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Josh Askin's lawyer, Keith Greer, says Josh did not have sex with the young woman -- but he was there. In the woman's statement, she says she was "completely intoxicated" and in between "blackouts", remembers having non-consensual sex with Greg Rozenberg, Rusty Kofman and Jeffrey Rozenberg -- Zach Rozenberg's younger brother. "There's a lotta evidence to suggest that that was not as simple as -- as the Russian men and as Josh have said," Jones told John Miller. "You look at the behavior of these young men. ...they're not good boys or good Samaritans." "The more he wanted to speak with them, the more he wanted to tell them what happened, the more they accused him of foul play," he said.
Man’s overboard death may be linked to Davie unsolved murder
Mike Jones believes there is finally enough evidence to piece it all together. "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 boys filming it. And Josh was concerned," Greer explained. "It became clear to him very quickly that the boys weren't ... taking advantage of her. The girl was taking advantage of the boys." And two days after George Smith went overboard, an 18-year-old passenger came forward with a major allegation of sexual assault.
Memories of Jennifer
"Hung out with them a little bit, nothing too in depth. ... Jennifer played a little blackjack. I played a little craps with George," Askin said. "There were a lot of other people around as well, who'd been on the cruise so far." Around midnight on July 5, 2005, the two couples headed for the casino. "He didn't have a good tolerance for alcohol. He would have like four beers ... and you could see that he was pretty much drunk," Galina added. "I was overwhelmed with her because she had this dynamic personality," Maureen explained. "She was very fun-loving like him. Very attractive. ... And he was really happy with her."
The Smith's Cabin
For their honeymoon, they went on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. After a night of out-of-control partying in the ship's casino, George got so drunk, he had to be carried back to his state room and put into bed. A large bloodstain shows where he landed on a metal canopy before tumbling into the sea off the coast of Turkey. But if the tapes showed staircases or elevator entrances, for example, the timing on the tapes could depict who entered, say, the elevator on the Smith’s floor at about the time George is believed to have gone overboard.
Remembering Joy Hibbs
Family uses Facebook to help solve man's death - CTPost
Family uses Facebook to help solve man's death.
Posted: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 07:00:00 GMT [source]
48 Hours reported last year that Michael Jones, the Smith family attorney, said a video involving three of four men who were the last to see Smith alive could be key in cracking the case. The family says they are "outraged and disgusted" at the FBI's decision to close the investigation. They say they plan to fight for the case to be moved to another jurisdiction, such as New York. One person who may know something though is Gregory Rozenberg who was one of the men Smith was hanging out with that night on the ship.
Family outraged over FBI dropping probe into Greenwich man's honeymoon cruise death - Greenwich Time
Family outraged over FBI dropping probe into Greenwich man's honeymoon cruise death.
Posted: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 08:00:00 GMT [source]
"I have no comment. Please contact my lawyer and then we can arrange a time to speak," he replied. A source close to the investigation has told CBS News that on the tape, one of the men -- Rusty Kofman -- refers to George going parachute riding off his balcony. Royal Caribbean had had enough and rounded up all of the young men and their families for a tense meeting with the ship's lawyer.
July 4, 2005
The Smiths say it was George's blood and another sign pointing to foul play. But the Smiths had not yet been told about that bloodstain or the investigation now under way on the Brilliance of the Seas. Turkish police had boarded the ship; Royal Caribbean documented the forensic investigation. A "48 Hours" investigation has uncovered questionable alibis, failed polygraphs and a provocative video made by some of these men just hours after George disappeared. "They pass a video camera around filming themselves commenting about George's death in a very callous way," Jones told 48 Hours. In July of 2005, 26-year-old George Smith went tumbling off a cruise ship balcony into the water below.
He further suggested his belief that this loss of blood would be consistent with Smith having been stabbed with a knife and then thrown over the cabin railing by persons unknown. When he hit the awning, Smith might have been dead already, or might have died shortly thereafter. Dr. K evidently does not believe the blood loss is attributable to, say, a possible head injury sustained from a fall of 22 feet. Dr. Lee had already indicated that he had been able to conduct three of five experiments that he wanted to do while onboard the ship.
Our team of cruise lawyers has well over two centuries of combined experience, has successfully handled over 3,000 cases, and has recovered over 300 million dollars in damages for our clients. Several of our attorneys have even been selected to “Best Lawyers” ® by US News & World Report every year as far back as 2016. Mr. Smith went overboard from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship on July 5, 2005 as the ship was sailing to Turkey.
Tomorrow will be the nine year anniversary of the disappearance of George Smith from the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas during his honeymoon cruise. Over the last five years, my wife and I have celebrated 10 birthdays of our two sons who are now 13 and 15 years old. My boys have grown from third and fifth grade kids to young men entering eighth and tenth grade, over the course of the Smith familiy’s nightmare. Yesterday, the Connecticut Post published a story about George’s disappearance and the issues left unresolved following his death. And these men were working when their lives were taken, with no hint that they were negligent for drinking or poor judgment or any fault of their own. They were blown up by the malfeasance of the rig owner and operators.
“They claim they just left the room, but the evidence revealed afterward was that it was an attempted robbery gone wrong,” Jones said. “Unfortunately, there’s a possibility that we may never find out now what happened to George,” Attorney Mike Jones, who represent’s Smith’s family, said.
Also, there were dozens of TV cameras pointed at the balcony, waiting for the “money shot,” one that would have been shown dozens and dozens of times as the “dummy” arched over the railing and hit the awning over two stories below. They believe there was foul play and point out that an "ear witness" heard an argument on George's balcony and George's blood had been found in the cabin -- two small lines of blood on the bed sheets. This weekend, 48 Hours reported on the mysterious disappearance of a cruise ship passenger whose case has yet to be closed. In the wake of two other passengers falling overboard from a Carnival cruise last week in Australia, the need to improve maritime safety regulations industry-wide is blatantly clear.
"...Came up with the theory that after a long night of enjoying himself in the casino and the disco, George sat up on the railing ...and simply fell off," John Miller commented to Bree Smith. "Not only to lose your memory but to have nobody believe you," Jennifer Hagel Smith told Oprah Winfrey. But as it would turn out, the young men's alibi would be called into question. "There was what I call trashing of the room sounds," Greg Lawyer explained. "I thought somebody was throwing furniture around...either mad or having a good time so we dismissed it at that point."
"Suddenly though, there was an argument out on the Smith balcony. This argument appeared to be between three, maybe four individuals," said Hyman. "Rusty actually observes George get up from his seat, approach Jennifer and there is this exchange of words between them. Rusty does not hear what is being said but he does observe Jennifer kick George in his groin," he explained. And in the ship's lobby, they rounded up Josh Askin and the group of Russian-Americans -- Rusty Kofman and Zach and Greg Rozenberg.
Davie police are hoping to find the truth behind his murder case now. And maybe help investigators solve the circumstances behind Smith’s death, too. In December of 2019, Rozenberg was murdered in front of his Davie home and police believe whoever murdered him had targeted him.
Smith was never seen again and the mystery of how he went overboard has never been solved. "But the really-- sort of, incriminating statement is one of them stands up at the end of the tape and sorta hunches his shoulders and flashes gang signs and says, 'Told ya I was gangsta,'" Jones explained. "And that's in the context of the discussion about George's death, almost as if he's bragging about having done something to George." The four men and their families were then removed from the ship in Naples, where Italian police looked into the rape allegation and washed their hands of it saying they had no jurisdiction. No one has ever been charged in the sexual incident and lawyers for the men believe the tape saved them. The FBI would begin an investigation that would span nine-and-a-half years.
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