Mother Relives Daughter's Mysterious Cruise Ship Death | Banfield

Ashley Barnett's Unexplained Death on a Cruise

• 🚢 Ashley Barnett died in her cabin on a Carnival cruise in 2005, less than 24 hours after boarding, while celebrating her 25th birthday.
• 💔 Her death remains a mystery, with no one ever charged despite an FBI investigation.
• 💊 Ashley's mother suspects her daughter may have unknowingly ingested liquid methadone, smuggled onto the ship in a bottle of DayQuil by her boyfriend.
• ❓ It's unclear if Ashley took the substance believing it was medication for her cold, or if it was administered to her to prevent her from interfering with the group's plans to party.

Challenges in Cruise Ship Investigations

• ⚖️ The family has struggled for 20 years to get information from both cruise lines and law enforcement agencies.
• 🌐 Ashley's mother now heads the International Cruise Victims Association, assisting others who have faced crimes on the high seas.
• 🚨 Seth Barnett, Ashley's brother and a law enforcement officer, was motivated to join the force by his sister's case, highlighting the difficulties in investigating crimes on cruise ships due to jurisdictional complexities.
• 🚫 Seth encountered a lack of information and jurisdiction issues when attempting to inquire about his sister's case within his own department, reinforcing the challenges of maritime crime investigations.