Apparent cruise ship suicide victim was talented reporter, editor, designer
A 36-year-old woman reported missing from a cruise ship Christmas night — a suspected suicide — was a talented reporter for print and online, a copy editor, designer and instructor, reports say.
Jennifer Ellis Seitz — a veteran of several small Florida newspapers — had been talking with the Winter Haven News Chief about part-time work, Shelly Godefrin of the News Chief reports:
Seitz had talked with News Chief Managing Editor Joe Braddy as recently as Dec. 19, the Friday before her cruise got under way, about some part-time reporting, copy editing and page design work.
“She told me she was looking forward to it and looking forward to getting back into newspaper work,” Braddy said.
Seitz told Braddy she wouldn’t be available Christmas week because she was going to be out of town. She said she would contact him after she returned.
“She seemed just fine,” Braddy said. “She seemed happy.”
A 1993 graduate of Queens University in Charlotte, Jennifer Ellis interned with the Lakeland Ledger before joining the News Chief in Winter Haven as a reporter. She moved to Flordia Today in 2000 and worked there four years, before getting into a number of outside interests.
Florida Today photo
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Among Jennifer’s accomplishments:
* Successfully fended off an attempt by a defense lawyer to get her testimony about her coverage of a doctor facing criminal charges.
* Took time off in 1996 to work as a volunteer for the Atlanta Olympics. She happened to be in Centennial Park when the bomb went off there and treated a victim with a puncture wound in his throat until help arrived, according to a New York Times story.
* Became Florida Today’s first full-time online reporter.
* Reported from ground-zero in New York two months after the 9/11 attacks.
* Taught college in Melbourne, Fla.
* Drove a school bus, holding a CDL class B license.
* Worked as a seasonal trainer with the Polk County Supervisor of Elections office.
* Started her own media production company, Newshound Communications, via which she took on free-lance writing, editing and instruction assignments.
* Underwent gastric bypass surgery and covered her 120-lb. weight loss in a series of reports for an Orlando TV station.
Jennifer and her husband were celebrating their first anniversary with a cruise to Cancun, Mexico.
John Torres of Florida Today reports:
“There were no outward signs or indication of anything being wrong or unusual,” her family said in a written statement. “Jennifer, however, has had previous emotional issues. The family suspects that Jennifer chose an unfortunate ending to her life. She was a beautiful and caring person and will be truly missed by all who love her.”
From the News Chief story, again:
Surveillance video from the cruise ship, Norwegian Cruise Line’s the Norwegian Pearl, showed a woman in a white bathrobe falling overboard around 8 p.m. Thursday.
On Monday, the Ellis and Seitz families issued a joint statement that said they suspect “Jennifer chose an unfortunate ending to her life.”
“She was a beautiful and caring person and will be truly missed by all who love her,” according to the statement.
The Coast Guard halted its search for Jennifer Monday.
January 1st, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Jennifer was a good friend of mine when we worked together at Florida Today the first time I was there. I spoke with her as recently as six months ago, and was trying to help her get back into newspapers.
Another proud moment of her career was interviewing Aileen Wuornos while she was on Death Row, and she had a signed letter from Wuornos (that my husband tried, in vain, to get from her several times).
She was a true “newshound” and loved gathering news. She worked the cops beat and had great relationships with her sources — she had access when others couldn’t get it.
She was not an insane party animal or sexual deviant, as some of the crazy cruise ship passengers are trying to paint her. (Newsflash: Married couples on cruise ships have sex. It’s not an unusual, crazy thing. That’s kind of why they’re there.)
She was a wonderful person who was always so full of life. She had her emotional problems, like all of us — I just wish there had been someone there with her on that cold deck to pull her back and say, “It’s OK, you don’t have to do this.”
We all miss her terribly.