George Smith’s Cruise Ship Disappearance: Evidence, Settlement, and Law

George Allen Smith IV, a 26-year-old newlywed from Greenwich, Connecticut, vanished from Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas in the early hours of July 5, 2005, during a Mediterranean honeymoon cruise. The George Smith cruise ship disappearance left behind a large bloodstain on a lifeboat canopy beneath his cabin balcony, a room full of unanswered questions, and four young men whose accounts unraveled under scrutiny. After nearly ten years and roughly 97,000 pages of investigative files, the FBI closed the case in January 2015 without charging anyone.¹

What Happened the Night He Vanished

Smith and his wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, spent July 4 on the Greek island of Mykonos and returned to the ship for dinner. Around midnight, ship cameras recorded them in the third-floor casino.² When the casino closed at 2:30 a.m., they moved on to the disco. George drank heavily. Witnesses said he and several young men were drinking absinthe, a high-proof spirit not sold on the ship that George had reportedly smuggled aboard.³ The couple argued, and Jennifer left the disco alone.⁴

At 4:02 a.m., key-card records showed George entering his Deck 9 stateroom with four young men: Josh Askin, 20, of California, and three Russian-American men, Rusty Kofman, Greg Rozenberg, and Zach Rozenberg.³ The men later told Turkish police they helped an intoxicated George into bed, pulled off his shoes, and left to order room service in their own cabin.²

Around 4:30 a.m., Jennifer was found unconscious in a hallway on the opposite side of the ship. Two security guards and a female supervisor wheeled her back to the cabin at roughly 4:47 a.m. Royal Caribbean later described her as “sleeping”; her attorney disputed that, saying she was unconscious and needed medical care.⁵

At about 7:30 a.m., passengers spotted blood on the white metal lifeboat canopy 22 feet directly below the Smiths’ balcony.² Jennifer was located that morning getting a massage at the ship’s spa, still in the previous night’s clothes, and said she thought her husband might be sleeping in another cabin, as he had done earlier in the cruise.⁵

The Blood, the Cabin, and the Forensic Experts

A fellow passenger photographed what looked like the bloody outline of a human body on the canopy.⁶ Inside the stateroom, Royal Caribbean’s own photographs showed two small lines of blood on the bed sheets, and a chair on the balcony had been placed with its back pressed against the railing.⁴

Six months after the disappearance, forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee examined the cabin. He told reporters he “did find something” of potential significance on the canopy, but an agreement with Royal Caribbean’s attorneys barred him from disclosing it publicly.⁷ Lee proposed dropping a mannequin matching George’s height and weight from the balcony to test whether the pattern on the canopy fit a fall. Royal Caribbean refused, citing passengers and media on board. A separate expert, Dr. Lawrence Kobolinski, said he believed the cabin was a crime scene and that the canopy pattern was more consistent with a stabbing than a fall.⁶

The Neighbor Who Heard It Happen

Clete Hyman, a deputy police chief from Redlands, California, with more than 30 years in law enforcement, was in the cabin next door. He told investigators he was awakened shortly after 4:00 a.m. by voices that sounded like a “college drinking game,” banged on the wall, and heard the noise briefly quiet, then start again. Around 4:15 a.m. he heard a loud argument involving three or four people on the Smiths’ balcony.⁴ Someone repeatedly said “goodnight” and appeared to usher people out. About ten seconds after the door closed, Hyman stepped into the corridor and saw three young men walking away.³

Hyman said he then heard a single male voice still inside the cabin, cupboard doors slamming, and furniture moving. Two to three minutes of silence followed, then what he described as a “horrific thud” with a metallic reverberation, far too loud, he said, to be a simple fall.⁸ Investigators believe that sound, at about 4:30 a.m., was Smith’s body striking the lifeboat canopy.⁴

Why Suspicion Focused on the Four Men

The men said they left George in bed and went to their own cabin to order room service. When attorney Mike Jones obtained Royal Caribbean’s internal case file for the Smith family in 2010, he found no ship record of any room service delivered to the men’s cabin that night.²

The men also tried to redirect suspicion toward Lloyd Botha, the ship’s casino manager. Askin told Turkish police Botha had been “getting cozy” with Jennifer in the disco. Botha’s key-card records showed he entered his girlfriend’s cabin at 3:25 a.m., and his girlfriend confirmed the alibi. Botha passed an FBI polygraph, as did Jennifer Hagel Smith. Sources close to the investigation told CBS News that Askin and Kofman failed theirs.⁴

Hours after George vanished, some of the men recorded a homemade video the FBI later obtained. On it, Kofman reportedly referred to George going “parachute riding” off his balcony, and Greg Rozenberg flashed gang signs and said, “Told ya I was gangsta.”⁴

In later civil depositions, Askin and Zach Rozenberg repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment. Kofman did not invoke it but said he could not remember key details, including who helped put George to bed. Greg Rozenberg denied involvement in a 2010 deposition; investigators found his answers inconsistent. He was then serving a three-year sentence in Florida for trafficking oxycodone.² Lawyers for the men have maintained throughout that their clients did nothing wrong.⁴

How the Investigation Ended

The ship was sailing from Mykonos to the Turkish port of Kusadasi when Smith vanished. Turkish police boarded there, interviewed the four men, and conducted a forensic examination of the cabin and balcony. According to the Smith family, the investigation lasted only about two hours before the police were “rushed off the boat” so the ship could sail on schedule.⁹ The captain reportedly labeled the incident “an accident” before a formal forensic investigation was complete.¹⁰ The family and their attorneys accused crew members of contaminating the crime scene and said crucial witness statements were never taken before the ship left Turkey.

Because the disappearance occurred in international waters, the FBI took over. Agents boarded two days after Smith vanished and, over nearly a decade, compiled about 97,000 pages of records.⁴ On January 9, 2015, the FBI in Connecticut informed the Smith family it was closing the case, saying there was not enough evidence to prove murder and that George’s death may have been accidental.¹

The Settlement With Royal Caribbean

Jennifer Hagel Smith first reached a settlement with Royal Caribbean valued at about $1.085 million, filed in Greenwich Probate Court. It provided $950,000 to George Smith’s estate, up to $110,000 in legal costs for Hagel Smith, $60,000 for Dr. Henry Lee’s forensic work, and a $25,000 memorial fund donation the cruise line agreed to match. Royal Caribbean denied wrongdoing and admitted no liability.¹¹

George’s parents challenged that settlement in 2008 in Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford, arguing that his projected lifetime earnings were far greater than what it reflected and accusing Hagel Smith of settling too quickly. A separate negligence suit the family filed against Royal Caribbean was dismissed in Florida.¹²

In September 2010, an amended settlement raised the total to more than $1.3 million, with the parents’ share increased from $50,000 to $300,000. Royal Caribbean also agreed to turn over its full internal investigative file, including crew witness statements, free of confidentiality restrictions.¹³ The family said it planned to use the documents to press its own analysis and to hand additional material to the FBI.¹⁴

The Law That Came Out of the Case

Smith’s disappearance drove congressional scrutiny of cruise safety. Jennifer Hagel Smith testified before a House subcommittee in December 2005.¹⁵ George’s sister, Bree Smith, helped found the International Cruise Victims Association in January 2006 and lobbied Congress for reform.¹⁶

The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 required ships to install railings at least 42 inches high, add peepholes and security latches on stateroom doors, and use technology to detect or capture images of passengers who fall overboard. It required video surveillance systems, mandatory reporting to the FBI of serious crimes (including homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons, and thefts over $10,000), centralized logs of criminal complaints accessible to law enforcement, on-board anti-retroviral medications and forensic evidence-collection kits, and at least one crew member trained in crime scene preservation.¹⁷ Later legislative efforts, including the Cruise Passenger Protection Act championed by Senator Richard Blumenthal, have sought to require overboard-detection technology and place law enforcement officers aboard ships.¹⁸

Where the Case Stands

George Smith’s body has never been recovered, and the case is officially cold. His family has never accepted the FBI’s conclusion that his death may have been accidental and continues to offer a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.¹ Tips can be sent to 1-844-651-1936 or georgesmithtipline@gmail.com.⁴

1
CBS News. FBI Closes Probe Into Vanished Cruise Ship Honeymooner
2
CBS News. Timeline: The Disappearance of George Smith
3
Vanity Fair. Honeymoon Over
4
CBS News. Murder at Sea: The Case of Missing Honeymooner George Smith
5
NBC News. What Happened to George Smith
6
NBC News. George Smith Forensic Evidence
7
CBS News. Famed Sleuth in Honeymoon Cruise Case
8
NBC News. Witness Describes Night of Disappearance
9
International Cruise Victims. George Allen Smith IV Family Story
10
International Cruise Victims. George Allen Smith IV
11
NBC News. Smith Family Sues Royal Caribbean
12
Hartford Courant. Mystery Deepens
13
Greenwich Time. Smith Family Hopes for Answers After Cruise Ship Settlement
14
Connecticut Post. Settlement May Allow Smith Family to Find Answers
15
GovInfo. Hearing Before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations
16
Stamford Advocate. Senate Passes Cruise Safety Bill Five Years After George Smith Vanished
17
GovInfo. Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010
18
Office of Senator Richard Blumenthal. Dangers Lurk Aboard Cruise Ships