Bright Futures End Abruptly On Honeymoon Cruise
POSTED: 7:57 am EDT July 14, 2005
UPDATED: 11:35 am EDT July 14, 2005
GREENWICH, Conn. -- George Smith IV embarked on his honeymoon cruise of the Mediterranean last month with plans to have children and take over his family's successful business in this wealthy New York suburb.
He and Jennifer Hagel had just been married in an idyllic ceremony at a waterfront resort in Newport, R.I., as a cool breeze blew in from Narragansett Bay and a bagpiper wailed in the distance. Nearly 150 guests attended the wedding.
"It was a glorious, gorgeous day," said the Rev. James Gibney, who officiated. "They're both sweet kids."
But on July 5, less than a week into the honeymoon, out on the sea somewhere between Greece and Turkey, Smith, 26, vanished.
The couple had been drinking heavily and gambling at the ship's casino before his disappearance, an official from the Kusadasi prosecutor's office in Turkey, told The Associated Press Tuesday.
Hagel woke up the next morning and went to the gym, not noticing anything was amiss, he said. Smith was reported missing after cleaners found blood stains in the cabin and alerted the ship's captain, he said.
The official said the woman appeared not to know what had become of her husband. She was released after being questioned by authorities and returned to Connecticut.
The official was speaking on condition of anonymity. Civil servants in Turkey are rarely allowed to speak on the record.
Neither family has talked to the media. Gibney said he spoke to Hagel's father last week after Smith disappeared.
"What he told me was that George was missing off the balcony of their room," Gibney said. "No one heard anything. No one saw anything. I broke down when I heard about it."
Smith, whose great grandfather of the same name was a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, played football at Greenwich High School. He planned to take over his parent's liquor store, the oldest one in wealthy Greenwich, and use his Internet marketing background to bolster the business, Gibney said.
Hagel, 25, came from Cromwell, where her grandfather was the town's attorney and her father was a retired police sergeant who runs a construction business.
Searches by police divers and Greek Coast Guard helicopters turned up nothing. The four-day search was suspended Saturday.
Cruise officials said earlier in the week there was an indication Smith may have fallen overboard.
Officials had not determined if that was the case, and were working with the FBI and international authorities to continue the investigation.
