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[Music] [Music] You can't look at the water and at the sea without remembering what happened to
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George. It's got too many bad memories for me now. Oh, I miss him. Miss him every day. I
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miss his voice. I miss his phone calls. He called me all the time. I just miss him as a son.
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Pretty much every night I go to bed, I see his face. No parent should have to lose their son
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that way. Gentlemen, this is Captain Michael. May I have your attention, please? A person
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may have gone overboard last night. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that my son was murdered on that cruise
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ship. There's so much evidence. It's overwhelming. It's just been a complete and awful
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nightmare for my family and we still do not have justice for George. The first suspect is the surviving
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spouse. She said she couldn't remember anything. Eyebrows started to go up about what
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exactly did Jennifer know. But the FBI soon turned its attention from George Smith's widow to a group of
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young men, the last people to see George alive. There were sounds of a a fight, a
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struggle inside my brother's room. I heard some males arguing on the balcony. [Music]
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What we're trying to do is sort through the facts and figure out what happened that night because unfortunately this
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has become pretty much a cold case. While on the cruise, did you meet George Smith IVth?
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There was a series of questions that I asked in each of the depositions of each of the boys. Do you know what happened
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to George Smith? Were you present when George Smith went overboard? Did you kill George Smith?
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Something crazy went down that night, and I hope one day that they find out the truth.
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A 48 hours investigation has uncovered failed polygraphs, questionable alibis, and a provocative video made by some of
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the men just hours after George Smith disappeared. On the videotape, you've got them joking
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about George's death. very callous and at one point incriminating. I just can't comprehend that someone
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could snatch my brother from a cruise ship, throw him on an overhang, and dies alone in the water, and then
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nothing's done about it. The evidence is huge. Why hasn't someone been arrested?
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[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Sometimes you still think, "Ah, he might
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be still out there cuz we don't have a body. We don't have a body. It doesn't get any easier. And you know
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what? If we had our answers for George and know what happened, maybe. We don't know.
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For 10 years, Morin and George Smith have been tormented. They don't know what happened to their 26-year-old son
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aboard that cruise ship. We have to just keep pushing the buttons and we won't let it go. It's our son. It
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wasn't supposed to be this way. George Smith IV had seemed destined to have it all.
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Fine young man, handsome, hardworking. He was just an all round great kid. He was the funniest guy, you know. I
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would sit and have a couple beers with him and he'd make me laugh for the whole night. And besides, he was so
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good-looking the girls just fell all over him. It was it was a lot of fun. He was just a great guy.
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George was about to take over his father's liquor store in Greenwich, Connecticut.
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George made the store. He was much more of a lively guy than I and loved to talk
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and uh he had that gusto in him and he really wanted to take the store and build it.
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Stop by today. This is George working alongside his father in a local commercial.
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He always called me the old man because I wasn't into modern tools and techniques like he was. So, I was the
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old man. I was the dinosaur that he had to deal with. George's future seemed even brighter
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when he met Jennifer Hegel, an aspiring school teacher. I was overwhelmed with her because she
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had this dynamic personality. She was very fun-loving like him, very attractive, and he was very happy with
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her with this ring. After a three-year courtship, I the win. George and Jennifer were
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married in a ceremony overlooking the sea. It was a really lavish affair in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a
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storybook wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. George's older sister, Bri, remembers
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the day very well and how excited they were to go on their honeymoon. They were so excited to be starting
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their life together and they couldn't wait to start their cruise. I can remember shaking his hand in the
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street and saying goodbye to him. No one could ever imagine that just less than two weeks later, George would be
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missing. In late June 2005, Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas set sail from
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Barcelona. The footage you see is from a sister ship. Fellow Honeymooners Paul and
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Galina Kitnitzki were on board with the Smiths. We sat down next to one another and uh since the first day we we we
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became acquainted. The couples hit it off immediately. They were really great. I mean, they
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were just very normal, down to earth, happy people. I would say we spent a lot of time
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together. They loved the sights. I remember they were taking a lot of pictures. Like
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everywhere they went, they were like always with the camera. And back on the ship, they socialized
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into the early morning hours. I think he enjoyed himself a lot, you know, um having a drink or two.
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He didn't have a good tolerance for alcohol. like you could see he would have like four beers and you know you
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could see that he was pretty much drunk. Around midnight on July 5th, the two couples headed for the casino.
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[Music] It would be the last night of George's life. Jennifer, who's seen here on casino
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security cameras, spent much of her time at the blackjack table. And George, who
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was also captured on tape, headed for his usual spot at the craps table. He was just having fun at the table and
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uh you could see that right away. George was soon joined at the table by another
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shipboard acquaintance, California college student Josh Asin. 48 hours spoke to Josh in 2006.
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Hung out with them for a little bit. Nothing too indepth. Jennifer played a little blackjack, played a little crafts
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with George. There were a lot of other people around as well who we'd met on the cruise so far.
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And a group of Russian American students were also making the rounds that night.
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Cousins Zachary and Greg Rosenberg and their friend Rusty Kaufman. Josh had met them on the cruise as well.
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Everyone who was over 18 pretty much congregated in the casino. Everyone was in high spirits
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and George and Jennifer were high rolling. At one point, George, who's seen here at the casino with Josh, went
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back to his own cabin to get extra cash for Jennifer. I think George looked prosperous.
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Additionally, had a really nice watch, which was a Brightling watch. Was worth a bit of money.
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And Brie Smith wonders if someone on the ship was getting the wrong idea about her brother. People may have made
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assumptions that George was a millionaire even though he wasn't. And one thing that was clear to Paul
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that night was that by the time the casino closed, both Jennifer and George were already drunk.
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And I just remember telling him, "It's time to call it a night. It's time to call it a night."
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Paul wishes his new friend had listened. Two hours later, George Smith would be gone.
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As the sun rose over Kusadasi, Turkey on July 5th, 2005, 16-year-old Emily Roush
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stepped onto her balcony to snap some photos. It was around 7:30 in the morning and I noticed something on the
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overhang of the lifeboats. Instead of a spectacular sunrise, Emily's camera captured this. A huge
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blood stain on the lifeboat canopy. This is Emily's account from back then. I just assumed that someone had died
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there. Security quickly determined the occupants of room 9062 were unaccounted for and snapped these
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pictures of the room. And then they began paging the Smiths. I had a state room attendant outside my
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room and I said, "You know, you should probably go into that guy's room and wake him up because he's not going to
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hear that page because he was probably still sleeping." In another cabin, Paul and Galina were
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startled by a visit from ship personnel. And that's when the guy came in and he said, "Have you seen George?" And I'm
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like, "What do you mean, have I have seen George?" And we said, "What's going on?" And he
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kind of told us, "He's missing." We're like, "Missing?" By now, they had been summoned to guest
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relations. Jennifer was also there. She'd been located at the ship's spa getting a scheduled massage. The crew
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soon delivered the crushing news that her new husband, George, was presumed overboard.
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She just kept saying that she doesn't remember what happened. I can't remember. I can't understand. I don't
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remember. Jennifer said she had almost no memory after leaving the casino and that when
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she had awakened in the cabin, George wasn't there. She had just assumed George stayed with Paul and Galina.
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She's shocked and panicked and she doesn't understand what's going on. She just kept saying that, "I want to call
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my dad. I want to call my dad." Half a world away in Connecticut, the Smiths were trying to absorb the shock
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from the call from Jennifer's dad. It's disbelief. You know, we just couldn't believe it.
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He's got to be on the boat. But the Smiths had not yet been told about that blood stain or the
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investigation now underway on the brilliance of the seas. Turkish police had boarded the ship. Royal Caribbean
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documented the forensic investigation. And in the ship's lobby, they rounded up Josh Asin and the group of Russian
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Americans, Rusty Kaufman and Zach and Greg Rosenberg. They had all partied with George the night before.
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I just didn't know what was going on. I knew I did nothing wrong, and that's all
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that mattered to me. This video secretly recorded by Josh's father shows the police interview. Rusty Kaufman on the
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right appears to be shocked when he hears about the blood. The wife was crazy. The video only captures snippets of what
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has emerged over the years as a very complex story. A story and a timeline that would be dissected and debated for
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years. After we dropped him off, we closed the door. We never saw him again. Never saw him again.
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Never saw him again. The young man's account begins at 2:30 a.m. after the casino closed. It was on
00:13:00
an elevator to the disco where Josh says he noticed some odd behavior from casino
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manager Lloyd Boa. There was maybe a time when Lloyd, the casino manager, put his arm around
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Jennifer and we thought a little awkward moment. It was just a little awkward for
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a second. At the disco, the party was in full swing and the guys smuggled in a bottle
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of a potent liquor called Absin. They were having shots of absin. They were having shots.
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Albert Diane represents Rusty Kaufman. We spoke to him in 2006 and Diane says there was tension between George and
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Jennifer at the disco. Rusty does not hear what is being said, but he does observe Jennifer kick George
00:13:49
in in his groin. Jennifer stormed out of the disco. And according to Zack, Rusty, and Josh, the
00:13:56
casino manager followed after her. Josh would emphatically make this point when questioned by Turkish police later.
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She has no idea what happened. She was with another man, the casino manager, Lloyd. You need to get him in here.
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The men claimed they didn't know where Lloyd and Jennifer went. But by 3:30 a.m., the disco was closing and George
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was in bad shape. George just kind of slumped over in a chair. I asked my buddies, we help me
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take him home real quick. When they are walking to the cabin, they are literally
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carrying George. At 3:52 a.m., the guys entered the Smith's cabin. The ship's key entry log
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records the time, but Jennifer is not there. Seat belt expresses a wish to go search for his
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wife. And at this time, the boys are having a a loud discussion, debate about whether they should go and assist
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George. The group heads out again, and after a brief search of the ship's solarium,
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they return George to his cabin at 4:01 a.m. I went to the restroom right when we
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went in. I probably saw him for like a minute, 30 seconds. They actually lay George on his bed, take off his shoes,
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and he displays a tremendous gratitude towards these young men. In fact, he hugs and kisses one or two of these
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young men. And that was the end of just remember not not at one point or no time did he
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ever seem angry or anything at all. But shortly after 4:00 a.m., passenger Cleman, a vacationing deputy police
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chief, hears a disturbance next door. My wife and I were awakened by yelling coming from the Smith cabin. This
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yelling sounded what I would liken to a drinking game. A few minutes later, suddenly though, there was an argument
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out on the Smith balcony. This argument appeared to be uh between three maybe four male individuals.
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But Rusty's lawyer insists that the men never went out on the balcony. After about two minutes of the argument, uh,
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we heard one lone male voice uh, repeatedly say, "Good night. Good night." Like they were ushering someone
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out of the room. I looked out and saw three male individuals walking away from the room.
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Three males walking away. Then where was the fourth man? Diane insists all four men left together.
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Rusty is a pretty wide type of young man. I believe that the witness just failed to observe the fourth one.
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What Cleat Heyman hears next would become the subject of endless speculation. Was George alone in the
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room? At this point, we heard just a lone male voice in the room. We heard what sounded
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like the cupboard doors being uh closed uh loudly uh and also sounded like furniture being moved. Greg and Pat
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Lawyer in the cabin on the other side of the Smiths hear something similar. There was uh what I call trashing of the
00:17:08
room sounds. I thought somebody was throwing furniture around either either mad or having a good time. So, we
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dismissed it at that at that point. After about 2 minutes of total silence, however, there was a large what I would
00:17:21
call a horrific thud. That thud is believed to be the sound of George Smith hitting the metal canopy at around 4:30
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a.m. About that same time, Jennifer is found passed out in a hallway. As for the men, they say they were all back in
00:17:39
their cabin ordering a lion's share of room service. We have room service. We ordered room
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service. They were definitely in their own cabin in Zach's and Rusty's cabin ordering
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food at that time. But as it would turn out, the young men's alibi would be called into question.
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Doesn't hold up at all. As the details surrounding George Smith's disappearance emerged, so had
00:18:16
speculation about his bride, Jennifer. Was George murdered? Was Jennifer somehow involved?
00:18:22
The widow went on Oprah to defend herself. Not only to lose your memory, but then
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to have nobody believe you. I don't know what happened. And Jennifer wasn't the only one in the
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spotlight. What about the Ruskies in this story? The Russians. What are these three guys
00:18:37
hanging around a honeymoon couple? I mean, obviously, did he fall overboard? Was he pushed overboard? They found this
00:18:42
big blood stain. It's a CSI story that keeps unfolding by the day. The FBI would begin an investigation
00:18:50
that would span 9 and a half years. At the time, the ship's captain described it as a likely accident, theorizing that
00:18:59
an intoxicated George sat on the railing and simply fell off. The Smiths never bought the accident
00:19:08
theory. The blood is compelling evidence. There was blood in the room. Photographs taken
00:19:17
by Royal Caribbean inside the Smith cabin revealed two small lines of blood on the bed sheets. The Smiths say it was
00:19:26
George's blood and another sign pointing to foul play. In addition to the blood, there were
00:19:33
sounds of a a fight, a struggle inside my brother's room. The Smiths hoped that getting access to
00:19:40
Royal Caribbean's investigative case files would provide some answers. So that shows the room
00:19:46
and they brought on attorney Mike Jones to help them. Then you got the blood spot. What it's
00:19:51
not about is an accident and what it's not about is a suicide. It's about a murder.
00:19:56
Jones immediately got to work setting his sights on the ship's documents and the four men last seen with George.
00:20:05
I took Josh Asin's deposition first. Do you know if George Smith was murdered? Invoke my fifth amendment. Right.
00:20:11
Do you know who killed George Smith? Invoke my fifth amendment. Right. That's a yes or no answer.
00:20:16
Josh Asin took the fifth. I invoked my fifth amendment right on everything. My fifth amendment right. My fifth
00:20:22
amendment right. My fifth amendment right. In late June of 2005. Did you go on a
00:20:25
Royal Caribbean cruise with your family? I invoke my fifth amendment right. I had him take the fifth as to his date
00:20:31
of birth. His name. Attorney Keith Greer represents Josh Asin. And so I told him the only way we're
00:20:38
going to do this Josh is if every single question you're asked you plead the fifth. Greer says that Josh has always
00:20:45
been cooperative, speaking freely to everyone. But there came a point when he had to shut him down because the feds
00:20:53
were getting aggressive. And they have told us that if Josh ever says anything that is different than
00:21:02
what he said before in the grand jury, anything, they will fly him back to Connecticut on perjury charges. I
00:21:09
couldn't have that happen. Attorney Albert Diane says Rusty Kaufman got the same treatment and has stopped
00:21:15
cooperating with the FBI. And the more he wanted to speak with them, the more he wanted to tell him
00:21:20
what happened, the more they accused him of foul play. You think about the truth?
00:21:23
I do. During his deposition, Rusty Kaufman didn't plead the fifth, but his memory
00:21:29
on a lot of things seemed a bit rusty. When you say we put him to bed, who put him in the bed?
00:21:36
I don't have a recollection of that right now. Josh said that he was he actually used
00:21:42
the bathroom at that point. Do you remember that? I don't have a recollection of that.
00:21:46
Okay. When Zachary, my name is Michael Jones. Zachary Rosenberg also invoked his right
00:21:52
against self-inccrimination. Was there any commotion in the room? I'd like to invoke my fifth amendment
00:21:57
right. The only one who appeared forthcoming was Greg Rosenberg. In 2010, Mike Jones
00:22:04
found him in a Florida prison. Why are you here in prison? Trafficking. Greg was serving three years for
00:22:11
trafficking in Oxycodone. He says to support his expensive taste. I'm a fanatic of clothes, jewelry,
00:22:19
watches. That's why I'm in here, man. Murder is a different deal. Murder is a different deal, man. I ain't
00:22:25
I don't have it in my heart to kill nobody, man. Did you have anything to do with
00:22:28
George's death? No. Never did. Never will. Never thought about it. No, Greg brought up that room service party.
00:22:35
All right. What'd you eat? Tuna fish sandwiches. I know that we had like tuna fish sandwiches and
00:22:42
I think cheeseburgers. I know we had something that that fast food type. We were infatuated with the fact that we
00:22:47
could order whatever we want. They ordered so much food and they couldn't have killed George because they
00:22:51
were in the room eating the room service. I mean, it's a nice story, but it doesn't work.
00:22:56
In 2010, Mike Jones finally got his hands on those Royal Caribbean internal documents.
00:23:03
The room service party is pretty much blown by the information we got from Royal Caribbean. I mean, that's a big
00:23:08
fact. The ship's records show that although several short calls were made from Zach
00:23:15
and Rusty's cabin to room service after 4:13 a.m., there is no record of any order of any kind.
00:23:26
The handwritten records show that the room service was never delivered. Was it human error? They didn't write it
00:23:30
down. Keith Greer insists the room service party did take place, but it was never really an alibi to begin with
00:23:38
since the food would have been delivered after George went missing. The food service itself doesn't prove
00:23:46
that they were in a certain place at the time George went over because George goes over about 4:20 in the morning. So,
00:23:53
at that point in time, really the only alibi they have is each other. If the ship's records raise some questions
00:24:01
about where the men say they were that night, they also cast doubt on where they implied Jennifer was. Remember the
00:24:10
casino manager the guys said she left with at the disco? She was with another man.
00:24:18
The casino manager, Lloyd, and that didn't happen. That just didn't happen. Other witnesses say Lloyd did
00:24:24
not leave with Jennifer and key records show that he entered his girlfriend's cabin at 3:25 a.m. while the Smiths were
00:24:34
still in the disco. And he had gone to his girlfriend's room and she was able to corroborate that. So
00:24:39
I think Lloyd became the victim of this attempt by the Russians and by Josh Asin
00:24:45
to deflect attention from themselves. As for Jennifer, several witnesses saw her leave the
00:24:51
disco alone and unsteady at 3:30 a.m. There are some witnesses from the cruise ship, cruise ship employees that
00:25:00
actually escorted her uh onto the elevator and tried to help her get off the elevator on her floor
00:25:06
before she ended up going the wrong way on on deck 9. An hour later, Jennifer was found passed
00:25:13
out in that hallway around the time George went overboard. Lloyd Boa and Jennifer both passed FBI
00:25:21
polygraphs. People that the Russians and Josh were pointing fingers at both came through.
00:25:27
They very cleanly on their polygraphs. The four men are still on the FBI's radar. And the discovery of a homemade
00:25:36
videotape only raises more suspicion. It's ridiculously provocative. Unfortunately, obviously, after 8 years,
00:25:52
this has become pretty much a cold case. For the last few years, Mike Jones has been trying to reignite a case he
00:26:01
believes has gone cold in the Connecticut FBI office. If you talk to the FBI, they'll say it's active and
00:26:08
open, but um I I don't really believe that. And Jones also doesn't believe the account of the four young men last seen
00:26:16
with George Smith. When you left George in his bed, all you guys left? No one stayed.
00:26:21
Nobody stayed behind. We all left. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that that it was not as simple as as the
00:26:27
Russian men and as Josh have said. You look at the behavior of these young men. They're not good boys or good
00:26:34
Samaritans. Royal Caribbean documents show complaints were made against some of the men for smoking, sneaking liquor,
00:26:41
and verbally abusing ship employees. They were dropping fbombs on the room service people.
00:26:48
And 2 days after George Smith went overboard, an 18-year-old passenger came forward with a major allegation of
00:26:57
sexual assault. She stated that she was in one of the Russians rooms and that there was group sex with her with some
00:27:05
of the Russians. In the woman's statement, she says she was completely intoxicated and in
00:27:12
between blackouts remembers having nonconsentual sex with Greg Rosenberg, Rusty Kaufman, and Jeffrey Rosenberg,
00:27:22
Zack Rosenberg's younger brother. And they actually videotaped the group sex. And the fact that they videotaped
00:27:28
themselves doing this, I mean, who does that? Rusty's lawyer says the sex was consensual.
00:27:35
That whole escapade was noncriminal in nature. Uh, the tape itself revealed that
00:27:41
Josh's lawyer, Keith Greer, says Josh did not have sex with the young woman, but he was there.
00:27:47
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
00:27:54
boys filming it. And Josh was concerned. It became clear to him very quickly that
00:28:02
the boys weren't taking advantage of her. The girl was taking advantage of the boys.
00:28:07
Before he left CBS News to rejoin the New York City Police Department, John Miller investigated the case for 48
00:28:15
hours. People who have seen that videotape have told me that the person holding the camera is doing kind of a
00:28:23
narration and asking her questions and she's responding to them. But as this continues, she's crying. I haven't heard
00:28:30
anything about any crying from anyone. Royal Caribbean had had enough and rounded up all of the young men and
00:28:39
their families for a tense meeting with the ship's lawyer. Josh Asin's father was again recording.
00:28:49
The FBI has asked us to detain your sons. We're going to have to ask you to put your have your sons go to their
00:28:56
cabins and they're going to have to remain there. The group angrily denied the allegations.
00:29:04
They're ready for the lawsuit. Quiet. Everything is lie. The four men and their families were then removed from
00:29:13
the ship in Naples, where Italian police looked into the rape allegation and washed their hands of it, saying they
00:29:21
had no jurisdiction. No one has ever been charged in the sexual incident, and lawyers for the men believe the tape
00:29:30
saved them. But for that tape, they could have been charged for something that uh they did
00:29:34
not commit. But that tape may come back to haunt them. The tape in the FBI's possession
00:29:41
contained something else. A lunch meeting filmed by the Russianameans just hours after George went overboard. Josh
00:29:50
Asin was not present. They pass a video camera around filming themselves commenting about George's
00:29:58
death in a very callous way. And they're laughing and joking very callously about
00:30:02
him being wealthy. And certainly the way they were talking, they either knew or they had a pretty good sense of what had
00:30:09
happened. A source close to the investigation has told CBS News that on the tape, one of
00:30:14
the men, Rusty Kaufman, refers to George going parachute riding off his balcony.
00:30:21
It is not an admission, but it is at the very least provocative. And there's more. The really sort of
00:30:29
incriminating statement is one of them stands up at the end of the tape and sort of hunches his shoulders and
00:30:34
flashes gang signs and says, "Told you I was gangster." And that's in the context
00:30:39
of the discussion about George's death. Almost as if he's bragging about having done something to George.
00:30:45
Jones says that young man was Greg Rosenberg. I just don't understand how the FBI could have had this tape in
00:30:53
their possession and still we sit here, get the guys in there, question them. Lawyers for Zack Rosenberg and Rusty
00:31:01
Kaufman declined to comment on the video. In the spring of 2013, John Miller tried to see if Rusty himself
00:31:10
could provide any more answers. There's a statement made on videotape where you say
00:31:18
George went parachute riding off his balcony. I have no comment. Please, please contact my lawyer and then we can
00:31:25
arrange a time to speak. Greg Rosenberg's lawyer says Greg didn't know George was dead at that point and
00:31:33
that his client was just making a stupid comment. I don't think they're kidding around.
00:31:38
That's just not something you would just come out and say you're kidding around because if you didn't do it, why would
00:31:43
you be saying it? But if George was murdered, the question has always been why. Mike Jones believes
00:31:50
there is finally enough evidence to piece it all together. The first thing you look at is motive.
00:31:56
Okay, George and Jennifer dressed well. George had a very expensive Brightling watch. They sort of flashed the money at
00:32:02
the in the casino. What's more, witnesses heard George and Jennifer saying they had thousands of dollars in
00:32:09
their cabin. And this got around because there were other passengers not within the circle
00:32:13
of the Russians and Josh who heard the rumors about the money in the cabin. We don't believe it was true, but
00:32:19
perception is everything. Jones believes that perception fueled a robbery attempt, one that was hatched
00:32:26
when they put George to bed and Josh had gone into the bathroom. The theory would
00:32:32
be that they were arguing about whether or not one of them or or two of them should stay behind and see if they could
00:32:37
find the money and take the watch because George was in no position to argue or to put up a fight.
00:32:43
That arguing, Mike believes is what Cleat Heyman heard on the balcony. Jones also believes his theory fits with what
00:32:50
Heyman saw just three men leaving and one of them stays behind, starts to rifle through the drawers and the
00:32:58
cabinets. He has a possible explanation for the blood stain. The blood is on the sheets. The blood is
00:33:05
in two sort of centimeter long splashes and almost looks like if you were taking
00:33:11
off a watch and you pinched your skin, it would be compatible with the the blood splatter that was on the bed.
00:33:18
While they're doing that, George wakes up, says, "What are you doing?" Fight ensues, which is consistent with the
00:33:22
noises that people on both sides of the cabin heard. And George goes overboard. Other people hear the loud thud.
00:33:29
Josh Asin's lawyer, Keith Greer, argues that is all nothing more than speculation. Even Cleat Heyman, he even
00:33:37
said that he did not hear the sounds that you would expect if there was a fight. You know, you dirty so and so,
00:33:44
the smacking, the the kicking and stumbling and yelling of two guys going at each other in a in a fist fight. I
00:33:50
just don't think it makes sense. Greer thinks that there's a simpler explanation for all that took place
00:33:56
aboard the brilliance of the seas. The sex assault claim and George going overboard.
00:34:03
I don't know why everybody's missing the theme here cuz there's one common element and it's too much alcohol and we
00:34:11
can go and, you know, blame it on murder and blame it on aggressive sexual behavior here. You know what? It's just
00:34:18
everybody drinking too much and stupid stuff happening. That fits. But does it fit with what Josh Asin was
00:34:26
heard saying on an elevator? Mike Jones is a persistent man and he believes his persistence will one day
00:34:41
pay off. It's just a question of pulling together enough evidence to get an indictment and
00:34:47
a conviction. Jones and the Smiths maintain the key to solving the case lies in California.
00:34:54
Our theory is that Josh Asin knows what happened, but we don't believe that Josh
00:34:59
was involved in the actual, you know, tossing of George overboard. To support his theory, Jones is pointing
00:35:05
to an intriguing clue uncovered by Royal Caribbean. A ship employee overheard Josh Asin speaking to a friend on an
00:35:15
elevator. He said, "I know more than they think I know. Those almost got me arrested in Turkey."
00:35:21
Keith Greer argues the comments were taken out of context and Josh has nothing to hide.
00:35:28
Do you think that Josh Asin has told you everything he knows? Absolutely. No doubt.
00:35:36
But Greer admits the FBI told Josh he failed the polygraph. Greer questions the test and the result. I think it's
00:35:44
another rubber hose ploy, you know, where just to freak Josh out and upset him more. I think it was just the
00:35:52
psychological war that they were waging on him and his family or they didn't take the time to do it right. One or the
00:35:58
other. Sources tell CBS News Rusty Kaufman also was tested and he too failed. Yes, ma'am.
00:36:06
Greg Rosenberg was administered a private polygraph test. I took a polygraph. You did take one?
00:36:12
Yeah. It was inconclusive because I'm I'm ADHD. As you could tell, I like to move a lot. It was inconclusive. Ain't
00:36:18
no lies that I need to tell. Generally, it's much easier to tell the actual lie on your own.
00:36:24
48 Hours decided to bring in Phil Houston, a former CIA case officer who for more than two decades specialized in
00:36:33
detecting deception. We asked him to take a closer look at those depositions. Is there anybody of the group that
00:36:42
particularly jumps out? That's the honest truth. Greg stands out above and beyond
00:36:47
everyone. There was just a ton of deceptive behaviors. You can't judge a book by its cover.
00:36:52
In Houston's opinion, it's not what Greg Rosenberg says that seems deceptive. It
00:36:57
is often what he doesn't say. What we should hear and see his focus on is I didn't do it. It wasn't me. You got
00:37:06
the wrong guy. Instead, we don't. Where we hear his focus so many times are reasons why he wouldn't do this.
00:37:14
But in no way, shape, or form would I ever do anything like that to an individuals? No reason. That's not me.
00:37:20
And it appears some questions are more difficult for Greg than others. Did they find anything in either room
00:37:27
that that was connected to George's disappearance? He hesitates. He's clearly thinking. The
00:37:35
question has thrown him for a loop. It's almost what could they have found that that
00:37:41
would have connected someone to the disappearance. No. Okay. Did he say and then it's like
00:37:48
as he thinks through it, he realizes I've got to answer the question. So he goes, "Well,
00:37:53
no. No." So he's thinking about something that is not going to come out in his answer.
00:37:58
That's correct. That's correct. Something he's not sharing. But Greg doesn't hold back on the one thing the
00:38:04
Smiths would agree with. He says George's death was no accident. George Allen Smith did not disappear or
00:38:12
kill himself or hurt himself or or slip and fall of Bo at 6'4 or however tall he
00:38:17
is and just dive off. I I know that didn't happen. Something crazy went down that night and I hope one day that they
00:38:24
find out the truth. In the years following George's death, Jennifer has remarried and tried to move
00:38:32
on. But for the Smiths, it's not so easy. In 2014, they announced they are offering a reward, $100,000
00:38:42
for information that leads directly to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible. We're hoping with this
00:38:50
$100,000 reward, this might just be the thing that we need to get the arrest, to
00:38:57
get the convictions. Until the day this case is solved, the Smiths vow not to let George's memory
00:39:05
die on that ship. That's right. There you go, Georgie. We'll get justice. We'll get justice
00:39:17
somehow. Somehow we'll get justice for George. Somebody will talk. And shame on them that don't.
00:39:28
Shame on the people that have put us through this hell. [Music] [Laughter] [Music]
00:39:41
On January 9th, 2015, the Smith family suffered yet another blow. The FBI announced they were officially closing
00:39:51
the case on George Smith. FBI has determined that there is not sufficient evidence to continue the
00:39:57
investigation. When we were called in for the meeting that finally closed the case down, it
00:40:04
was it was just devastating to my family. How do you collect 97,000 pages of an investigation to determine
00:40:13
after almost 10 years that an accident may have occurred? Still, the family stands by that $100,000 reward, and they
00:40:22
still believe it was murder. The money that was going to be left to George, we thought that uh
00:40:37
since he wasn't going to be here to uh get that money, somebody else could use it to help our family.
00:40:45
We're hoping to generate more leads with the reward and um we're hoping the FBI will reopen the investigation.
00:40:54
But the toll is great. I never expected to be 67 and still sitting here uh trying to get answers
00:41:02
from my son. It's It's sad. We should be on with our life, but we're not. They could say there's no conclusive
00:41:11
evidence. They could shut down the investigation, but they're not going to shut down me. And I'm going to continue
00:41:16
until there is answers and justice for George. [Music]