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Yesterday a judge held that a man accused of strangling and throwing his wife overboard from an Italian cruise ship should stand trial in California. The court rejected the argument of the cruise passenger’s defense lawyers that the state prosecutors in Orange County lacked jurisdiction to prosecute the crime which occurred in international waters off
It has been eight years since George Smith disappeared from the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas in the early morning hours of July 4, 2005.
The cruise line initially stated that it had no idea what happened. But in 2012 it was revealed that Royal Caribbean took possession of a video shortly after the
The headline today in the Nassau Guardian newspaper blasted “Elderly Woman Shot at Home” during a robbery. Another front page story involved an unrelated but even more deadly title “Men Charged with Murder.”
These headlines are hardly rare. Two weeks ago, a U.S. crew member was shot dead during a robbery in downtown
Two days ago we reported on a ruling made by a judge in California holding that a cruise ship passenger accused of strangling and throwing his former wife overboard from a cruise ship in Italy could be prosecuted in state court.
But yesterday, the same judge reconsidered his ruling and decided that he did not have
Crimes on cruise ships on the high seas often fall into jurisdictional no-man’s lands where prosecutions are impossible to pursue.
But yesterday a judge in Orange County, California ruled that local prosecutors can try a criminal case against a cruise passenger accused of strangling his ex-wife and tossing her off a cruise ship in Italy
In a disturbing case we have covered over the years, U.S. lawyer, Lonnie Loren Kocontes, entered a plea today of not guilty in the strangulation death of his ex-wife, Micki Kaneski, during a cruise off of the Italian coast seven years ago.
This case seems to stand in stark contrast to the cruise industry’s claim
Over three years ago, a U.S. cruise passenger, Nina Elizabeth Nilssen, age 30, was murdered while vacationing in Antigua near the English Harbour / Falmouth area. She had been cruising with her parents, an uncle and aunt, sister and brother-in-law aboard the Royal Clipper, a tall masted ship operated by Miami based Star Clippers.
The
Last month we wrote an article about the crime epidemic in Nassau, Bahamas.
A newspaper in the Bahamas published an article "Cruise Ships Warn on Crime," explaining that cruise executives from Miami met with Bahamian officials about the increasing crime levels in Nassau which are no longer safe for passengers. We have written several
Saturday night, CBS’s "’48 Hours" will air what is being described as "important new evidence" in the mysterious disappearance of George Smith during his honeymoon cruise. The episode is called "48 Hours: Murder at Sea?"
You may recall that George Smith from the Greenwich Connecticut area was enjoying his honeymoon with his newly-wed bride Jennifer
Last night I received an email from a person who follows cruising who received information that there may have been what is being described as a "murder / suicide" on an unidentified Royal Caribbean cruise ship. There was a vague posting of the alleged incident on the Disney boards.
This morning I received another
Yesterday evening I received a tweet from a Twitter friend in Antigua: "several cruise passengers witnessed a day light killing in the tourism area of #antigua today." Later I was told that an "attempted robbery at one of the shops led to a gunman shooting the woman in the head. She died on the spot around
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Lonnie Kocontes, age 55, was arrested last week on a murder warrant in the death of his ex-wife, Micki Kanesaki, who went overboard from an Italian cruise ship seven years ago.
Kocontes, a lawyer licensed in California, was arrested in Florida where he was living. He was booked into into the Pasco County Jail where
As I mentioned earlier this week, tonight the Nancy Grace program takes a look back at the mystery of the George Smith case.
Mr. Smith "disappeared" from the Brilliance of the Seas during his honeymoon cruise with his newlywed wife, Jennifer Hagel, in July 2005.
There has been some mystery and intrigue over the years.
Cruise expert Professor Ross Klein’s website refers to a case of an Israeli passenger who went overboard in the Mediterranean Sea during a vacation cruise earlier this month.
According to the Y News Net newspaper in Israel, the passenger was identified as a 43 year old Israeli taxi driver from Hadera who did not return
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A Swedish newspaper reports that a 28 year old man who forced a younger man to jump off the deck of a cruise ship is under arrest in Stockholm on suspicion of attempted murder.
The incident occurred aboard the Viking Cinderella cruise ship, operated by the Viking Line, last Sunday as the ship was moored
Journalist Robert Anglen has an article today in the Arizona Republic entitled "Stats Don’t Fully Account For All Cruise-Ship Crime." The article was also published in USA TODAY and discusses the false and misleading cruise ship crimes statistics in the FBI database which mentions only 2 cruise ship crimes for the second quarter
Yesterday was the seven year anniversary of the disappearance of George Smith from Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship.
You will recall that Mr. Smith was on his honeymoon cruise with his newlywed bride, Jennifer Hagel, when he went over the railing of his balcony early on the morning of July 5, 2005.
The recent articles about the FBI assisting the cruise lines in covering up ship crimes has sparked a re-newed interest in the safety of cruise passengers on the high seas.
Fox News published an article this morning "How Safe Is Your Cruise Ship" mentioning the cruise lines’ talking points that cruise ship crime
