Posted on 07/27/2005 11:19:53 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
STAMFORD, Conn. — The night a newlywed vanished from his honeymoon cruise, the sounds of a loud party were coming from his stateroom, followed by male voices arguing on the balcony and then a "horrific thud," a fellow passenger says.
The ship was in the Mediterranean Sea when Connecticut resident George Smith IV disappeared more than three weeks ago.
No one has been charged, but Connecticut's top federal prosecutor said Tuesday that the 26-year-old's disappearance is being aggressively investigated and reports of blood on the ship raise concerns. The comments are the first by a U.S. prosecutor on the case and the strongest indication yet that officials suspect foul play.
"We think the circumstances are unique enough and suspicious enough that a thorough investigation is warranted," U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor told The Associated Press.
O'Connor said investigators were still interviewing passengers and staff from the ship, and he declined to discuss details of the investigation.
Turkish prosecutor told the AP last week that Smith's new wife, Jennifer Hagel, was not suspected in her husband's disappearance.
The couple had been drinking and gambling at the ship's casino that night, the prosecutor said. The next morning, he said, Hagel woke up and went to the gym. Smith was reported missing after cleaners found blood in their cabin. There was also blood on the balcony and a hand print on the side of the ship, the prosecutor said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Clete Hyman, a passenger in a neighboring stateroom, described what he heard during the cruise in an interview Monday night on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country."
The night Smith disappeared, Hyman said he heard what sounded like a loud party in Smith's room, then "some very loud arguing out on the balcony."
He said he heard several male voices and then noises in the cabin that sounded like furniture being moved. Then, he said, he heard a "horrific thud."
O'Connor wouldn't comment Tuesday on Hyman's account.
Smith's and Hagel's families, who live in Connecticut, have not publicly commented and did not return phone messages.
Turkish authorities handled the case after the disappearance was reported July 5 when the ship docked at Kusadasi, a resort area in the Aegean region of Turkey. U.S. officials were given the case last week.
We may never know how long the
blood smear was, b/c the crew
cleaned it up so the ship
could go on its way.
Another person on the cruise is talking about stalkers and rape videos from this cruise. Russians involved in the rape tapes and thrown off in Naples, handing them over to the police there.
I heard the following report earlier today -
The husband and wife were both drugged. She was rapped and he woke up and was killed. Same report said both wife and parents refuse to speak to media. Another report said the FBI told them not to.
I've been reading my head off today all over the place about Natalee and this case. Have a head ache from you know where and can't remember where I read or heard it. Dang, I think I need a break from all this stuff or I'm gonna loose what little is left of my mind. lol
Sounds like that was the cruise from hell.
The staff captain told that passenger on Joe's show that that was the worst cruise he has ever been on.
That passenger's own daughter was stalked and had security take her back to her cabin.
Another woman's daughter was stalked also. One of those girls was 19, not sure now which one.
Not to mention the gang-rape video of that other young woman, which sounds like it was the doing of the Russians, I think, wasn't sure about that.
Those Russian guys who were thrown off the ship at Naples, and taken by Italian police...I wonder if they're in jail or if they were released.
Hope our feds can track them down.
*
Did you see that pictures of the blood stains? That was a lot of blood? Considering that there was also blood in the cabin, I think that foul play is definitely the case. I saw an interview on Hannity yesterday, with some sort of prosecutor or investigator that indicated that it is thought that the wife had nothing to do with whatever happened to the husband, that were others who were more likely suspects. So, where was the wife while all this was going on?
She was passed out from the date rape drug, and was being raped and videotaped. That's the most likely scenario, it sounds like.
So, she was a victim of an attack, also? But would she have gone to the gym in the morning?
Impossible that she slept through anything louder than a whisper in there.
Leni
She may very well have remembered nothing about the night before, if she had been heavily drugged. She went about her usual routine, in that case.
That's all I can think, that she just had no clue at that point. Just thought it had been a heavy night of drinking and remembered nothing.
Yes, the atty I saw on one of the shows the other day said he had handled a very similar case, both the husband and wife had been drugged, the wife was gang-raped and videotaped, except the difference was the husband apparently didn't wake up and see what was going on, which it's speculated happened in this case.
Well, that's certainly the best explanation that I could imagine.
I hate to ask this, but what was the nationality of most of the people on this cruise?
Hope this doesn't turn out to be a "Swim-away" bride story. Has anyone seen a photo of her eyes... just to be sure?
No idea about the nationality of most of the passengers.
The theory is from the atty who handled that other similar case -- I could never have dreamed up such a script in my wildest dreams, actually!
What a nightmare. Newlyweds go on their honeymoon, and are both drugged, the wife is raped and videotaped, then in one case the guy wakes up and sees what's happening and is killed, in the other case, the guy sleeps through it.
I think in the other case, pretty sure the lawyer said the cruise line just paid out to make it go away.
who said anything about her sleeping?
I haven't read all the posts. Did the wife have a "boyfriend" murder her husband?
The average cruise ship stateroom is scarcely bigger than a phone booth, metaphorically speaking. The bed dominates the room, and you have to pick your way around it.
***
That's true...I've been in some of those staterooms. However, most ships also have suites which are somewhat larger than the average stateroom. I don't know if the couple had an ordinary stateroom or a suite.
I will say this about hearing anything -- soundproofing, even in the suites, leaves a lot to be desired. Even years ago when I was a more sound sleeper than I am now, I would wake up on these ships at the slightest noise. So if she was sleeping (and no one it seems knows for sure that she was), she would have had to have been drugged, drunk or otherwise unconscious to not hear anything.
Read the link in post 301. It sounds like a replay that didn't go as planned.
It's really a small room, certainly not a suite.
It's like the Holloway case......not much known for the amateur sleuths like us, LOL.
Leni
I don't think so.
It would have been easier to call off the marriage, if that was the "drama" in her life.
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