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"George all of a sudden expresses a wish to go search for his wife ... at this time the boys are having a loud discussion, debate about whether they should assist George," Dayan explained. Jennifer said she had almost no memory after leaving the casino ... "And I just remember telling him, 'It's time to call it a night,'" he said. "Everyone who was 18 pretty much congregated in the casino," Askin explained. Also making the rounds that night were a group of Russian-American students -- cousins Zachary and Greg Rozenberg, and a friend, Rusty Kofman. And back on the ship, they socialized into the early morning hours.
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9 Eerie Cruise Ship Disappearances That Left Authorities Baffled - All That's Interesting
9 Eerie Cruise Ship Disappearances That Left Authorities Baffled.
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Jones also believes his theory fits with what the witness saw... But if George was murdered, the question has always been why? Mike Jones believes there is finally enough evidence to piece it all together. The four men and their families were then removed from the ship in Naples, where Italian police looked into the rape allegation and washed their hands of it saying they had no jurisdiction. No one has ever been charged in the sexual incident and lawyers for the men believe the tape saved them. "Josh walks into the room and there's one of the Russian boys having sex on the bed with the girl and another one of the boys filming it. And Josh was concerned," Greer explained.
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But, based on the evidence presented thus far, I’m inclined to think the four (or three) young men who departed the room that morning left George alone and alive. Clete Hyman emphasizes that he heard nothing up to that point that could be construed as a struggle. If one of the young men stayed behind in the room, it would be suspicious. It’s difficult to believe that Josh Askin, a college student with no prior links to Kofman and the Rozenberg brothers, would cover up for them if one of them had remained behind in Smith’s cabin. If it was Askin who remained behind, it’s difficult to believe the others wouldn't finger him.
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Smith mysteriously disappeared in the early morning hours of July 5, 2005,[2][3] and evidence suggested that foul play might have been involved. Blood stains were found in his cabin as well as on the side of the ship, and it appeared that he might have been tossed off the ship or fallen overboard and drowned. What happened next is hazy at best; no one directly involved in handling the girl's allegation has been willing to discuss it in detail. But according to attorneys working on the Smith investigation, the girl identified those involved as Rusty Kofman and the three Rozenberg boys. Once again, ship officials called in both sets of Rozenberg parents, as well as Josh Askin’s parents.
Who was George Smith?
"You look at the behavior of these young men. ...they're not good boys or good Samaritans." "And they told us that if Josh ever says anything that is different than what he said before the grand jury, anything, they will fly him back to Connecticut on perjury charges," Greer explained. "And having dealt with the FBI agents that we dealt with in the past and how miserable they made the Askin family's lives... I couldn't have that happen." Asked why not, Bree told Miller, "The blood is compelling evidence. ...There was blood in the room." "Not only to lose your memory but to have nobody believe you," Jennifer Hagel Smith told Oprah Winfrey.
"At the time, when Rusty comes up to this disco, this lounge, he observes Mr. Smith, as he describes, bombed, extremely intoxicated -- him and Mrs. Smith -- at that time," Dayan said. The last people known to see George Smith alive were four young men also on the ship, and much speculation has centered on 20-year-old Rusty Kofman. Davie police are hoping to find the truth behind his murder case now. And maybe help investigators solve the circumstances behind Smith’s death, too.
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"The more he wanted to speak with them, the more he wanted to tell them what happened, the more they accused him of foul play," he said. Hired to handle issues with George's estate, Jones acts more like the hard-nosed cop that's in his blood. "In addition to the blood, there were sounds of -- a fight, a struggle inside my brother's room," said Bree Smith. "...Came up with the theory that after a long night of enjoying himself in the casino and the disco, George sat up on the railing ...and simply fell off," John Miller commented to Bree Smith. But as it would turn out, the young men's alibi would be called into question.
"Our theory is that Josh Askin knows what happened," Mike Jones said. "But we don't believe that Josh was involved in the actual, you know, tossing of George overboard." That arguing, Jones believes, is what ear-witness Clete Hyman heard on the balcony.
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"We want the individuals that are responsible for throwing my brother George over his balcony at age 26 held accountable. We want them put in jail. We want them to rot in jail," said Bree. As a group, the men told Turkish police, "And that was the end of it. ... We were all together ... But just remember not at one point or at no time did he ever seem angry or anything at all ... he was a happy person." But the Smiths had not yet been told about that bloodstain or the investigation now under way on the Brilliance of the Seas. Turkish police had boarded the ship; Royal Caribbean documented the forensic investigation.
Hundreds of passengers have gone missing from cruise ships and nothing has been done to give the victims’ loved ones justice or peace of mind. The videotape in question was filmed by three Russian-Americans who have long been suspected of being involved in Smith’s disappearance due to their actions on July 4 and 5, before Smith was last seen. While it was reportedly filmed on the ship, shortly after Smith went missing, the video was only brought to the Smith family a few years ago. The Smith family is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading "to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible" for their son going missing from his honeymoon cruise. The FBI in Connecticut has closed its investigation into the disappearance of George Smith IV, a Greenwich man who vanished from his honeymoon cruise in July 2005 and whose family believes he was intentionally sent overboard.
The Smith family hopes that one day the case will be solved and say they will never stop fighting for George. The FBI is in possession of the provocative videotape and the Smith family wonders why more has not been done. Lawyers for the young men say that their clients did nothing wrong. No one has ever been charged in connection with George Smith's disappearance. This photo was taken by the ship's safety officer upon entering the Smith cabin the morning of July 5, 2005. Rumors and theories surrounding George Smith's disappearance began almost immediately.
Currently, there’s no evidence that anyone else visited the stateroom. That evening Brilliance of the Seas left the Turkish coast and headed back into the Aegean toward Athens, where it would anchor the next morning at the Greek port of Piraeus. The drama involving the Smiths was over, but troubles with Rostislav Kofman and the Rozenberg boys were just picking up steam. Two more incidents involving them allegedly occurred over the next 48 hours. One evening, ship officials say, Greg Rozenberg was carded at the disco. According to attorneys familiar with what happened, the parents argued to Breheret that the passport was in error, that Greg was in fact 18, but Greg was.
A source close to the investigation has told CBS News that on the tape, one of the men -- Rusty Kofman -- refers to George going parachute riding off his balcony. In the woman's statement, she says she was "completely intoxicated" and in between "blackouts", remembers having non-consensual sex with Greg Rozenberg, Rusty Kofman and Jeffrey Rozenberg -- Zach Rozenberg's younger brother. "There's a lotta evidence to suggest that that was not as simple as -- as the Russian men and as Josh have said," Jones told John Miller.
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