Hey Steve,
I'm glad you're covering this case - it sounds fishy (no pun intended) from the get-go... Now TV reports are saying the last time this woman was seen was 8pm the night before she was reported missing by her husband at 5am the next morning. So there's an 8-hr. gap when nobody saw her, and she could have gone overboard any time during that interval. As a cruise ship moves, that's a lot of Gulf to search! Why the secret of their home town/where they're from?? I don't get it.
transplanted Texan

Texan, just read an article stating that Feitz may be from Houston. When a friend ran a background search on the name yesterday, the search gave back a related name: Jennifer Fritz. Fritz appeared to be the 36-year-old wife of a bail bondsman named Wyrwich. My friend and I were wondering if there's been a mistake with the name, because searches for Jennifer Feitz only yielded results -- so far -- for younger women in their 20s. And not many results either.

See what I mean? This just feels weird, at the moment.

I rather doubt she is from Houston. This ship sailed from Miami and we have numerous NCL cruises that depart right here from Galveston and Houston. I did a search and found a Jennifer Feitz in Kansas City Mo, on reunion.com. It does not list an age, however.
I doubt she will be found and I also doubt she "fell' overboard. It is next to impossible to fall overboard accidentally on a cruise ship.

Houston's my home town but I agree w/ the Native - why would someone from there go to Miami for a cruise when they could do the same thing departing locally? It's not unheard of, but less likely IMHO... Will try my hand at researching her name now.
transplanted TXan

BTW, I had to put in an age to find her on reunion.com. I put in 36 and her name comes up, but no age is listed, odd. You have to be a member to search or see profiles on that site. There is very little on there except that her home town is Kansas City Mo. Tried myspace, nothing. Not a member of facebook or any others so I can't search there. Her profile lists two family members which I will not name due to privacy, their ages are in their 40's could be siblings or cousins. They also live in Missouri.

Just on a lark, I did a search again on reunion putting the age of 33 and her name comes up again. I don't know what their search engine requirements are, I think maybe you have to be within 5 years or so, will try to find out.

Native, in addition to the entry you found on reunion.com, Zabasearch has 2 addresses for a Jennie M. Feitz: one in Salt Lake City and the other in San Francisco. It also has (presumably) the possible sibs/cousins in MO (all 3 names beginning w/ the letter J)... Steve, should we be doing this offline?

The siblings names on reunion do not begin with J, either of them.

It's fine for people to sleuth here if they like. No phone numbers or actual street addresses though, please.

That said, I can tell you that the Jenni Feitz in KC MO only gives her age as 23 on MySpace, where she goes by her married name. Based on her photo, she's telling the truth. Based on that, I don't think it's her.

Try www.intelius.com and it will give you the information.

NOTE FROM STEVE: Last time I used Intelius, it was pay only and not necessarily cheap. So I don't default to that.

I've been checking a few places and find Feitz and Fritz as associated names for one Jennifer Marie Wyrwich, age 37, in Houston, TX. I also found a October 1994 marriage for Jennifer M Fritz to Douglas Wyrwich in the Texas marriage index. Maybe the name was reported incorrectly?

NOTE FROM STEVE: That's what someone else found yesterday, Kayline, and I wondered the exact same thing -- the name is being misreported, or perhaps, an alias was used? That seems improbable, but you never know.

I'm wondering if their business caused the need for an alias? She is listed as a licensed Private Investigator for her husbands company on a Texas Department of Public Safety site.

None of this is making sense. Don't you have to have a passport now even to cruise to Mexico. The law changed. How can they go by aliases or other names when they have to produce a passport. It would seem to me the ship;s manifest would have to have the same name as what appears on the passport. All this was done in the name of national security. I don't think they are going to let someone avoid national security rules just because they are a P.I. or bail bondsman.

NOTE FROM STEVE: I agree. Here's what's just weird -- why don't we know more about this woman or her husband, yet? I'd think the family or the cruise ship line or someone might want to put out some information just to stanch the flow of public speculation. Because the discussion we're having here is mild and cautious compared to some others I've read.

When did the cruise depart? I found an article concerning the arrest of a Douglas Wywrich (from Texas) in Louisiana on Dec. 23rd, for impersonating a police officer.

http://www.kplctv.com/global/story.asp?s=8836348

The ship left last Sunday which means it is due back tomorrow. I have another possible theory about this to throw out. Isla Mujeres is a very remote island off of Cancun accessible by ferry boat only. I would imagine it would have been a shore excursion for cruisers. What if she went missing there and never even got back on the ship?

Nevermind. It seems the ship left Miami on Sunday, the 21st.

For a real eye opener check out the following website. It is a list of all cruise "incidents" in the last 8 to 10 years. This is mind boggling. A cruise line spokesperson said that they don't even report most of these to the media unless "asked"......most of these reports get out because they are exposed by the family members of the missing and presumed dead. Cruising is looking less and less attractive.
http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Overboard.html

First time I have posted to this site and I don't know how to leave notes under individual posts.
Native Texan: You do not have to have a passport to cruise if you are a US citizen and are leaving and returning to a US port. She may have used her drivers liscense and birth certificate to board the ship.
If she went missing from an excursion and never got back on the ship: they would have known she did not board back on before they left the port. You have to scan a card when leaving and returning to the ship. Security Officers are standing there watching as each person does this and they see your picture come up on a monitor.

I found property listings for a Wyrwich Investigations under the name Douglas Wyrwich in Montgomery County Texas which is north of Houston. He also applied for a bail bondsman license in Montgomery county.
How odd----seems as thought the bail bondsman needed his own bail bondsman in Louisiana, and the private investigator may need her own private investigator to solve this case, it just gets weirder and weirder.
The ships normally dock back in Sunday afternoons. I am sure we will be hearing lots more on this tomorrow.

According to NCL you will have to have a passport to take this cruise by June 2009. When I cruised NCL they did not have the card scan procedure after shore excursions, of course that was prior to 9/11.
Just went on the itinerary, the ship will be back in Miami at 8 a.m. tomorrow unless they were slowed down by this incident which could be the case.
They have a live webcam on board, however, it seems to have been disabled. I could not get a picture to come up on my computer.

US Coast Guard Seventh District website has a "corrected copy" news release as of 7:02 tonight that the correct name for the missing woman is Jennifer Seitz, hometown unknown.

www.d7publicaffairs.com

NOTE FROM STEVE: I KNEW IT!!! There had to be something wrong with that name. A woman of 36 or so shouldn't be that hard to track, information-wise.