This story beforehand aired on July 4, 2015. It was up to date on Sept. 13, 2025.
On July 5, 2005, George Smith disappeared from his honeymoon cruise. His household has been on a mission to search out these accountable, however their lengthy quest for justice is now in jeopardy.
To start with, suspicion surrounded George’s new widow. However the FBI quickly turned its focus to a gaggle of younger males — the final to see George alive.
A “48 Hours” investigation has uncovered failed polygraphs, questionable alibis and a provocative video made by a few of the males simply hours after George Smith disappeared.
“You recognize, typically you continue to suppose, ‘Ah, he would possibly nonetheless be on the market,’ cuz we do not have a physique. We do not have a physique,” Maureen Smith informed “48 Hours”. “It does not get any simpler. And you recognize what? If we had our solutions for George and know what occurred, perhaps. We do not know.”
For 10 years, Maureen and George Smith have been tormented. They do not know what occurred to their 26-year-old son aboard that cruise ship.
“We simply need to maintain pushing the buttons. And we can’t let it go. It is our son,” stated Maureen.
It wasn’t purported to be this fashion. George Smith IV had appeared destined to have all of it.
Maureen Smith described her son as a “Superb younger man. Good-looking … Exhausting working. He was simply an all-around nice child.”
“He was the funniest man, you recognize?” George Smith III stated with fun. “I’d sit and have a few beers with him and he’d make me snigger for the entire evening. And moreover he was so good trying the ladies simply fell throughout him. He was a simply numerous enjoyable. He was an excellent man [voice catches].”
George was about to take over his father’s liquor retailer in Greenwich, Conn.
“George made the shop. He was far more of a vigorous man than I and liked to speak,” George stated of his son. “He had that gusto in him and he actually needed to take the shop and construct it.”
“He all the time referred to as me the outdated man as a result of I wasn’t into trendy instruments and strategies [laughs] like he was. So I used to be the outdated man.”
“I used to be the dinosaur that he needed to cope with,” George stated laughing.
George’s future appeared even brighter when he met Jennifer Hagel, an aspiring schoolteacher.
“I used to be overwhelmed together with her as a result of she had this dynamic character,” Maureen defined. “She was very fun-loving like him. Very enticing. … And he was actually blissful together with her.”
On June 25, 2005, George Smith IV married Jennifer Hagel in a cliffside ceremony in Newport, R.I.
Elie Camoro
After a three-year courtship, George and Jennifer had been married in a ceremony overlooking the ocean.
“It was a very lavish affair in Newport, Rhode Island,” George’s older sister, Bree Smith stated. “It was a storybook marriage ceremony. It was completely lovely.”
Bree remembers the day very effectively and the way excited they had been to go on their honeymoon.
“They had been so excited to be beginning their life collectively,” she stated.
“And so they could not wait to begin their cruise.”
“I can bear in mind shaking his hand on the street and saying goodbye to him,” stated George’s father.
“Who would have thought that lower than two weeks later, George can be lacking,” stated Bree.
In late June 2005, Royal Caribbean’s “Brilliance of the Seas” set sail from Barcelona. Aboard with the Smiths had been fellow honeymooners Paul and Galina Kvitnisky.
“We sat down subsequent to at least one one other and … because the first day, we turned acquainted,” stated Paul Kvitnisky.
The {couples} hit it off instantly.
“They had been actually nice … they had been simply regular all the way down to earth, blissful folks,” stated Galina Kvitnisky.
“I’d say we spent numerous time collectively …” stated Paul.
“They liked the websites. I bear in mind they had been speaking numerous photos. Like, all over the place they went they had been, like, all the time with the digital camera,” Galina recalled.
And again on the ship, they socialized into the early morning hours.
“I believe he loved himself lots, you recognize — having a drink or two,” stated Paul.
“He did not have a very good tolerance for alcohol. He would have like 4 beers … and you can see that he was just about drunk,” Galina added.
Round midnight on July 5, 2005, the 2 {couples} headed for the on line casino. It might be the final evening of George’s life.
On line casino safety cameras captured George Smith on the on line casino. That is the final recognized picture of George from that evening.
Royal Caribbean
Jennifer, who could be seen on on line casino safety cameras, spent a lot of her time on the blackjack desk. George, additionally captured on tape, headed for his typical spot on the craps desk.
“And he was simply having enjoyable on the desk. You possibly can see that instantly,” stated Paul.
George was quickly joined on the desk by one other shipboard acquaintance — California faculty pupil Josh Askin. “48 Hours” spoke to Askin in 2006.
“Frolicked with them slightly bit, nothing too in depth. … Jennifer performed slightly blackjack. I performed slightly craps with George,” Askin stated. “There have been numerous different folks round as effectively, who’d been on the cruise up to now.”
Additionally making the rounds that evening had been a gaggle of Russian-American college students —— cousins Zachary and Greg Rozenberg, and a good friend, Rusty Kofman. Askin had met them on the cruise as effectively.
“Everybody who was 18 just about congregated within the on line casino,” Askin defined. “Everybody was in excessive spirits.”
And George and Jennifer had been excessive rolling. At one level, George, who could be seen on the on line casino with Askin, went again to his personal cabin to fetch further money for Jennifer.
“I believe George appeared affluent,” Bree commented. “Moreover, he had a very nice watch … which was a Breitling watch, was price a bit of cash.”
And Bree wonders if somebody on the ship was getting the flawed concept about her brother.
“Individuals might have made assumptions that George was a millionaire, though he wasn’t,” she stated.
The one factor that was clear to Paul Kvitnisky that evening, was that by the point the on line casino closed, each Jennifer and George had been already drunk.
“And I simply bear in mind telling him, ‘It is time to name it an evening,'” he stated.
Paul needs his new good friend had listened. Two hours later, George Smith can be gone.
A STARTLING DISCOVERY
Because the solar rose over Kusadasi, Turkey, on July 5, 2005, 16-year-old Emilie Rausch stepped onto her balcony to snap some photographs.
“It was round 7:30 within the morning … and I observed one thing on the overhang of the lifeboats…” she stated.
As a substitute of a spectacular dawn, Rausch’s digital camera captured an enormous bloodstain on the lifeboat cover.
“I simply assumed somebody had died there,” Rausch stated on the time.
Safety rapidly decided the occupants of room 9062 had been unaccounted for and snapped photos of the room. Then they started paging the Smiths.
“I had a stateroom attendant outdoors my room and I stated, ‘You recognize, you must most likely go into that man’s room and wake him up, as a result of he is not gonna hear that web page,'” Askin stated. “‘As a result of he was most likely nonetheless sleeping.'”
In one other cabin, Paul and Galina Kvitnisky had been startled by a go to from ship personnel.
“And that is when the man got here in, and he stated, ‘Have you ever seen George?’ And I am like, ‘What do you imply have I seen George?'” stated Paul.
“And we stated, ‘What is going on on?’ And he kinda informed us he is lacking. We had been like, ‘Lacking!?'” stated Galina.
By now, they’d been summoned to Visitor Relations; Jennifer was additionally there. She had been positioned on the ship’s spa getting a scheduled therapeutic massage. The crew quickly delivered the crushing information: George was presumed overboard.
“She simply stored saying that she does not bear in mind what occurred,” Galina stated. “‘I am unable to bear in mind. I am unable to perceive. I do not bear in mind.'”
Jennifer stated she had virtually no reminiscence after leaving the on line casino.
Jennifer stated she had virtually no reminiscence after leaving the on line casino and that when she had woke up within the cabin, George wasn’t there. She had simply assumed George had stayed with Paul and Galina.
“She’s shocked and panicked and she or he does not perceive what is going on on,” Galina defined. “She simply stored sayin’ that, ‘I wanna name my dad. I wanna name my dad.'”
Half a world away in Connecticut, the Smiths had been attempting to soak up the shock from the decision from Jennifer’s dad.
“It is disbelief,” stated Maureen Smith.
“You recognize, we simply could not imagine it,” stated her husband, George. “He is gotta be on the boat.”
However the Smiths had not but been informed about that bloodstain or the investigation now beneath method on the Brilliance of the Seas. Turkish police had boarded the ship; Royal Caribbean documented the forensic investigation.
And within the ship’s foyer, they rounded up Josh Askin and the group of Russian-Individuals — Rusty Kofman and Zach and Greg Rozenberg. They’d all partied with George the evening earlier than.
“I imply, I simply did not know what was occurring. I knew I did nothing flawed and that is all that mattered to me,” stated Askin.
Video secretly recorded by Askin’s father exhibits the police interview. Rusty Kofman seems to be shocked when he hears in regards to the blood:
Rusty Kofman [Turkish police interview]: Blood? [Puts his hand to his mouth] No! That is loopy.
Turkish police conduct shipboard interview after passenger disappears
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The video solely captures snippets of what has emerged over time as a really advanced story — a narrative and a timeline that might be dissected and debated for years. The boys’s story has by no means modified. As a gaggle they inform Turkish police, “After we dropped him off, the second time, we closed the door, we by no means noticed him once more … By no means noticed him once more.”
The younger males’s account begins at 2:30 a.m., after the on line casino closed. It was on an elevator to the disco when Askin says he observed some odd conduct from on line casino supervisor Lloyd Botha.
“There was perhaps a time when Lloyd, the on line casino supervisor put his arm round Jennifer and we thought slightly awkward second. It was just a bit awkward for a second,” stated Askin.
On the disco, the celebration was in full swing and the fellows smuggled in a bottle of potent liquor referred to as absinthe.
“They had been having photographs of absinthe. They had been having photographs,” stated Albert Dayan, an legal professional who represents Rusty Kofman.
“48 Hours” spoke to Dayan in 2006. He says there was rigidity between George and Jennifer on the disco.
“Rusty doesn’t hear what’s being stated however he does observe Jennifer kick George in his groin,” he defined.
Jennifer storms out of the disco and, based on Zach Rozenberg, Rusty Kofman and Josh Askin, the on line casino supervisor adopted after her. Askin would emphatically make this level when questioned by Turkish police later:
Josh Askin [Turkish police interview]: She has no concept what occurred! She was with one other man … The on line casino supervisor Lloyd. You want to get him in right here.
The boys declare they did not know the place Lloyd and Jennifer went, however by 3:30 a.m., the disco was closing and George was in dangerous form.
“George was form of slumped over in a chair … I requested my buddies, ‘ Will you assist me take him dwelling actual fast?'” Askin informed “48 Hours.”
“After they’re strolling to his cabin … they’re actually carrying George,” stated Dayan.
At 3:52 a.m., the fellows enter the Smith cabin. The ship’s key entry log data the time, however Jennifer is just not there.
Turkish official on interview video: Did you see her?
Guys: No … she wasn’t within the room. She wasn’t within the room.
“George swiftly expresses a want to go seek for his spouse … at the moment the boys are having a loud dialogue, debate about whether or not they need to help George,” Dayan defined.
Timeline: The disappearance of George Smith
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The group heads out once more and, after a short search of the ship’s solarium, they return George to his cabin at 4:01 a.m.
“I went to the restroom proper once I went in … I most likely noticed him for like a minute … 30 seconds,” stated Askin.
“And so they truly lay – George — on his mattress. Take off his sneakers … and he shows an amazing gratitude in the direction of these younger males. The truth is he hugs and kisses one or two of those younger males,” stated Dayan.
As a gaggle, the lads informed Turkish police, “And that was the tip of it. … We had been all collectively … However simply bear in mind not at one level or at no time did he ever appear offended or something in any respect.”
However shortly after 4:00 a.m, passenger Clete Hyman, a vacationing deputy police chief, hears a disturbance subsequent door.
“My spouse and I had been woke up by yelling coming from the Smith cabin. This yelling sounded what I’d liken to a consuming recreation,” he stated.
A couple of minutes later …
“Out of the blue although, there was an argument out on the Smith balcony. This argument seemed to be between three, perhaps 4 people,” stated Hyman.
However Rusty Kofman’s lawyer insists that the lads by no means went out on the balcony.
“After about two minutes of the argument, we heard one lone male voice repeatedly saying, ‘Goodnight, goodnight’ … like they had been ushering somebody out of the room,” Hyman continued. “I appeared out and noticed three male people strolling away from the room.”
Three males strolling away? Then the place was the fourth man? Dayan insists all 4 males left collectively.
“Rusty is a fairly broad — kind of a — a younger man,” Dayan identified. “I imagine that the — witness simply failed to look at the fourth one.”
What Clete Hyman hears subsequent would develop into the topic of limitless hypothesis: was George alone within the room?
“At this level we heard only one lone voice within the room. We heard what seemed like the cabinet doorways being closed loudly. And likewise seemed like furnishings being moved,” he stated.
Greg and Pat Lawyer, within the cabin on the opposite aspect of the Smiths, hear one thing related.
“There was what I name trashing of the room sounds,” Greg Lawyer defined. “I assumed someone was throwing furnishings round…both mad or having a very good time so we dismissed it at that time.”
“…after about two minutes of complete silence, nevertheless, there was a big, what I’d name a horrific thud,” stated Hyman.
That thud is believed to be the sound of George Smith hitting the steel cover round 4:30 a.m. About that very same time, Jennifer is discovered handed out in a hallway. As for the lads, they are saying they had been all again of their cabin ordering a lion’s share of room service.
“Oh, they had been positively in their very own cabin. In Zach’s and — Rusty’s cabin ordering meals at the moment,” stated Dayan.
However as it will end up, the younger males’s alibi can be referred to as into query.
ACCIDENT OR FOUL PLAY?
As the main points surrounding George Smith’s disappearance emerged, so had hypothesis about his bride, Jennifer.
The widow went on “Oprah” to defend herself:
“Not solely to lose your reminiscence however to have no person imagine you,” Jennifer Hagel Smith informed Oprah Winfrey. “I do not know what occurred.”
Jennifer wasn’t the one one within the highlight. There have been questions within the nationwide media in regards to the younger males and about George’s disappearance – was it an accident or was George pushed overboard?
The FBI would start an investigation that might span nine-and-a-half years. On the time, the ship’s captain described it as a possible accident — theorizing that an intoxicated George sat on the railing and easily fell off.
“I believe that is outrageous. I believe that is disgusting,” stated Bree Smith.
The Smiths by no means purchased the accident idea.
“The blood is compelling proof,” Bree stated. “There was blood within the room.”
Images taken by Royal Caribbean contained in the Smith cabin revealed two small traces of blood on the mattress sheets. The Smiths say it was George’s blood and one other signal pointing to foul play.
“Along with the blood, there have been sounds of — a battle, a battle inside my brother’s room,” stated Bree Smith.
The Smiths hoped that gaining access to Royal Caribbean’s investigative case recordsdata would offer some solutions and introduced in legal professional Mike Jones to assist them.
“What it is not about is an accident, and what it is not about is a suicide,” Jones informed “48 Hours”. “It is a few homicide.”
Jones instantly started working, setting his sights on the ship’s paperwork and the 4 males final seen with George.
“I took Josh Askin’s deposition first,” he defined.
Mike Jones: Do you if George Smith was murdered?
Josh Askin: Invoke my Fifth Modification proper.
Mike Jones: Are you aware who killed George Smith?
Josh Askin: Invoke my Fifth Modification proper.
“That is a sure or no reply,” Jones commented.
Josh Askin took the Fifth on all the pieces:
Mike Jones: In late June of 2005 did you go on a Royal Caribbean cruise with your loved ones?
Josh Askin: I evoke [sic] my Fifth Modification proper.
“I had him take the Fifth as to his date of delivery, his title,” stated legal professional Keith Greer, who represents Askin. “And so I informed him, ‘The one method we’re gonna do that, Josh, is that if each single query you are requested, you plead the Fifth.'”
Greer says that Askin has all the time been cooperative, talking freely to everybody, however there got here a degree when he needed to shut him down. The feds had been getting aggressive.
“And so they informed us that if Josh ever says something that’s totally different than what he stated earlier than the grand jury, something, they’ll fly him again to Connecticut on perjury expenses,” Greer defined. “I could not have that occur.”
Lawyer Albert Dayan says Rusty Kofman acquired the identical therapy and has stopped cooperating with the FBI.
“The extra he needed to talk with them, the extra he needed to inform them what occurred, the extra they accused him of foul play,” he stated.
Throughout his deposition, Rusty Kofman did not plead the Fifth, however his reminiscence on numerous issues appeared a bit rusty:
Mike Jones: And if you say “we put him to mattress” … who put him to mattress?
Rusty Kofman: I haven’t got a recollection of that proper now.
Mike Jones: Josh stated that he truly used the lavatory at that time, do you do not forget that?
Rusty Kofman: I haven’t got a recollection of that.
Zachary Rozenberg additionally invoked his proper in opposition to self incrimination.
Mike Jones: Was there a commotion within the room?
Zach Rozenberg: I would wish to invoke my Fifth Modification proper …
The one one who appeared forthcoming was Greg Rozenberg. In 2010, Mike Jones discovered him in a Florida jail:
Mike Jones: And why are you right here in jail?
Greg Rozenberg: Trafficking
Greg was serving three years for trafficking oxycodone, he says, to assist his costly style:
Greg Rozenberg: I am fanatic with garments, jewellery, watches that is why I am in right here man.
Mike Jones: However homicide is a special deal.
Greg Rozenberg: Homicide is a special deal man. I haven’t got it in my coronary heart to kill no person man.
Mike Jones: Did you’ve something to do with George’s demise?
Greg Rozenberg: No. By no means did, by no means would, by no means thought of it, no.
Greg introduced up that room service celebration:
Mike Jones: What did you eat?
Greg Rozenberg: Tuna fish sandwiches, I do know that. We had like tuna fish sandwiches and I believe cheeseburgers … I do know we had a few of that quick meals kind. We had been simply infatuated with the truth that we might order something we needed.
Greg Rozenberg questioned about Smith disappearance
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“You recognize, they ordered a lot meals, and so they could not have killed George as a result of they had been within the room consuming the room service,” Jones informed “48 Hours”. “I imply, it is a good story, but it surely does not work.”
In 2010, Mike Jones lastly acquired his fingers on these Royal Caribbean inside paperwork.
“The room service celebration is just about blown by the knowledge we acquired from Royal Caribbean. I imply that is an enormous truth,” he stated.
The ship’s data present that though a number of brief calls had been produced from Zach and Rusty’s cabin to room service after 4:13 a.m., there isn’t a report of any order of any form.
“The handwritten data present that the room service was by no means delivered,” stated Jones.
“Was it human error they did not write it down?” Keith Greer requested.
Greer insists the room service celebration did happen, but it surely was by no means actually an alibi to start with since it will have been delivered after George went lacking.
“The meals service itself does not show that they had been in a sure place on the time George went over ‘trigger George goes over about 4:20 within the morning. So at that time limit actually the one alibi they’ve is one another,” he defined.
If the ship’s data elevate some questions on the place the lads say they had been that evening, in addition they forged doubt as to the place they implied Jennifer was — bear in mind the on line casino supervisor the fellows say she left with on the disco?
“She was with one other man … the on line casino supervisor Lloyd,” Josh Askin had stated.
“And that -— that did not occur. That simply did not occur,” stated Jones.
Different witnesses say Lloyd didn’t depart with Jennifer and key data present that he entered his girlfriend’s cabin at 3:25 a.m., whereas the Smiths had been nonetheless within the disco.
“And he had gone to his girlfriend’s room. And she or he was capable of corroborate that,” Jones stated. “So, I believe Lloyd turned the sufferer of this try by the Russians and by Josh Askin to deflect consideration from themselves.”
As for Jennifer, a number of witnesses noticed an unsteady Jennifer depart the disco alone at 3:30 a.m.
“There are some witnesses from the cruise ship — cruise ship staff that truly escorted her onto the elevator and tried to assist her get off the elevator on her ground earlier than she ended up going the flawed method on — on deck 9,” stated Jones.
An hour later, Jennifer was discovered handed out in that hallway across the time George went overboard. Lloyd Botha and Jennifer each handed FBI polygraphs.
“The people who the Russians and Josh had been pointing fingers at each got here by way of the — very cleanly on their polygraphs,” stated Jones.
Nonetheless on the FBI’s radar are the 4 males. And the invention of a selfmade videotape solely raises extra suspicion.
“It is ridiculously provocative,” Jones stated of the videotape.
THE PROVOCATIVE VIDEOTAPE
For the previous couple of years, Mike Jones has been attempting to reignite a case he believes has gone chilly within the Connecticut FBI workplace.
“…Sadly, clearly, after eight years, this has develop into, just about, a chilly case,” he stated. “I imply, in case you speak to the FBI, they’re going to say it is lively and open, however I do not actually imagine that.”
And Jones additionally does not imagine the account of the 4 younger males final seen with George Smith:
Mike Jones: If you left George in his mattress, all you guys left, nobody stayed behind?
Greg Rozenberg: No person stayed behind, all of us left.
“There is a lotta proof to recommend that that was not so simple as — because the Russian males and as Josh have stated,” Jones stated. “You have a look at the conduct of those younger males. …they don’t seem to be good boys or good Samaritans.”
Royal Caribbean paperwork present complaints had been made in opposition to a few of the males for smoking, sneaking liquor and verbally abusing ship staff.
“They had been dropping F-bombs on the room service folks,” stated Jones.
And two days after George Smith went overboard, an 18-year-old passenger got here ahead with a significant allegation of sexual assault.
“She acknowledged that she was in certainly one of their rooms, one of many Russians’ rooms, and that there was group intercourse together with her with a few of the Russians,” stated Jones.
Within the girl’s assertion, she says she was “fully intoxicated” and in between “blackouts”, remembers having non-consensual intercourse with Greg Rozenberg, Rusty Kofman and Jeffrey Rozenberg — Zach Rozenberg’s youthful brother.
“And so they truly videotaped the group intercourse,” Jones stated. “And the truth that they videotaped themselves doing this, I imply, who does that?”
Rusty Kofman’s lawyer says the intercourse was consensual.
“That complete escapade was non-criminal in nature. The tape itself revealed that,” stated Albert Dayan.
Josh Askin’s lawyer, Keith Greer, says Josh didn’t have intercourse with the younger girl — however he was there.
“Josh walks into the room and there is one of many Russian boys having intercourse on the mattress with the woman and one other one of many boys filming it. And Josh was involved,” Greer defined. “It turned clear to him in a short time that the boys weren’t … making the most of her. The woman was making the most of the boys.”
Earlier than he left CBS Information to rejoin the New York Metropolis Police Division, John Miller investigated the case for “48 Hours.”
“Individuals [who] have seen that videotape have informed me that the individual holding the digital camera is doing form of a narration and asking her questions and she or he’s responding to them. However as this continues she’s crying,” Miller identified to Greer.
“I have never heard something about any crying from anybody,” Greer replied.
Royal Caribbean had had sufficient and rounded up the entire younger males and their households for a tense assembly with the ship’s lawyer.
Josh Askin’s father was once more recording:
Lawyer: The FBI has requested us to detain your sons … we’re gonna need to ask you to have your sons go to their cabin and so they’re gonna have to stay there.
The group angrily denied the allegations.
The 4 males and their households had been then faraway from the ship in Naples, the place Italian police appeared into the rape allegation and washed their fingers of it saying they’d no jurisdiction. Nobody has ever been charged within the sexual incident and attorneys for the lads imagine the tape saved them.
“However for that tape, they may’ve been charged for one thing that they didn’t commit,” stated Dayan.
However that tape might come again to hang-out them. The tape — within the FBI’s possession — contained one thing else: a lunch assembly filmed by the Russian-Individuals simply hours after George went overboard. Josh Askin was not current.
“They move a video digital camera round filming themselves commenting about George’s demise in a really callous method,” Jones defined. “And so they’re laughing and joking very callously about him being rich … And definitely the best way they had been speaking, they both knew or they’d a fairly good sense of what had occurred.”
A supply near the investigation has informed CBS Information that on the tape, one of many males — Rusty Kofman — refers to George going “parachute driving” off his balcony. It isn’t an admission, but it surely’s on the very least provocative — and there is extra.
“However the actually — form of, incriminating assertion is certainly one of them stands up on the finish of the tape and sorta hunches his shoulders and flashes gang indicators and says, ‘Instructed ya I used to be gangsta,'” Jones defined. “And that is within the context of the dialogue about George’s demise, virtually as if he is bragging about having accomplished one thing to George.”
Jones says that younger man was Greg Rozenberg.
“And I simply do not perceive how the FBI might have had this tape of their possession and nonetheless we sit right here,” George’s sister, Bree stated. “Get the fellows in there. Query them!”
Attorneys for Zach Rozenberg and Rusty Kofman declined to touch upon the video. Within the spring of 2013, John Miller tried to see if Kofman himself might present any extra solutions.
“There is a assertion made on videotape the place you say George went parachute driving off his balcony,” Miller confronted Kofman.
“I’ve no remark. Please contact my lawyer after which we will prepare a time to talk,” he replied.
Greg Rozenberg’s lawyer says Greg did not know George was useless at that time and that his shopper was simply making a silly remark.
“I do not suppose they’re kidding round. It is simply not one thing you’ll simply come out and say you are kidding round,” George Smith III stated. “As a result of in case you did not do it, why would you be saying it?”
But when George was murdered, the query has all the time been why? Mike Jones believes there may be lastly sufficient proof to piece all of it collectively.
“The very first thing you have a look at is motive, OK,” Jones stated. “George and Jennifer dressed effectively. George had a really costly Breitling watch. They, form of, flashed the cash on the — within the on line casino.”
What’s extra, witnesses heard George and Jennifer saying they’d 1000’s of {dollars} in marriage ceremony cash of their cabin.
“And this acquired round as a result of there have been different passengers not throughout the circle of the Russians and Josh who heard the rumors in regards to the cash within the cabin. We do not imagine it was true, however notion is all the pieces,” stated Jones.
Jones believes that notion fueled a theft try — one which was hatched after they put George to mattress and Askin had gone into the lavatory.
“The speculation can be that they had been arguing about whether or not or not certainly one of them or — or two of them ought to keep behind and see if they may discover the cash and take the watch, as a result of George was in no place to argue or to place up a battle,” Jones defined.
That arguing, Jones believes, is what Clete Hyman heard on the balcony. Jones additionally believes his idea matches with what the witness noticed… simply three males leaving.
“And certainly one of them stays behind, begins to rifle by way of the drawers and the cupboards,” he stated.
Jones has a doable clarification for that blood stain.
“The blood is on the sheets … the blood is in two sorta centimeter-long splashes. And virtually appears to be like like in case you had been taking off a watch — and also you pinched your pores and skin … it will be appropriate with the — the blood splatter that was on the mattress,” he defined. “Whereas they’re doin’ that, George wakes up and says, ‘What are you doin’?’ A battle ensues which is according to the noises that individuals on either side of the cabin heard. And George goes overboard. Different folks hear the loud thud.”
Josh Askin’s lawyer, Keith Greer, argues that it is all nothing greater than hypothesis.
“Even Clete Hyman … and he even stated that he didn’t hear the sounds that you’d count on if there was a battle. You recognize, ‘you soiled so and so,’ the – the — the smacking, the — the kicking and stumbling and yelling. The 2 guys goin’ at one another in — in a fistfight. I simply do not suppose it is smart,” stated Greer.
Greer thinks that there’s a less complicated clarification for all that came about aboard the Brilliance of the Seas — the intercourse assault declare, George going overboard.
“I do not know why anyone’s missin’ the theme right here. ‘Trigger there’s one widespread component … and it is an excessive amount of alcohol!” he stated. “And we will go and, you recognize, blame it on homicide and – and — and blame it on aggressive sexual conduct right here. You recognize what? It is simply all people drinkin’ an excessive amount of and silly stuff taking place. That matches.”
However does it match with what Josh Askin was heard saying on an elevator?
THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE
Mike Jones is a persistent man. And he believes his persistence will at some point repay.
“It is only a query of pulling collectively sufficient proof to get an indictment and a conviction,” he stated.
Jones and the Smiths preserve the important thing to fixing the case lies in California.
“Our idea is that Josh Askin is aware of what occurred,” Mike Jones stated. “However we do not imagine that Josh was concerned within the precise, you recognize, tossing of George overboard.”
To assist his idea, Jones factors to an intriguing clue uncovered by Royal Caribbean: a ship worker overheard Josh Askin talking to a good friend on an elevator.
“He stated, ‘I — I do know greater than they suppose I do know. These [expletive] virtually acquired me arrested in Turkey,'” stated Jones.
Keith Greer argues the feedback had been taken out of context and Josh has nothing to cover.
“Do you suppose that Josh Askin has informed you all the pieces he is aware of?” Miller requested Greer.
“Completely, little doubt,” he replied.
However Greer admits the FBI informed Askin he failed a polygraph. Greer questions the take a look at and the end result.
“I suppose it is one other rubber-hose ploy, you recognize, the place simply to freak Josh out and upset him extra,” Greer informed Miller. “I believe it was simply the psychological battle that they had been waging on him and his household. … Or they did not take the time to do it proper, one or the opposite.”
Sources inform CBS Information Rusty Kofman additionally was examined, and he too failed.
As for Greg Rozenberg, he was administered a personal polygraph take a look at:
Greg Rozenberg deposition: I took a polygraph but it surely was inconclusive as a result of I am ADHD as you possibly can inform I like to maneuver lots. It was inconclusive … ain’t no lies that I want to inform.
Based on Phil Houston, a former CIA case officer who for greater than 20 years specialised in detecting deception, “Typically it is a lot simpler to inform the precise lie by yourself.”
“48 Hours” determined to usher in Houston to take a more in-depth have a look at these depositions.
“Is there anyone of the group that significantly jumps out?” Miller requested.
“Greg stands out — above and past everybody. There was only a ton of misleading behaviors,” stated Houston.
In Houston’s opinion, it is not what Greg Rozenberg says that appears misleading; it is usually what he does not say.
“What we must always hear and see his concentrate on, ‘I did not do it. It wasn’t me. You acquired the flawed man.’ However ‘we’ — as a substitute, ‘we do not.’ The place we hear his focus so many instances are explanation why he would not do that,” he defined.
Greg Rozenberg: I under no circumstances form or kind would ever do something like that to a person …that is not me.
And it seems some questions are tougher for Greg than others:
Mike Jones: Did they — now did they discover something in both room that that was linked to George’s disappearance
“He hesitates. He is clearly pondering. The query has thrown him for a loop. It is virtually, ‘What might they’ve discovered that — that might’ve linked somebody to the disappearance?” Houston stated of Greg’s response.
Greg Rozenberg: [Pause] No.
Mike Jones: OK …
Greg Rozenberg: No. No, in fact not.
“And then it is like, as he thinks by way of it, he realizes, ‘I’ve gotta reply the query.’ So he goes, ‘Effectively, no. N – no,'” stated Houston.
“So he is fascinated by one thing that’s not gonna come out in his reply,” Miller famous.
“That is appropriate. That is appropriate, one thing he is not sharing.”
However Greg Rozenberg does not maintain again on the one factor the Smiths would agree with. He says George’s demise was no accident:
Greg Rozenberg: George Allen Smith didn’t disappear, or kill himself or damage himself, or slip and fall off the boat at 6’4″ or nevertheless tall he’s and simply dive off … I do know that did not occur. So uh … Some, some, one thing loopy went down that evening. And I hope at some point that they discover out the fact.
Within the years following George’s demise, Jennifer has remarried and tried to maneuver on. However for the Smiths, it is not really easy.. Till the day the case is solved, the Smiths vow to not let George’s reminiscence die on that ship.
“We’ll get justice,” stated George Smith III.
“We’ll get justice,” Maureen Smith agreed. “In some way we’ll get justice for George. Anyone will speak. And disgrace on them that do not. Disgrace on the people who have put us by way of this … hell.”
EPILOGUE
On Jan. 9, 2015, the Smith household suffered one more blow. The FBI introduced they had been formally closing the case on George Smith.
“The … FBI decided that there’s not ample proof to proceed the investigation,” Bree Smith stated, studying the assertion aloud.
“After we had been referred to as into the assembly that lastly closed the case down, it was simply devastating to my household,” George Smith stated.
“How do you gather 97,000 pages of an investigation to find out after virtually 10 years that an accident might have occurred?” stated Bree Smith.
“I by no means anticipated to be 67 and nonetheless sitting right here attempting to get solutions for my son,” George Smith stated. “It is unhappy. …we ought to be on with our life. …However we’re not.”
“They’ll say there is no conclusive proof, they will shut down the investigation however they don’t seem to be going to close down me,” Bree continued. “9, 10, 50 and I’ll proceed till there’s solutions and justice for George.”
In December 2019, Greg Rozenberg was shot and killed outdoors his dwelling in Davie, Florida.
No arrests have been made within the Rozenberg homicide case and it stays an lively investigation.
HAVE INFORMATION?
Anybody with data associated to George Smith’s disappearance is requested to name 1-844-651-1936 or ship an e-mail to georgesmithtipline@gmail.com.
Extra from CBS Information
Richard Schlesinger