“We have truth on our side,” Mrs Smith says firmly. “My son’s life is not going to be in vain.”
Another detailed account of the George Allen Smith IV account and the may other incidents that have occurred within the cruise ship industry that casts much speculation on safety issues and jurisdiction of investigations.
But however horrific the Smiths ordeal might sound, it is in no way unique. In the past two years alone, 14 people have gone missing from cruise ships. Disappearances at sea are not tracked by any governmental or industry body and crime appears to be rife.
Between 1994 and 1998, for instance, the operator Carnival Cruise Lines received 108 complaints of sexual assault. Royal Caribbean reported 58 sexual assault cases over the same period. Anecdotal evidence abounds of thefts on-board.
(London Telegraph)
January 22nd, 2006 at 11:14pm
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Will renowned forensic scientist Henry Lee be able to shed new light or recreate what may have happened to George Smith? From what reports have previously stated, Henry Lee will be given less time on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship that some media types have had access. He may also be given certain restrictions. It is hard to imagine after all this time since July, when George Smith went missing that new clues will surface. Especially when the carpet from the state room that George Smith was in. One can only wonder how sanitized the room has become?
Forensic scientist Henry C. Lee plans to board the cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas in Miami Monday to look for evidence in the disappearance of George Smith IV of Greenwich during his honeymoon cruise last July.
Despite Lee’s almost supernatural ability to reconstruct a crime scene and detect what others have missed, the degree of difficulty for this assignment is high.
Royal Caribbean Cruises has tentatively agreed to allow Lee a two-hour visit, and during a lengthy interview Friday, he detailed his investigative strategy.
Lee has three focal points for gathering evidence:
- Stateroom 9062, the Smiths’ cabin, where obscure bloodstains were detected on the carpet. The room has been cleaned virtually daily and its carpet may have been replaced.
- The balcony outside the Smiths’ stateroom, also cleaned and exposed to the weather for nearly seven months.
- A metal canopy that covers lifeboats and is beneath the stateroom balcony. A significant amount of blood was seen and photographed on the canopy by passengers on the Mediterranean cruise on the morning of July 5, the day Smith disappeared. The canopy was power-washed later that day and has since been subjected to weather and rough seas. Lee said he still is not clear on whether the canopy was later repainted.
(Hartford Current)
January 22nd, 2006 at 10:43pm
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Rita Cosby, Live & Direct, January 6, 2006
We are now joined by Captain Bill Wright of Royal Caribbean cruises. He is the Royal Caribbean senior vice president of operations. Captain, I thank you for being with us. This new development that her attorney—this is Jennifer Hagel’s attorney—saying she may have been drugged…
CAPT. BILL WRIGHT, ROYAL CARIBBEAN SR. VP OF OPERATIONS: Right.
COSBY: Is there any evidence that there was drugs on the ship, legal or illegal?
WRIGHT: Absolutely none. From our perspective, we have heard nothing that indicates there was any drug usage by the Smiths or there were any drugs on board the vessel.
COSBY: No evidence at this point at all?
WRIGHT: Nothing we’re aware of.
COSBY: Would you know if there was something in there, even if it’s, say, in the bathroom, in the room, in the cabin?
WRIGHT: We did not collect the evidence from the cabin. So whatever was in there that the police have collected, that’s with the police. But there was nothing that we indicate that we have had any forms of drugs on the ship and being used.
read the rest here…
January 10th, 2006 at 10:43pm
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First it was George Smith’s family discussing their belief that George Smith was murdered aboard a Royal Caribbean ship and accusing the Royal Caribbean cruise line of trying to cover-up the crime to protect its image. Now comes the rebuttal from Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain.
“Never told us about the blood in the cabin. Never told us about the blood on the overhang,” Bree Smith told The Early Show’s Hannah Storm. They told us “our brother was missing. We don’t have any further information.”
The captain of the ship has said that George and Jennifer drank heavily that night, something George’s family acknowledges.
In a report filed by the ship’s captain, he wrote: “probably lost his balance and fell overboard. Probably under the influence of alcohol.”
The Smiths hired attorney Brett Rivkind to sue Royal Caribbean.
Richard Fein responds to the families allegations.
But there was blood in the cabin?
“There was nothing that a normal observer could see when they came in,” Fain said.
“There was quite a bit of blood on the overhang. You yourself said it was a security problem. People were leaning over to try to take pictures,” said Storm.
“There was blood on the canopy and that blood appeared to have come, at least to a lay person — we’re not the investigators,” Fain said. “We turned this over to the FBI. We turned this over to the authorities. We gave them all that information. The blood on the canopy was consistent either with foul play or with a perfectly innocent accident. And he — and I am sorry that he speculated, but it didn’t affect the investigation in any way.”
(Read the full CBS The Early Show interview)
January 9th, 2006 at 05:29pm
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FOR THOSE LOOKING FOR THE GREGERSON STORY, CLICK HERE.
Brett Rivkind, the lawyer for George Allen Smith IV’s parents, is suggesting that Jennifer Hagel-Smith may have been drugged. The same night that George Allen Smith went missing, Jennifer Hagel-Smith was found in a corridor, unconscious and far from their cabin.
Brett Rivkind, the lawyer for George Allen Smith IV’s parents, said he does not have any evidence to prove his theory about why crew members found Jennifer Hagel-Smith sleeping in a corridor July 5, the night her husband disappeared on their Mediterranean honeymoon cruise between Turkey and Greece.
Rivkind said at a news conference that it has been difficult to get information about the case because Royal Caribbean has not been forthcoming. But William Wright, the cruise line’s senior vice president of marine operations, said in his own news conference that the company has cooperated with investigators, including the FBI.
Here are some of the latest allegations from the different sides in the disappearance of George Smith.
read the rest here…
January 5th, 2006 at 11:06pm
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George Smith’s family has been searching for answers since they first heard that their son went missing. From the beginning the Smith’s state that Royal Caribbean offered very little detail.
Royal Caribbean called the Smiths that first day, but they say the representative offered few details.
“No news. Never told us about the blood in the cabin. Never told us about the blood on the overhang,” says Bree.
She says all the cruise line told them was that George Smith IV was missing and that they didn’t have any further information.
The issue of what happened to George Smith and a perceived cover up of what transpired that last evening that he went missing seem to be coming to a boiling point.
The mystery of a newlywed who vanished last July from his honeymoon cruise is heating up. As The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm reports, the captain of the ship said Wednesday night that George Smith IV and his wife Jennifer had been drinking heavily the night he went missing and that Jennifer was found passed out.
The Smith family says the captain’s comments are just the latest example of the cruise line trying to deflect criticism of how it handled their son’s disappearance.
Read the entire CBS-TV New York article with video interview of the Smith family.
January 5th, 2006 at 06:13pm
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George Smith, IV disappeared July 5, 2005 while on his honeymoon with his new wife, Jennifer Hagel, aboard The Royal Caribbean Cruise Line “Brilliance of the 
Seas”. For the most part George Smith’s family has remained relatively quiet regarding the loss of their son.
The discussions into the disappearance of George Smith have ramped up lately as well as Congressional hearings on the Cruise industry in general. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-CT has spearheaded the investigation in to not only Royal Caribbean but the cruise industry in general. The disappearance of George Smith, IV obviously being the catalyst into these hearings.
“Like small cities, cruise ships experience crime — from petty to profoundly tragic,” said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., chair of one of two congressional subcommittees hearing testimony Tuesday.
George Allen Smith IV vanished from a Royal Caribbean Cruises ship in the Mediterranean 10 days after his wedding last summer. His family says he was a victim of foul play covered up by the cruise line to avoid bad publicity.
Company officials say the cruise line acted properly after Smith’s disappearance.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Statement regarding George Smith, IV
All of us at Royal Caribbean extend our deepest sympathies to Jennifer Hagel Smith and the whole Smith family. They have suffered an inconsolable loss, and it is totally understandable they want answers and some measure of closure regarding Mr. Smith’s disappearance.
As in all corporate statements like this there is always a “however”. This one is no different.
However, there has been a lot of inaccurate and unfair speculation about our company’s response to the incident, and the time has come to set the record straight.
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January 5th, 2006 at 02:16pm
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CNN LARRY KING LIVE, December 13, 2005
Interview With Family of George Smith
Joining us first from Washington, George Smith III, the father of George Smith who disappeared from the cruise ship this summer; Maureen Smith, who is George’s mother; Bree Smith, his sister; and Brett Rivkind, the attorney for the Smith family.
Last July a honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean ended tragically for George Alan Smith IV and his bride, Jennifer Hagel- Smith. They were on a Royal Caribbean cruise line. The Brilliance of the Seas was the name of the ship.
Jennifer was told that her 26-year-old husband had apparently gone overboard. Blood was reportedly found inside the newlywed’s cabin and below the balcony outside their stateroom. Since then, the Smith family has been looking for answers.
Brett, why in Washington today? What happened there today?
read the rest here…
December 14th, 2005 at 10:47pm
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Joe Scarborough has done tireless work on the disappearance of honeymooner George Allen Smith IV aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The disappearance and the presumed cover up and tampering of evidence have sparked a Congressional hearing into the cruise line industry, its risks, security and jurisdiction issues.
Well, this is a joint hearing with Chris Shays. He chairs in Government Reform the Homeland Security Committee. I chair the one with oversight over the FBI and the Justice Department. And both of us are senior members of Homeland Security.
Coming on the foot heals of yet another disappearance of a passenger aboard a cruise ship, Congress will have hearings and the following is a rather informative look into the many issues that cruise ship passengers have never contemplated until recently.
SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY is just beginning. Tomorrow, there’s going to be a hearing right behind me on Capitol Hill, and they’re going to be investigating what happened to that man, George Smith IV, and whether the cruise line that he was on with his beautiful wife covered up a murder, or at least covered up evidence of a possible murder for profit.
SCARBOROUGH: And now to the case of the missing honeymooner George Smith.
The 26-year-old vanished from his honeymoon cruise five months ago, and now Congress is bringing the cruise industry to Capitol Hill, as we in SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY have been demanding for months.
Now, Congress is going to hold hearings right here in D.C. tomorrow to try to get answers on what the cruise industry is doing, and to be quite blunt with you, what they’re not doing to keep you and your family members safe when you go on a cruise.
It’s what George Smith’s family calls justice for George.
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December 13th, 2005 at 08:06pm
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There appears to be another cruise ship missing person’s case. This time on Royal Caribbean’s “Jewel of the Seas”. Jill Begora, a 59 year old Canadian, was reported missing by her husband Saturday morning.
Jill Begora, 59, was reported missing by her husband Saturday morning as the Royal Caribbean cruise ship ”Jewel of the Seas” pulled into Nassau, the Bahamian capital, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Dana Warr said.
The cruise ship arrived early today to Broward County’s Port Everglades, where Coast Guard officials conducted an onboard investigation, the Coast Guard said.
The ship’s crew filed a missing person’s report with the Coast Guard after a search of the vessel turned up no sign of Begora, Warr said.
Jill Begora is believed to have fallen over board as after a full search of the ship provided no evidence in her disappearance.
”They did a full ship search and there was no evidence that she had left the ship in Nassau,” leading authorities to believe she may have fallen overboard, Warr said.
A Coast Guard C-130 plane was conducting an overhead search about 25 miles northeast of Nassau, the area where the ship was when Begora was first reported missing, Warr said.
According to CBC News, U.S. Coast Guard and Bahamian naval boats have called off a search for Jill Begora.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Bahamian naval boats have called off a search for a Canadian woman who mysteriously disappeared while on a cruise ship off the Bahamas.
Officials said they feared Jill Begora, 59, may have fallen overboard as she traveled on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Jewel of the Seas on the weekend.
Late Sunday, Warr said the search had been called off and wouldn’t resume.
He said the ship had arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where it was searched by Coast Guard staff.
The investigation will be turned over to the FBI, officials said.
This disappearance comes off the much publicized missing groom cruise ship missing persons case where George Allen Smith IV disappeared aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas.
The family of missing cruise-ship passenger George Allen Smith IV said Friday they plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Miami-Based Royal Caribbean.
The timing could not be any worse for Royal Caribbean as Connecticut Congressman Christopher Shays is scheduled to hold congressional hearings on the cruise industry this week stemming from many missing person’s accounts that were questionably handled.
Royal Caribbean officials say passenger safety is the company’s top priority.
Connecticut Congressman Christopher Shays is holding congressional hearings on the cruise industry next week.
Royal Caribbean didn’t immediately respond to requests seeking comment in the disappearance of Jill Begora.
The Jewel of the Seas is one of the Florida-based companies newer cruise ships and can hold 2,100 guests, according to Royal Caribbean’s website.
Full AP story, Coast Guard, Bahamas search for woman missing from cruise ship
“We’ll start (searching) again (Monday) if requested” by Bahamian authorities, said Warr, who called finding someone in the ocean “one of the hardest things the Coast Guard has to do.”
“You’re talking about thousands of square miles of water,” he said of the search area.
The cruise ship arrived early Sunday to Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades, where Coast Guard officials conducted an onboard investigation. The findings will be turned over to the FBI.
Discussion forum for Jill Begora
December 11th, 2005 at 10:41pm
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