NEW YORK -- Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation have
joined Jamaican police in the search for missing New York travel
writer Claudia Kirschhoch, who disappeared from the resort town of
Negril almost one month ago while on a press trip sponsored by
Sandals Resorts.
Meanwhile, Kirschhoch's parents and Frommer's Travel Guides,
where she is employed, have doubled the reward for information
leading to her return to 1 million Jamaican dollars (about
$25,000).
The police, who have plastered the island with Kirschhoch's
photograph, said there have been no substantial leads in the case.
"There is no new information," said a police spokeswoman in Negril.
"The leads we have gotten lately have been futile," she said.
As reported, Kirschhoch and three other writers arrived in
Jamaica on May 24. They were scheduled to travel to Cuba, but
Sandals canceled the trip that day because the writers' Cuban visas
were not approved.
Instead, Kirschhoch and another New York writer, Tania
Grossinger, accepted an invitation to stay at Sandals' Beaches
resort in Negril. Grossinger departed on May 27, but Kirschhoch,
who was supposed to fly home on June 1, never checked out of her
room.
When Kirschhoch failed to call home, her parents called the
resort on June 2, and the hotel staff entered her room and found
her personal belongings, including her luggage, passport, credit
cards and cellular phone.
The police said it wasn't until the hotel notified the Negril
police on June 3 that the search for Kirschhoch began.
Meanwhile, Sandals confirmed published reports that it fired the
general manager of the Beaches resort in Negril. Spokesman Leo
Lambert said the move was a "purely administrative decision"
because the general manager took vacation during the "critical
stages of the investigation."
The police said the general manager was interviewed and is not a
suspect.
In related news, Frommer's Travel Guides is planning to
"re-emphasize the importance of being cautious" in Jamaica in the
fall edition of its Jamaica guide, which will be finished within
the next two weeks, said Michael Spring, vice president and
publisher.