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Sneak peek: Murder at Sea?

ENCORE: Devastated after the FBI bows out of the case, the family of missing cruise ship honeymooner George Smith vows to fight for answers."48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports Saturday, Sept. 13 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Sep 11, 2025 (03:12)

TRANSCRIPT FOR: “SNEAK PEEK: MURDER AT SEA?”

MOTHER:
00:00:13

You can't look at the water and at the sea without remembering what happened to George. It's got too many bad memories for me now. Oh, I miss him. I miss him every day. I miss his voice. I miss his phone calls. He called me all the time. I just miss him as a son.

FATHER:
00:00:37

Pretty much every night I go to bed, I see his face.

SISTER:
00:00:45

No parent should have to lose their son that way.

CAPTAIN MICHAEL:
00:00:52

This is Captain Michael. May I have your attention, please? A person may have gone overboard last night. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that my son was murdered on that cruise ship. There's so much evidence. It's overwhelming. It's just been a complete and awful nightmare for my family, and we still do not have justice for George. The first suspect is the surviving spouse. She said she couldn't remember anything. Eyebrows started to go up about, what exactly did Jennifer know?

REPORTER:
00:01:30

But the FBI soon turned its attention from George Smith's widow to a group of young men, the last people to see George alive. There were sounds of a fight, a struggle inside my brother's room. I heard some males arguing on the balcony. What we're trying to do is sort through the facts and figure out what happened that night because, unfortunately, this has become pretty much a cold case. While on the cruise, did you meet George Smith IV? There was a series of questions that I asked in each of the depositions of each of the boys. Do you know what happened to George Smith? Were you present when George Smith went overboard? Did you kill George Smith? Something crazy went down that night, and I hope one day that they find out the truth. A 48Hoursinvestigation has uncovered failed polygraphs, questionable alibis, and a provocative video made by some of the men just hours after George Smith disappeared.

INVESTIGATOR:
00:02:43

On the videotape, you've got them joking about George's death. Very callous and, at one point, incriminating. I just can't comprehend that someone could snatch my brother from a cruise ship, throw him on an overhang, and dies alone in the water, and then nothing's done about it. The evidence is huge. Why hasn't someone been arrested?

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