American cruise death singer Jackie Kastrinelis’ body to be exhumed
THE body of an American singer who died in mysterious circumstances on a cruise ship just off Darwin will be exhumed five years after her unexplained death.
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THE parents of an American singer who died in unexplained circumstances on a cruise ship just off Darwin will exhume her body in the search for answers about her mysterious death.
According to The Australian, Kathy and Mike Kastrinelis of Massachusetts, believe that Northern Territory authorities did not properly investigate the death of their daughter, Jackie.
The family told The Australian it has no choice but to exhume Jackie’s body five years after she died given the Northern Territory coroner’s decision to turn down its request to hold an inquest into their daughter’s unexplained death.
“This is really difficult for our family but we have to make sure justice is done for Jackie,” Ms Kastrinelis told The Australian.
“The investigation into her death was flawed from the start and we are at a loss as to why they did not open an inquest.”
Jackie died unexpectedly on the Seven Seas Voyager cruise ship in February, 2013.
In 2017 the Northern Territory coroner announced it would consider opening an inquest after The Weekend Australian Magazine reported on apparent errors and cover ups by police and forensic experts in relation to the singer’s death.
The Kastrinelis’ wanted the inquest to take place because of their strong belief that their 24-year-old daughter was murdered.
The official finding was that Jackie had died of the rare “sudden unexplained death syndrome” while she was sleeping.
Jackie was the cruise’s main singer and was seen laughing with colleagues on the night of her death, where she was said to have gone back to her cabin at 1:40am.
She was found dead the next morning but there were so signs of physical violence on her body, and an autopsy could not determine her cause of death.
An ex-boyfriend of the singer was the last person to see her alive and he initially failed to tell police that he had been in a relationship with her, admitting he was “a little jealous” to see her interacting with another man on the night she died.
A police report into her death said that authorities did not collect enough DNA samples aboard the ship, meaning they had little chance to find out more about the unknown male DNA on Jackie’s underpants.
The Australian also reported that blood samples taken from her body were destroyed, while a vial of blood that was sent to the US at the family’s request went missing.
The Kastrinelis’ told The Australian the family was “furious” they had to exhume their daughter.
“I am obviously uneasy with this (exhuming),” Mr Kastrinelis told the newspaper. “It is not the thing that I wanted to have to do but I don’t think there is anything else we can do at this point.
“We have suspected for a long time that the investigation was not unbiased,” she said.
“Northern Territory authorities took a point of view that this was a party girl on a ship and nobody did anything to her. She is just dead.”
Originally published as American cruise death singer Jackie Kastrinelis’ body to be exhumed
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