Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff - Fatal Sunset: Deadly Vacations

FATAL SUNSET:

DEADLY VACATIONS

MARK YOSHIMOTO NEMCOFF

Glenneyre Press

Los Angeles, CA

Copyright 2012 Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

Published by Glenneyre Press, LLC.

Los Angeles, CA

www.wordsushi.com

First Edition

ISBN 13: 978-1-934602-15-7

Cover design and photo by: MYN

FATAL SUNSET is dedicated to the memories of Nolan Webster, David Potts, Brent Midlocks and the many victims whose tragic stories are chronicled in this book.

I am not telling you to avoid going on vacation. Nor am I trying to suggest you shouldn't go to Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii or on a cruise. This book only asks one thing:

DARE TO BE AWARE!

INTRODUCTION

Vacation is the ointment of the soul.

There are few things we love more than leaving behind the grind of our daily lives and heading off for a few days to get away from it allto relax, have fun, maybe take in the sights. Rarely, when we are thinking about those warm sandy beaches, snorkeling trips and drinks on the lanai, do we ever contemplate the notion that paradise could potentially be the location of sudden and unexpected tragedy.

I was two days into a Maui vacation with my family when I first heard news of David Potts. Barely a dozen miles from where I was staying, Potts had been knocked down by a large wave, which then very quickly washed him twenty feet into the narrow, lava-rock rimmed Nakalele Point Blowhole. Instantly, his body was pulled deep into the churning current below the jagged lava rock shelf and never seen again.

As unsuccessful searches for David Potts, and later his body, continued to make the local paper, I thought to myself that in the times Id been to Maui, not once had I ever heard a single person make mention of the potential, yet somewhat seemingly obvious, danger of getting too close to this particular natural attraction. Im the kind of person who, for a photo or a dare, would probably have done the same thing as David Potts. I dont blame his death on stupidity or carelessness. I think that we often go on vacation and conveniently forget that we may be taking risks that are beyond our capacity to handle when the situation very quickly goes from serene to adverse.

My intent in writing FATAL SUNSET is not to sensationalize the tragic deaths of unfortunate vacation-goers, but instead to point out that your carefree getaway is not immune to danger whether it is from forces of nature beyond your control or predators who count on the fact that your guard may be down.

Though I have found nearly all of the stories mentioned in this book to be somewhat terrifying in their own rights, it does not mean I will forgo my family vacations in order to hide in the relative safety of my own house. Instead, in the same way that I always look both ways before crossing the street, I feel that when armed with knowledge of events past I am better prepared to identify potential hazardous situations and hopefully avoid similar tragedies befalling myself and those I care dearly about.

Should you be afraid to go to any of the places mentioned in this book? No. But you have to remember its not always rainbows and Mai Tais. You should be aware of the potential dangers. In the name of having fun, you may undertake some physical challenges that you are unprepared for or may visit places you believe are safer than they seem. For me, personally, knowing what I know now will make my vacations even better. At the very least, Id like to think my vacations will be safer for my entire familyand will help us continue to enjoy happy memories intended to last a lifetime.

CRUISE SHIP DISAPPEARANCES

Though it is quite uncommon to hear about the type of fatal incident that doomed the Costa Concordia (on a Friday the 13 th , no less), it is surprisingly even more rare to hear anyone talk about the alarming statistics involving people who have gone missing from perfectly sound and functional cruise ships.

According to the U.S.-based International Cruise Victims Associationset up by businessman Kendall Carver after his own daughter, Merrian, disappeared from a cruisemore than one hundred seventy people have gone missing at sea since 1995.

Twenty-four passengers disappeared between 2003 and 2006, not including suicides and accidents due to intoxication. More than thirty passengers mysteriously vanished from cruise ships without a trace since 2007. Thirteen of those in 2011, alone.

It is an increasing trend with disturbing and somewhat sinister implications.

It was August of 2004 that Kendall Carver received a frantic call from his thirteen-year-old granddaughter asking, Do you know where my mommy is? Ive been trying to call her and she hasnt called back for days. Is she with you?

What Carver didnt know was that Merrian, a vivacious forty-year-old redhead with a penchant for writing poetry, had taken a flight from Boston to Seattle before boarding the cruise ship Mercury on a seven-day Alaskan Royal Caribbean vacation without telling anyone, not even her own daughter.

And then without a trace, Merrian Carver vanished at sea.

By the second day of the cruise, a ship attendant named Domingo Monterio noticed the bed in Merrians cabin had gone unused. After reporting this to his supervisor, Monterio was instructed to, Just forget about it and do your job.

For six more nights, the attendant continued to place the customary chocolates on Merrians pillow in the bed that remained empty for the remainder of the cruise.

Three weeks after the Mercury docked in Vancouver, Kendall Carver called the cruise line. After three additional days, Royal Caribbean officials finally confirmed that Merrian had boarded the vessel. However, what they couldnt tell him was where she had gotten off, or if she had even gotten off at all.

In fact, it seemed to Kendall Carver that Royal Caribbean had known all along that Merrian had not once disembarked from the Mercury after discovering what her cabin attendant had reported to his own boss. Even when everyone else had left the ship in Vancouver harbor, all of Merrians belongings remained in her cabin.

Then to Kendall Carvers horror, he was informed that all of Merrians clothing had been given to charity and that her purse containing all of her identification and Social Security card was locked up in storage. Most shocking of all, Royal Caribbean never informed anyone, neither the police nor her family, of Merrians strange disappearing act.

Two months after Merrian vanished, Carver hired Tim Schmolder, a San Francisco-based private investigator to discover exactly what happened to his daughter. However, once Schmolder began asking questions, Royal Caribbean put up roadblocks stymieing the investigation. Schmolders requests to interview passengers and crew were denied. His access to investigate the ships video surveillance tapes was blocked. Initially, cruise officials told Carver that video tapes were erased after twelve days when in fact it was company policy to keep them for thirty days. By the time Carver learned the truth, it was too late. The tapes had been wiped clean.