NT POLICE ‘BOTCHED’ DEATH PROBE

THE mother of a 24-year-old American woman who died on a cruise ship in Darwin Harbour says the investigation was botched.

The parents of American singer Jackie Kastrinelis will exhume her body, after the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner advised them that more tests should be conducted to find out how their daughter died. Ms Kastrinelis was found dead in her room on the Seven Seas

Voyager cruise ship in February 2013 in mysterious circumstances.

She was employed as the lead singer and had been happily socialising on the ship until 1.40am on the morning of her death.

Police and the coroner were unable to conclude exactly what had happened, with an official finding of “sudden unexplained death syndrome”. Parents Kathy and Mike Kastrinelis refused to accept the finding and believe their daughter met with foul play, possibly involving “jealous parties”. NT coroner Greg Cavanagh declined their appeal for an open inquest last November.

Ms Kastrinelis accused NT police of “destroying all the significant forensic evidence” and not taking enough evidence to identify male DNA found on her daughters’ underpants.

“We are not confident of the cause of death that they closed the investigation with,” Ms Kastrinelis said.

American woman Jackie Kastrinelis, 24, was a lead singer on a cruise ship and was found dead in her cabin while the ship was docked in Darwin.