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The young woman involved, however, remembered it differently, and she would accuse Kofman and two of his friends of rape. They all admit they had sex with her, but say it was consensual. "They're in a Jacuzzi with a young lady," Dayan told "Primetime." "Then, kind of suddenly, there was an argument out on the balcony," he said. "This argument was between three, maybe four individuals. It wasn't what I would call a fight, but it was definitely an argument." Hyman, a deputy police chief from Redlands, Calif., with 30 years on the force, called security to complain about all the noise.
MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF: George Smith
"I was devastated when I heard that. Devastated. Obviously, something really bad happened to my son," said George's mother, Maureen. The death of the businessman from Greenwich, Connecticut, came following a storybook wedding to his school teacher bride, Jennifer Hagel. For their honeymoon, they went on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. After a night of out-of-control partying in the ship's casino, George got so drunk, he had to be carried back to his state room and put into bed. A large bloodstain shows where he landed on a metal canopy before tumbling into the sea off the coast of Turkey. But if little is known of the Rozenbergs’ backgrounds, a good deal is emerging about their activities aboard Brilliance of the Seas.
Murder at Sea? The disappearance of George Smith
Marie Breheret came in and, with other officers, gently explained the situation. Brilliance of the Seas is one of the largest of Royal Caribbean's 19 ships, a 90,000-ton behemoth with 12 passenger decks, powered by gas turbines. It sails 52 weeks a year, spending summers off the coast of Europe and winters in the Caribbean. The ship is manned by about 850 Royal Caribbean employees and can house as many as 2,500 guests. It has a spa, a full-service medical facility staffed by doctors and nurses, and even a brig for unruly passengers. One passenger even recounts hearing large objects like furniture being thrown across the room.
Passengers Interviewed
48 Hours Update: "New" Evidence in Disappearance of Cruise Passenger George Smith - Cruise Law News
48 Hours Update: "New" Evidence in Disappearance of Cruise Passenger George Smith.
Posted: Fri, 10 May 2013 07:00:00 GMT [source]
This is a photo of the Smith cabin showing one of George's shoes on the floor. On July 4, 2005, George and Jennifer Smith spent the day touring Mykonos, Greece. George's family says Greece was one of his favorite places. George Smith was slated to take over his father's liquor store in Greenwich, Conn. Here he is pictured with his father, George Smith III; his mother, Maureen, and his sister, Bree.
"He hesitates. He's clearly thinking. The question has thrown him for a loop. It's almost, 'What could they have found that -- that would've connected someone to the disappearance?" Houston said of Greg's reaction. "This is a case that should be solved. It's a case that-- frankly, I think it is solved. It's just a question of pulling together enough evidence to get an indictment and a conviction," he said. "They can say there's no conclusive evidence, they can shut down the investigation but they're not going to shut down me," Bree continued. "Nine, 10, 50 and I'm going to continue until there's answers and justice for George."
The most likely explanation, however, is that Jennifer was so drunk she became confused. When her husband tumbled overboard, she was passed out in a hallway. Two versions of what happened next—so far the only ones that have been made public—come from people whose staterooms flanked the Smiths’. The more detailed of the two comes from Clete Hyman, who, as it happens, makes an excellent witness.
Man’s overboard death may be linked to Davie unsolved murder
"What it's not about is an accident, and what it's not about is a suicide," Jones told "48 Hours". "They loved the sites. I remember they were talking a lot of pictures. Like, everywhere they went they were, like, always with the camera," Galina recalled. Maureen Smith described her son as a "Fine young man. Handsome ... Hard working. He was just an all-around great kid." The Smith family and Hagel grew apart after she reached a $1.1 million settlement with Royal Caribbean Cruises in 2007. She has said that while George may have been murdered, he also could have fallen.
Which is why she didn’t get involved that morning when a 20-year-old woman—her identity has not been made public—arrived at the medical center and, according to one source, asked a nurse about the morning-after pill. The nurse sensed something was amiss, and gently pressed the girl, who during the ensuing conversation said she had been the victim of a rape. There were four decks of staterooms above the bloodstains.
Michigan police give update on car that crashed into child’s birthday party
He said that there was only a "spec" of blood found in the cabin, and that what was originally believed to be blood on a towel turned out to be makeup. Hagel Smith has received numerous documents, including cabin access records and statements made to investigators, Sheeley said. Hagel Smith did not want to disclose her husband's use of prescription drugs, but was forced to do so because of his family's "relentless" litigation, Sheeley said. "But it could have contributed to an accident that caused his death," he said.
The video only captures snippets of what has emerged over the years as a very complex story -- a story and a timeline that would be dissected and debated for years. As a group they tell Turkish police, "After we dropped him off, the second time, we closed the door, we never saw him again ... Never saw him again." Jennifer said she had almost no memory after leaving the casino and that when she had awakened in the cabin, George wasn't there. She had just assumed George had stayed with Paul and Galina. Asked to describe his son, George Smith says he was very devoted and a family person.
At the time, his death was considered suspicious and now the person who may have had answers about what happened on that ship has been murdered. This weekend, 48 Hours reported on the mysterious disappearance of a cruise ship passenger whose case has yet to be closed. In the wake of two other passengers falling overboard from a Carnival cruise last week in Australia, the need to improve maritime safety regulations industry-wide is blatantly clear.
Push a little and it’s clear many don't have all that much information to divulge. George and Jennifer spent long hours together finalizing details of their wedding, which was held at the waterside Castle Hill Inn & Resort, in Newport, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in late June. Another passenger reported the noise disturbance to the ship’s guest relation’s desk just after 4 a.m., but the ship’s crew did not respond until nearly half an hour later.
A page for Mr. and Mrs. George Smith was announced on the ship's intercom. After a few minutes, a spa attendant called to say Jennifer was in a massage room. She said she assumed he might be sleeping somewhere else aboard ship. The officers, who refrained from mentioning the bloodstains for fear of alarming Jennifer, escorted her to a nurse’s office.
"And they're laughing and joking very callously about him being wealthy ... And certainly the way they were talking, they either knew or they had a pretty good sense of what had happened." "People [who] have seen that videotape have told me that the person holding the camera is doing kind of a narration and asking her questions and she's responding to them. But as this continues she's crying," Miller pointed out. For almost eight years, Maureen and George Smith have lived a life of torment not knowing what happened to their 26-year-old son aboard that cruise ship. Although his lawyers say he is "the leading target" in the Smith investigation, he has not been charged with any crimes. Kofman has not spoken publicly about the events of the night George Smith disappeared, but his attorneys, Albert Dayan and Tony Mirvis, spoke exclusively to "Primetime" about their client's version of events.
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