4:47am - Jennifer arrives back to her cabin. At that time George is not there, and ship staff do not notice any blood in the room. More oddly, security nor the female crew member who accompanied Jennifer to her room, find the room trashed as described by neighbors on both sides of the Smith cabin.
5:15am - Josh Askin arrives at this cabin, and goes to bed.
6:14am - The ship arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey
6:39am - passengers were cleared to go ashore
8:30am - Teenager Emilie Rausch, her sister, and her mother reported seeing what appeared to be a bloody stain several feet long on the almost 12-foot wide metal canopy over the life boats below passenger balconies. A tally of passengers is done, and three are found missing. Mr and Mrs Smith and another passenger. The third passenger is located, and the ship begins to page the Smiths.
8:30am - Mrs. Smith had reported for their 'couples massage' appointment an hour and half early, four hours after being put to bed, drunk, according to her and the account of other passengers. She reports to the massage right after other passengers found the blood outside and reported it.
She was wearing the same clothes she had on the night before. No blood was seen on her clothing. It was at the massage apporintment where she was retrieved and brought to security, where she was told that it was suspected something happened to her husband, and he may have gone overboard.
8:30am - There's a knock on Rusty's cabin door, and he hears somebody say "Wake up, we have a missing person on a ship,' Rusty says he thought they were talking about Jennifer because they had gone looking for her the night before.
8:41am - The ship's Chief Officer entered the Smiths' cabin, and determined the cabin was empty.
8:50 a.m. - The Smith's cabin is sealed and a guard is posted outside the cabin door., Ship's personnel continued to search the ship for the missing guests.
Sometime after that, one of the male passengers with George the night before, is brought to security and questioned. They ask if he knows where George is, and tell him it is suspected that George went overboard. The passenger asks if they found blood. Security begins looking for Mrs Smith.
Jennifer Hagel Smith has passed a lie detector test and is not considered a suspect.
The male witnesses involved are interrogated by Turkish police. The father of Josh Askin, Dr, Jerry Askin, has the foregthought to video tape the interrogation. This video tape, the cruise line has said didn't exist. According to Royal Caribbean's official statement: Turkish authorities refused the ship’s explicit request that the interviews take place on the ship. It is shown on 48 Hours Saturday April 8, 2006, and does in fact exist. After the interrogation is over, Dr Askin asks what is next, and he is told that they are going to arrest Jennifer Hagel Smith. That never happened.
During the interrogation Josh Askin is very protective of Jennifer, and insists they talk to the casino manager, Lloyd.
Lawyer, Albert Y. Dayan for Rustislav Kofman, one of the Russians questioned by the FBI, denied his client had any role in the disappearance.
The 3 Russian speaking men are forced off the ship in Italy, when they are accused of raping a woman that one of them met in the jaccuzzi. They had sex with the woman and video taped it. They deny raping the woman, saying it was consensual sex. All three admit having sex with her.
The ship's captain, says he figures that George pushed a chair up to the balcony, sat on the railing, and then accidently fell overboard. The captain is no longer working for the cruise line, having taken early retirement.
The railing is 50" high approximately, only a few inches wide, and George is 6'4" high.
A photo of the blood on the overhang, has the appearance, of something drug across or through the blood, such as a body being dragged off, or sliding off the overhang. There is an area in the image, where the blood is dense, there is a small circle, such as where a wound would be. Had that wound been on the front side of George, and he grabbed it, it would also explain the bloody handprint found as well.
There was a bloody spot the size of a fist on a towel in George's restroom, bloody tissues were found in the cabin, and a small blood spot on the sheet, the size of a finger print. There was also a report of a small amount of blood on a rug. If George had been attacked explaining that wound look in the blood on the photograph, the blood in the restroom would have to be left there by the attacker. Surely the attacker wouldn't allow George to clean up before he was thrown overboard.
Margarita Chaves, the same passenger who claimed to have seen Mrs. Smith kick Mr. Smith, claimed to have spoken to Josh Askin, who reportedly said to her, "The room service is what saved us."
Dr Henry Lee took samples on the ship, and found biological evidence on the balcony, that had been over looked. 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."
UPDATE: JUNE 30,2006
On June 29, 2006 a lawsuit was filed by the Smith family. The lawsuit says "The cruise line deliberately and intentionally portrayed the incident as an accident, and hampered a full-blown, appropriate investigation into the facts and circumstances of George A. Smith's death," the lawsuit states.
Royal Caribbean delayed reporting the incident to the FBI, deciding instead to report the case to Turkish authorities knowing they would be unable to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Miami, said Brett Rivkind, the attorney for Smith's sister and parents.
Smith's famly have hired Stamford private investigator Vito Colucci to investigate their son's disappearance
Widow Jennifer Hagel Snith Settles With RCCI
Only a few hours later, Royal Caribbean Cruises announced it had reached a settlement with his George Allen Smith's widow, Jennifer Hagel Smith. "We have done our best to assist Jennifer through the tragic events involving the disappearance of her husband," Goldstein said. "She has handled herself well under the most trying of circumstances and we applaud her constructive approach to resolving this matter -- so much so that our company will also match a contribution by Ms. Hagel Smith to a charity of her choosing.
Hagel Smith attorney James Walker said he and Hagel-Smith are convinced that there are passengers who were criminally involved in her husband's disappearance. Royal Caribbean has promised in its settlement to give her unfettered access to information, such as vessel logs, video and passenger statements of what they heard, saw and did during the hours of Smith's disappearance. Walker and Hagel Smith say the settlemet was the fast way for them to get access to information that could help them solve the case.
This settlement was reached, while the FBI are still investigation the case.
Greenwich probate court must approve the settlement, deciding if the settlement is in the best interests of the estate. The Smiths have said through their lawyer that they intend to object.
George Allen Smith IV
Missing Passenger On Cruise Ship
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines - July 5, 2005
