George Allen Smith IV
Date: July 5, 2005
Cruise Bruise: Missing - Presumed Dead
Bruise Location: Off The Coast Of Turkey
Name: George Allen Smith IV
Age: 26
Home Town: Greenwich, Connecticut
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Ship: Brilliance of the Seas
Attorney: Brett Rivkind (the parents)
Attorney: James Walker (the wife's)
Reward: $100,000 - Information should be reported to the FBI
Details:
George Allen Smith IV, an attorney, and his wife Jennifer Hagel Smith an elementary school teacher were on their honeymoon cruise.
George went missing on day 8 of the cruise between Turkey and Greece.
George Allen Smith IV and his wife were in the casino. There, they met several other passengers and became friends. It was reported by several passengers George, and possibly Mrs. Smith were drinking Absinthe, which is not sold on the cruise ship. For info on Absinthe - click here
Walter Zalisko, a police officer who was a passenger onboard, says George Allen Smith IV was openly stating that he had $50,000 cash with him on the cruise, money, at least in part, he got for a wedding gift.
Several passengers reported that his wife appeared to be flirting with Lloyd Botha, an assistant manager at the casino who tagged along to the disco with the group, after the casino closed. They say she was so intoxicated she could barely stand up, and was hanging on one male in the casino, which may have been incorrectly assumed to be flirting.
At that point several passengers report hearing George call his wife a 'hussy'. Then, they claim, she pushes him back, then swiftly kicks him in the groin. Passenger Margarita Chaves witnesses this act. George bends over in severe pain, and she wanders out of the casino, "with an attitude" according to one passenger, not be seen again until after George is presumed to gone overboard. The casino assistant manger, quickly follows Jennifer out to the disco.
However, Lloyd's attorney, Andrew Rier says that is not what happened. 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. The record of entry into Lloyd's cabin, shows Lloyd entered his cabin at 3:20. Lloyd says he has nothing to hide, and takes an FBI polygraph later. His attorney says, "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."
Royal Caribbean says it was actually someone from the bar staff who escorted Jennifer out. "He helped her to the elevator, got her to the ninth deck, where her cabin was. She said she was OK," says McCrary. "Then this crewmember went back about their duties."
Mrs. Smith strongly denies kicking George, but acknowledges that she was so drunk, she doesn't remember leaving the casino, or where she went from there, only a couple minutes after the alleged kick.
George is extremely intoxicated according to several passengers, and is helped back to his cabin by two Russian speaking brothers, Greg and Zach Rozenberg, a third Russian speaking man, Rusty Kofman, who is their cousing from Brooklyn, and an english speaking man. The english speaking man is Josh Askin, who is traveling with his family, as they celebrated his parent's 25th wedding anniversay. Josh confirms this event.
After arriving at his cabin, #9062, one of the men, Rustislav 'Rusty' Kofman, says they all left to try to find Mrs. Smith, to no avail, and returned to the cabin.
A police officer, Clete Hyman, and his wife in the cabin next door, reported hearing George (presumed) return to his cabin with others on several nights and hearing the sounds of loud parties.
THE TIMELINE - THE CASE UNFOLDS
4:02am - Kofman's attorney says there was no drinking at that time. They brought George back to his room, and put him to bed. He says George was so grateful they brought him back to the room that he kissed one of the young men.
4:02am - Josh Askin says there was no party, he used the restoom in George's cabin, while the Russians tucked George in bed.
4:15am - Clete Hyman reports hearing a verbal argument between three, maybe four individuals in the Smith's cabin on the balcony. He says the argument went on for a couple moments, then he heard male voices say goodnight. This part of the story is different from that told by Josh.
Clete Hyman reports hearing people leaving the cabin, opened his door to look out, and saw three men leaving the cabin. There were reports that four men helped George to his cabin.
Capt. Bill Wright, senior vice president of fleet operations for Royal Caribbean, said that the investigation has found that four passengers did indeed escorted George back to his cabin on the night that he vanished.
4:20am/4:25am Clete Hyman hears one man talking, and furniture moving. Then it is silent. There was a couple minutes of total silence.
This story is continued on Page 2. See the links below. We update continually.
Pat Lawyer didn’t hear what Clete Hyman thought was a drinking game—but they did hear that same moving about of furniture, and she said it sounded like the cabin was being trashed. She says that all of a sudden there was a lot of noise coming from the cabin next door, the George Smith cabin, and what it sounded to me like is somebody was throwing things against the wall, like throwing furniture in the room against the wall or against the floor
4:30am - Clete Hyman and Pat Lawyer hear the sound of a horrific thud. The sound was so loud, it reverberated through our cabin, and it sounded like somebody fell out on the balcony.
4:30am - After the awful thud, both the deputy chief and the couple heard knocks— two sets of raps on the Smith cabin door about 4:30 a.m. It was security. Greg Lawyer opens her cabin door and looks out in the hall at them, and tells them. "Hey, you guys , you better get in there because that room is trashed." The cruise line confirms they were ship’s security officers responding to the noise complaint Clete Hyman made just after 4:00 a.m. Security walks away without further invesitgating, because all is quiet.
4:30am - The Russians say they are back in their cabin, they order a huge amount of food from room service, and it is delivered around 4:45am. The group took photos of the room service because they were amazed at the amount of food.
4:30am - Mrs. Smith is found sleeping on a floor in a hallway, on the other side of the ship, right outside a crew only room, and five doors down from Josh's cabin. She is unable to make it back to her cabin. Ship personnel arrived and remained with Mrs. Smith while two crew members went to her cabin to find her husband, but the cabin was empty. A wheelchair is brought to take her to the cabin.
George Allen Smith IV
Missing Passenger On Cruise Ship
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines - July 5, 2005
