Updated with friend's comment.
The 26-year-old woman who died after plunging 75 feet off the Queen Mary Monday has been identified as Kelly Ryann Dorrell, a Millikan High and UC Santa Barbara graduate who was working toward her teaching certificate.
The Long Beach resident was an English Literature major, according to her entry at Classmates.com, and sought her credential at UC Irvine in hopes of becoming a Long Beach elementary school teacher.
"I live by the beach with my boyfriend," she wrote in her About Me comment.
Public records show that she was a 2003 graduate of Robert A. Millikan High School in Long Beach.
"I graduated from Millikan High School with Kelly. We shared friends and a friend of mine was one of her best friends," a female classmate e-mailed Wednesday. "I hadn't been in contact with Kelly in years, but she was a bubbly person, always happy. She had a laugh that was one of a kind. She was an energetic person, with a passion to teach."
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office released her name and said an autopsy will likely be performed Thursday to establish what caused her death after her 8:30 p.m. plunge from the top level gangway of the ocean liner which is now a hotel and dining attraction off the Long Beach mainland.
Meanwhile, the police investigation continues into the circumstances that led to Dorrell's death. Witnesses told police and Patch that she was arguing with her boyfriend and appeared to have been drinking when she climbed over a four-feet-high railing and then lost her footing. Her boyfriend, 40, grabbed her but could not hold her and she fell into a channel of water between the ship and land.
Her boyfriend ran down several levels and jumped in the water from 15 feet high trying to rescue her, as did a hotel employee, the Long Beach Fire Department said. Two police officers called to the scene also jumped in, followed by a firefighter and swiftwater rescue team member who wore a wetsuit. All but the firefighter suffered hypothermia and were treated, but only the boyfriend, whose name was withheld, required hospital care.
Two witnesses told Patch that they saw the couple argue at length but could not hear much of what was said until they heard Dorrell say, "I don't want to live," and move toward the railing. Whether she intended to jump or stand on the outside of the railing is not clear thus far.
