A 55-year-old American woman has vanished after leaving her cruise ship on Nov. 20 during a shore excursion in the Caribbean, prompting search efforts across both sides of a divided island.
"During the tour, Ms. Evans disembarked the bus in Marigot, French Saint Martin, during the tour but did not return to the bus or to the cruise vessel," the alert said. "Efforts to locate Ms. Evans are ongoing, and law enforcement authorities on both the Dutch and French sides of the island have been alerted."
The Police Force of Sint Maarten (the Dutch side) and the French Gendarmerie are asking anyone with information about Evans' location to contact authorities.
Holland America said the company "notified local authorities immediately and we are working closely with them to confirm the guest's whereabouts," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement to NTD News.
The Rotterdam began its 12-day Caribbean journey from Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 16, according to the cruise line.
The disappearance marks the latest troubling incident involving cruise ship passengers during Caribbean voyages this fall.
Federal investigators have focused their attention on Kepner's 16-year-old stepbrother, identified in family court papers only as "T.H." Both of the boy's parents acknowledged in custody dispute filings that their son is under FBI watch as a suspect in the death, according to court records.
Kepner was travelling aboard the ship with Shauntel Hudson and her children when she died.
The FBI has not released details about how Kepner died or what led agents to investigate the teenage boy. A final autopsy report is still pending, according to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's office.