"Missing honeymooner's" wife and parents divorce over $1 million settlement

Solving the case of what befell "missing honeymooner" George Smith is starting to seem about as likely as OJ finding the "real killer" of Nicole and Ron. In the latest chapter of the bizarre case, Jennifer Hagel-Smith, George's wife, and George's parents, have fallen out subsequent to her acceptance of a $1 million settlement from Royal Caribbean.

George's parents and sister were reported by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to consider Jennifer's deal a "sell out" that they plan to challenge in court, while Jennifer plans to set aside $25,000 of the million for a fund in her husband's memory. The parents' attorney, a fellow named Brett Rivkind, whose firm's Web site describes itself as "cruise personal injury lawyers," has made a career of suing cruise lines. Since the deal remains subject to a judge's approval, who knows whether the deal will take place.

The presumption is that George fell or was pushed overboard in July 2005 during his honeymoon cruise aboard Brilliance of the Seas after a late night of drinking. New spouse Jennifer, meanwhile, was found sleeping in a public hallway elsewhere on the ship.

When Royal Caribbean was told the following morning the George could be missing, they promptly involved the FBI as well as local Turkish authorities, and a nearby vacationing FBI agent came onboard to assist. Those facts seem accepted by everyone.

Our bottom line? Royal Caribbean seems to bear no fault for George's death through any action, or lack of action, and followed both the letter and the spirit of the law in working with authorities to help unravel the truth. Royal Caribbean has aggressively defended its actions, so we were surprised they offered this settlement, although we're sure at this point they would prefer for the story to finally go away.

We'd like to know what really happened, although unraveling that seems less likely all the time

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"Missing Honeymooner" lawsuit against Royal Caribbean dismissed

Miami Judge Jon Gordon dismissed a case brought against Royal Caribbean by the family of George Smith IV, who disappeared from the Brilliance of the Seas in July, 2005, while on his honeymoon in the Mediterranean. His body was never recovered, but bloodstains were found at the scene.

Mr. Smith's disappearance, and presumed death, are a tragedy. Yet this tragedy was not Royal Caribbean's fault, and the cruise line did everything it reasonably could to help solve the mystery, starting with promptly notifying the FBI about a possible crime. So said the court, by dismissing the lawsuit.

The suit alleged that Royal Caribbean tried to cover up the incident to avoid liability and to minimize negative publicity. The complaint also charged the cruise line with "intentional infliction of emotional distress" and "invasion of privacy." Yet Royal Caribbean's lawyer Robert Peltz (and ultimately the court) disagreed. Mr. Peltz wrote in his 55-page motion that the cruise line acted above and beyond its legal requirements.

The Smith case has been one of the most publicized cases ever of a missing cruise ship passenger and has even spawned congressional hearings on maritime security.

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Watch those ship railings!

In another incident at sea, a 36-year cruise passenger from Ohio is presumed to have fallen overboard last week during a four-day Mexican voyage on Carnival's Imagination. No one apparently noticed Tammy Grogan missing until the ship docked in Miami on Monday. Her family said they last saw her about 36 hours earlier. The Orlando Sentinel quoted FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela as saying, "we do not suspect foul play," in spite of the family's reporting delay.

Although such incidents are rare, especially compared to the millions of cruise passengers who sail annually, the Toledo woman's disappearance is not without precedent. In the summer of 2005, newlywed "missing honeymooner" George Smith IV vanished from a Royal Caribbean ship sailing the Mediterranean Sea. In May, another Ohioan, Daniel DiPiero, 21, fell off a Royal Caribbean ship in the Bahamas after a night of drinking. In the latter case ship security cameras recorded his fall.

The International Council of Cruise Lines reported earlier this year that 24 passengers have gone missing since 2003, which while 24 too many, does makes cruising a comparatively very safe vacation choice statistically speaking.

Meanwhile, travel columnist Chris Elliott is a friend of ours who asks what can be done to solve the man-overboard problem: "What would you do to prevent people from falling off ships? Cut back on alcohol? Install better rails? Keep people off the balconies?" If you have an idea, let Chris know.

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George Smith and Jennifer Hagel-Smith Update

Just when we thought that the case of "missing honeymooner" George Smith couldn't become more of a circus, the family hired famous forensic scientist (and expert publicity generator) Dr. Henry Lee to examine the Brilliance of the Seas stateroom from which George went missing over his balcony.

On NBC's Today this morning, Dr. Lee explained that when he examined the stateroom over the weekend prior to its next cruise from Miami, he did find "something" as a result of the three experiments he conducted onboard, but couldn't divulge in public what it was.

Dr. Lee also said he wanted to perform two additional experiments, but they were ruled out in negotiations with Royal Caribbean. Since one of these was to repeatedly toss a mannequin overboard from the balcony to see where it landed, which would have been disquieting to embarking passengers (let alone a media spectacle), we can see why it got nixed. But overall Dr. Lee gave high marks to the cooperation he got from the cruise line.

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Captain of "missing honeymooner" George Smith's cruise ship speaks

Michael Lachtaridis, the captain of Brilliance of the Seas in July when honeymooner George Smith apparently went overboard, spoke publicly for the first time today, with Dan Abrams of MSNBC's The Abrams Report. Also today, Royal Caribbean released what they call a factual chronology of the events, exceedingly detailed.

Amid mysterious circumstances and a variety of possibilities ranging from "tragic accident" to "extremely foul play," Captain Lachtaridis believes the more likely scenario is that George Smith went overboard accidentally, and asserted that he, his crew, and Royal Caribbean did everything possible to facilitate the investigation and help spouse Jennifer Hagel Smith.

Disagreeing on Abrams' show were the attorneys for Smith's family, and for his wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, who both did their best to paint a picture of conspiracy and/or incompetence on the part of Royal Caribbean. There is a lawsuit from the family promised against Royal Caribbean.

Admitting that I harbor a general suspicion of most attorneys, the idea that Royal Caribbean bears responsibility for whatever tragedy befell George Smith is ludicrous. The man almost certainly went overboard from his own stateroom, either through accident or foul play, but in either event Royal Caribbean didn't cause it to happen, nor do the facts support a charge that Royal Caribbean could reasonably have prevented the tragedy. Without a security guard or camera inside each stateroom, there's no way to know for certain what played out there.

But did the cruise line try to hinder the investigation, as the attorneys charged? Turkish authorities had primary jurisdiction, since the ship was docked there, and were the immediate primary investigators. And even the opposing lawyers on Abrams' show admitted that the FBI had been called by Royal Caribbean about a possible crime by 10:30 am local time, less than two hours after the cruise line was first notified that someone may have gone overboard. Plus, a vacationing FBI agent in Turkey lent immediate assistance.

Another new detail is that the young men who were partying with the honeymooners, and were possibly the last people seen with George Smith, were warned about disruptive behavior by Royal Caribbean, and three days after Smith's disappearance were accused of an unrelated rape and put off the ship. Italian authorities concluded there was not enough evidence to charge them, however.

The FBI is still actively investigating these events, and hopefully will be able to reach a firm conclusion.

PREVIOUSLY: August 19, 2005, Missing Mediterranean honeymooner still a mystery

TODAY: January 5, 2006, Royal Caribbean "Factual Chronology of George Smith's Disappearance"

TODAY: January 5, 2006, Abrams Report transcript

UPDATE: January 6, 2006, the Associated Press reports that Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith were arguing in a bar earlier the night he disappeared, due to George believing Jennifer was flirting with another passenger. Jennifer kicked George "hard" in the groin, and left.

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Missing Mediterranean cruise honeymooner still a mystery

In spite of intense media attention, authorities have yet to decipher what happened to honeymooner George Smith, of tony Greenwich CT, who disappeared from Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas on the night of July 5 enroute to Kusadasi, Turkey.

The short version of the alleged facts is that George and his wife Jennifer Hagel both were having a good time and became severely intoxicated. She fell asleep in a public area, and he was assisted back to his stateroom by two Russian brothers and a California teen.

A California deputy police chief in the stateroom next door reported hearing loud noises at 4 a.m. from Smith's cabin, sounding like a party, furniture being moved, arguing, and a loud thud. In the morning, blood was discovered by a cleaner in Smith's stateroom and on an overhang under its balcony, and Smith hasn't been seen since.

Turkish police were summoned about 9:30 a.m., and since then the FBI has taken up the investigation. The media frenzy even includes video leaked to NBC of the Turkish interrogation of the California teen.

Greenwich Time (Greenwich, CT): Man's disappearance aboard ship unsolved
MSNBC.COM: Analyzing the honeymooner disappearance

UPDATE 8/30/05: The FBI has sent a letter to passengers and crew members aboard the ship at the time asking them to come forward with any information they may have.

UPDATE 1/6/06: The ship's captain speaks

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