She questions daughter's cruise-ship death Mom says victim's lover says she fell overboard

MOTHER'S DAY was one of the happiest days of Mindy Jordan's life.

It was also the day she died - plunging from the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn into the stormy waters of the Atlantic.

The Coast Guard searched for hours for Jordan, 46, who was living in Clementon, N.J., with her boyfriend, Jorge Caputo, but the hunt was ended because of the high winds and raging sea.

The ship continued on its way, due to arrive in Bermuda today.

FBI agents reportedly were to meet the ship in Bermuda to question possible witnesses to the incident, but an FBI spokesman couldn't be reached yesterday for details. Norwegian Cruise Line in a statement confirmed that an investigation was under way.

The cruise line said the victim "was attempting to climb from one exterior balcony on deck nine to the adjoining balcony and subsequently fell overboard."

But Jordan's mother, Louise Horton, is troubled by that account and fears her daughter was the victim of "foul play."

Horton said that Jordan, a tiny woman who was only 4 feet 10 and weighed 98 pounds, had a troubled relationship with Caputo.

Neither Caputo nor anyone close to him could immediately be reached for comment. But Barbara Matthews, a neighbor of the couple who lived in a condo on Brinklet East near Forrester Avenue, said last night, "Nobody's going to convince me that Jorge would have done something to her." Matthews described Jordan and Caputo as a loving couple.

Horton said that her daughter, who worked as a practical nurse, was thrilled on Mother's Day, not only because of the cruise but also that Jordan's two children, Karina, 15, and Barry Jordan Jr., 18, had contacted her before she left.

That morning, Jordan received a text message from her daughter, saying: "Mom, I love you. You're the best mother in the world."

Barry Jr. also had contacted his mother to tell her he loved her, Horton said. Their father, Barry Jordan Sr., declined to comment last night.

Because of the cruise, Horton, Jordan and other members of the family celebrated Mother's Day the previous Thursday.

Still, Jordan found the time to call Horton twice on Mother's Day.

Horton said that she told her daughter: "I love you a bunch. Have a great time. Just be careful and take care of yourself."

Horton said her daughter was so happy about the trip and her children's messages to her that she told her mother that the past few days had been "the best days of my life."

Horton said that Jordan and Caputo had been involved for the past two-and-a-half years, but that Jordan had left Caputo a few months back because the situation was "getting bad again."

She stayed away only a short time, her mother said.

"I guess she thought this was going to be a new beginning," Horton said of her daughter.

Although Jordan is believed to have fallen from the ship about 8 p.m. on Mother's Day, Horton said she did not learn of the tragedy until Caputo called her about 11 a.m. the next day.

She said he told her, "Mindy had an accident. She went over the railing.

"We were clowning around and she fell."

The terrified woman said she asked Caputo "did they find her, and said that Caputo replied, "Well, no."

She said Jordan's boyfriend displayed so little emotion, "It was like he was calling to say she had broken her big toe."

Matthews, the neighbor, said last night that Caputo purchased the Clementon condo about three years ago and shared the property with Jordan and his 23-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, identified only as Megan.

"They're a nice couple, very friendly," Matthews said. "I've been sick for the past few years, and they're always over here, seeing if they can do anything for me."

The couple enjoyed using the condo development's community pool during summer days and seemed devoted to each other, Matthews said. She described Caputo as "warm and personable" and Jordan as "an absolute sweetheart."

Matthews said she ran into Caputo about 10 a.m. Sunday while he, Jordan and their two friends were packing their car. "He asked me to keep an eye on his daughter and her friends," she said. "He was recovering recently from surgery. He said they were really looking forward to the cruise."

Matthews was stunned to hear her neighbors mentioned in a cruise-ship horror story on the local news Monday night. "It's a tragedy. I'm very upset about it," she said.

Matthews said she has a hard time believing that Jordan had fallen while climbing an outdoor balcony - or, for that matter, that Caputo had anything to do with her fall.

"Mindy's a tiny little thing, about a hundred pounds. I can't imagine her doing that, especially on a stormy sea. And nobody's going to convince me that Jorge would have done something to her," Matthews said. "I just hate to see his name dragged through the mud."

Matthews said she thinks Jordan and Caputo might have had adjoining rooms with the couple they were traveling with, "and maybe Mindy was trying to reach over the balcony to hand something over to them." *