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Homicide Ruling Triggers Wrongful-Death Suit Over Royal Caribbean Cruise Fatality

A homicide finding now puts Royal Caribbean’s shipboard protocols under legal scrutiny.

Overview

  • The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled Michael Virgil’s December 2024 death a homicide, citing combined effects of mechanical asphyxia, cardiomegaly, obesity, and ethanol intoxication.
  • Fiancée Connie Aguilar has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging the cruise line overserved alcohol and used excessive force.
  • Court filings claim Virgil bought an unlimited drink package and was served at least 33 drinks before security restrained him, used pepper spray, and a sedative injection identified as haloperidol.
  • The suit alleges his body was placed in a walk-in refrigerator rather than the ship’s morgue and that pleas to return to port were ignored.
  • An autopsy reported by the Daily Mail put Virgil’s blood alcohol level at about 0.182–0.186 percent, and Royal Caribbean declined to comment on the pending case or its post-death procedures.