Ashley Barnetta young woman actress Californian who took her first steps in Hollywoodwanted to celebrate his birthday number 25 at sea. It was his first time in a cruiseand she was accompanied by her boyfriend and two friendly couples.
They set sail on October 14, 2005 from Los Angeles on one of the line’s impressive vessels. Carnival Cruise Paradisebound for Mexico. Less than 24 hours later she was found dead in his cabin.
His mother, Jamie Barnettwas informed of the devastating loss 24 hours later. «Not only did I find out the worst way, but by the time they called me, my daughter was already in a morgue completely alone in Mexico,» the young woman’s mother revealed in dialogue with the news program. Banfield, broadcast on the NewsNation channel.
Amy Barnett, the rising actress who died suspiciously on a cruise ship. (Photo: YouTube Capture @CBS)The ship had already resumed its travel itinerary, with his son-in-law and his daughter’s friends on board, and No one explained what had happened to Ashley..
He FBI had been notified of the death of a 24-year-old American passenger, but as happened in international watersthe information and possibilities to advance the investigation were limited.
Growing up in Hollywood and dreaming big: who was Ashley Barnett
Ashley knew what life in front of the camera was like since she was a child, and seemed to have a knack for the Hollywood industry. He grew up in Burbank, California, along with his three brothers, two stepsisters, and another pair of stepbrothers.
Her parents had divorced when she was a child, but they maintained a very good relationship after having rebuilt their lives and forming a large blended family.
His mother worked in the network’s studios CBSas a director in the television control department, and more than once her daughter accompanied her.
Amy Barnett with her parents. (Photo: YouTube Capture @CBS)At the age of 20, Ashley was already following in his footsteps and had gotten a position as a production assistant on the series Will and Grace. It was the ideal environment for a young aspiring actress who, in addition to acting, knew how to produce content.
According to IMDb, in 1998 he had a small participation in the successful comedy Mad About Youa year later he was part of the short film Torrance Risesand just before boarding the cruise he recorded Golf Cart Driving School.
His fleeting but intense career was on the rise. She worked closely with film composer John Debney, who hired her as musical coordinator.
«He had a star future written inside him. Not only was she beautiful, but she had a huge soul and heart.«Debney declared to the same CBS news program.
She never imagined that just five years later she would have to conduct a 40-piece orchestra at Ashley’s funeral, where they played the music she loved to say goodbye to her.
«He had composed a song anti drug raphis creativity had no limits and he also represented his beliefs,» Debney highlighted. His comment makes clear his position on the versions that circulated some time later about the Ashley’s cause of death.
The chronology of the birthday that Ashley Barnett did not celebrate
There was a big absence in the young woman’s last goodbye: her boyfriend, Geoff Ginsburgalso 24 years old, who was not allowed to enter the funeral.
«I felt that I should have been part of that farewell, that I could have shared many stories, because I was an important part of his life; Ashley loved me and I loved her«said the young man at that time.
It was the only time Geoff spoke publicly during the broadcast of a special on the case that aired on CBS on the first anniversary of the tragic death.
Ashley and Geoff had known each other since high school. She had seen him battle his drug addiction, and her family was surprised by the courtship, but over time they had accepted it.
«When they started dating he was clean, and Ashley was proud of him, of what he had overcome,» said the young woman’s mother, who stressed that her daughter had committed herself to various causes of awareness about drug use.
«She looked beyond my addiction. She could see that that was not me, meet the real Geoff that I didn’t even know at that time,» said Ashley’s partner.
In it last video that they recorded on board the cruise ship, you can see Ashley and Geoff kissing, to pure romance while listening to a recital on the deck of the imposing cruise ship.
They also filmed themselves walking in the casino, and walking the catwalks with their friends, without knowing that they would be the last hours of Ashley’s life.
They returned to the room together at 2:30 in the morning. «Ashley wanted to go to sleep, and I wanted to go back to the casino, I was so excited to be on a cruise and I wanted to stay awake,» Geoff said.
After a discussion He left again and she stayed in the cabin. «I came back at 4:00 am, Ashley was asleep, I lay down next to her and fell asleep,» the young man said.
On Saturday at noon Ashley was still sleeping. Geoff went down to breakfast with his friends and says he told them: «My doll keeps snoring. Let’s let her sleep a little moreand we are going to wake her up in a while.» The testimonies of those accompanying the trip coincide with her statement.
SuoAt two in the afternoon he returned to wake up his girlfriend. «I approached him and said: ‘Honey, that’s it, come on, time to get up‘, I touched her face and said, ‘Honey, honey, what’s wrong?’ His eyes were closed and I tried to open them a little, but he didn’t respond, and then I started to panic«Geoff detailed.
After several attempts without any response, at 2:07 pm, Geoff called the emergency room from the room. The call was recorded, and he can be heard shouting: «My girlfriend is not breathing I don’t think he’s breathing. Please come help me.»
Three minutes later a nurse arrived and tried to perform CPR. At 2:10 p.m. an emergency call was issued to call the ship’s doctor.
«I told them that I noticed that I was missing some of my medications. while Ashley was still being cared for, and I especially mentioned methadone to give her medication against a possible overdose, but they didn’t,» said the only witness to that dramatic attempt to revive her.
The young woman boarded the Carnival Paradise to celebrate her birthday on a three-day cruise to Mexico. (Photo: Archive)At 2:12 p.m. the ship’s doctor arrived, and according to his statement, the young woman was «unconscious, cold to the touch and without a pulse.» «When I arrived Ashley was still warm, and her lips weren’t blue, she just looked fast asleep,» Geoff insisted.
The young man always believed that they should have brought more rescue equipment, and that there were not enough defibrillators available on board.
The Carnival company insisted that they «responded quickly and appropriately,» arguing that an additional device would have been of no use because Ashley had already died before medical assistance was requested. At 2:45 p.m. she was officially declared dead.
The autopsy and the questions: Accidental consumption, crime or both?
That weekend the lock on Ashley’s cabin failed, meaning no card entry was ever recorded, making it difficult to pinpoint the chronology of her only day on board. The cameras did not enter all the rooms either, but only the common areas.
Ashley Barnett’s family pointed out the irregularities on the cruise. (Photo: AFP)Carnival began an investigation, but since the cruise ship was docked in Ensenada, Mexican authorities were left in charge to perform the autopsy and evaluate a potential homicide.
Later that fateful night Geoff and his friends returned aboard the Paradise, which sailed back to California, whiles Ashley’s body had been handed over to Mexican forensic authorities.
Geoff was required to remain on board until American authorities could question him. A day later, as the ship headed home, Geoff finally called his mother-in-law.
«I didn’t know what to say. I was in shock. How do you make that call? What do you say? I didn’t know how to handle it. And maybe I didn’t do it right, but in the end I called Jamie,» said the young man.
He claims that the conversation was very short because the people who were with him took his phone away when they saw him so upset. «I don’t know what happened; He fell asleep and that’s all I know. The only thing I know is that I checked and I was missing some methadone and some Vicodin,» were the words he outlined when he broke the worst news to his girlfriend’s mother.
«What are you saying? That has nothing to do with it because she would never have taken it,» was her mother-in-law’s response. He told her that the cruise was not only to celebrate his daughter’s birthday, but that he was going to take advantage of the time on board to detox, since had relapsed into his addiction al Vicodin.
«I know it doesn’t seem like a good idea to go on a three-day cruise full of partying and alcohol to try to get clean, but I took the methadone hidden in a bottle of cough syrup because I was thinking of solving my addiction myself, driven by the person I loved,» Geoff justified to the cameras.
Actress, 25, dies on cruise ship as mum admits she will ‘never get answers’https://t.co/sS0dP8TFSY pic.twitter.com/wH9YKKm1HB
— Mirror Celeb (@MirrorCeleb) July 29, 2024
When the ship returned to Long Beach, the FBI intervened and began its own investigation. Ashley’s body was returned to the United States five days after her death, and the Barnett family hired the prestigious docotr David Posey to perform an autopsy as an expert witness.
Reports determined that the cause of his death was a methadone overdose.
Ashley Barnett had a cold: the accidental intake hypothesis
«There were no signs of trauma, Ashley’s organs were healthy and her body was in perfect condition. There was evidence that she had consumed some alcohol, but Ashley died from the toxic effects of methadone«said pathologist Posey.
This was the second examination of the body. The first was carried out in Mexico and both autopsies reached the same conclusion. «Less than a teaspoon can be fatal, and even more so if your body never had methadone in its system,» said the specialist.
«Ashley would never have taken methadone by her own decision, and to prove it we requested a test your hair follicles», commented the actress’s mother.
«The results were clear: no drugs were found in her beautiful, long hair, she gave a unequivocal result that she was not a habitual drug user«he added.
Amy Barnett with her mother Jamie. (Photo: Video capture)Geoff insisted that he would never have given Ashley drugs or introduced her to drug use. The investigators evaluated that possibility and also the young woman’s personal life.
«Ashley had an abortion three weeks before going on the cruise, and she was upset that she had to make that decision,» revealed the boyfriend, who never faced federal charges for his partner’s death, even though he acknowledged having been the one who brought the methadone onto the ship.
The friends who accompanied them opposed the hypothesis that the young woman had taken it intentionally in an attempt to take her own life.
«She was not depressed, she loved being in this world, and she was talking about her appointment with an agent to sign another contract when she returned,» they said.
Ashley’s mother provided another possible version. «My daughter wasn’t feeling well before the cruise and may have reached for that bottle of cold medicine thinking it was really just regular syrup,» he said.
But Geoff insists that Ashley did know. «I was with her and I told her, I told her that I had put the methadone in the bottle, but I can’t guarantee that she hasn’t forgotten it either,» he said.
20 anniversaries and the mission to protect others in the midst of pain
«I’ll never have all the answers. That’s one of the most heartbreaking aspects of losing someone on a cruise,» he told The Sun Ashley’s mother.
20 years have passed and there are still unknowns about Amy Barnett’s death. (Photo: Video capture)«I wake up every morning wishing I could hug my daughter one more time. And I pray that no other mother has to live through this nightmare.«he confessed.
«Many people do not realize how difficult it is for the authorities of each country investigate crimes that occur at sea and collect evidence due to the lack of legislation in international waters«he indicated.
«The lack of jurisdiction is the problem, because on cruise ships the highest authority is usually the security personnel, who are employees of the cruise line itself, which raises questions about the impartiality of their work as protectors of passengers,» he reflected.
Jamie’s activism was instrumental in developing stricter laws around cruise ship deaths in her role as pressure group chair International Cruise Victims.
«We are here to help people who have been victims of some type of crime, negligence or traumatic event at sea; when that happens to people, because the laws are so vague, they don’t know who to turn to or what to do, and those of us who run this organization remember that vividly and how we felt,» he described his daily work.
Since 2006, International Cruise Victims, Inc. (ICV) has members around the world, made up entirely of volunteers, victims or survivors of tragic events that occurred on the high seas.
«Our goal is to contribute to the development of a cruise industry where passengers and crew are safe of victimization, working with Congress and other agencies and organizations to improve standards, regulations, laws and justice,» they explain on their website.
He played a key role in the approval of the Cruise Ship Safety and Security Law (Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act), which became federal law in the United States in 2010.
Geoff never testified again about his girlfriend’s death. He kept a low profile and also has no visibility on social networks.
«She is in my heart and in my mind every day. Not a minute goes by without me thinking about her, I wish she were here with me,» he declared in 2006 in his only television interview.
Video
Trailer for «The Disappearance of Amy Bradley»
Ashley’s mother, Jamie Barnett, is still waiting for answers and maintaining media exposure. In 2024 she was invited to participate in the documentary Amy Bradley is missing (The disappearance of Amy Bradley), released in Netflix in 2025 with great success in the trends of the streaming platform.
He is one of the voices that gives his opinion on camera in the four episodes about the case that occurred on the Royal Caribbean International in March 1998, which still remains under open investigation by the FBI.
«What happened to my daughter, or what happened to Amy, could be anyone’s story. They were victims of many different people, many circumstances that contributed to their untimely demise. In some port, at this very moment, a 25-year-old girl is embarking on a cruise with some friends, and my mission is to make sure she is as safe and protected as possible,» concluded Jamie Barnett.
