A few weeks before George Smith Jr. went missing while on a honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean, his parents had celebrated the birth of their first grandchild.
George Smith Sr. and his wife, Maureen, couldn’t have been happier about the arrival of their daughter Bree’s son. They showed the baby off to family, friends and neighbors at their Byram, Conn., home, near Greenwich.
Nor was that the only good news. The 26-year- old George Jr.’s marriage to college sweetheart Jennifer Hagel on June 25 had delighted the Smith clan.
Plus, George Sr. was set to retire and turn his upscale liquor-store business in neighboring Cos Cob over to his son, a strapping former Greenwich High football player planning to boost sales via the Internet – once he’d returned from his honeymoon.
Joy turned to horror on word that George Jr., who boarded Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas in Barcelona on June 29, disappeared six days later between Mykonos, Greece, and Kusadasi, Turkey.
Royal Carribean said a couple had spotted blood on a lifeboat overhang at 9 a.m. on July 5, spurring a search – but The Associated Press reported the captain had ordered an investigation after cleaners told him they’d found blood in the newlyweds’ cabin.
Jennifer told investigators that she’d awakened in their room and, assuming that her husband was off with friends, had gone to the gym, AP reported.
The couple had been seen drinking heavily the night before and visiting the ship’s disco and casino, various reports said.
Turkish authorities questioned Jennifer, who disembarked in Kusadasi and flew home the next day to Cromwell, Conn.
The FBI is also investigating, and neighbors say the Smith family has flown to Turkey.