10 Cruise Ship Passengers Who Vanished Without a Trace
10 Cruise Ship Passengers Who Vanished Without a Trace
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today were looking at ten people who disappeared while traveling on cruise ships.
John Halford
63-year-old John Halford was going through marriage problems, so he decided to embark on an Egyptian cruise. The Thomson ship was approaching Egypt on the night of April 6, 2011 and was due to arrive in Sharm-el-Sheikh the following morning. That evening, Halford packed his suitcase with gifts for his family and left it outside the door of his cabin. He then went down to the bar and was seen drinking cocktails around 11:45 that evening. He was never seen again. Halford was gone when the ship reached port the following morning, but his suitcase was still sitting outside his door. Halford was never found, and his body was never recovered, leading many to question what exactly had occurred.
Kevin McGrath
Florida native Kevin McGrath embarked on a Bahamas cruise with his family to celebrate his fathers 60th birthday. The ship returned to Miami on September 4, 2023, and McGrath had vanished. He was seen on the night of September 3, and it was discovered that the key card to his room was used at 3:30 AM on the morning of the 4th. His family thought it suspicious when he didnt show up for breakfast, but panic really set in when everyone was disembarking and McGrath was still nowhere to be found. McGrath was not seen going overboard on any of the ships surveillance cameras, and the sensors that indicate a passenger falling off the ship never went off. Its still unclear what happened.
Annette Mizener
37-year-old Wisconsin woman Annette Mizener embarked on a Carnival cruise to the Mexican Riviera with her parents and daughter. December 4, 2004 was the last day of the excursion, and Mizener was last seen at 9:15 pm when the ship was off the coast of Ensenada. Mizeners daughter Danielle later noticed that her mother was missing, and the crew launched a room by room search of the ship. The only trace of Mizener was her purse, which was found near a railing on the lower deck. The U.S. Coast Guard combed over 800 square miles of ocean, and the FBI even got involved to help find the missing woman. Alas, the multiple searches came up empty, and Mizener is presumed dead.
Fariba Amani
Vancouvers Fariba Amani embarked on a Celebration cruise with her boyfriend of eight months, Ramiz Golshani. Golshani left Amani at the gift shop around 1 AM on the morning of February 29, 2012. Amani wasnt in the room when he woke up later that morning, and she still hadnt arrived when it came time for everyone to disembark. She was never found and has remained missing ever since. Amanis family believes that Golshani knows more than he is letting on, saying that he and Amani had a fractured relationship and that Amani was thinking of leaving him. However, Golshani has continued to proclaim his innocence and was not considered a suspect by the FBI.
Merrian Carver
40-year-old Merrian Carver boarded the Celebrity Mercury cruise on August 27, 2004, and she went missing the very next day. But what makes this story so disturbing is the cruise lines bewildering response. Carvers steward reported her missing to his supervisor, but he was told to just do your job and forget it. The ship also continued along its planned course, stopping at various places around Alaska. Carver never disembarked at any of these places, and they continued to ignore her disappearance. The ship later gave her belongings to charity. Some people believe that the line is hiding something malicious, while others believe they were simply ignoring a problem for the sake of normalcy and routine. What do you think?
Christopher Caldwell
In July of 2004, Christopher Caldwell embarked on a Mexican cruise with his fiancée. On the final night of the cruise, they hit various nightclubs and went gambling in the casino. When Caldwells fiancée said she was going to bed, Caldwell said that he would be in shortly but that he wanted to do a bit more gambling. She woke up at 6:30 the next morning, and Caldwell was not there. Following an investigation, it was discovered that Caldwell left the casino at 2:17 AM and went to the promenade, where a bartender saw him and reported him as being very drunk. Its presumed that Caldwell fell overboard, but this was never confirmed, and a search of the surrounding ocean brought up nothing.
Hue Pham & Hue Tran
Its not often that couples go missing on cruise ships, but it does happen - as in the case of Hue Pham and Hue Tran. The married couple of 49 years were aboard the Carnival Destiny, traveling with their daughter and granddaughter. But they both disappeared on May 12, 2005, when the ship was traveling between Barbados and Aruba. Later that day, a ship employee found various items belonging to the couple, including their passports, drivers licenses, medication, and wallets, their credit cards still inside. A search and rescue effort was launched to look for the missing passengers, but it was called off less than thirteen hours later, with the couple being presumed dead.
George Allen Smith IV
26-year-old store manager George Smith had gotten married just eleven days before he disappeared. Smith and his new wife, Jennifer Hagel, were aboard a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate their honeymoon, but tragedy struck on July 5, 2005. Unlike other entries on this list, foul play was implied - witnesses reported hearing a scuffle in Smiths room, and blood was later found in his cabin and on the side of the ship, suggesting that he may have been attacked and thrown overboard. Homicide was immediately suspected, and the leading theory is that Smith was the target of a robbery that turned violent. However, Jennifer Hagel disagrees, suggesting that her husband accidentally hurt himself and fell overboard following a night of heavy drinking.
Rebecca Coriam
The story of Rebecca Coriam is an interesting one, as she was actually an employee of the cruise ship, Disney Wonder. Early on March 21, 2011, Coriam was captured on CCTV in the crew lounge having what appeared to be a distressing phone call. Another employee can be seen passing her and asking if she is alright, to which Coriam seemingly replies, Yeah, fine. That was the last anyone saw of her. The official explanation is that Coriam was washed overboard by a rogue wave while visiting the crew pool, but this report has been heavily criticized, and security footage of the event is nonexistent. Further research showed that sea conditions were normal at the time, suggesting that a rogue wave was highly unlikely.
Amy Lynn Bradley
Back in 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley was vacationing with her family on a Royal Caribbean cruise to Curaçao. Bradley and her brother partied in the ships nightclub on the night of March 23, with Bradley drinking and dancing with band member Alister Douglas. The siblings returned to their cabin around 3:30 the next morning and talked on the balcony. Bradleys father woke around 5:15 and saw her sleeping on the balcony, but when he looked again thirty minutes later, she was gone. Witnesses later reported seeing Bradley with Alister Douglas early that morning, although he was cleared by the FBI. There have been multiple alleged sightings of Bradley over the years, with many suspecting that she had fallen into a human trafficking circle.
What do you think happened to these people? Let us know in the comments below!
