Cruising The Med: Setting The Record Straight
Shortly after I posted this entry I received an email from someone claiming to be a close friend of the guys at the heart of the both the rape allegations and the disappearance of George Smith. He wanted to sort out what was truth from what was rumored, and to make a few things quite clear. While I have no way to verify the veracity of his claims and to verify if he is indeed a friend of these guys we witnessed being offboarded, I also have no reason to believe he is lying.
I did ask if I could post their side of the story as he told it to me, and he agreed.
"Let me try to clear this up for you, 3 of those guys are my very close friends. Two brothers and my best friend, the other two involved were a cousin of the brothers and the other was some guy from california"
" When my friends called me from Turkey to tell me about being questioned in the murder of George Smith, I thought they were joking because I know these guys very well, they are not at all capable of murder. They were probably one of the last people to see George
alive, they walked him to his room after his wife was seen leaving with one of the employees from the casino.. ."
" George was very drunk and asked the guys to help him to his room. They walked him to his room, not really walked, more like carried him. They helped him get his shoes off and laid him down in his bed and left to go back to their own cabins. There was no one else present at the moment they left George's cabin. His wife was nowhere to be found and the room was in order. Whatever happened to George occured after the guys left. They were awoken the next morning by security and they were all hung over and didnt understand what was going on because they helped him to his room and went to sleep" .
He went on to agree that no doubt his friends were probably loud and obnxious and drunk, but they are all between 17-20 and they were simply having a good time as guys that age are known to do.
He stressed several times that there was never a rape. While they did indulge in sex with this one girl it was mutual and voluntary on her part. She told them she was 18. They did indeed videotape the encounter, and it would seem that the tape also served to exonerate them of all charges, which according to his friends, she never made. She never laid any charges or made any allegations of rape against the guys involved .."....the cruise line charged them without any proof. Anyways, the girl never came forward and said she was raped. She was talking to people about how she was fucking around and was taped.....she knew it was there. Anyways, the girl didnt come forward to charge them, the cruiseline did that..."
Now I must admit...it seems very strange to me for any cruise ship to charge anyone with rape without allegations from the victim....but he reiterated that while he cannot explain their reason for doing so, they did.
When I mentioned that neither the FBI nor the Cruise Line have called George's disappearance a murder, but simply said he may have fallen overboard, he replied"The ship may have said man overboard but my friends were questioned in regards to a murder. They were the last people to see him. We're from New York, we meet people all the time and we drink with them and we're loud and out there but we know how to have a good time. From the accounts of my friends, George was a fun guy who was having a good time with them pounding out shots while his wife was running around with her panties around her ankles. It's a very unfortunate incident. My friends were exonerated and yes that does not negate the fact that they were accused but they were not charged with anything and so far no further legal action is being taken against them"
He went on to say that no other women had come forth with rape allegations against them.
" and the other girls who came forward weren't in regards to my friends, they only partied with that one girl. ...I may have not been on the ship but I have heard the real story from people that were involved and the people who I trust most and know for over 10 years.
They're cleared of everything and now the cruise line will be sued because they illegally searached their rooms, and removed contents without warning or notification and had no evidence to go on. Lets not even get into the lawyers fees, hotels fees after getting kicked off the ship and mental distress."
I asked him to clarify one point regarding receiving a call from Turkey since I saw them being off boarded in Naples.
"They called me from Turkey because they were taken to a Turkish Police station for questioning, Apparently that night they were not allowed to leave their cabin, they said there were 2 guards outside their rooms. I don't know if they're serious but they said the couldn't go out of the room until they were cleared of suspicion. They were offboarded in Naples after they were exonerate of the rape charges".
Related:
Cruising The Med: Murder Mystery Mayhem
Cruising The Med: The Final Word
Cruising The Med: Honeymoon Murder Mystery
I did ask if I could post their side of the story as he told it to me, and he agreed.
"Let me try to clear this up for you, 3 of those guys are my very close friends. Two brothers and my best friend, the other two involved were a cousin of the brothers and the other was some guy from california"
" When my friends called me from Turkey to tell me about being questioned in the murder of George Smith, I thought they were joking because I know these guys very well, they are not at all capable of murder. They were probably one of the last people to see George
alive, they walked him to his room after his wife was seen leaving with one of the employees from the casino.. ."
" George was very drunk and asked the guys to help him to his room. They walked him to his room, not really walked, more like carried him. They helped him get his shoes off and laid him down in his bed and left to go back to their own cabins. There was no one else present at the moment they left George's cabin. His wife was nowhere to be found and the room was in order. Whatever happened to George occured after the guys left. They were awoken the next morning by security and they were all hung over and didnt understand what was going on because they helped him to his room and went to sleep" .
He went on to agree that no doubt his friends were probably loud and obnxious and drunk, but they are all between 17-20 and they were simply having a good time as guys that age are known to do.
He stressed several times that there was never a rape. While they did indulge in sex with this one girl it was mutual and voluntary on her part. She told them she was 18. They did indeed videotape the encounter, and it would seem that the tape also served to exonerate them of all charges, which according to his friends, she never made. She never laid any charges or made any allegations of rape against the guys involved .."....the cruise line charged them without any proof. Anyways, the girl never came forward and said she was raped. She was talking to people about how she was fucking around and was taped.....she knew it was there. Anyways, the girl didnt come forward to charge them, the cruiseline did that..."
Now I must admit...it seems very strange to me for any cruise ship to charge anyone with rape without allegations from the victim....but he reiterated that while he cannot explain their reason for doing so, they did.
When I mentioned that neither the FBI nor the Cruise Line have called George's disappearance a murder, but simply said he may have fallen overboard, he replied"The ship may have said man overboard but my friends were questioned in regards to a murder. They were the last people to see him. We're from New York, we meet people all the time and we drink with them and we're loud and out there but we know how to have a good time. From the accounts of my friends, George was a fun guy who was having a good time with them pounding out shots while his wife was running around with her panties around her ankles. It's a very unfortunate incident. My friends were exonerated and yes that does not negate the fact that they were accused but they were not charged with anything and so far no further legal action is being taken against them"
He went on to say that no other women had come forth with rape allegations against them.
" and the other girls who came forward weren't in regards to my friends, they only partied with that one girl. ...I may have not been on the ship but I have heard the real story from people that were involved and the people who I trust most and know for over 10 years.
They're cleared of everything and now the cruise line will be sued because they illegally searached their rooms, and removed contents without warning or notification and had no evidence to go on. Lets not even get into the lawyers fees, hotels fees after getting kicked off the ship and mental distress."
I asked him to clarify one point regarding receiving a call from Turkey since I saw them being off boarded in Naples.
"They called me from Turkey because they were taken to a Turkish Police station for questioning, Apparently that night they were not allowed to leave their cabin, they said there were 2 guards outside their rooms. I don't know if they're serious but they said the couldn't go out of the room until they were cleared of suspicion. They were offboarded in Naples after they were exonerate of the rape charges".
Related:
Cruising The Med: Murder Mystery Mayhem
Cruising The Med: The Final Word
Cruising The Med: Honeymoon Murder Mystery
posted by DangerGirl @ 1/06/2012 04:50:00 PM
3 Comments:
At 12:44 PM, July 20, 2005,
DangerGirl said…
As per my email to you Deb, I am declining all requests for interviews.
I have passed on your request to speak to the friend who emailed me. He will contact you directly if interested.
Search4Truth, he didnt want to comment on my blog..merely to dialogue with me.
After several email conversations, and after asking him twice, he finally agreed to allow me to blog what he had shared with me.
At 2:52 AM, July 27, 2005,
SarahBear said…
I was attempting to read your original post (as mentioned in reference to the one responded to by one of the young man's "friends") but when I clicked on the link, was unable to read it.
I am intrigued. I find it interesting that Mrs. Smith had no idea that her husband was even missing (implying that either she did not spend the evening in their cabin, or indeed WAS there and knows more than what she is admitting) because why would she not even know that her husband was missing in the morning? Would she not wake up and realize he wasn't there and wonder what was wrong? Something sounds fishy if you ask me. Anyhow, if you could get the original entry up, I would be interested in reading it. Thanks.
At 6:50 AM, July 27, 2005,
DangerGirl said…
The link is fixed, Sarahbear.
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