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I N V E S T I G AT I O N HONEYMOON OVER George and Jennifer Smith’s Royal Caribbean honeymoon cruise ended prematurely last July, the night George vanished. Did he fall or was he pushed? Where was Jennifer? Who were the young Russians in their cabin? The F.B.I. remains silent, but almost everyone else is talking BY BRYAN BURROUGH

n Monday evening, July 4, 2005, a mammoth, multi- tiered cruise ship, Brilliance of the Seas, weighed anchor and eased out of the harbor at the Greek Oisland of Mykonos, in the Aegean Sea. It was the sixth night of the ship’s 12-day circling of the Mediterranean, a voyage begun in Barcelona the previous Wednes- day. Captain Michael Lachtaridis of the Royal Caribbean line, which owns the ship, ordered a course DANGER AT SEA north by northeast. The ship was Brilliance of the Seas, with scheduled to reach the Turkish Stateroom 9062 circled, port of Kusadasi around dawn. departing Miami, February E L

3, 2006; inset, George R

Aboard that night were 2,300 E B

and Jennifer poolside on E guests, most of them Americans. graders upon their re- D One was a handsome, muscular their honeymoon. turn, had a stateroom terward, they headed to the casino and then D O T

26-year-old honey- with a balcony on to the discotheque, where they were seen Y B

mooner named George Allen Smith IV, Deck Nine. After a day among the white- drinking with a circle of shipboard acquain- H P A

whose family owns a popular liquor store in washed villas of Mykonos—the highlight of tances late into the night. R G O

the upper-crust Connecticut town of Cos which was an unlikely encounter with the It should have been another fun, frolic- T O H

Cob, near Greenwich. Smith and his at- actress Tara Reid, who was filming her now some evening, the first night of the rest of P

E

tractive blonde bride of 10 days, Jennifer, canceled show, Taradise—the Smiths re- their lives. But what started out as a story G R A

who was to begin a new job teaching third- turned to the ship for a romantic dinner. Af- suited for Jimmy Buffett turned out to be L

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one for Agatha Christie. Sometime in the months. “Now that the Holloway case is George IV and his older sister, Bree, now hours before dawn George Smith van- going nowhere, everyone is looking for the a lawyer in Hong Kong, grew up. ished, presumably fallen overboard into next big thing,” a cable booker told me in His family remembers George IV as a the dark Aegean. All that was found the January. “I guess this is it.” fun-loving, free-spirited boy who grew up next day was a single ugly bloodstain on The Smith coverage, however, has been doing the things American boys do. He a life-raft canopy beneath his balcony— oddly circumspect, in part because the played driveway basketball, rode his bicycle just the first macabre detail in an extraor- F.B.I. has asked witnesses to refrain from for miles, and was on the football team at dinary set of clues, quasi-witnesses, possible discussing what happened that night. But Greenwich High before being sidelined by suspects, and grieving relatives that have if you talk to the bookers and reporters a bout of mononucleosis. The family joker, become fodder for the nonfiction soap op- who have followed the case since the be- George was a devotee of the British sit- eras that unscroll on the cable-television ginning, it becomes clear that everyone com The Office. In the family, and later at “justice” shows. Was it an accident? Or knows who the “persons of interest” are. Babson College, in Wellesley, Massachu- murder? Or something else? Strangely, their names have been setts, where he studied kept out of the press for months HIGH SPIRITS computer science and ight after night, and are only now trickling into A 2003 photo received a business de- on , Joe Scarborough and view. In the vacuum, cable hosts of George Smith III, gree, he was known as NRita Cosby on left, with George Smith a whiz with anything MSNBC, and Larry IV at their Cos Cob electronic. “He was the King and Nancy Grace Liquor store, in Cos Cob, go-to person for all that on CNN have repeat- Connecticut. kind of stuff,” says Bree. ed the tantalizing par- “Still, when something ticulars: The blood- goes wrong, I think I’ll ask stain. The “misplaced” George, and it just hits me. You wife. The flirtatious can’t ask George anymore.” casino boss. The ugly At Babson, where he pledged scene in the disco. The the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraterni- troublesome “Russian ty, George was known as a friend- boys.” The bottle of ab- ly, quiet student who suffered sinthe. The suspicious through an extended breakup with noises inside the Smiths’ a longtime girlfriend. “A sweet stateroom. The cop lis- guy, not too chatty, he wasn’t the tening through the wall. center of attention at a bar, but he The “thud.” was well liked by everybody,” re- Just about everyone members a wom- on television appears to believe George an who knew him Smith was the victim of foul play, though there. “Like every the F.B.I., which is investigating, hasn’t said “I THINK THERE ARE ARRESTS college student, he a word. The longer the case remains un- COMING DOWN,“ SAYS MAUREEN SMITH. “MY partied pretty hard, solved, the darker its undertones grow. Al- but we all did.” legations of a Royal Caribbean “cover-up” SON WAS MURDERED ON THIS CRUISE SHIP.” After gradua- have been tossed about while journalists[ tion, George took and congressmen murmur about the dan- have been left to examine side issues: a job with a computer firm in Stamford, gers lurking aboard cruise ships. whether Royal Caribbean “contaminated” Connecticut, doing research on Internet The case was actually slow to attract the “crime scene”; whether its officials search engines. He later moved on to a firm national attention, in large part because “abandoned” Jennifer Hagel-Smith in Tur- in suburban Boston, where his boss, a Smith’s family remained silent during the key following her husband’s disappearance; Ph.D. named Amanda Watlington, remem- early stages of the F.B.I.’s investigation, but whether cruise ships are safe. All three ideas bers him as a favorite employee, a hard in November, frustrated by what they char- are being pushed by plaintiff’s attorneys, worker who took vacation time at Christ- acterized as a lack of information from who smell big money in filing lawsuits mas to help his father at Cos Cob Liquor. Royal Caribbean, Smith’s wife and parents against Royal Caribbean. Valid or not, this “I cannot remember him ever having an hired attorneys. A month later they went kind of marginalia has tended to obscure unkind word for anyone,” says Watlington. public, granting interviews to King and the central question: What really happened “He was a big, gentle man.” Scarborough, and making statements be- to George Smith? In 2003, George surprised his family by fore a congressional hearing investigating quitting his job and coming home to work cruise-ship security. he Smiths have been a fixture in the at the family store. “It was the pull of fam- In short order Smith became the first Greenwich area for decades. The first ily—absolutely the pull of family,” says Wat- white male prominently featured in the five- T George Allen Smith, a major-league lington. year boomlet of Missing White Women pitcher in the 1910s and early 1920s, taught “At his job, you know, he worked at a media sagas that began with the murder of high-school math there for years. His son, desk from eight to six every day, and he Washington intern Chandra Levy in 2001 George Allen Smith II, was a dentist and said he couldn’t sit in front of a computer and have endured through the coverage of prominent horse breeder. George Smith anymore,” says Maureen. N A

Laci Peterson and others. The Smith case III, the missing George’s father, is an ac- “He needed more social interaction,” V I L L

quickly elbowed out the dwindling updates countant who purchased the Greenwich adds Bree. U S

surrounding the disappearance of Alaba- area’s oldest liquor store, Cos Cob Liquor, George moved into an apartment in By- W E R

ma teenager Natalee Holloway in Aru- in 1982. He and his British-born wife, Mau- ram, close to Cos Cob, and set to work up- D N

ba, of which there has been little news in reen, live in neighboring Glenville, where dating the store’s computer systems and A

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building its Web site. His father hoped Maureen adds with a sigh. “George’s father George and Jennifer appeared to be hav- George would take over the business and I had been on several cruises, and we ing a wonderful time those first few days. someday, and George was laying plans to encouraged them to go cruising. We said Photographs show them embracing by the move aggressively into Internet liquor he’d love it. But, you know, once you delve pool—George shirtless and buff, Jennifer sales. A handsome young man devoted to into it, that can be a pretty sinister world. beaming with happiness and love. They weight lifting, he began each day with a You have no idea.” certainly sounded as if they were having trip to the gym, and soon his father no- fun. On the second night, after many of the ticed the store seemed to be building its hey met the ship in Barcelona. All that passengers had spent the day prowling female customer base. “So many women Wednesday afternoon, on June 29, as Villefranche-sur-Mer, in France, the din of would come into the store,” says his moth- T Brilliance of the Seas sat quietly at an- partying from the Smiths’ room kept their er, “just to see George. But he was so, so chor in the harbor, guests climbed the gang- neighbor, a man named Cletus Hyman, loyal to Jennifer.” way and spread throughout the ship, find- awake until almost 3:30 A.M. The next George met Jennifer Hagel in 2002. He ing their staterooms and getting their first morning Hyman walked by the guest- and some friends had taken a summer share look at the casino, the disco, the restau- relations desk and asked what could be in a dilapidated rental house in Newport, rants, and the three swimming pools. Bril- done. If it happened again, he was told, Rhode Island, and when his shower broke liance of the Seas is one of the largest of call the desk, and they would handle it. down, he began using the bathroom of an Royal Caribbean’s 19 ships, a 90,000-ton On the third day, Friday, the ship docked upstairs apartment whose tenants included behemoth with 12 passenger decks, pow- in Italy, and hundreds of passengers piled Jennifer’s brother, Johnny. “George was very ered by gas turbines. It sails 52 weeks a into taxis and buses for an outing in Flor- quiet about his relationships, at least with year, spending summers off the coast of ence. The Smiths shared a car with a us, but suddenly we started hearing the Europe and winters in the Ca- 20-year-old community- name Jennifer a lot,” says Bree. “My broth- ribbean. The ship is manned by LAST DANCE college student from Cal- er was a serial monogamist, but he and Jen- about 850 Royal Caribbean em- George dances with ifornia’s Orange County nifer seemed to get quite serious quite fast.” ployees and can house as many Jennifer to “Into the named Josh Askin, who A pretty platinum blonde, Mystic” at their June remained friendly with Jennifer grew up in the nearby wedding, in Newport, them after their return town of Cromwell, where her Rhode Island. to the ship. Askin, who father, a former policeman, runs was traveling with his a construction business. Her podiatrist father, his mother, and two mother is a real-estate agent. siblings, is described as an avid snow- Jennifer attended Trinity Col- boarder and, according to his high- lege, in Hartford, and was, school yearbook, was once voted when she met George, work- “Most Likely to Marry for Money.” ing toward a master’s degree at “Josh was young, you know, a cute Roger Williams University, in California boy,” says a person who Bristol, Rhode Island. Before met him aboard Brilliance of the Seas. the Smiths realized it, Jennifer “The kind of boy who just wants to had moved into George’s apart- have fun.” ment, and the couple seemed to be spending every available min- strange series of events tran- ute together. On Monday, his spired aboard Brilliance of the day off, George would swing A Seas in the days after it left It- by a Fresh Fields market to aly. Mystery still shrouds many of the buy Jennifer’s favorite, Chilean basic facts, and divining the truth sea bass, which he barbecued requires storming a defensive line of outdoors no matter the weath- F.B.I. agents, corporate executives, er. “That was actually my en- and uncooperative attorneys; all have gagement gift for him—a new their own agendas, few of which— grill—because every time we at the moment, at least—entail di- went over there, even in win- vulging much to re- ter, we had to sit outside while George porters. Push a little grilled,” says Maureen. “In our coats.” and it’s clear many George and Jennifer spent long hours “I LOOKED OUT MY DOOR. don’t have all that together finalizing details of their wed- AND THAT’S WHEN I SAW THE MALE SUBJECTS,” much information ding, which was held at the waterside to divulge. Castle Hill Inn & Resort, in Newport, SAYS CLETE HYMAN. “THREE MALE SUBJECTS.” Another thing that’s on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in [ clear is that, besides late June. They danced their first dance to as 2,500 guests. It has a spa, a full-service Josh Askin, George and Jennifer Smith Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.” The next medical facility staffed by doctors and met another group of young, hard-partying day, running late for a limousine that would nurses, and even a brig for unruly pas- vacationers—four boisterous young Russian- take them home and then to the airport, sengers. American men whose activities aboard the newlyweds hurried away from the fami- The Smiths unpacked their things in Brilliance of the Seas are now a focus of ly luncheon before saying good-bye to Bree. Stateroom 9062, a narrow space lined with the F.B.I. investigation into George’s dis- “I never got a chance to say good-bye,” a couch on one side, burled-wood cabinets appearance. The four were traveling with she says. on the other, and a double bed next to relatives; their group, numbering eight peo- “But we all have our guilty moments,” the balcony’s sliding door. By all accounts, ple in all, consisted of two families named

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Rozenberg. One, from South Florida, is hair, nice smile, huge hands.” An attor- The most detailed account of what hap- headed by Mikhail and Larisa Rozenberg. ney with knowledge of the younger Rozen- pened in the casino comes from Askin’s at- The second family, believed to be from bergs describes them as muscular and torney, C. Keith Greer. According to him, Brighton Beach, a Russian section of Brook- streetwise. Askin noticed Jennifer becoming “cozy” lyn, is headed by Michael and Angela Ro- But if little is known of the Rozenbergs’ with a strikingly handsome South African zenberg. Between them the families had backgrounds, a good deal is emerging croupier named Lloyd Botah. When the three sons aboard, all said to be in their about their activities aboard Brilliance casino closed at 2:30, the Smiths, along teens or early 20s: Jeffrey, Zachary, and of the Seas. According to several people with Askin, crowded into an elevator, head- Greg. Also in the group was a burly Brigh- involved with the case, Kofman and the ing for the disco. Also in the elevator, Greer ton Beach 20-year-old named Rostislav Rozenberg boys first attracted attention on says, was Botah, who stood beside Jen- “Rusty” Kofman. Sunday night, July 3, five days into the nifer—too close, by Askin’s estimation. “He cruise. The ship’s solarium, which con- was definitely stepping over professional ne of the oddest things about the tains a hot tub, was a favored after-hours boundaries,” says Greer. “It was awkward, Smith case has been the media’s re- “hookup” area, where young people flirt- but I don’t know that George noticed it at O luctance to identify these young men. ed and occasionally slipped off to quiet li- the time.” Botah’s attorney, Andrew Rier In a situation with striking similarities— aisons. The solarium is a nonsmoking area, of Miami, denies that his client flirted with the Natalee Holloway case—three young however, and at least one of the Rozen- Jennifer. men last seen with Holloway were pub- berg group lit up cigarettes. When admon- In the disco, according to all accounts, licly identified within days of her disap- ished to stop by a ship’s officer, one or the group was joined by Kofman and two pearance; for months afterward, the main more of the men allegedly cursed at him of the Rozenberg boys. They sat around a suspect, a Dutch student named Joran van and kept on smoking. table with George as several of the group der Sloot, was endlessly discussed on the The next morning—the day the ship took shots from a bottle of absinthe, the cable justice shows. docked in Mykonos—a report on the in- green, highly potent liquor that is illegal Something different happened in the cident crossed Marie Breheret’s desk. Bre- in most of the West and isn’t sold aboard Smith case. For months Askin was the on- heret was the ship’s guest-relations manag- Brilliance of the Seas. Royal Caribbean ly one the press identified, after his at- er, and she had begun the cruise expecting officials have suggested that the bottle torney spoke last summer to Katie Couric things like this; with high schools and col- was probably smuggled aboard the ship on the Today show and on Dateline NBC. leges on summer break, Brilliance of the against the rules. Before long, all accounts agree, both George and Jennifer were very drunk. Askin, meanwhile, remained uncom- “WE HAD NO JUSTIFICATION FOR INVADING fortably aware that Jennifer was sitting A GUEST CABIN . . . [DUE TO] ONE SIMPLE PARTYING very close to Botah, says Greer. Accord- ing to Kofman’s attorney, Albert Dayan, NOISE COMPLAINT,” ROYAL CARIBBEAN STATED. she was “draping herself”over other men. [ In time George noticed and objected. Even after that, most press outlets de- Seas had an unusually high number of Three people—Rusty Kofman’s attorney, clined to identify him. Rostislav Kofman, teenagers on board. She telephoned one set as well as a 24-year-old man whose name I learned from a cable book- of Rozenberg parents—apparently the Flori- named Dominick Mazza and a Phoenix er in December, was not publicly named da family, Mikhail and Larisa—and asked schoolteacher named Margarita Chaves, until January, by the New York Post. This them to her office. There Breheret took both of whom spoke to the Associated article is the first to name the Rozenbergs. them into the hotel director’s office. As she Press—say George and Jennifer engaged Why the disparity in coverage? One recalls the meeting, “we basically explained in a brief argument that culminated with likely explanation arises after a talk with to them that . . . Well, I reminded them of Jennifer kicking her new husband in the the Rozenbergs’ New York attorney, Ar- our Guest Vacation Policy, and we told groin and walking angrily out of the disco. thur Gershfeld. Gershfeld, himself a Rus- them that any further occurrence of this be- According to Askin’s account, Botah fol- sian émigré, is a former assistant district havior would cause us to disembark these lowed her. attorney in Brooklyn and an unsuccessful boys. The parents apologized and promised Askin says he didn’t see the fight. “He candidate for the New York State Assem- their kids would be supervised, and there only learned of it from a media account,” bly. When I told him I expected to print won’t be any further problems.” says Greer. Rier denies that Botah followed his clients’ names, he tersely threatened to The Rozenbergs had been put on no- Jennifer anywhere. “He left the disco be- sue me. tice. The problems with their children, how- tween 3:10 and 3:20,” the lawyer says, “These kids are being put through a ever, were only beginning. “and when he left, George and Jennifer tremendous amount of stress for some- and all those kids were still there. He thing they didn’t do,” he says. “I personal- hat night, as Brilliance of the Seas left didn’t see anything like [an altercation]. He ly don’t think the feds are ever going to Mykonos for the Turkish coast, George went right back to his room.” For her part, charge them with anything.” T and Jennifer Smith headed to the ca- Jennifer has insisted she remembers noth- sino after dinner. Jennifer has said they ing after leaving the casino. If so, it’s possi- n part because of Gershfeld’s admo- hoped to meet up with another couple they ble she suffered an alcohol-induced black- nitions, very little is known about the had gotten to know. Instead, by all ac- out. IRozenberg group beyond names and counts, they spent much of the evening Shortly after the Smiths’ disagreement, addresses. The four young men are all gambling separately, Jennifer playing black- at about 3:30, the disco closed. Of the said to be students, although where they jack, George at a craps table, teaching young men with George at the time, only attend school is unknown. A reporter Josh Askin the game. Three of the Rus- two—Josh Askin and Rusty Kofman, via who encountered Rusty Kofman describes sian boys, including Kofman, were also their attorneys—have publicly given a ver- him as “a strapping young guy, cropped in the casino. sion of what happened next. According

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to both, George was too drunk to walk a fight. An argument. That went on for a By Hyman’s estimation, this lasted eight unaided, so Askin and the three Russian minute or so.” minutes or so. At that point, sounds moved boys helped him to his cabin. By now, Hyman estimates, it was 4:15. toward the balcony. Two metal chairs were When they arrived at the stateroom, At that point, he could hear voices mov- there, and Hyman says he heard at least one however, Jennifer wasn’t there. George ing across the room, toward the door. “You being moved. And then, silence. For a min- wanted to find her. According to one ac- could definitely hear a voice ushering peo- ute or two, Hyman says, he heard no sound. count, George changed his shirt and then, ple out of the room,” he says. “‘Good Then, roughly between 4:20 and 4:25 A.M., with Askin and the three Russian boys, night,’ ‘Good night,’ ‘Good night,’ repeat- Hyman heard what he describes as “a hor- headed to the solarium, where the cruise edly. I hear the door close. And then I rific thud”—so violent he felt the vibration ship’s younger crowd tended to congregate waited a little bit, 10 seconds or so, and I in his bed. after hours. Jennifer wasn’t there either. looked out my door. And that’s when I saw “My first thought was that someone The group then guided George back to the male subjects. Three male subjects.” fell on the balcony—not off,” he says. “But because it was so loud, I discarded that thought. Someone would have to be very heavy to make that sound. The second “WE ENCOURAGED THEM TO GO CRUISING,” thought I had is that, well, they had been SAYS MAUREEN. “BUT . . . ONCE YOU DELVE INTO IT, moving furniture. I thought maybe they were throwing furniture overboard. It THAT CAN BE A PRETTY SINISTER WORLD.” sounded heavy enough to be a couch. I [ didn’t look out. There was total silence af- his room, arriving at 4:02—a time verified This is a crucial moment. If George ter that. I didn’t hear any screams, any by a computerized monitoring system that Smith was still alive in his room—and movements, after that.” tracks when key cards are used to open there’s no reason to believe he wasn’t—the Presumably the “thud” was the sound stateroom doors. George Smith was never three men Hyman saw can probably be of George Smith going over the balcony seen alive again. cleared of any involvement in his death. and hitting the canopy below. The critical But Hyman, out of respect for the F.B.I. question remains: Was he pushed? Or was wo versions of what happened next— probe, won’t say whom he saw. He won’t he alone? Ordinarily, Hyman says, he could so far the only ones that have been even say if he has identified whom he saw. hear the Smiths leaving their cabin; he T made public—come from people whose “Sorry, I won’t even go that far,” he says. could hear their door open. After the thud, staterooms flanked the Smiths’. The more “I saw three suspects. All I can say.” he did not hear the door open. If someone detailed of the two comes from Clete Hy- was inside Stateroom 9062 when George man, who, as it happens, makes an ex- n the other side of the Smith state- met his fate, the person slipped out with- cellent witness. Hyman is the deputy police room, vacationers Greg and Pat Law- out making a sound. Hyman acknowledges chief in Redlands, California. He has 31 O yer, who heard many of the same the possibility. (Royal Caribbean’s moni- years of experience in law enforcement. sounds as Clete Hyman but not all, did not toring system can’t clear up the mystery. It According to Hyman, he was awakened see the young men leave. But they heard notes the opening of a stateroom door when a few minutes after four A.M. by “loud them speaking. Two of the three young a key card is used, but not when a door cheering—what sounded like a college men, they claim, had accents. The Lawyers’ is opened from within.) drinking game” in the Smiths’ stateroom. account does not contradict Hyman’s key The next thing Hyman heard came Irked, he pounded on the wall. The sounds assertion: only three men left the room. three or four minutes after the “horrific subsided for a minute or two before re- If Josh Askin is correct, four young men thud.” Two Royal Caribbean security men, suming. Hyman picked up his telephone had taken George back to his room: Askin, responding to Hyman’s earlier call, walked and complained to the operator, who as- Rusty Kofman, and the two Rozenbergs. down the corridor and approached the sured him the situation would be investi- Kofman’s attorney, Albert Dayan, insists Smiths’ door. They heard no sound from gated. “There were two times the yelling that all four left at the same time—that inside. There was no reply to their knock. came to a crescendo and dropped off,” he Hyman miscounted. But if only three left, Assuming the party was over, they didn’t recalls. “After I banged on the wall, it nev- that might mean someone was still in the attempt to enter. Hyman remained in his er reached a high pitch again. Then, ba- room with George. Or it might not—that room and did not talk to the officers, sically, it was what I’d call party noise. is, if one of the men had left earlier, as who walked away. “Security left believ- Loud talking. For about five minutes it Hyman thought possible. As of this writ- ing all was well,” Royal Caribbean noted was just loud talking.” ing, no one is certain who was in the room in a time line it issued. “We had no jus- At one point, Hyman heard voices drift after 4:15. tification for invading a guest cabin on toward the stateroom door. He thought— Whatever the case, Clete Hyman con- the basis of one simple partying noise but wasn’t certain—that at least one voice tinued to listen through the thin walls. He complaint.” could be heard in the corridor. If so, is certain he heard someone talking—“in a Hyman laid his head on the pillow and someone may have left the room—an im- conversational tone”—but he heard only tried to go back to sleep. portant detail, as the rest of his account a single voice. At the same time, he began makes clear. Hyman tried to go back to to hear louder noises. “There was move- osh Askin, via his attorney, denies sleep, but it was no use. Suddenly, he ment in the room, and again this was he played any part in George Smith’s says, “out of the blue, and I’m trying to sporadic,” Hyman says. “It sounded like Jdisappearance. He indicates that he, drift in and out of sleep, there was a someone going in and out of cupboards, Kofman, and the two Rozenbergs stayed loud argument on the balcony. Three drawers, maybe furniture being moved. with George for 10 or 15 minutes, during voices. I could not make out [what they The thoughts that go to my mind is that which Askin used the bathroom. He says were saying], and I didn’t really attempt they were cleaning the room—they had a that everyone departed by 4:15, leaving to. These voices were raised. And you party there, and they were cleaning. I was no one inside but George. Rusty Kofman’s know, it sounded like an argument. Not very happy.” attorney disputes this time line, placing

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everything several minutes earlier; he says could have prevented it or, at the very Her attorney, James Walker, has suggest- his client and the two Rozenbergs were least, raised the alarm had he fallen ed that Jennifer may have been drugged. all back in Kofman’s room by four, and overboard. If George was the victim of It’s also possible that someone led her claims to have a time-stamped photo prov- foul play, she might also have prevented to the alcove and left her there—and she ing it. Whatever the timing, Kofman in- that. Or she too might have ended up in forgot about it after a blackout. And it’s sists the last he saw of George Smith was the Aegean. at least conceivable that she did in fact when the boys left him on his bed; George But Jennifer apparently did not return return to the stateroom and then left once was so grateful, he says, that he actual- to her room. From the disco she took the more. The most likely explanation, how- ly kissed one of the boys and promised elevator down to Deck Nine, but she was ever, is that Jennifer was so drunk she be- to buy them a round of drinks the next evidently so drunk she became disorient- came confused. When her husband tum- day. According to Askin, he went to Kof- ed. Instead of turning right, into the long bled overboard, she was passed out in a hallway.

ccording to Royal Caribbean, a secu- rity guard found Jennifer a little af- A ter 4:30—just about the same time the two other security guards responded to Clete Hyman’s complaint and found the Smith stateroom silent. On a walkie-talkie, the guard who found Jennifer buzzed the nurse on duty that morning. The nurse sug- gested he apply a wet paper towel to her forehead and attempt to rouse her. This he did. Jennifer woke, gave her name and stateroom number, and said, “I’m O.K.” Two more security men appeared and

man’s room with the others and was back in his own stateroom by 5:15 A.M. Where was Mrs. George Smith during all this? PARADISE LOST For months there was spec- Above, George Smith ulation about Jennifer’s where- on his honeymoon; abouts in the hours before right, a stateroom with and after her husband re- balcony on Brilliance turned to their stateroom. In of the Seas. interviews she has given, she insists she remembers nothing after leav- ing the casino. On its face, this might ap- pear suspicious. No guest came forward to establish where she had been. Indeed, the questions surrounding her whereabouts lay thinly atop the big question: Did Jen- nifer Hagel-Smith have anything to do with her husband’s disappearance? The mystery began to clear up in Janu- ary, when Royal Caribbean issued its time line of events. According to several wit- nesses, Jennifer was seen leaving the disco at about 3:15—just minutes before George “MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS THAT SOMEONE and his friends left. It should have taken FELL ON THE BALCONY—NOT OFF,” SAYS HYMAN. her less than five minutes to return to her stateroom. If she had walked directly there, “IT SOUNDED HEAVY ENOUGH TO BE A COUCH.” she might have been there when George [ was partying with Askin and the Russian port corridor that led to their stateroom, helped Jennifer to her feet. She was able to boys—the “drinking games” Clete Hyman she turned left, into the starboard corri- walk, but not well. Rather than frog-march heard began around 4, which continued dor. From there she walked until the cor- her through the hallways in this condition, until at least 4:20. In fact, had Jennifer re- ridor ended in an alcove. In the alcove two of the three men walked the length of turned to the room, there’s little doubt was a maintenance door. It was locked. the ship to the Smith stateroom. They ar- the night would have ended differently. Jennifer slumped against the wall, slid to rived at the door at 4:48, 15 minutes after If George met an accidental death, she the floor, and fell asleep. the first pair’s visit. There is no indication

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the second pair of security men knew of A page for Mr. and Mrs. George Smith He said they were probably in their state- the first pair. “So they knock,” says Bill was announced on the ship’s intercom. Af- room, asleep. Later, once it became clear Wright, a Royal Caribbean senior vice ter a few minutes, a spa attendant called to George was missing, Askin was paged to president, “and no one answers. So they say Jennifer was in a massage room. Three be questioned. “When Joshua heard the go in, look in the bathroom, look around. officers went down to meet her. She said announcement,” says Breheret, “he came No one’s there. That’s it. They were just she had no idea where her husband was. to us with his mom. When Jennifer ar- looking for her companion.” She said she assumed he might be sleeping rived, Mrs. Askin was acting very mother- A wheelchair was summoned for Jen- somewhere else aboard ship. The officers, ly toward Jennifer. She was hugging her. nifer, and she was accompanied back to her who refrained from mentioning the blood- She kept saying, ‘Don’t worry, we will stateroom by two security men and a fe- stains for fear of alarming find him.’ I thought they were male employee. They re-entered her cabin Jennifer, escorted her to a IN COLD BLOOD? friends. I thought they were at 4:57. The three Royal Caribbean offi- nurse’s office. Marie Bre- Below, Clete Hyman cruising all together.” cers guided Jennifer to the bed, appears on Scarborough where she lay down atop the Country; bottom, oth Jennifer and Askin covers. Today, Royal Caribbean the bloodstain as it was were led ashore to be says none of its men noticed featured on that show. B interviewed by the Turk- anything amiss—no signs of a ish police; neither Rusty Kof- struggle, blood trails, or any- man nor any of the Rozenbergs was in- thing that would remotely terviewed. Police also boarded the ship, suggest wrongdoing. As they photographed the bloodstained canopy, were leaving, Clete Hyman and searched the Smiths’ stateroom. Ac- stuck his head out the door cording to Greer, Askin’s attorney, they of his room and told them found droplets of blood on a bedsheet of his earlier complaint. He and a towel. Greer, who has reviewed urged them to go inside. They Turkish documents on the case, says the said they had just been inside. amount of blood was small—not, he in- Hyman returned to bed. sists, an amount consistent with someone Jennifer slept about three being stabbed or seriously injured. “It wasn’t hours, until eight o’clock. When something that someone was hiding,” he she woke and found no sign says. “This was on a boat, remember. If you of George, she later told au- do something nefarious, you throw it over- thorities, she didn’t worry. board and it’s gone forever. You don’t leave She claimed he had slept out- it lying around.” side their stateroom at least The Turks later turned over their find- one other evening during the ings to the F.B.I. So did Royal Caribbean, cruise. The Smiths had mas- which says it has given the F.B.I. nearly sage appointments at 8:30. 100 tapes from security cameras around She kept hers and later said the ship. With permission from the au- she expected her husband thorities, Captain Lachtaridis ordered the would show up at the spa. bloodstains hosed off at six that even- When he didn’t, she went on ing, and prepared to with her massage anyway. By this time leave Turkey. Sever- line, George Smith had not been seen al days later he filed for more than four hours. “SINCE WHEN DOES A CRUISE LINE a report with author- HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO BECOME A C.S.I. UNIT ities in the Bahamas, t about the time Jennifer Hagel-Smith where the ship is arrived for her massage, several pas- AND SOLVE CRIMES?” ASKS ONE PASSENGER. chartered, terming A sengers on their balconies had no-[ George’s disappear- ticed the bloodstain on the white canopy. heret came in and, with other officers, gen- ance a “probable” accident; the Smith- A group of ship’s officers examined it, as tly explained the situation. family attorneys have used this to suggest a did Captain Lachtaridis. All knew what this “She was like a zombie,” Breheret says. Royal Caribbean cover-up. A Royal Carib- might mean: Brilliance of the Seas was ex- “She was just desperate. She had a look bean attorney says the captain acted on a periencing what Royal Caribbean terms an in her eyes that said, ‘Help me.’ She was premature assumption and calls the report’s “overboard situation.” crying. She seemed to be confused. We filing “a stupid mistake.” But who went overboard? There were called in the doctor, to make sure she was There is no suggestion that anyone four decks of staterooms above the blood- O.K. She couldn’t go back to the room. seriously considered mounting an ocean stains. Captain Lachtaridis ordered a check So we found an empty cabin. I took her search. The ship had covered nearly 200 of the four staterooms directly above the there. Because she couldn’t get any clothes, miles the previous night; George Smith, blood, plus the eight rooms on either side. we opened the shop to get her some or his body, could be anywhere. Jennifer, Guests’ entry onto and exit from the ship clothes. They all had the Royal Caribbean meanwhile, telephoned her parents in Con- is monitored via a card system called Sea- logo. Those are the only items we sell, necticut, who broke the news to the Smith pass; it took only minutes to establish that you know.” family. She then boarded a Lufthansa flight many of the guests in those rooms had A few minutes after the Smiths were for home. already gone ashore. It took less than an paged, Askin approached a ship’s officer That evening Brilliance of the Seas left hour to determine that the Smiths were and volunteered that he had been party- the Turkish coast and headed back into the only guests not accounted for. ing with the Smiths late the previous night. the Aegean toward Athens, where it would

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anchor the next morning at the Greek On Thursday, July 7, an elderly passen- Rusty Kofman, via his attorney, Albert port of Piraeus. The drama involving the ger had a heart attack and died. After the Dayan, has addressed it publicly, acknowl- Smiths was over, but troubles with Ros- ship docked at Naples the next morn- edging that Kofman took part, but claim- tislav Kofman and the Rozenberg boys ing, Breheret spent the day helping the ing the sex was consensual. Dayan says were just picking up steam. Two more in- widow. Which is why she didn’t get in- Kofman was asleep in his room that night cidents involving them allegedly occurred volved that morning when a 20-year-old when one of the Rozenbergs telephoned over the next 48 hours. One evening, ship woman—her identity has not been made him, told him they were having sex with officials say, Greg Rozenberg was carded public—arrived at the medical center and, a young woman they had met in the ship’s at the disco. His passport indicated he was according to one source, asked a nurse solarium area, and asked him to bring 17. He insisted he was 18. Marie Breheret about the morning-after pill. The nurse his camera, which he did. Askin’s attorney was summoned, as were Greg’s parents. sensed something was amiss, and gently says his client took no part in the incident According to attorneys familiar with what pressed the girl, who during the ensuing whatsoever. The Rozenbergs’ attorney, happened, the parents argued to Breheret conversation said she had been the victim Arthur Gershfeld, refuses to discuss it. that the passport was in error, that Greg of a rape. was in fact 18, but Greg was barred from What happened next is eanwhile,word spread the disco. hazy at best; no one directly BEARING WITNESS that the young men On another occasion, Breheret took a involved in handling the girl’s Jennifer listens to involved in the rape testimony in Congress M about the disappearance allegation were the same of her husband, young men rumored to December 13, 2005. have been last seen with George Smith. “When we realized it was the same names involved, I was concerned for our safety,” says a person who was traveling with the girl involved in the rape allegations. “Especially when we made some accusations. I was concerned—where was all this going to lead?” Royal Caribbean officials, how- ever, moved swiftly to defuse the situation. Hours after the girl had come forward, both Rozenberg fam- ilies and the Askin family—13 peo- ple in all—were escorted off the ship. A number of guests gathered on balconies to see them go. “We watched this group as they walked off and down to their luggage on the dock,” says the person travel- ing with the girl. “We were just tickled to death [they were gone]. I watched them go down through security at the end of the dock, and it was obvious that Italian cus-

call from one of the women who answered room-service calls. She complained that Kofman and the Rozenberg boys had “JENNIFER WAS LIKE A ZOMBIE,” phoned in an order and, during the course BREHERET SAYS. “SHE WAS JUST DESPERATE. SHE HAD of ordering, cursed at her. Breheret picked up the phone, called the boys, and took A LOOK IN HER EYES THAT SAID, ‘HELP ME.’” their order. She says she told them they [ would have to be more polite. They assured allegation has been willing to discuss it in toms put them through the ringer, ab- her they would be. Even so, Breheret felt detail. But according to attorneys working solutely everything they had, item by that two more incidents justified a second on the Smith investigation, the girl iden- item. It took them a long time to go meeting with the Rozenberg parents. tified those involved as Rusty Kofman and through customs.” Once again they were summoned to the the three Rozenberg boys. Once again, Afterward, the rape allegation was re- hotel director’s office. This time Breheret ship officials called in both sets of Rozen- viewed by a magistrate in Naples. Accord- was emphatic. “I would say they were berg parents, as well as Josh Askin’s par- ing to an Italian newspaper article, the helpful and nice again,” she says, “but we ents. The incident, it turned out, had been magistrate, after viewing the videotape, made it very clear; we told them that if videotaped. Attorneys on the case say one found no evidence of a crime. Others in-

this kind of situation reoccurred, we will of the Rozenberg parents produced a copy volved in the incident, however, say the F L O

ask them to leave the ship. We made it of the tape. Another copy, these attorneys magistrate did not rule on the evidence, W

N

very clear—there won’t be any further say, was “found”—they won’t say how. but instead declared that the court had I V E

warnings.” Of the young men on the tape, only no jurisdiction, and turned the case over K

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to the American Consulate. The F.B.I. is it-first-before-you-do-it-right kind of echo “I do,” says Bree. “You know, Josh Askin now investigating the case. chamber? This is a great example of this is in the media one day, this Rusty Kof- News of George Smith’s disappearance culture of cable TV and misinformation man the next. I just don’t know . . . ” generated several national media reports that starts to gain its own reality.” “I’m actually convinced that the F.B.I. last summer, including pieces by Dateline has the answers,” says Maureen, “and I NBC and A Current Affair, but all efforts to verall, Royal Caribbean has succeed- think there are arrests coming down, and dig further into the case were stymied by ed in countering the most damning there needs to be. My son was murdered the grief-stricken Smith and Hagel fami- O claims. There seems to be little sub- on this cruise ship.” lies, who refused to talk to the press. “It stance to Jennifer’s complaints of being He may well have been. But, based on was total shutdown mode,” says Brad abandoned. And while two family attor- the evidence presented thus far, I’m in- Hamilton, a reporter for the New York Post. neys—James Walker and Brett Rivkind of clined to think the four (or three) young “You went to the liquor store and employ- Miami—have eaten up hours of coverage men who departed the room that morn- ees worried they might be fired if they castigating the cruise line for “contaminat- ing left George alone and alive. Clete Hy- talked. I talked to the store’s distribu- ing” the “crime scene” by failing to seal it man emphasizes that he heard nothing tors. They were aggressively hostile. We off, several guests caught up in the furor up to that point that could be construed went to the Hagel home, on a cul-de-sac defend Royal Caribbean. “They did seal as a struggle. If one of the young men in Cromwell. The neighbors were aggres- the room; we were right next to it,” says stayed behind in the room, it would be sively hostile. For the most part, you know, Clete Hyman. “And I worked with Marie. suspicious. It’s difficult to believe that the story just went nowhere.” She was extremely compassionate and pro- Josh Askin, a college student with no pri- fessional. I see all of this, frankly, as a or links to Kofman and the Rozenberg verything changed in December, how- smoke screen erected by attorneys who are brothers, would cover up for them if ever, when both Jennifer and the only interested in money.” one of them had remained behind in E Smith family suddenly opened up, The guest who was traveling with the Smith’s cabin. If it was Askin who re- granting television interviews and agree- girl who initiated the rape allegation agrees. mained behind, it’s difficult to believe ing to testify before a congressional com- “Watching all this stuff in the press, I just the others wouldn’t finger him. Current- mittee—chaired by Connecticut’s Christo- pher Shays—investigating cruise-ship safe- ty. Both criticized Royal Caribbean: the Smiths for its supposed failure to keep “THIS WAS ON A BOAT,” SAYS ASKIN’S them apprised of the investigation into LAWYER. “IF YOU DO SOMETHING NEFARIOUS, YOU THROW George’s death, Jennifer for what she de- scribed as poor treatment by ship’s offi- IT OVERBOARD AND IT’S GONE FOREVER.” cers the day of his disappearance. She [ claims she was left alone in Turkey to fend started feeling very, very sorry for Royal ly, there’s no evidence that anyone else for herself, a contention strongly denied Caribbean,” this passenger says. “The day all visited the stateroom. by Royal Caribbean officials. this took place, with the help of the ship’s Why would someone want to kill Caught off guard, Royal Caribbean doctor, who was extremely nice, we had the George Smith anyway? There’s been spec- brought in a crisis-management team of name of the F.B.I. agent who was involved ulation that he spoke of having a large attorneys from the Washington firm of in the case, his telephone number, all that amount of cash in his stateroom, but no Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe headed stuff, within hours. This is just so different one involved in the case says any money by Lanny Davis, a special from the way Royal Caribbean has been por- was missing. A plausible scenario re- counsel to President Clinton. In early Jan- trayed. I mean, since when does a cruise line volves around an otherwise innocuous uary, when a torrent of news stories and have an obligation to become a C.S.I. unit fact that hasn’t been made public: George cable chatter surged after a holiday lull, and solve crimes? This whole thing is crazy.” Smith, like many men, apparently enjoyed the Davis team led Royal Caribbean of- While the war of words continues, the a good cigar while on vacation. At least ficials in a spirited defense against claims F.B.I. investigation drags on. Attorneys for one guest had smelled cigar smoke waft- they had neglected Jennifer, sullied the Rusty Kofman and Josh Askin say their ing from his room earlier in the cruise. “crime scene,” and downplayed George’s clients have been repeatedly interviewed The noises Hyman heard after the young death. by the F.B.I. They say the Rozenberg boys men left that morning—drawers opening They produced Marie Breheret, who have not agreed to similar interviews; the and closing—could well have been George said she had been at Jennifer’s side almost Rozenbergs’ attorney won’t say whether this hunting up a cigar. Maybe he took it every minute she spent in Turkey. They is- is true. So far, most lawyers involved in the outside to smoke and decided to sit on sued a time line laying out everything they case speculate, no one has admitted to the balcony railing. knew about what had happened, as well much of anything beyond having consen- The ship’s captain, Michael Lachtaridis, as a list of the “Top Ten Myths” about sual sex with the 20-year-old woman. With- later told Royal Caribbean executives he George’s disappearance. When Jennifer out a confession, the case may be difficult saw what he called a “butt print” on the agreed to discuss the case on Oprah, Royal to solve. “That’s what worries me,” says balcony railing—the outline of a derrière Caribbean’s president, Adam Goldstein, Clete Hyman. “That [the F.B.I.] may never in the dew the next morning. Even allow- went on the show and apologized to her come out and say anything.” ing for the captain’s premature statement for how the incident was handled. that George’s death was possibly an ac- “It’s so hard to attack back,” Davis told o what really happened to George cident, his statement can’t be discounted me. “What are you going to do, attack a Smith? entirely. “The boat was rocking pretty grieving mother? You can’t win. But they’re S Even his family isn’t sure. “We get good that night,” one passenger told me. accusing us of a criminal conspiracy, of more and more confused each day,” says “If he sat up on that railing, it wouldn’t covering up a crime. We have to figure out, Bree. be hard to fall off—especially if he was What do you do in this Internet-cable-do- “I don’t,” says Maureen. really, really drunk.” I

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