Free Republic

January 5, 2006 -- A woman whose husband disappeared during their honeymoon cruise last summer was found sleeping in a corridor far from the couple's cabin the night he vanished, the cruise line said yesterday. George Smith, of Greenwich, Conn., vanished July 5 from a Royal Caribbean ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Bloodstains were found running from his cabin to life boats. The whereabouts of his wife, Jennifer Hagel-Smith, during the time of his disappearance are a mystery. After facing criticism from Smith's family and Hagel-Smith for its handling of the incident, Royal Caribbean issued its first detailed account of...

LONDON (AP) - George Smith, a former royal servant whose claim of rape sparked lurid tales of sexual misdeeds within the royal household, has died at the age of 44, his father said Friday. Peter Smith said his son died Wednesday after a long illness. He did not disclose the cause of death. A former soldier in the Welsh Guards who served in the 1982 Falklands War, Smith was Prince Charles' valet for nine years until he was dismissed in 1997. During the 2002 theft trial of Paul Burrell, former butler of the late Princess of Wales, it emerged that...

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...