Cape Town – The family of Paige Bell, a 20-year-old South African woman murdered aboard a superyacht in the Bahamas, has asked people to honour her memory by eating red velvet cake — her favourite — on what would have been her 21st birthday this Monday.
Bell had planned to return home to Durban to celebrate the occasion with loved ones. Instead, her parents are in the Bahamas seeking justice and preparing to bring her body home.
According to The Witness, in a heartfelt tribute, her mother said: “Please eat red velvet cake on her birthday,” her mother said. It’s what she would have wanted,”
Bell, who matriculated from Hillcrest High in 2022, was working on the yacht Far From It when her body was discovered on July 3 in the vessel’s engine room.
According to international media reports, including the Daily Mail, she had sustained slash wounds to the neck and showed signs of a possible sexual assault.
🔥 Murder in Paradise: On July 3, 20‑year‑old South African luxury yacht stewardess, Paige Bell, was found brutally murdered — just days before her 21st birthday.
Paige had been reported missing between 12:30 and 1:00 pm, while aboard the 142-foot superyacht Far From It, which… pic.twitter.com/ELwZ6Fa9H8
— Unmasked True Crime (@crimeunmasked) July 11, 2025
Bahamas authorities have charged a fellow crew member, Brigido Munoz, a 39-year-old Mexican national, with her murder. He was reportedly found near the scene with self-inflicted injuries, suggesting an attempted suicide.
Bell’s brutal murder has exposed the dark, often hidden dangers faced by crew members in the yachting industry, IOL reported.
Her death has reignited calls for reform, with activists and industry professionals warning that violence, abuse, and unsafe working conditions are far more common than publicly acknowledged, the report said.
Sandra Jordaan of The Yacht Purser and other advocates said the industry has long resisted accountability and mandatory safeguards, such as criminal background checks for crew.
“As a mother, the pain is unimaginable; as a woman, I am angry. As an activist who has been working behind the scenes to make the yachting industry a safer space, I am not surprised. This was not a question of if, but when,” the report quoted Jordaan as saying.
Crew agent Erica Lay and former yacht workers also spoke out, sharing disturbing personal stories of assault, bullying, and suicides — often suppressed by captains and management to protect reputations.
