The FBI is investigating a suspected homicide aboard the MSC Seascape cruise ship, the FBI’s Houston field office said Monday after the ship docked in Galveston, Texas, on Nov. 9.
“Since this is an ongoing investigation, no additional details will be provided,” FBI Houston said in a statement posted on X on Nov. 9.
An MSC Cruises spokesperson told NTD that “on reporting a guest incident aboard our ship, we were instructed by the authorities to return to the Port of Galveston.”
“We are cooperating fully with the investigation and providing support to those impacted. The ship has left the port and resumed its planned itinerary,” the spokesperson said, adding: “As this is an active investigation, we cannot provide more details. Our thoughts are with the guest’s family and friends at this difficult time.”
Federal authorities took a suspect into custody on Monday in connection with a suspected homicide aboard the MSC Seascape, FBI Houston said. The man was held inside the cruise terminal until 3 p.m., when port police took him to the Galveston County Jail, The Port of Galveston told Chron in a statement.
The Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office told Houston station ABC13 that the person who died was a woman and that an autopsy was planned for Tuesday. The office withheld her name.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as Jason Leon Watford and told FOX 26 Houston he was booked into the Galveston County Jail on an FBI hold.
NTD reached out to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office and the county jail for comment. NTD emailed a records request to the Sheriff’s Office.
The FBI said an agent from its Texas City office is working with the Coast Guard, port police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the cruise line.
Cruise lines are required to report homicides, suspicious deaths, and certain other incidents to the FBI, according to federal law. The bureau says its authority can depend on where the ship was, where it sailed from, and where it was headed.
The FBI says its work aboard cruise ships includes investigating suspicious deaths and reports of missing U.S. nationals. The bureau also investigates homicides, kidnappings, sexual assaults, and attacks that cause serious injuries when the cases fall within U.S. maritime jurisdiction.
The MSC Seascape departed Galveston on its first cruise from the Texas port in Nov. 2025. It was the first ship based at the port’s Cruise Terminal 16, and can carry nearly 5,900 guests. MSC Cruises had announced weeklong Western Caribbean trips from Galveston with stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico, and Roatan, Honduras.
