My daughter died on her 25th birthday cruise – her pals made baffling choice with body and we still want answers
WALKING on board the ship with her boyfriend and friends, Ashley Barnett couldn't wait to celebrate her 25th birthday on a three-day cruise through the crystal-clear waters of the Pacific ocean.
Less than 24 hours, however, the aspiring actress would be found dead in her cabin - and her tragic death still remains shrouded in mystery.
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With the 20th anniversary of Ashley's death next October, her heartbroken mum, Jamie, revealed to The Sun that she's still searching for answers on what happened to her beloved daughter.
"It was a long, perilous journey, which had no real answers in the end,' she said.
"I'll never get all the answers. That's one of the most heartbreaking aspects of all… losing someone like that on a cruise ship.
"It's just all different when it happens at sea - and people don't realise that at all."
After boarding Carnival Cruise Line's Paradise in Long Beach, California on 14 October, 2005, Ashley's boyfriend said they hit up the casino and a concert before returning to their cabin for the night.
But following an alleged disagreement, her boyfriend went back out - leaving her alone in the room.
He said he returned in the early hours after continuing his night out onboard, falling asleep next to Ashley, before waking up hours later to join pals upstairs.
Ashley remained in bed, her boyfriend believing she was still fast asleep from celebrations the night before.
After partying some more, he returned to the cabin once again - except this time he tried to wake her up.
When he was unable to rouse her, he went running into the hallway screaming that his girlfriend wasn't breathing, with another passenger scrambling to call 911 after hearing his cries.
While a nurse began to perform CPR, the ship's doctor arrived - but efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.
There were allegedly few defibrillators on the ship and no opioid-overdose inhibitors to aid medical staff.
Ashley was pronounced dead soon after.
Following Ashley's shocking death, the boat docked in Ensenada on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Here, authorities boarded the ship to determine if there were any suspicious circumstances, while the FBI back in the US were notified.
With Ashley's body handed over to a Mexican morgue, instead of staying with her, the young woman's boyfriend along with the rest of the group stayed on the party ship and, shockingly, returned to California.
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Two decades later, Jamie is still outraged by the decision.
"They just left her body there," she said.
"Not the boyfriend, not one of those other folks, not a representative from the cruise line."
Jamie said she didn't even hear from Ashley's boyfriend - the last person to see her alive - until a full day after her daughter's tragic passing.
He claimed he had no idea what had happened to her - but revealed that some of his medications was missing.
It was later concluded that Ashley had died from a methadone drug overdose - something that shocked her grieving family and friends who insist she was extremely anti-drugs.
Methadone is what's dubbed a "legal high" drug, traditionally used to help addicts stop taking heroin - despite both being Class A.
Jamie says Ashley was "autopsied and, before she could come back to the United States, her body had to be embalmed".
This meant that by the time her body was returned to her family, "any forensic pathologist had very little to go on to figure out what happened" - shrouding even more mystery over Ashley's death.
With Jamie still desperate for answers, the family hired a private pathologist to carry out a forensic autopsy.
They found exactly what Jamie thought - healthy organs in a healthy body, with some evidence of alcohol consumption.
No signs of trauma were discovered either.
Still bewildered by her shocking passing - and the cause behind it - the family then requested a test of Ashley's hair follicles.
The test confirmed that there were zero signs of habitual drug use.
Therefore the question remained: why was Ashley found dead having overdosed on methadone?
Ashley's passing - and the reason behind it - has tormented her family for 20 years.
They are yet to receive real answers.
Despite the nightmare Jamie has endured over the last two decades, her trauma ignited a need to help others who have endured similar nightmares.
It's just all different when it happens at sea, and people don't realise that at all.
Jamie Barnett
Jamie has been pivotal in developing stricter laws surrounding crimes and deaths on cruises in her role as president of lobbying group International Cruise Victims.
The grieving mum believes cruise-goers are often "lulled into a false sense of security".
She explained to The Sun: "Don't get on a ship and think nothing could happen to you.
"It's like a small city where anything can happen.
"You can't let your guard down. You have to still be mindful and keep your eyes open."
Jamie also described how difficult it is for authorities to investigate crimes that happen at sea and collect key evidence.
This means many cases on board ships remain unsolved - leaving grieving families with unanswered questions about their loved ones.
Jamie, who campaigns through International Cruise Victims, said: "We're there to help folks who have found themselves victims of either some kind of crime at sea or some kind of negligence or traumatic event at sea.
"When that happens to people, because of laws being so wishy-washy, if they even exist on the high seas, they don't know where to turn to or what to do.
"And most of us who are leading this organisation remember that vividly and how that feels.
"We do everything we can to take somebody's hand and walk them through all of these things should they find themselves a victim in any way."
The chancing of dying on a cruise ship were recorded as being roughly 1 in 6.25 million in 2019, according to Forbes - suggesting it as being one of the safest ways to travel for holidaymakers.
But the statistic misses out crimes committed on ships, or missing persons.
Jamie claims that some cruises only put out a "soundbite" on missing persons on board the ships, along with what could have happened to them.
She said families are often told their loved one was "depressed" or "this person had a fight with their partner".
Jamie explained: "So right away you're thinking it was intentional, when it's very important for us hearing those reports to stay neutral, to wait.
"How do you know? What leads you to say that?"
Advocates have claimed that cruise lines have a "spotty" record of crime reporting, which makes actual statistics hard to determine.
But through her work at International Cruise Victims, Jamie looks to hold cruise lines more accountable for what goes on on their ships, while also protecting future cruise-goers on their holidays.
Jamie added: "The cruise industry loves to say 'passenger safety is our number one priority'.
"We're over here saying - put your money where your mouth is."
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