problem started. The computer said my DH wasn't onboard, but he also wasn't in the cabin or responding to my messages on the cabin phone. He hadn't felt all that well early in the day and opted to stay onboard while the rest of us went on a snorkel. He felt somewhat better later and decided to take a walk around town, but reboarded after about an hour. That was when the computer glitch happened. He swiped his card, but it didn't read properly. So, when my sister, BIL, and I reboarded after lunch and he wasn't in the cabin, we figured he had gone ashore. The computer said he had, but it didn't say that he had returned (and was resting in the Solarium). Scared the you-know-what out of me, that's for sure.

 

beachchick

[beachchick]

I didn't post all that the poster said. She continued to say that she works in some sort of investigative field and that she was appalled that the agent was speaking where others could hear him, etc. So I guess she didn't like his attitude as well.

 

CG

 

I have to agree that if the agent was discussing the case in a public area where non-involved parties could hear, then he was unprofessional. This would definitely be against FBI protocol.

 

I do agree though that I'd rather have a methodical and unemotional investigator than one who was "excited" to have a cruise case.

 

I was a passenger on this cruise. On Saturday, a friend on the ship noticed a CNN report about a passenger being missing. However, NCL did nothing to inform passengers of what happened and there was no change in the ship's schedule. Now that I am home, I am looking at news reports. There is a report and some interesting comments (both on the specifics of this case, including comments from passengers on board, and on the surprising number of passengers who have gone missing on cruise ships over the last ten years) on the True Crime Report blog at: http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/12/correction_from_uscg_-_jennife.php.

 

Given the sheer number of pax on cruise ships every year, I do not find it at all "surprising" that a teeny, tiny, itsy-bitsy perentage of them would go overboard/missing (accidently; suicide; murder; "missing, but not actually missing" where they're found somewhere onboard). Why do so many people want to make it out like more cruisers go overboard then, say, people get hit by lightning? It simply isn't true.

 

beachchick

[stanford's girl]

It sounds to me like this was a suicide and that is just so sad. And the woman who was in their cabin with them was her mother. My heart goes out to her mom, husband, and all who knew and loved her. This has to be a devastating loss for all of them and they will be in my prayers. :(

[MrPete]

There was just an interview on the Today show with a Jim and Suzanne Nestor, fellow contestants in the NOT-SO-NEWLYWED game.

 

Odd description of the couple, and the husbands actions and comments after the incident. Also stated from other debarking pax.

 

Just wonder how many they had to interview to find the ripe juicy newsworthy comments that can exploit this tragedy.

[lhall85917]

There was just an interview on the Today show with a Jim and Suzanne Nestor, fellow contestants in the NOT-SO-NEWLYWED game.

 

Odd description of the couple, and the husbands actions and comments after the incident. Also stated from other debarking pax.

 

Just wonder how many they had to interview to find the ripe juicy newsworthy comments that can exploit this tragedy.

I saw that also, I'm now wondering how long until the not so newlywed game video hits youtube

[LOWTYD]

And remember ... cruise ships are the greatest place in the world for rumors!!! "Have you heard????......"

 

Susan

 

New F3 ship name: NCL Rumor

[momofmeg]

I wonder if the "pull" of the water is about a return to the womb.

 

I also wonder if those that want to return to the womb like to cruise

 

This morning on Good Morning America it said this woman was a free lance writer who had recently written an article about cruise ship employees. So you were right.

[derf5585]

Missing Norwegian Pearl passenger Jennifer Ellis Seitz was a freelance writer who had struggled with weight issues in the past and been married twice in the last two years. Jennifer was on the Pearl with her new husband Raymond Seitz and an older woman named Donna Ellis. Ellis is Jennifer's maiden name, so it seems likely that Donna is her mother.

 

Jennifer Seitz married Michael Rich on June 5, 2005, but the marriage clearly didn't last long. By early 2008, she was married to Raymond Seitz.

 

Jennifer and Raymond were both members of ObesityHelp.com. There they each kept diaries of the run-up to their respective lap band surgeries. Jennifer actually had two -- diary 1, diary 2. Both were clearly the work of someone accustomed to expressing herself, and were filled with wit and hope. Raymond had his own diary here, and it was more terse and to the point, as well as reflecting his devotion to Nascar, particularly racer Dale Earnhardt Jr. In a note near the bottom of the diary, Raymond wrote about Jennifer:

 

When I started this journey in august 2002 I would have never dreamed that I would have been this succesfull I did everything I am suppose to and still do I take my vitamins and get my blood work done reguarally It always comes back awesome my doctor said I have deffinatally done well so hurray for me Thanks to all who have helped me along the way and expecially my surgery and lifelong friend Jen Ellis ( who by the way is such a hottie and has done wonderfull for herself)...

The story of Jennifer's disappearance from the Norwegian Pearl on December 26 is still confusing and full of holes. Several people claiming to have been on the cruise have left comments on a previous entry about the disappearance. Some of the comments are quoted (or partially quoted) below:

 

Kiran: My husband and I just disembarked from the "Norwegian Pearl

from

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/12/missing_from_the_norwegian_pea.php

[momofmeg]

Please read my first post on this thread. There are rare computer glitches.

 

However, in a case like this, I can't imagine that could have been the case because my DH and I always have the time before sailaway together. If they had dinner together, then obviously he knew she was onboard. If they didn't reboard together, he still would have been looking for her much sooner if he thought there was a chance she hadn't made it back on the ship. (OTOH, as I mentioned earlier, the computer glitch we had could also have gone the other way and accidently recorded that someone reboarded when they hadn't. I think that would be a "once in a blue moon" deal though. Much more likely that it would be like what happened to us and the computer didn't record a reboarding properly.)

 

We always make sure we're both onboard before sailaway (on the very rare occassions we don't disembark or reboard together). That's how our whole problem started. The computer said my DH wasn't onboard, but he also wasn't in the cabin or responding to my messages on the cabin phone. He hadn't felt all that well early in the day and opted to stay onboard while the rest of us went on a snorkel. He felt somewhat better later and decided to take a walk around town, but reboarded after about an hour. That was when the computer glitch happened. He swiped his card, but it didn't read properly. So, when my sister, BIL, and I reboarded after lunch and he wasn't in the cabin, we figured he had gone ashore. The computer said he had, but it didn't say that he had returned (and was resting in the Solarium). Scared the you-know-what out of me, that's for sure.

 

beachchick

 

Oh I did-and I can understand your fear- this is what happened to me-you see my hubby has more energy than me-he wanted to explore some more-I returned to the ship around 4:30 pm-but when they called me at 6:30 pm asking if he was on on board- they TERRIFIED me, and as he had another 30- 45 minutes to board- I have no idea why they did-why did they say board by such a time and then decide to leave sooner?

 

It was crazy-they asked if I knew where he was- and I told the person that I had returned to ship after our excursion to Peggy's Cove-but he had wanted to explore Halifax a little more. I was frantic for the next 10 -20 minutes until he returned. I even had my steward scared-I left to go down to the deck where we had boarded to see if I saw him returning-which was fruitless of course-when I returned to our stateroom- my steward told me that he had returned and had left again-as it turned out later for the lido-LOL! We had early dinner, had missed it, and hubby was going to grab a bite-not knowing I was worried about him-LOL! He assumed I had went to dinner without him-but I hadn't as I planned to eat with him.

[Sunnystone]

Another question to ponder....mom is in the room with the daughter and son-in-in-law. Mom doesn't notice daughter missing either? Last time they saw her was around 8pm?

If the missing woman did write the dockwalk column, then she knew about life at sea and therefore would have known better than to be negligent around the balcony. Without jumping to conclusions it really does seem murder or suicide based on all the reading.

Derf, Amy is right, you missed your calling as an investigative reporter!

[sam1148]

That's sooooo true!!!!

i'm glad i'm not a nut and the only one this happens to. I seriously had to make a conscious effort not to "jump" in. that water is powerful! :rolleyes:

 

I was speaking to an online friend about this, he was a ranger at Niagara Falls and it's not an uncommon feeling 'the pull of the water'. He said the scariest time was a Nun was looking at the falls he saw her trance out and started walking toward the guard rail and had to snap her out of it.

[slotaddict]

Just a thought - when the husband and Mom? went to bed at whatever time - were the rings on the bureau and the chair at the balcony railing??

 

The story doesn;t make sense to me. Just my opinion.

[7leagueboots]

Our thoughts are for the family, but I hope we don't experience any more of these overboard incidents - or balconies will become like highway pedestrian overpasses - enclosed with wire.

[cruise Jack]

I was speaking to an online friend about this, he was a ranger at Niagara Falls and it's not an uncommon feeling 'the pull of the water'. He said the scariest time was a Nun was looking at the falls he saw her trance out and started walking toward the guard rail and had to snap her out of it.

 

I live near Niagara Falls and I totally understand what you mean. I too have been mesmerized by the water both at NF and on a cruise ship.

[Goldryder]

The 'pull of the sea' is more common than people realise. Some think it's a form of vertigo that they are getting...but on the whole, when you look down over the rail at the sea, it is hypnotic and yes, it does feel like it's getting closer to you, the longer that you stand and stare at it.

 

Sometimes when you look over the side..or stern as in the shots I took from Gem & Jewel...you can quickly become consumed in that deep blue water...it's gentle lapping noise and warmth can be very inviting...and sometimes the pull can be too much, someone with their own difficulties can see the sea as somewhere to be at peace, enveloped in warmth and safety....the reference to returning to the womb is probably true, afterall we are all water babies at the start of life. The hypnotic effects of the sea from a ship is hard to understand if you have never experienced it first hand...it also makes the perfect 'way out' whether by your own hand...or by someone elses.

 

I too feel that this lady...for whatever reason, we will likely never know completely...felt that her life was over. Maybe she was poorly and couldn't stand the thought of treatment, maybe the weight issues that she had written about in the past had come back to haunt her...maybe her husband was getting a little too chatty to the younger & prettier woman at the bar...who know's what makes anyone snap and decide that enough is enough.

 

It's just like the lad on Ecstacy in 2007, David Ritcheson, from outward appearances he seemed perfectly OK, smiling, laughing with his friends and family...yet on the inside he was ripping his soul out after the terrifying attack that almost left him for dead a year earlier. He snapped...climbed the mast on Ecstacy, refused to come down despite having friends & crew pleading with him for over an hour...then he jumped.

 

The media love to make tragedies like these into psychobabbled nonsense or a case of 'yet another drunk/out of control teen jumps ship'...just as they did in the initial 24 hours after David took his life. They soon had to swallow their words when the torment of that lad came to the surface...I suspect the same will happen again this time...speculation and 'he said' - 'she said' galore. But at the end of the day only the lass herself and maybe her nearest & dearest will know the truth...yes, she could have had 'demons'...most people do, most people can control them but there comes a time in some lives where the person cannot handle the 'demons' any longer and they quit...life was crap this year, likely to be the same next year...why bother to carry on?

 

No-one will ever know why someone commits suicide except the one who dies. They maybe the life and soul of the party outwardly, but who really knows what 'demons' lie beneath the surface?