Alan and Kimberly Wiegand Appear on the TODAY show and Discuss Child’s Cruise Ship Death

Alan and Kimberly Wiegand appeared on the TODAY show this morning and provided additional details about their daughter’s cruise ship death, as they expressed the anguish the family is experiencing as a result of her loss.

The Wiegands asked why there was an open window in the children’s play area of the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. The play area is 11 stories off the ground and their daughter, Chloe, fell through that open window to her death when her grandfather lifted her up towards it. The family says that Chloe wanted to bang on the window as she and her brothers had done at hockey games in the past.

The possibility that Chloe’s grandfather intentionally put her through the window is still under investigation by the Puerto Rican police, who have jurisdiction over the case because it happened while the ship was at port in Puerto Rico. But in the interview Kimberly Wiegand insisted that Chloe’s grandfather had never done anything to hurt his granddaughter.

The Wiegands blame Royal Caribbean for having an opened window so far up in the ship and in a children’s area of the ship. The family indicates that it plans to sue Royal Caribbean for negligence. 

The couple says that, even as an 18-month-old child, Chloe exuded love.