Navy investigating ship death of female sailor, 23, as suicide

A 23-year-old female sailor from Ohio found dead while aboard the destroyer James E. Williams likely committed suicide, investigators believe.

The Navy Times reported shipmates found Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Yeshabel Villot-Carrasco unresponsive body on the destroyer on June 19, but naval officials, who are currently investigating her death as a suicide, declined to release additional details.

Mrs. Villot-Carrasco joined the Navy in April 2013 and reported for duty aboard the James E. Williams four months later, according to the Navy Times.

Of her death, Cmdr. Curtis Calloway wrote on Facebook: “She was a young, vibrant sailor setting out on her first deployment. After crossing the Atlantic and visiting Spain, she helped us get through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea. Tragically, that is where her cruise ended.”

Cmdr. Calloway wrote that she was married and that her parents lived in Puerto Rico. Shipmates held a memorial service aboard the destroyer June 20, he said.