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Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith (CBS)
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(CBS) George Smith and
his bride, Jennifer Hagel Smith, were married last
summer in a picture-perfect wedding and soon thereafter
embarked on what was supposed to be a dreamy honeymoon
cruise on the Mediterranean.
But after a night of heavy drinking, George disappeared,
presumably having gone overboard in the darkness of the
night. Was his disappearance a crime or just an
unfortunate mishap?
Correspondent Hannah Storm reports on the investigation.
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For George and Maureen Smith, life changed forever with
a single phone call last July 5.
"6:30 in the morning the phone rang, and I heard this
crying on the phone and it was Jennifer's father,"
recalls Maureen. "He was sobbing uncontrollably and he
said, 'Something terrible has happened to George on the
cruise ship. He's missing.'"
It was the last thing they would have expected to hear.
After all, their son, George, age 26, was happily on his
honeymoon cruise with the love of his life, Jennifer
Hagel. And now they were being told he had vanished
somewhere in the deep waters of the Aegean Sea.
Just 10 days earlier, life seemed so full of promise for
the newlyweds. They were married in a picture-perfect
wedding on a hilltop overlooking the bay in Newport,
R.I.
Asked to describe his son, George Smith says he was very
devoted and a family person. Speaking about his
daughter-in-law, George says Jennifer was very outgoing,
was very pretty and had a great personality.
Maureen says her son's dreams for the future included
children. "And he would've been a great father, and he
would've had a lot of fun with his children."
George's love of children was something he shared with
Jennifer. She had just accepted a job as an elementary
school teacher. And George was about to take over the
family business, a successful liquor store in Greenwich,
Conn.
Now, George's parents and his sister Bree found
themselves overwhelmed with grief and frantic for
answers, half a world away from that cruise ship. All
that Royal Caribbean would tell them was that George was
"missing."
Bree remembers asking the cruise line whether they had
searched the ship, the Brilliance of the Seas. "And they
said, 'Yes we searched the boat.' I said, 'Well continue
to search the boat, my brother has to be there.' They
knew otherwise. Because they knew about the blood on the
overhang. But they never told us about the blood on the
overhang," she says.
Bree was referring to a huge blood stain on a metal
canopy some 20 feet below George and Jennifer's balcony.
A photo of the stain was captured on the morning George
disappeared by 16-year-old passenger Emilie Rausch.
"When I took the picture, one of the things that made me
think that this could have been blood — I saw a
handprint running off the side of it," Emilie recalls.
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Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith (CBS)
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Dr. Jerry Askin, a
podiatrist from California, was also on the cruise, and
says he realized something was wrong on the ship around
8:15 in the morning when he heard pages for the Smiths
over the ship's intercom system.
His oldest son Josh, now 21, had befriended George and
Jennifer and had spent much of the night drinking and
gambling with them.
"And our son came in and heard the page. And mentioned
to the steward in the room, 'You should call 'em and
tell them to stop paging George because he really had a
lot to drink last night and he's probably sleeping,'"
Dr. Askin recalls.
He says it never occurred to his son that anything was
wrong.
Dr. Askin then learned about that blood on the canopy
and that George was missing. "I was absolutely shocked.
Because here was somebody who was alive on a honeymoon
and then, Oh my God. He may be gone," he says.
By now, the entire Askin family had been summoned to
guest relations and were told Turkish police wanted to
talk to Josh. Jennifer Hagel Smith was there, too.
"Apparently the staff captain came in and told them that
her husband was missing and presumed overboard. My son
was sitting right next to her," explains Dr. Askin. "And
she was shaking, and she was crying and she was
absolutely hysterical. ... And she just said, 'This is
like a bad dream.'"
Jennifer was at a loss to explain what happened. "She
says 'I just can't remember.' It was almost like her
mind went blank," Dr. Askin says.
Dr. Askin was just beginning to realize how serious the
situation was. After all, his son was one of the last
people to see George alive. So when Turkish police came
on board the ship, Dr. Askin quietly brought out his
camera.
"We're in a foreign country. I don’t know what they’re
asking," Askin explains. "And I don't want to have
somebody say something that could possibly be
misconstrued later. So I decided to record it just in
case."
The tape, which 48 Hours obtained exclusively, shows
Josh at a table with Turkish police and a group of young
men who had also been with George the night before,
Russian-Americans who later became known in the press as
"the Russians."
"They're in the main lobby of the ship. And the basic
spirit was this: If they wanna ask the questions, we
have nothing to hide," Dr. Askin explains.
The young men explained that they were drinking in the
ship's bar with George and Jennifer, that she left
before he did, and that they walked a drunken George
back to his cabin.
After questioning, the Askins thought they were free to
go ashore, but the minute they stepped off the ship,
they were escorted to the Turkish police station.
Dr. Askin again taped the interrogation and released
portions of that tape to 48 Hours. The tape captured a
chaotic scene, including a crying baby on the
translator's lap.
Josh was asked to sign a statement, written in Turkish.
"When we got the gist of what was going on, we were
really frightened," recalls Dr. Askin. "You think about
Midnight Express and you're just sort of sitting,
wondering, now what?"
Dr. Askin says authorities wanted Josh to sign a
statement but Josh was concerned that it wasn't
accurate.
"They’re missing a whole huge part, though," Josh said.
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Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith (CBS)
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So much of this story seems to be missing that 48 Hours
set out to fill in some blanks and reconstruct the
timeline of the night George vanished.
The story began in the casino, where George and Jennifer
met up with Josh.
"That night, George was playing craps. And Josh came up
to the table and George actually taught Josh how to play
craps," says attorney Keith Greer, who represents Josh
Askin.
Also in the casino that night were the so-called
"Russian boys," three Russian-American college students
traveling with family and friends. They are Greg and
Zach Rozenberg, who are cousins, and a friend, Rusty
Kofman.
"These boys were not irregular or unusual compared to
any other teenager on that ship having a good time,"
says attorney Albert Dayan, who represents Rusty Kofman.
Greer says the casino closed down around 2:30 a.m. and
that the staff shuffled everybody to the elevator and up
to the disco. And it's on the elevator ride up to the
disco, says Greer, that Josh first noticed something
unusual.
"Josh notices that Lloyd is getting a little cozy with
Jennifer," says Greer, referring to Lloyd Botha, an
assistant manager at the casino who tagged along to the
disco.
Asked how Botha allegedly got "cozy," Greer said, "Arm
around her, close to her, just a little closer than
seemed appropriate … Josh looked over to the other boy
in the elevator to see, you know, 'Are you seeing what's
going on over there.'"
At the disco, the party continued. Greer said an
"incredible" amount of drinking was going on. At some
point, Dayan says the guys started drinking a bottle of
absinthe, reportedly smuggled into the bar. Reputed to
have hallucinogenic effects, absinthe can be two or even
three times stronger than regular alcohol.
"Rusty recalls getting up from the table, going,
mingling, dancing with other guests on the ship. And
from time to time he's able to glance over and observe
Jennifer draping herself over other men," says Dayan.
"He saw her openly flirting."
But two passengers 48 Hours spoke to say Jennifer was
not flirting, although it might have looked that way.
They say she appeared to be drunk and unsteady and was
simply leaning on people for support. Whatever the truth
is, George apparently took notice.
"Rusty actually observes George get up from his seat,
approach Jennifer and there is this exchange of words
between them," says Dayan. "Rusty does not hear what is
being said but he does observe Jennifer kick George in
his groin. George bends over with pain, and Jennifer
storms out of the club, and as she storms out of the
club, the casino manager rushes right after her."
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Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith (CBS)
Attorney Keith Greer says Josh didn't see the kick but
did see Jennifer and Botha leave. "He recalls that they
left the disco at the same time. And he thought it was
together," says Greer.
"George returns back to his seat at the table. As he
attempts to sit down, he actually falls off his chair
because, at this point, he's completely intoxicated,"
says Dayan.
It was now around 3:30 a.m. and the disco started to
close.
Greer says George was unable to walk back to his cabin
on his own. That's why, says Greer, Josh and the Russian
boys helped George back to his cabin.
"When they're walking to his cabin, they are literally
carrying George. Taking turns carrying George," explains
Dayan. "George is a very big guy."
When they get to the room, Jennifer was not there.
Dayan says George suddenly expressed a wish to go search
for his wife, and says that this time the boys had a
loud debate about whether they should assist George.
"But they all agreed and they took George down to the
solarium to look for Jennifer," says Greer.
But Jennifer wasn't there either. So the boys helped
George back to his cabin. They re-entered at 4:02 a.m.,
according to the ships key entry log, which records each
time a key is inserted into the lock.
"They actually lay George on his bed. Take off his shoes
and he displays a tremendous gratitude towards these
young men. In fact, he hugs and kisses one or two of
these young men," says Dayan.
"Josh at that point in time had to use the bathroom,"
says Keith Greer. "Josh was not a part of putting George
to bed."
Greg and Pat Lawyer were in the cabin next to the
Smiths. What they heard seems to match the boys account,
at first.
"I was lying in bed and I heard somebody say in a very
gentle voice, 'Settle down George, settle down,' "
recalls Pat Lawyer.
"It was a very friendly voice," Greg Lawyer adds.
But shortly after 4 a.m., Clete Hyman, on the other side
of the Smith cabin, heard a commotion.
"My wife and I were awakened by yelling coming from the
Smith cabin," says Hyman. "This yelling sounded what I
would liken to a drinking game where individuals are
encouraging somebody to take shots or chug beer or
something of this nature."
A few minutes later, says Hyman, there was an argument
on the Smith balcony. "This argument appeared to be
between three, maybe four individuals," he recalls.
But Rusty insists there were no drinking games and that
no one went out on that balcony.
"After two minutes of the argument, we heard one lone
male voice repeatedly saying good night, good night,
like they were ushering someone out of the room," says
Hyman.
It's here, once again, that the two stories differ.
Asked if all four men left together, Dayan says they
did.
But Hyman says he looked out and saw three male
individuals walking away from the room.
"If you believe that four young men went in there with
George, then you might be suspicious that only three
leave," says Bryan Burrough, who investigated the story
for Vanity Fair. He says, like so many other clues in
this case, this one could suggest foul play or may have
a much simpler explanation.
"Those corridors are narrow. If you had three strapping
young men standing in the corridor, it's at least
conceivable that someone was standing behind them."
"At this point, we heard just a lone male voice in the
room," says Clete Hyman. "We heard what sounded like the
cupboard doors being closed — loudly. And also what
sounded like furniture being moved."
"There was what I call trashing-of-the-room sounds. It
sounded to me like furniture or something being thrown
around the room," says Greg Lawyer.
"This went on for eight minutes and then it was totally
quiet. After about two minutes of total silence,
however, there was a large, what I would call a horrific
thud," says Hyman.
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Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith (CBS)
This thud, believed to be the sound of George Smith
hitting the canopy, occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m.,
according to Hyman.
Albert Dayan says that by that time, the boys were
"definitely" in their own cabin.
If this is true, did someone else somehow slip into the
cabin? Did George let someone in? And where was Jennifer
during all this?
"Who is the only person who cannot account for her
whereabouts during his disappearance?" asks Dayan. "I’m
not suggesting any foul play. What I'm suggesting is
that she's not as candid as she should be."
After spending almost an hour at the Turkish police
station, Dr. Askin and his family thought their
frightening ordeal was just about over, as Josh was
handed a copy of his statement.
Dr. Askin says he turned off the camera and
matter-of-factly asked the translator what would happen
next, as they were preparing to leave.
"And she says 'We're gonna arrest the wife for murder.
There was blood in the cabin.' And we were like 'Oh my
God,' " recalls Dr. Askin.
At this point, Askin turned his camera back on and Josh
appeared to be visibly upset.
"She has no idea what happened. She was with another
man. The casino manager Lloyd," Josh told authorities.
"You need to get him in here. I’m not letting her go to
jail. I’m not letting her go to jail."
"You could see my son's reaction. We had not heard about
the blood in the cabin until right then and there," says
Askin.
Dr. Askin says the news stunned them. "And you can
probably hear me say, 'She's a little girl. She's not
very big.' And he was very big. How could she do
anything like that to him, even if she wanted to? And
it, just, it was just impossible."
George Smith is presumed to have gone overboard at
approximately 4:30 a.m., when neighbors heard that
terrible thud. So where was Jennifer when her husband
lost his life?
At almost that exact moment, a crew member found her on
the other side of the ship, slumped over, on the floor
against a door marked "Crew Only."
Gregg McCrary, a former FBI profiler who is overseeing
Royal Caribbean’s internal investigation, says Jennifer
had never returned to the cabin. "Really sort of MIA
until she was found at 4:30 that morning," he says.
McCrary says Jennifer appeared to be inebriated and
smelled of alcohol
The cruise line says that after Jennifer left the disco,
following that angry exchange with George at the bar,
she took the elevator to the ninth deck. However,
instead of going to the left towards her cabin, she went
the opposite way.
McCrary acknowledges it would be easy to get confused if
one was inebriated or disoriented, because the hallways
look exactly alike.
"She got off the elevator, we know where she was
subsequently found. In between that it's not clear where
she was," says McCrary.
And Jennifer says she remembers nothing.
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Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith (CBS)
"One has to accept Jennifer's explanation of a blackout
because, frankly, there's no alternative," says writer
Bryan Burrough. "Is it remotely possible or conceivable
that someone drugged her? Well, yes."
Jennifer Smith and her family have hired renowned
forensic scientist Henry Lee to search for further
evidence.
"So the FBI collected a hair sample for Jennifer Hagel
Smith and there would still be evidence if she was
drugged that night?" Storm asks.
"Maybe," Lee replies. "Depends on what type of drug.
Certain date rape drugs will show up."
The FBI has not released those test results yet.
"Is there anything significant in terms of who was
staying in that hallway, besides there was a crew room.
Anything else significant?" Storm asks Gregg McCrary.
"One of the boys' cabins was just several doors down
from where she was located," he replies. "Josh Askin's
is just, I think, about five doors down — very close to
where she was found. Whether that’s coincidence, whether
there’s something more to it, is just unclear."
Dr. Askin thinks the notion that there might be a
connection between Josh's cabin and Jennifer's location
is "absolute rubbish." "Josh was with George Smith. He
didn’t know where the wife was. Nor did anybody else."
Except perhaps Lloyd Botha, according to Josh’s
attorney, Keith Greer. He says Lloyd left the disco with
Jennifer and entered his room, according to the ship.
"And we don't know if he entered that room alone or with
anyone else. Impossible to tell?" Storm asks.
"For you and me," Greer replies.
Like everyone else in this case, Botha hired a lawyer,
Andrew Rier.
"The first rule when the finger is pointing at you is,
can you create a scenario where it can point at somebody
else? And that's exactly what's happening," says Rier.
"Any stories that are being told about Lloyd Botha doing
anything inappropriate are stories of fiction."
Rier claims there are ship records to prove that Lloyd
did not leave the disco with Jennifer. "The timeline at
3:20 puts Botha in his room and the Smiths are still
upstairs in the disco along with these Russian
gentlemen," he explains.
Royal Caribbean confirms this but has refused to make
those records public.
"They’ve only done things to try and point fingers at
everybody else and protect their crew and their boat.
And being very public with anything that they felt might
help them in any way," says Keith Greer.
But Rier disagrees. "It's my understanding that
attorneys for some of these other gentlemen seem to
imply something untoward about my client. And Lloyd said
'No problem. Anybody wants to speak to me, they can come
speak to me.' So we went to the FBI. He took a polygraph
examination. And by the time we left the FBI, if Lloyd
ever, for a moment, was a person of interest, I can
categorically state that he no longer was when he left."
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Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith (CBS)
Although the four young men recall it was Lloyd who
followed Jennifer out, Royal Caribbean says it was
actually someone from the bar staff who escorted her
out.
"He helped her to the elevator, got her to the ninth
deck. She said she was OK," says McCrary. "Then this
crewmember went back about their duties."
But an hour later, when the other crew member found
Jennifer slumped over, she was not OK. "They got a
wheelchair for Jennifer because she really had trouble
walking. So they wheeled her back to the cabin," McCrary
explains.
By now, it was 4:57 a.m.
Asked what the crew members saw when they returned
Jennifer to her cabin, McCrary says all they saw was an
empty cabin. "No one is there. Nothing is amiss. It
looks like a normal cabin, nothing out of the ordinary.
They left her in the clothes that she was in, laid her
on the bed. She said she was OK and they departed."
What may be of some significance though is what crew
members observed about the balcony doors. McCrary says
the crew noticed that the balcony doors were closed and
the curtains drawn.
It was just a half-hour earlier that neighbors had heard
that thud, so if George had gone out on the balcony on
his own, would he have taken the time to close the door
and curtains behind him or did someone else bring him
out there and then shut everything on the way out?
At 8:30 a.m., Jennifer headed to the spa for a massage
appointment. "She told the masseuse she was hung over.
She gave no indication to anyone that anything was wrong
or out of the ordinary," says McCrary.
She was an hour and half early and still wearing her
clothes from the night before. There was no sign of
George.
"She did not act like a person who had woken up in the
middle of a death fight crime scene," says Bryan
Burrough. "The last thing, frankly, if you wake up in
bed in the morning, after a bad night, and your spouse
or significant other is not next to you, the last thing
you think is foul play."
But had Jennifer looked out her balcony that morning she
might have seen the blood stain.
"When she's going to the spa is about exactly the same
time that the crew is being notified that there's a
potential blood stain on a canopy," says McCrary.
The crew looked for - but couldn't find - George;
Jennifer was finally located in the spa and, according
to Royal Caribbean, had an explanation for where George
might be.
"She had told them he had spent the night elsewhere
before in the cruise as well. So she wasn't especially
concerned that he wasn't in the cabin," says McCrary.
Asked if anyone found this unusual, McCrary said, "Well
it’s a judgment call but it's certainly, I think, seems
unusual."
Jennifer adamantly denies saying any such thing to Royal
Caribbean but the public scrutiny was tough.
It's been difficult for Jennifer Hagel Smith to defend
herself. She says she cannot remember much from that
evening and what she can recall, the FBI has asked her
not to discuss. Either way, her attorney says she has
nothing to hide.
"She has been given a polygraph test and she passed that
test without any hint of deception. She passed it with
flying colors," the attorney told reporters.
Jennifer declined 48 Hours' requests for an interview.
The FBI has not named her, or anyone else, as a suspect.
And she's not the only one in the media spotlight —
several TV programs also talked about the "Russians."
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Royal Caribbean says it warned the Russian-Americans
about their inappropriate conduct, such as using
profanity and attempting to sneak their own alcohol into
the disco, all minor infractions.
But just three days after George disappeared, a young
woman came forward to allege she had been sexually
assaulted and videotaped by some of these same men.
Albert Dayan acknowledges there was a tape made of a
sexual escapade. "That whole escapade was non-criminal
in nature. The tape itself revealed that."
Asked if it was assault, Dayan says, "Absolutely not. It
is a sexual encounter."
Dayan also says Rusty and his friends do not regret
making that tape. "But for that tape they could've been
charged for something they did not commit," he says.
The attorneys for the young men say that none of them
have been charged in the incident and, so far, no one
has been charged in connection George's disappearance.
But all the young men last seen with George continue to
live under a cloud of suspicion
"They were trying to help someone. They were trying to
help a fellow passenger. And I don't really think that
that's been portrayed at all," says Dr. Askin.
"No good deed goes unpunished," says Kofman's attorney,
Dayan. "He assisted Mr. Smith to his cabin and look what
he found himself involved in."
Although Josh Askin continues to cooperate with the FBI,
Rusty Kofman, on the advice of his attorney, has
stopped.
"The more he wanted to speak with them, the more he
wanted to tell them what happened, the more they accused
him of foul play," says Dayan.
The Rozenberg cousins aren't talking to the FBI either
but all four young men did provide DNA samples.
The most compelling argument the boys did nothing wrong,
says Dr. Askin, is that from day one their story has
never changed.
"It was really very simple because that's what happened.
There was no reason to change a story. There was nothing
to alter. This was basically what happened," he says.
Dr. Askin's tapes seem to support that. In fact, Rusty
looked shocked on tape when he heard that blood had been
discovered on the canopy.
In one unexplained twist, Royal Caribbean insists to
this day that this interrogation never took place.
"According to Royal Caribbean's official statement:
Turkish authorities refused the ship’s explicit request
that the interviews take place on the ship," Storm tells
Askin.
But Dr. Askin, who shot the video, asks, "Who are you
gonna believe?"
Just 15 hours after George fell, or was pushed
overboard, the ship was ready to move on.
Captain Michael Lackdaridis made an announcement to
assure passengers it was business as usual.
"The crew and I have been working with the local
authorities to investigate whether a person may have
gone overboard last night," the captain said over the
ship's intercom system. "We hope to have the issue
resolved shortly."
"And it was really very casual and my wife and I sat
there and looking at each other and we couldn't believe
it," Dr. Askin recalls.
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Nine months have passed since George Smith vanished into
the sea. Still the FBI investigation continues, with no
clear answer whether it was an accident or murder.
"I just feel that somebody committed this crime and I
want them brought to justice. I don’t think they should
be walking around out there while my son is dead at the
bottom of the sea," says George Smith.
The Smiths are unshakable in their belief. How else to
explain the reports of arguing, furniture moving, the
blood in the room.
"It was murder. It's clear in my mind that it was
murder," says Bree.
48 Hours has confirmed that a small amount of blood was
found on a towel, the bedding and possibly on the rug.
The FBI has not said whose blood it is.
"It isn't like there was blood all over the room," says
Gregg McCrary.
McCrary says blood doesn't necessarily equal murder. "In
a crime scene where someone is beaten, you look for
cast-off blood and spatter blood, and blood in motion,
and all. There was none of that — at the scene."
But Dr. Henry Lee, the forensic scientist hired by
Jennifer’s family, says he has found evidence out on the
balcony that other investigators may have missed.
Dr. Lee says he found biological evidence.
Asked what falls into that category, Dr. Lee says,
"Biological evidence basically involve blood, serum and
bodily fluid. But those evidence I cannot discuss right
now because this is an active investigation."
Despite a provocative case for foul play, Bryan Burrough
thinks George’s death was more likely an accident.
"George Smith, like a lot of young American men, enjoyed
a cigar. In fact, the smell of cigar smoke had been
smelled wafting from his balcony before," says Burrough.
"One possible scenario is that George was left alone in
his room, wasn’t ready to go to bed until his wife came
home. Went looking for that last cigar. Went outside.
Moving a piece of furniture, a chair up to the railing,
and sat on the railing, while he smoked a cigar. He was
very, very drunk. It's at least conceivable that he fell
overboard while smoking a cigar."
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Yet nine months later, it's still an open case. All four
boys and their families are still living under the
scrutiny of the FBI.
"There is no reality of any of this. It’s just a bad
dream," says Dr. Askin.
"Have you thought at all about the other family, about
the Smiths and what they must be going through?" Storm
asks Dr. Askin.
"I can’t imagine," he replies. "And I know they have
said some things about our son. And one thing they need
to understand. He tried to help their son. He liked
their son."
The blood on the canopy was washed off within hours of
George’s disappearance. But that image will haunt the
Smiths forever. Now advocates for maritime safety,
they're fighting so others won't experience their pain.
"The cruise industry doesn't respect life," says George
Smith. "One body to them means nothing."
"If anything comes out of my son’s murder on his cruise
ship, it will be that somebody will be saved," Maureen
adds.
"As time goes by, it doesn’t get better, it get’s
worse," says Maureen. "Because you don’t have that
person in your life."
Not only is George gone from their lives. So is
Jennifer.
"We welcomed Jennifer back in our home after George
disappeared. She was actually the closest thing we had
to George. She actually slept in George's bedroom,"
explains Bree.
But that closeness turned to mistrust as the Smiths came
to believe that Jennifer knew more than she was telling
them.
"We put some space there. We were frustrated by the lack
of information coming from Jennifer and it was difficult
for us," Bree recalls.
On June 25th, George Smith and his family should be
celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Instead, just
ten days later, they will be mourning the first
anniversary of his death.
"We just want his murder solved so we can lay him to
rest," says Maureen. "And we will not rest until we find
out."
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