Dark Voyage

An Aspiring Actress Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances

(CBS)  On Oct. 14, 2005, Ashley and Geoff boarded the Carnival cruise ship "Paradise," in Long Beach, Calif. There are conflicting versions of what went wrong that weekend. But there are clues – some of the most compelling left by Ashley herself - who was making a home video of that fateful trip, documenting what would turn out to be the last hours of her life.

"To me it was like a big rave at sea. Just people dancing and everyone just having so such a good time you know. You know drinkin’ and partyin’. This is gonna be a cool time," says Joe Fischera, a friend of Geoff and Ashley’s. He was part of the group that joined the couple, along with Geoff’s brother, Keith.

But the nonstop music festival was not the romantic getaway that Ashley was expecting. We know from Ashley’s video tape that she and Geoff went to the casino that night and also they went to hear the bands play.

"What I know is they went to the concert and then they went back to the room," Joe says.

According to Geoff, back in the cabin, there was a disagreement. He wanted to return to the casino but it was about 2:30 a.m. and Ashley wanted to go to bed.

"You know it was kind of late, but still I kind of just I was really excited about the cruise and I just wanted to stay up," Geoff says.

He says when he left, Ashley was a little upset with him. About 4:00 a.m., according to Geoff, he returned to the cabin. He says Ashley was asleep and that he cuddled up against her and went to sleep.

At midday on Saturday, Geoff said Ashley was still sleeping. So he left her in the cabin and went upstairs to join the group.

"He comes by and his exact words were, 'My baby doll’s still snoring. Let’s let her sleep a little bit longer, and we’ll wake her up in a little bit,'" Joe remembers.

About 2 p.m., Geoff says he returned to wake Ashley.

"I went up to her. I walked up to her and I was like, 'Baby you now, let’s, let’s go, come on, time to get up," Geoff remembers. "And I kind of touched her on the face and I was like, you know, baby, baby, what’s going on, you know. And her eyes were shut and I was kind of like trying to open her eyes a little bit and she wasn’t responding. And I just started freaking out."

He knew something was very wrong and called for help. At 2:07 p.m., Geoff called 911. "I said you know my girlfriend's not breathing. I don’t think she’s breathing. Please come help," Geoff recalls.

Within three minutes a nurse arrived and attempted CPR. At 2:10 p.m. an emergency announcement was broadcast to summon the ship’s doctor.

At 2:12 p.m. the doctor arrived. According to his statement, Ashley was unresponsive, cold, with no pulse. At 2:45 p.m. she was pronounced dead….

Geoff says he has thought about it a thousand times and says he just doesn't know what happened to Ashley. But Ashley's mom Jamie disagrees. "He has to know what happened," she says.

On Saturday, October 15, Jamie got that terrible phone call from the nurse on board the ship. "And I said, what happened to her? And she said, 'Well we don’t know. That’s being investigated right now,'" Jaime recalls.

Asked whether Geoff talked to her, Jamie says, "No. Not that night. I asked to speak to him and she told me I couldn’t right now. That he was being questioned. She later called me back and said that he had been cleared to talk to me, but that he had so far declined to do so."

And that’s how the mystery began.