The partner of a cruise ship guest, who was previously thought to have fallen from a stateroom balcony, has been charged with her murder.
The body of Tamara Tucker, 50, was found on a lower deck after apparently falling from her stateroom.
However the U.S. Department of Justice has now indicted her partner Eric Newman, 53, of second degree murder.
They were guests on the Carnival Elation cruise out of Jacksonville when Tucker was pronounced dead on January 19.
The incident took place near Freeport, Bahamas, and the investigation was initially handled by local law enforcement before handing over to the FBI.
The FBI now suspects she was killed by Newman either in the stateroom and he attempted to dispose of the body overboard, or she was intentionally thrown over the balcony while alive.
The body landed just a few decks below.
No cause of death was specified in the indictment.
Newman was described in court papers as Tucker’s ‘partner and longtime love’.
