Married father, 56, named as man who jumped off Carnival cruise ship during 15th wedding anniversary trip with wife… as grieving sister shares heartbreaking theory on why he did it

A married father of three young children jumped to his death during a cruise with his wife days ahead of their 15th wedding anniversary.

Thomas Gigler, 56, was sailing with spouse Michelle and the couple’s three sons – aged 13, 11 and nine – when he dived off the Carnival Panorama on Saturday six days into their vacation. 

Gigler, of Redlands in California, is believed to have jumped off the ship’s 11th deck as the vessel sailed from Puerto Vallarta in Mexico to Long Beach in California. 

After Michelle, 48, realized that her husband was missing, she began a frantic search for him and raised the alarm. 

She was said to have asked cruise staff to page Gigler after fruitlessly looking for him on Saturday morning.

Staff made announcements asking Gigler to come forward about 11am, which were repeated several times until the ship turned around between 2pm and 3pm.

Passengers said Gigler’s name was blasted out over the ship’s public address system for hours as attempts to locate him escalated.

They were ordered back to their rooms at 3.30pm so staff could do a ship-wide search for the man, going room-to-room and scanning IDs, but he still was not found. 

Carnival staff began scanning security camera footage and then confirmed the worst – Gigler had jumped overboard and was lost at sea off the coast of Baja California. 

There was no sign of Gigler in the surrounding ocean, so the ship continued its voyage. 

Passengers were finally released from their rooms and the search left to local authorities. 

The US and Mexican Coast Guard are continuing to search for Gigler but he is presumed dead.

Gigler, a computer programmer who spent his entire 24-year career with software firm Esri, is not believed to have told anyone of his plans to jump and why he did it remains a mystery.  

He and Michelle would have celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, just four days after his apparent suicide.

Gigler’s heartbroken family told the Daily Mail they were bewildered by his deadly dive off the ship, and insisted he had no reason to kill himself.

The couple lived what seemed to be a happy life with their three sons in a three-bedroom home in Redlands, about 64 miles east of Los Angeles.

All five stood outside the house in March 2020 to show support for local teachers at the start of the Covid pandemic, their eldest holding an adorable sign saying ‘I miss you’ to his favorite ‘Ms Wood.’

A cruise passenger who claimed to have met Gigler at the ship’s Alchemy Bar the night before his death claimed the missing man spoke of having marriage issues.

But Gigler’s sister Wendy Dowden rubbished this allegation when contacted by the Daily Mail, insisting that her brother and his wife ‘were getting along quite well.’

Instead, she said his family believed he had some kind of psychotic break, despite having no history of mental illness.

‘We think something must have happened in his head. He wasn’t in his right mind to have done this,’ she said.

A passenger in a cabin near the Giglers said the family was staying on the second deck, meaning he climbed nine decks to jump. 

Shellshocked passengers assembled a tribute to Gigler with well-wishes for his family written on Carnival shopping bags.

Alongside the tributes were dozens of duck figurines, which are often exchanged by passengers through ‘Duck Mail’ boxes on their doors.

Carnival said in a statement that a man jumped while the ship was sailing from Puerto Vallarta in Mexico to port in Long Beach in Los Angeles.

‘When notified of a missing guest, the ship’s team initiated search and investigation procedures, including reviewing CCTV footage and notifying both the US and Mexico Coast Guards,’ it said.

The Coast Guard said it did aerial searches of the area and the Mexican Navy and nearby commercial vessels also looked for him.

Carnival said Gigler’s family was offered support.

The Panorama left Long Beach on September 13 for a week-long voyage along the Mexican Riviera and arrived back on Sunday morning.

For help and support contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline on 988.