A mom is reflecting on the death of her daughter 20 years later. The actress died while on a cruise to celebrate her 25th birthday. All these years later, the mother of Ashley Barnett still has questions about her death.
Jamie Barnett criticized how crew members handled her daughter's passing. Speaking with The U.S. Sun, Jamie reflected on how her daughter died on a Carnival Paradise ship. Barnett passed away mysteriously in her cabin after going on the trip with her friends and boyfriend. Jamie says the cruise ship nurse called her to inform her that Ashley died from an unknown cause.
Despite the unexplained death, Jamie says the cruise ship continued along with its planned schedule. Crew members eventually dumped Ashley's body at a Mexican port. Jamie had had to fly out to Ensenada, Mexico to find out what happened.
"I couldn't believe it. Nobody ever came and talked to me. It was horrific," she shared. "They just dumped her in Mexico. Nobody got off with her. I stood and stood and stood at the harbour, waiting for someone from the ship to come talk to me. The captain just kept going and passed me by and never said a word to me."
Cruise Ship Death
As for the actual cause of death on the cruise ship, Jamie later learned her daughter died from a methadone overdose. Jamie said her daughter's boyfriend and friends continued along with the cruise's return to California. Jamie claims her daughter would have never done drugs.
She said, "Ashley would not have taken methadone. In fact, the autopsy only begged more questions, including: 'How did this drug end up in her beautiful, healthy body? Who did it?'"
She believes law enforcement didn't do enough to investigate the death of her daughter on the cruise ship.
"There's no independent police that's got your best interests at heart," Ashley's mom said. "The high seas are a pretty lawless territory. It's as lawless as you can get. There's no law enforcement or police. It's just the ship's own security staff — a few hours of online training, and suddenly they're 'investigators.' It's a total joke. I really thought the FBI would give me answers, but they told me almost nothing."
