Authorities suspect murder aboard cruise ship

FBI agents are investigating the death of a 55-year-old woman who authorities suspect was killed by her husband during a Mexican cruise.

Officials on the cruise ship Carnival Elation responded to a report of a domestic dispute Tuesday night while the ship was on the last leg of a Baja cruise, FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth said.

When they arrived at the cabin, they found the woman dead, Foxworth said. The husband has been detained.

The county Medical Examiner’s Office identified the dead woman as Shirley McGill, of Winnetka, Calif.

The FBI was notified Tuesday night by Carnival officials that “potentially a murder situation” had occurred and a team of 20 agents were taken by Coast Guard cutter to the ship Wednesday to investigate, said Keith Slotter, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego office.

As many as 40 passengers have been interviewed, he said.

An evidence team went aboard the ship Thursday morning to collect forensic evidence from the cabin where the woman was found, he said.

Slotter said he didn’t know a possible motive for the killing. He said the husband was kept in a small jail aboard the ship as soon as ship officials realized they had a potential murder onboard.

Passenger Spenser Busby, who was on the cruise to Cabo San Lucas with his wife and family, said that on Tuesday night there was an announcement over the public address system calling for “Operation Starbright” to Room R-24.

He said he walked down to a cabin on a lower deck and found that it was guarded by a man sitting at the door. Signs were posted that said it was a secured area.

A security guard said there had been a killing onboard the ship, Busby said. Nothing official was related to the passengers, he said.

The 2,052-passenger ship, which is based in San Diego, left Saturday on the five-day cruise.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family,” a cruise line spokeswoman said in a written statement