FBI investigates case of cruise passenger who went overboard

BORDENTOWN, N.J. — Two hours after boarding a cruise ship in New York on Sunday, Mindy Jordan was overboard and lost at sea.

The cruise line said the initial indication was that the slight 46-year-old nurse fell as she tried to reach from one balcony to another on a windy night, and by Tuesday the Coast Guard had given up its search for her in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast.

The ship, which disembarked in New York, continued on to Bermuda.

Jordan's family fears, though, that her fall was not only tragic but also criminal. And the FBI is now trying to sort it out.

Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI's New York office, said agents were in Bermuda on Wednesday to interview witnesses aboard The Norwegian Dawn as the cruise ship arrived there.

"Among the things we're going to try to determine is whether a crime occurred," Margolin said, adding that it was not clear how long it might take to determine that. He also said that if no one was charged in the matter, the agency might not make its findings public.

Jordan's family has been asking authorities for a full investigation — rather than simply relying on the early word from Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line.

"Our interest is to understand what happened," said Jordan's brother, Steve Lynn, who traveled from his home in Kentucky to be with his and Jordan's mother, Louise Horton, in her Bordentown, N.J., home.

Lynn said the FBI also interviewed his mother Tuesday night and took some possible evidence — including photos of bruises on his sister.

Horton has said that Jordan's relationship with boyfriend Jorge Caputo was abusive. The two of them went on the cruise with another couple.

Jordan, the mother of two teenagers, had been involved with Caputo for about 2 ½ years and lived with him in the Philadelphia suburb of Pine Hill for most of that time, her brother said.

Lynn said relatives had encouraged Jordan to contact authorities about the way Caputo treated her. "She was reluctant to do that and did not," he said.

Caputo remained on the cruise ship and was not available for comment. He has not been charged with any crime.

Jordan's family members say it was Caputo who called Horton to tell her that Jordan was missing. They said the call came about 15 hours after she went overboard.