The boat “In The Clutch” following this weekend’s tragic trip. (Doug Kuntz)
John Petrocelli is a New York City native and the son of Clement Petrocelli, a partner of Petrocelli Electric Company, which is the largest privately owned electric company. (
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Officials speak near the boat, “In The Clutch.” They are investigating the drowning death of Ninive Petrocelli. (Doug Kuntz)
A beautiful Upper West Side woman boating with her businessman husband in the Hamptons mysteriously fell overboard in the middle of the night and drowned yesterday, authorities said.
Ninive Petrocelli, 39, was wearing a red summer dress but no life jacket when she was reported missing from the 45-foot vessel In the Clutch around midnight, officials said.
Her husband, John Petrocelli, 54, told authorities he hadn’t seen his wife of four years fall into the water but heard splashing and screams as the boat was anchored in the darkness about two miles off of Long Island’s eastern tip in Block Island Sound.
John Petrocelli — who lived with Ninive in a posh Central Park West apartment and co-owns a construction company in Palisades Park, NJ — told cops he frantically threw about 10 life jackets in the direction of her screams and then radioed the Coast Guard on a marine frequency.
Ninive’s body was spotted 12 hours later, floating in the water about five miles south of where she vanished.
Suffolk County homicide detectives were called into the investigation by evening because of questions about what happened, a law-enforcement source said, declining to elaborate.
As the Coast Guard was still searching for Ninive off Montauk Point in the morning, her husband called his family to relay the frightening news.
“We can’t find her,” said a hyperventilating Petrocelli to one of his four adult sons from his first marriage, according to a relative. “She fell off the boat. We can’t find her anywhere. She’s missing.”
Hours later, Petrocelli called another son with the heartbreaking news that his second wife was dead.
Coast Guard Lt. Mike Cavanagh said officials’ cold-water survival calculations had given them hope that the victim could survive in the ocean for about 11 hours, long enough for them to locate her, provided she could stay afloat.
The Coast Guard had searched by air and sea all night using a cutter vessel, helicopters from an air station in Cape Cod and local police boats.
“It’s a sad thing,” Cavanagh said after Ninive’s body was found by a recreational boater. “You hope the outcome is better than that, that it’s a rescue rather than a recovery.”
The body was found about three miles south of Montauk Point. Investigators said they did not know yet whether alcohol played any role.
Ninive Petrocelli ran an architectural glass- and mirror-distributing company, Cristol Glass, out of the couple’s apartment.
A family member said Ninive and her husband, the co-owner of John Petrocelli Construction, married about four years ago. Neighbors said the couple appeared happy and took the boat out almost every weekend during the summer, sometimes leaving as early as Thursday and not returning until Tuesday. The boat is registered to Frank Monte, Petrocelli’s business partner.
“She was very nice,” one neighbor said. “It was shocking to hear.”
Relatives on both sides of the family rushed to the Coast Guard station on Star Island and huddled on the dock as investigators confirmed the identification and examined the body.
A relative of Ninive said the family is struggling with the news.
“We’re going through this tragedy right now, and I’m not in a place to talk about this right now,” said a female relative from Lake Mary, Fla., before hanging up.
John Petrocelli’s sons rushed to Long Island to be by his side, said his ex-wife, Elizabeth.
“Oh, my God, I can’t believe it,” Elizabeth Petrocelli told The Post. “She’s a nice person.”
Ninive Petrocelli’s company Web site said she had worked with architects, designers, contractors, installers and developers in commercial and residential markets.
The tragedy comes two weeks after a Montauk fisherman fell overboard during a night watch on the Anna Mary.
John Aldridge was found alive 12 hours later — clinging to his boots, which he had fashioned into a flotation device — 43 miles south of Montauk Point.
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan, Amber Sutherland and Bob Fredericks