Passengers vanishing with no explanation, lost CCTV tapes, the wiping of crime scene evidence and seemingly no explanation for the heartbroken families involved – these are just some of the dark mysteries plaguing the cruise industry.
Over the years, these majestic vessels have begun emerging as the worrying common denominator amongst some of the most haunting unsolved mysteries of the last 50 years.
Their links to criminal activity such as people trafficking, combined with the chilling and sudden disappearance of passengers, have left many families across the world with a lifetime of agony to deal with.
Unlike most occasions where there has been suspected ‘foul play’ or in some cases, potential suicide, these occurrences on cruise ships raise far more complicated issues – leading some to brand the ships the place to commit a ‘perfect murder’.
Whether it be the lack of clarity on when a passenger has vanished from a cruise ship, having gone overboard or been murdered, legal difficulties will often arise over whose authorities are responsible.
This has led to cases dragging on for years while families remain grief-stricken, with no answers ever coming to alleviate the pain.
Just last week, an American punk band’s lead singer’s fiancee died after reportedly falling overboard from a private balcony on the first night of a seven-day cruise.
Kimberly Burch, 56, was on the cruise with Faster Pussycat frontman, Taime Downe and died on March 2 in mysterious circumstances, leaving her mother searching for the truth.
With Ms Burch’s family now claiming they are being ignored by the Royal Caribbean Group, questions are now being raised over why this such instances are becoming such a frighteningly regular occurrence on cruise ships.
Here at , we decided to look at the disturbing trend which has seen more than 200 people go missing on the ships since the year 2000.
From Ms Burch’s tragic death this year to a 23-year-old girl who vanished in the middle of the night during the 1990s – these are some of the most mysterious cruise ship deaths and disappearances over the last few decades.
Kimberly Burch: The fiancee of an 80s rocker who fell to her death ‘from a room balcony’
The fiancee of Faster Pussycat frontman Taime Downe last week died at sea after falling overboard from a cruise ship.
Kimberly Burch, 56, fell to her death ‘from a room balcony’ on the first night of The 80s Cruise on the Royal Caribbean ship, ‘Explorer of the Seas’ on March 2 – after an alleged ‘heated’ argument with the rocker, 60.
Kimberly, who worked as a realtor, had traveled on the seven day cruise to support Taime, who was performing with the punk band.
The cruise departed from Miami and was set to visit Nassau, San Juan, and Labadee.
Kimberly’s mother, Carnell, told TMZ that Mr Downe had called on Monday to let her know her daughter had died and that it is ‘still unclear’ whether her she jumped or accidentally fell from the ship.
However, she is ‘confident Kimberly would not purposefully hurt herself.’
Reportedly drinking on the cruise, Carnell said that was ‘out of character’ for her daughter and claimed she had been in an argument with Taime before her death.
Carnell added that her daughter was not suffering from depression or emotional issues at the time and was excited for the trip, which was in its first day and featured musical acts including Squeeze, Adam Ant, Tiffany and Men at Work.
Kimberly is said to have gone overboard on the first day of the cruise around 11pm PST (7am GMT) – with a guest claiming on social media she had ‘jumped from the balcony of her 8th floor room’ 80 miles from Miami.
Kimberly had been in a relationship with Taime for around six years.
Her body has not been recovered.
Bex Coriam: Last seen making a phone call before she ‘fell overboard’ a Disney cruise liner
Rebecca ‘Bex’ Coriam, 24, vanished from the Disney Wonder in June 2011 as the ship sailed off the coast of Mexico.
It was ruled after initial investigations that Rebecca, who was a worker on the vessel, had fallen overboard.
However, her parents Mike and Ann Coriam, from Chester, have been thwarted at every opportunity when seeking answers about her disappearance.
They previously sued Disney Cruise Lines for £45,000 claiming the entertainment giant was negligent and failed in its duty of care.
They also said Disney had no appropriate surveillance equipment on board the ship, no overboard monitors and that emergency protocols were not followed.
It is alleged that it took more than three hours for the company to check CCTV footage, more than four hours to alert the US Coast Guard, more than five hours to contact the Mexican navy and nearly seven hours to call police.
Although it was estimated that Rebecca could have survived in the sea for 14 hours, the ship kept on going and never turned back to search for her.
The 24-year-old was last seen making a phone call to a friend from the staff quarters and the alarm was raised four hours later when she failed to turn up for the start of her shift.
She was seen on CCTV looking distressed four levels below deck, and it later emerged that she may have been involved in a love triangle with a man and woman.
After she was seen hanging up the phone call, a young man approached Rebecca and asked her if she was alright to which she responded: ‘Yeah, fine.’
That was her last sighting.
In the years following her disappearance, many theories have emerged.
Her parents believe she was thrown overboard after being sexually assaulted, while Disney insist she was swept overboard by a freak wave and vanished at sea.
An investigation by police in the Bahamas, where they ship was registered, found no evidence of foul play.
Stephen Mosley, MP for the City of Chester said in the House of Commons in November 2011 that ‘the investigation into Rebecca’s disappearance was appalling’.
It also led to calls for all suspected crimes at sea involving UK citizens to be investigated by the UK authorities, as frustrations with Bahamas authorities grew.
Rebecca has never been found.
Amy Lynn Bradley: Vanished just hours after her father saw her safely asleep
Amy Lynn Bradley, 23, disappeared while on a family cruise to the Caribbean with her parents and younger brother in March 1998.
While aboard the Royal Caribbean ‘Rhapsody of the Seas’ cruise ship, the American college graduate vanished just hours after returning to her cabin from a night of partying with her sibling, Brad.
The pair had spent the night with members of the live band, Blue Orchid, and a man named Alister ‘Yellow’ Douglas, who was questioned the following morning by cruise employees.
Amy was recorded by the cruise’s locking system entering the room she was sharing with Brad at 3.40am.
The brother said they spoke for a few moments before Amy went to the balcony and sat in a lounge chair.
Having woken up in the middle of the night at 5.30am, Amy’s father said he saw his daughter sound asleep on the balcony.
‘I could see Amy’s legs from her hips down. She looks like she was resting comfortably,’ Mr Bradley said in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
He said the door was closed which allowed him to drift back off to sleep, but when he woke up, the door was roughly 15 inches open and Amy had gone.
Relatives believe she left the balcony with her cigarettes between 5.30am and 6am, and there has never been a confirmed sighting of her again.
Her mother wrote in a blog in 2021 that she still had ‘so many questions that require answers’.
It reads: ‘Why would a multi-million dollar cruise line not help in the search for our daughter, Amy? To this date, the cruise line has failed to cooperate with our family by way of information or assistance.
‘The only known facts that we have are: My husband and I took a cruise with our two children and returned home WITHOUT our daughter, Amy.
‘Her brother, Brad, returned home to Virginia WITHOUT his sister.’
Mrs Bradley is still seeking information on her daughter, who she said had ‘so many plans’ ahead of her and is offering a $250,000 reward for information which could lead to Amy’s return.
She added: ‘On the day before we left for vacation, Amy had adopted a female bulldog, and she was to pick up “Daisy” when we returned from our cruise.
‘She had just moved into her new apartment and was starting a new job on the following Monday. She had so many plans and was so happy about all of them.’
George Smith IV: Disappeared after a fight with his wife on their honeymoon cruise
George Smith IV, 26, mysteriously fell overboard during a cruise on the Royal Caribbean ship Brilliance of the Seas in the summer of 2005.
Occurring on his honeymoon cruise nearly 20 years ago, the story was subject to intense media scrutiny – with many speculating how he possibly ended up in the waters of the Mediterranean.
Following their marriage in June 2005, Mr and Mrs Smith went on their honeymoon cruise which they had booked with Royal Caribbean.
A fellow passenger, who was in a room close to the newlyweds, previously told the Mail that the two were very social and could be heard drinking and partying during the first few days on the ship.
But after going to the casino together in the early hours of July 5, the trip would take a dark turn.
It was at the casino that George met up with 20-year-old Josh Askin, a new friend he was teaching to play craps – a dice game.
Also in the casino were cousins Zachary and Greg Rozenberg and their friend Rusty Kofman – making the last four people likely to see George alive.
According to an interview Mr Askin and his attorney gave to Vanity Fair, an employee at the casino was getting a little too close to Jennifer as the night went on.
Lloyd Botah worked as a gambling dealer on the ship, and Jennifer appeared to be a bit too ‘cosy’ with him, Askin said.
‘He (Botah) was definitely stepping over professional boundaries,’ said Mr Askin’s attorney C. Keith Greer.
‘It was awkward, but I don’t know that George noticed it at the time.’
When the casino closed at 2:30am, Mr Smith and the four men went to the discotheque, where they were joined at a table by Jennifer and Botah.
Multiple eyewitnesses claim the group was drinking Absinthe that had been smuggled on board, and that at some point the newlyweds fought before Mrs Smith kicked Mr Smith in the genitals and stormed out of the club.
Askin claimed that Botah followed Jennifer.
Following the incident, Jennifer agreed to a $1.1million settlement with Royal Caribbean in 2007 and said in a statement that her husband could have possibly fallen off the ship – perhaps while drunk and smoking a cigar while trying to balance on the balcony of their stateroom.
The Smith family challenged the settlement, alleging that it was reached in haste in an attempt to hide embarrassing details about Jennifer’s behavior on the ship.
The Smiths also believe they should have received $2.4million.
Jennifer Hagel-Smith remarried in 2009 and has two children with her new husband.
Kevin McGrath: The US Army Veteran with a violent history who vanished in the middle of the night
Kevin McGrath, 26, vanished while on a cruise from Miami to the Bahamas as part of his father’s 60th birthday celebrations.
While the ship was returning to Florida, McGrath was supposed to meet his family for breakfast on the morning of September 4, 2023, but never appeared and was reported missing when everyone exited the ship.
Carnival crew members and staff looked for the US Army Veteran and father-of-two, while the Coast Guard conducted an extensive search to no avail.
During the ordeal, police said the ship’s overboard detection device was never activated and there was no evidence that McGrath had gone overboard.
McGrath and his family boarded the Carnival Cruise Ship Conquest on September 1.
The 26-year-old was last seen on the ship in the early hours of September 4, with video footage showing him dancing to live music at 2am.
He returned to the room he was sharing with his twin brother, Andre, at 3.30am, digital key records show.
But Andre said he thought he heard Kevin leave their room sometime between 5am–7am – which would have been the last time he was heard alive.
McGrath, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in Tennessee in September 2022 after he threatened to kill his family, should not have been travelling on the waters.
He was sentenced to six years of supervised probation that he had violated, according to legal documents.
His former partner, Addison Thomas, said that she would speak to him nearly everyday in 2023 and that they still had that ‘love connection’ between them.
She said: ‘In my heart, I still think he is alive. I don’t think he is dead or anything. I just want him found alive and safe.’
McGrath was living in Tennessee and had gotten permission to move to Florida where he was living with his parents.
Though the cruise was a celebration for his father’s 60th birthday, McGrath’s probation officer said that he never got authorization to go on the family trip, and only learned McGrath violated his parole when he saw a media report.
McGrath had not been keeping in touch with his probation officer, which is part of his parole requirements, and since he went missing, all attempt to reach him have been futile.
McGrath has not been seen since.