48 Hours Mystery: Love Lost

"One has to accept Jennifer's explanation of a blackout because, frankly, there's no alternative," says writer Bryan Burrough. "Is it remotely possible or conceivable that someone drugged her? Well, yes."

Jennifer Smith and her family have hired renowned forensic scientist Henry Lee to search for further evidence.

"So the FBI collected a hair sample for Jennifer Hagel Smith and there would still be evidence if she was drugged that night?" Storm asks.

"Maybe," Lee replies. "Depends on what type of drug. Certain date rape drugs will show up."

The FBI has not released those test results yet.

"Is there anything significant in terms of who was staying in that hallway, besides there was a crew room. Anything else significant?" Storm asks Gregg McCrary.

"One of the boys' cabins was just several doors down from where she was located," he replies. "Josh Askin's is just, I think, about five doors down — very close to where she was found. Whether that's coincidence, whether there's something more to it, is just unclear."

Dr. Askin thinks the notion that there might be a connection between Josh's cabin and Jennifer's location is "absolute rubbish." "Josh was with George Smith. He didn't know where the wife was. Nor did anybody else."

Except perhaps Lloyd Botha, according to Josh's attorney, Keith Greer. He says Lloyd left the disco with Jennifer and entered his room, according to the ship.

"And we don't know if he entered that room alone or with anyone else. Impossible to tell?" Storm asks.

"For you and me," Greer replies.

Like everyone else in this case, Botha hired a lawyer, Andrew Rier.

"The first rule when the finger is pointing at you is, can you create a scenario where it can point at somebody else? And that's exactly what's happening," says Rier. "Any stories that are being told about Lloyd Botha doing anything inappropriate are stories of fiction."

Rier claims there are ship records to prove that Lloyd did not leave the disco with Jennifer. "The timeline at 3:20 puts Botha in his room and the Smiths are still upstairs in the disco along with these Russian gentlemen," he explains.

Royal Caribbean confirms this but has refused to make those records public.

"They've only done things to try and point fingers at everybody else and protect their crew and their boat. And being very public with anything that they felt might help them in any way," says Keith Greer.

But Rier disagrees. "It's my understanding that attorneys for some of these other gentlemen seem to imply something untoward about my client. And Lloyd said 'No problem. Anybody wants to speak to me, they can come speak to me.' So we went to the FBI. He took a polygraph examination. And by the time we left the FBI, if Lloyd ever, for a moment, was a person of interest, I can categorically state that he no longer was when he left."

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[jamooreem]

Here is hoping that she treats her 2nd husband better than her first. The husband and wife made very poor choices but I watched 48 hours and I believe the 4 men definitely had something to do with it. That being said - her "public intoxication and going off with the casino manager. Also, what new bride gets drunk and kicks her new husband in the groin - not a stable one and one definitely that seems to have a substance abuse problem - not to mention an anger management. I still believe she had something to do with his disappearance.

[bananabear2000]

where is the video to this one?

[MrDurka]

@alenajoy Who said anything about rape?
If george hitting the canopy created the blood stain, where is the body? It's difficult to tell just from the pictures featured on this episode but the canopy looks like a flat surface. And wouldn't that suggest the body should have remained there? Otherwise, whoever pushed the body off the canopy and overboard is the killer. Very possible it was an accidental death, very possibly homicide, not enough info, and terribly investigated. The cruise liner are scumbags for not co-operating btw.

[77DarkHorse7]

It is obvious. It was a psychotic episode brought on by the consumption of absinthe. He probably jumped off the balcony thinking it was a trampoline. That stuff can make your own hand look like a lizard.

[AlenaJoy]

After studying this situation, here's what I feel is obvious, given eye witness accounts and the witness of the security official in the cabin next to the Smith's. The security officer heard the moving of furniture, he heard partying and felt and heard a loud thud. There was blood in the Smith cabin and that proves there was an injury. I believe George Smith was partly to blame for his own death because of very bad decisions on his part. He drank until he was publicly intoxicated and couldn't return to this room without help. But I also blame the male companions because they saw his state and continued to allow him to drink, or plowed him with alcohol. They clearly had a greater sense of their behavior than George did by that time. Therefore, they should be held more accountible than George. If they had left George's room immediately, George would most likely have gone to sleep. But it may be that their state by that time was distorted, having much to drink also. But George Smith couldn't get back to his room without help and they remained in George's room for some time, continuing to party. It seems fairly impossible by that time that George would have been capable of leaving the room on his own, after his male companions left. If he did, it's conceivable that he would fall overboard. But how would that be possible, since he had consumed more alcohol in his room? Therefore, his male companions are surely at fault. If George's cabin was empty when others returned his wife there, his male companions removed George from his room and pushed him overboard. There is no other possibility in my mind. It may be that George became beligerant in his room, creating aggression from his companions. In their state of mind, they may have killed him without intent. But I believe they must have removed him from his room and that they are to blame for second degree murder. They also need to come to trial for the rape. The victim hasn't followed through on that and she should. But overall, I don't feel Royal Carribean is at fault. I believe they were cooperative and did their duty. The ball dropped somewhere between the Smith's and their US investigators and the Turkish security. Follow through was not the duty of Royal Carribean. It was the duty of the Smith family to follow through and bring this to trial. It is high time that the Smiths press charges against all of George's male companions on that ship and it's high time the rape victim pressed charges and brought that to trial as well. All of the male companions need to serve time for second degree murder and rape in my opinion. They are all responsible for public disorder, public intoxication, criminal negligence, death and rape. They need to see prison for a long time because they were a critical part of both of those crimes.