This weekend saw a renewed interest of the public into the disappearance of cruise passenger George Smith with the airing of a "update" of the unsolved case by Dateline NBC called "Overboard."
The Dateline program focused on the four men last seen with Mr. Smith: Gregory Rozenberg, Zachary Rozenberg, Rostislav ("Rusty") Kofman, and Josh Askin. These four
This evening Dateline NBC will air what it is calling an "update" on the story of missing cruise passenger George Smith who disappeared under suspicious circumstances during his honeymoon cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship in the summer of 2005.
I am glad to see that Mr. Smith’s case is receiving additional attention.
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This week I received a copy of a paperback book about the disappearance of George Smith IV during his honeymoon cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas in July 2005.
The book is written by a reporter from the Greenwich Post, Joan Lownds, who covered the story from the beginning.
The back cover of the book promises
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Last night our family arrived back in Miami after a three week vacation in the Pacific North West. We enjoyed Pike Place Market in Seattle, kayaked in the Orcas Islands (amazing), mountain biked in Whistler, and hiked Mt. Rainier. What a blast.
Aside from a spectacular wipe-out on a mountain bike trail by my youngest son, we returned to Miami safe and
The media’s interest into the "missing groom" story was unparalleled in the history of the cruise industry. Royal Caribbean had been able to dodge bad press about the disappearance of passengers and women and children sexually assaulted on its fleet of cruise ships for decades.
But the case of George Smith was different. Every network was covering the
Two days after George Smith went overboard from the Brilliance of the Seas, the cruise ship’s captain prepared a casualty report concluding that Mr. Smith accidentally fell off of the railing. The official report did not mention any of the suspicious noises in the Smith’s cabin heard by other passengers or that other young men (later accused of raping a passenger
In December 2005, Congress convened its first hearing on the issue of the safety of U.S. passengers on foreign flagged cruise ships. The hearing came about primarily due to the efforts of several families who had lost loved ones from cruise ships on the high seas, under suspicious circumstances.
George Smith’s family was instrumental in bringing a great
One of the tests which Dr. Henry Lee wanted to perform during his inspection of the Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship was dropping a life size mannequin from the rail of the balcony.
A metal awning is located several floors below the balcony. It is around 12 feet wide and ran the length of the cruise ship
Royal Caribbean did not permit Jennifer Hagel back into her cabin after blood was discovered on the awning below the cabin. No one on the ship explained to Jennifer that she had been found unconscious on the floor near a stairwell early in the morning, or that her husband’s blood was covering the awning.
Eventually, the cruise
Following Mr. Smith’s disappearance, the Master of the Brilliance of the Seas quickly concluded that his disappearance was simply an “accident.”
Royal Caribbean never told the families that there was blood on the awning below the cabin (which the cruise line quickly cleaned off with high pressure hoses) or that four men had entered Mr. Smith’s
George Smith and Jennifer Hagel married in late June 2005 in Newport Rhode Island. Their honeymoon was a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, which departed from Barcelona to ports in Italy, Greece and Kusadasi Turkey.
Little did George and Jennifer know that these would be their final days together.
In the early morning hours
This past week marked six years since George Allen Smith IV disappeared from Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas.
Mr. Smith’s disappearance, and the manner in which Royal Caribbean chose to handle the incident, brought much needed attention to the cruise industry. The events which followed Mr. Smith’s death led to five Congressional hearings into
We are approaching the five year anniversary of the March 2006 Congressional hearings into the issue of crimes on cruise ships. Due to the efforts of the newly formed International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization, Congress convened a hearing in March 2006 to investigate the disappearances of cruise passengers and the sexual assault of women during cruises.
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The cruise industry was caught flat footed. The ICV
The AP is reporting that a final settlement has been reached between Royal Caribbean and the wife and family of George Smith IV. Royal Caribbean has paid the families and their counsel $1,310,000. The cruise line has also turned over copies of certain investigation materials to the families.
The settlement arises out of an incident on July 5, 2005, when
Five years ago yesterday, George Smith IV (below with his dad, George Smith III) disappeared from Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship between Greece and Turkey. This was a terrible, terrible night, which filled the public’s imagination with speculation about what happened, night after night on the cable news programs.
Behind the news, families grieved with hearts filled with heartbreak and sorrow.
Mr.
A local ABC affiliate in Boston WCVB TV5 recently aired a special investigation into the issue of cruise ship crime: "Crimes On Cruise Ships Often Not Reported – Local Victims Hope Laws At Sea Change."
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The ABC affiliate accurately concludes that cruise lines are not required to report crimes on cruise ships in international waters. The
After endless promotional movie clips, Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) finally premiered "Deadly Honeymoon" tonight. The movie is loosely based (very loosely based) on the tragic death of George Smith IV during his honeymoon cruise with our client, Jennifer Hagel, aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship in July 2005.
The movie follows two young newlyweds from Denver, Colorado as
The Greenwich Time newspaper reports that a trial scheduled for tomorrow in the disappearance of George Smith IV has been postponed.
The case arises out of the highly publicized disappearance of George Smith who was sailing on Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship, the Brilliance of the Seas, in July 2005.
A year later, the Smith family filed a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean which was dismissed
