Annette Mizener
It is not the intent of Cruise Bruise to judge whether this FBI labeled 'person of interest' is a victim, or otherwise. We will leave that up to you. It is our intent to present the details he offered, to show another side of the case. If he is innocent, as the details below indicate, then other passengers should know they may become a secondary victim.
Our person of Interest (POI) says he too has become a victim in this case, hounded by the FBI, who he alleges told lies to his fiance, his friends, and his neighbors. His account is unverified. We have withheld his name, at his request. When Cruise Bruise first began to investigate this POI, his photograph was on the web, and we took a screenshot of it at that time. The day after we contacted him, it was gone. To our knowledge, it was the only photograph of him on the web.
He is age 35, employed as a chemical engineer, is a high school graduate, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, who is working full time and going to college full time to get a degree in Network Security. He has been with his fiance since high school, and she attended his high school graduation, as well as his college graduation. He has never been married, and has no children.
He says his friends, those that have not abandoned him after the FBI visited them, might describe him as honest and helpful. He loves the outdoors, surfing, hiking, camping, watching television, computing, and loves everything Disney. He says he travels every couple months, and back then, was making trips to Disneyland every other week because he and his fiance are "HUGE Disney freaks".
In the past he has volunteered with the local Lyons Club.
On the day Annette Mizener went missing, December 4, 2004, our POI says he was on his first cruise. He was with his fiance and about 10 friends having a good time, on the last day of this cruise. He says he hasn't cruised since, and will never cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines again.
It all began with a trip out to the deck to smoke a cigarette, he says. He arrived on deck and noticed that something seemed a miss. He saw a woman's black, beaded evening handbag laying open on deck, beads from the handbag strewn about, some blood on the deck, scattered papers on deck, an overturned beverage glass, a note tucked into a life ring nearby and an emergency strobe partially out of it’s bracket. Approximately 20’ further aft, he also saw a pen. He also saw a security camera covered with paper.Though at the scene, he says he never touched anything, and had never met Annette or anyone from her family.
The covered security camera has been discussed at length since the incident, and there are those who believe this pointed to a pre-meditated murder, perhaps even a contract killing. Seeing another angle, there are people who have identified themselves publicly as police officers, who say it could very well be the camera was covered for a lover's trist on deck, and had nothing at all to do with Annette Mizener. Only the video tape would tell when the camera was covered. That is a fact only the FBI and the cruise line know for sure.
Our POI says about the same time, two security guards arrived, and collected her open handbag, then removed a large amount of cash from it. This was around 10pm according to documented accounts of the scene. He went back and joined his traveling companions, and told them about what he saw. In some subsequent trips to the scene, he was accompanied by friends who were curious as well.
He is on record as having at least six trips to the scene. After discovering the scene, he initially visited the scene a couple times at 15-30 minute internvals, saw and talked to Annette's daughter at 11:00pm and again around 1:00am. He says it wasn't until around 4:30am that security roped off the scene, over six hours after Annette disappeared. This allowed anyone to walk through the scene, look at it, touch things, or whatever. He says he packed, and left the ship with everyone else.
In one account, he stated he was "followed and harassed by Carnival Cruise Lines Security employees who insinuated that I had something to do with the passenger’s disappearance. My cabin was searched without my authorization PRIOR to the Captain announcing that there would be a ship wide search for the missing passenger."
When he was disembarking, he saw a crew member handcuffed and being lead off the ship by the Department Of Homeland Security. Another passenger says he witnessed the arrest as well, but says he doesn't know if it was related to Mizener. Then, our POI says the FBI told him in the beginning the crew member was a suspect, they had a full set of prints. But, he had left the cruise line and gone back to his native country, and they 'couldn't touch him'. He says that at that point, they began to focus on him, an American, looking for anyone they could pin the crime on. That is our first indication that the case is being treated as a crime, according to this POI.
Immediate reports from the crew, jumping to conclusions, were that it was a suicide, and there are witnesses that heard them say that in front of Annette's daughter.
Annette Mizener
Missing Passenger On Cruise Ship
Carnival Cruise Lines - December 4, 2004
