FBI investigating suspicious cruise ship death

BALTIMORE An FBI spokesman says a death aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship has been classified as suspicious.

The FBI is investigating the death of a 62-year-old Virginia woman who traveled on the Enchantment of the Seas. Royal Caribbean says the woman's husband found her body Sunday inside her cabin.

FBI Baltimore field office spokesman Rich Wolf says agents boarded the ship Monday after it returned to Baltimore as scheduled. He says an autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause and manner of death, and agents are interviewing the unidentified woman's husband. Wolf declined to say whether the woman suffered any trauma.

CBS Baltimore reports the seven-day cruise traveled from Baltimore to Port Canaveral, Florida, and onto Nassau in the Bahamas, then Cococay before turning around.

Rich Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI's Baltimore field office, says agents boarded the ship on Monday after it returned to Baltimore as scheduled. He says an autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause and manner of death, and agents are interviewing the unidentified woman's husband. Wolf declined to say whether the woman suffered any trauma.

"Generally, a suspicious death is in order when there is an unexpected death or not easily explained circumstances, like no obvious signs of trauma," said security expert Rob Weinhold.

Weinhold says the key to the case could be inside that cabin.

"At the end of the day, the crime scene needs to be preserved so that physical evidence as well as witness testimony can be used to determine exactly what happened," he said.

Maritime attorney Jim Walker, who runs the blog "Cruise Law News," told CBS Baltimore he started hearing of the death Sunday night.

"You could call it gossip or just scuttlebutt that there was either a murder or a death on the seventh floor," Walker said.

Passengers posted messages on his blog saying they saw the FBI board the ship and the room blocked off by a guard.

"One of the people on the ship said they were detaining everyone on the seventh floor," said Walker.

Now, investigators will determine if foul play was involved.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean says they immediately notified the FBI and local law enforcement of the death. They are now assisting the family of the woman who died.