Ronnie Lee Peale Jr falls off first cruise as fiancee Jennilyn Michelle Blosser is criticized for rushing to make fundraiser before official death is called. Passenger remains missing.
A passenger on a Carnival Magic ship is feared deceased after falling overboard off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, while on his first-ever cruise with his wife. To date officials have not declared the missing passenger man dead.
Ronnie Lee Peale Jr., 35, ended up in the ocean about 185 miles east of Jacksonville early Monday, the US Coast Guard said.
Coast Guard aircraft and ships continue to be used in the search for the missing man.
Racing to bringing out a fundraiser before official death?
Although officials have not formally named the passenger, Peale’s fiancee, Jennilyn Michelle Blosser, told WTKR that the man who went overboard is her long time partner.
According to the description of a GoFundMe campaign that Blosser launched Tuesday, she and her husband had gone on the cruise to celebrate her birthday.
The ship set out from Norfolk, Virginia, on May 25 and headed toward the Bahamas, before making its way back to port.
‘This was Ronnie’s first cruise and thankfully he had a great time and made plenty of friends,’ Blosser wrote on the fundraiser. ‘He is our social butterfly that was always on the move and loved to make friends with everyone.’
Blosser told WTRK that her husband is ‘the life of the party,’ adding that he loved drinking, gambling and socializing on the ship.
The wife, who some decried for ‘racing to bringing out a fundraiser’ (as the sole beneficiary) before the search for her missing husband being officially called off, stated she was ‘devastated to say the least’ by the unexpected incident.
Search called off?
Wrote one commentator on Blosser’s Facebook post. which was upticked by many:
‘People have survived much longer than 8 hours being lost at sea.
The fact that a GO FUND ME has been set up without even announcing a body has been found doesn’t sit right. Not only that, but the beneficiary is the PARTNER (they’re not married) of this man- not the man’s mother. Who is obviously active in his life judging by comments and the news report I just seen. Where’s the faith?
How can one even gather themselves to make this kind of post in such a short amount of time AND WE DONT EVEN KNOW THE OUTCOME?
How will y’all feel if this man is found ALIVE? Smh’
Peale was reported missing late Monday afternoon. The Coast Guard statement said security footage on the ship showed the man ‘leaning over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropping into the water’ at 4:10 a.m.’
Peale was reported missing late Monday afternoon. The Coast Guard statement said security footage on the ship showed the man ‘leaning over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropping into the water’ at 4:10 a.m.
Carnival said the Coast Guard released the ship from search efforts and told the captain to return to port in Norfolk, Virginia, where it arrived as planned Tuesday. It remained unclear how long the U.S Coast Guard planned to continue searching for the missing man.
Other passengers on the cruise reported hearing Carnival personnel asking for Peale over the intercom multiple times throughout the day Monday, but some said they only learned that he had gone overboard from Blosser’s Facebook post.
The ship can hold nearly 4,000 guests and is about 1,000 feet long.
