Jennifer Hagel Smith

Case Summary: Jennifer Hagel-Smith and her husband George were on their honeymoon cruising the Mediterranean when George came up missing after the honeymooners had a late night of partying with other cruise members.

Crews found a large blood spatter outside of the balcony of the Smith’s cabin. George Smith’s body was never recovered nor has the mystery been solved about what happened to George. Was it an accident or murder?
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Jennifer Hagel Smith was on Oprah yesterday. Did you get a chance to see her speak?

Jennifer gave me the chills on several occasions. She unnerved me and made me uncomfortable. I do not trust what she is saying to be the truth. I have no doubt about it, Jennifer Hagel Smith, in my personal opinion is withholding information. If you ask me, I’d say she knows more than she is letting on.

What information? Of course, I do not know. I am not a psychic.

Here are parts of the interview and moments that give me big pause and concern:

1. Jennifer says she doesn’t remember anything about that night. Yet when asked if she remembers her last interaction with George, she says this: ” I do not remember the last…you know…words or time we saw each other. I remember vaguely leaving the casino and going to this revolving bar or something like that. I was around George and then I don’t remember nothing.”

   Does Jennifer have a selective memory? I find her pause weird “last…you know…words…”. I do not believe this answer.

2. Jennifer’s responses are not what you typically would get from a person in her circumstances. And they don’t seem normal for her, either. When Oprah says, “Your not the grieving bride.” Jennifer says, “From day one this….has been…like shocking. As soon as I heard this news…I spend a day in Turkey…flying home to my family…by myself…on the plane…without George.”

   Does that answer make sense? Not to me. She isn’t grieving. She is feeling sorry for herself, if you want my opinion, not George.

3. Jennifer was asked if she thought George was murdered. She says, “I think something happened to him. Yes (and she has an odd smirk on her face). George doesn’t run into walls. He’s very athletic.”

   Is that a logical answer? To me it’s not. She should show emotion, an out pouring of concern, affection. She should be questioning things, wanting answers, begging for answers. But she doesn’t. Perhaps she knows them??

4. Jennifer really enjoyed her conversation with the cruise director. She smiled outright several times talking about all the wrongs done to her by the cruise. She was very focused on herself. But most interesting is what Jennifer says was the most hurtful in all of this. Read for yourself. Jennifer says:

   “For example, I got home and then a week later I’m paying George’s bills now and I get a bill from Royal Caribbean, a week after the cruise ends. Like our room bill.”

   She goes on…”Take care, take the time. We are people.”

   “That has been the most hurtful part through all of this.”

   The most hurtful part was getting the bill? What about George??? More than that, notice she is paying George’s bills. They aren’t hers. This is very odd. It shows separation in her mind, not a unity, a loving-memory of a unity. Most people when faced with a death cling to the unity, the specialness, the bond. You claim what you have left from the other person no matter how silly or trivial it is. Jennifer doesn’t. She divides herself from him — one week after he goes missing. For most people, even the discussion of being separated or having separate things, is too difficult.

5. When Jennifer was asked if it is true as others are saying that she and George had a fight that night, she replies, “I’m not saying one way or another.” Why didn’t she say that she can’t remember? Why doesn’t she answer the question?
6. Gayle, Oprah’s friend asks Jennifer once they find blood in the room “Jennifer, you hear that and think what?”

   Jennifer says, “That was it. Your life is over. That’s it.”

   I ask “Whose life is over? Jennifer’s? How does blood in the room mean her life is over? Was she thinking only about herself again? A normal response would have been devastation, concern about foul play, murder, etc. Jennifer didn’t have that. This is a very peculiar answer.

7. Jennifer tells the cruise executive she is mad that she has to pay for her flight home, that her dad had to wire her money so she could pay for things. Is this what a widow worries about? Didn’t she worry at all about George? Who would care about the money at time like this?? Jennifer cares.
8. Further she says to the cruise executive, “Just to clear something up…it adds insult to injury every time people say that this is what we gave you. We did this…like someone said…we gave you magazines, we gave you CDs. Who? To me, it was kind of callous when I had heard that. My father was promised I’d be taken off the ship by two security officers…uhm…you know…he was…We were out of our minds and its unfair for people. That was a moment in time for us, that we will, that changed our life forever. So when people judge that moment and what we felt like. Yes, we were abandoned in many ways.”

   Jennifer talks the most logical during her whole interview in the beginning of this paragraph above. In my opinion, she was telling the truth and her words flowed. Most of her interview with Oprah is full of stuttering, hesitations, word-searching except when Jennifer talked about the wrongs against her.

   People word-search, stutter, hesitate when they make up a story. When they are truthful, the story flows quickly, logically and sensibly.

9. Jennifer wanted an apology from the cruise executive and he finally gives it to her, and she said this isn’t about me, it’s about George. She grins when she says it. It’s eerie!!!! I get the feeling that Jennifer loves being in the limelight.
10. Jennifer at one point says, “George and I became these sensational, like, blips…like nobody.” This is extremely eerie. Did she want more attention??
11. Jennifer says, “Everyone wants more from me, I want more from me.”

    Huh? You only want more from yourself when you have more to give. Most wives would be saying they are doing all they can, could and will do to help figure this out — out of respect for their husband. Not Jennifer.

Hopefully, in time, the entire story will come out and we will find out what really happened to George. In my opinion, I believe Jennifer knows more than she is letting on.

* This post is an opinion of the author.