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a couple minutes left with the roundtable. we want to look at the trends tracker and what is breaking. romney versus santorum in michigan, and santorum staying in for the long run as he made it clear despite that governor brewer thinks it will be wrapped up on super tuesday. and romney talked about his wife owning two cadillacs among their cars. not exactly that connection moment he was looking for. >> a couple cadillacs.

mitt romney has a hard time connecting, and we can conclude that mitt romney for all of his good qualities is a dork, and sit that aside. but the big complaint is he cannot connect with ordinary americans, as it is put. we have to think of him -- republicans have to think of him and independents have to think of him as the doctor, the doctor that does not have a bedside manner. ultimately do you really care? the question is do you think he has the cure? and they have to put aside that he's not connecting and think if he has what it takes to fix the economy. >> this is oscar night, and the only one here that has real hollywood credentials is mr. schmidt. here is a scene, woody harrelson playing you with sarah palin. let's watch. >> we don't want you to talk to anybody until after the convention. because nobody knows anything about you.

if you answer these ridiculous allegations, you will be defining yourself in a -- >> but isn't the press defining me right now? >> no news story lasts more than 48 hours anymore. >> that's hollywood. that's just how it happened in real life, right? >> that's about how it happened in that scene. we were trying to tell her that we need to focus on her speech. she was going to have an int introduction to the $20 million people, and the next thing was the comeback narrative. >> he is is just plau sai about that fact that he is portrayed by woody harrelson. and this week i sat down with georgia congressman and civil rights leader, john lewis, and as well as lonnie bunch who is head of the museum about culture. is head of the museum about culture. that's i heard they found energy here.

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captions paid for by nbc-universal television here we are in the mediterranean, toast to go our future. >> my first reaction was this just doesn't happen to my son. >> tonight, the investigation of a groom, gone missing. >> we have to start looking back to that night. >> it was a wild one, glamorous newlywedding, partying with new ship board friends. then he disappeared, leaving troubling clues. >> there was a red blood stain. >> and stories of strange noises. >> i could hear cabinet doors opening and closing like they were looking for something. >> now exclusive access to the cruise line's own file. >> blood on the sheets.

no one knows how it good there. >> eyewitness accounts. >> fbi, very excited about that statement. >> and revelations. >> somebody hurt in there. >> do you know whom? >> could we finally learn the truth? >> he is the key to everything. >> dennis murphy, with "overboard." thanks for joining us, i'm lester holt. it is a haunting headline making case. the disappearance of george smith who vanished from a cruise in the mediterranean on his honeymoon. no one has ever been arrested, and the investigation has at times seemed to grind to a halt. but now we've obtained exclusive access to documents, photos and depositions that may offer tantalizing clues to what happened on that ship. here is dennis murphy. >> i happened to look at the color of the life boats, it looked like red blood.

>> missing honeymooner, george smith. >> i heard a thud. >> in a calf nated driven news cycle, events months ago can seem like ancient history. here is a jog from years back. a missing groom, a beautiful blonde bride, good-looking guy in mysterious fashion, he went overboard in their honeymoon cruise. remember then, george smith and jennifer hagel. his mother does and always will. >> he made our family complete. and now our family is split, and every day i miss him. >> the question what happened to george smith? a fatal accident or foul play? it may be an old headline, but it's an active, on-going investigation in the files of the fbi.

the bureau won't show the dossiers and they won't talk on the record, but "dateline" got access to the massive file put together by the cruise line itself, royal caribbean. it is an internal investigation of the death of george smith. new details about that hard partying cruise and new information about which suspects may be exonerated and whose alibis may now be on shaky ground. the smith family's attorney, michael j. jones, son of a new york detective is relentless in mining the 6,000 pages of files for every nugget of evidence about what happened aboard the ship in the early hours of july 5th, 2005. >> the information provided to us showed us that you know what, we need to look at a new direction and have to start looking back to that night. >> the lost groom's sister believes the true story can finally be stitched together. >> i have 100% certainty it was foul play. >> he was murdered? >> he was murdered.

>> his family not determined to let the memory of george smith fade away. feelings of both sentiment and a desire for justice. >> every day we work on his case, don't we? every day. >> certainly. >> george smith, 26 years old. a married man for only ten days. who was he? well, let the family tell you their boy's story. >> he was very handsome, very tall, great, great sense of humor. >> he was a lot of fun. >> george grew up a popular kid in wealthy greenwich, connecticut. though his family like many others wasn't rolling in it, his dad ran a liquor store in town. after high school, george went to babson college, a business major with ideas of getting into web design. friends of the time loved the guy. >> probably the most loyal person that anybody could ever come across. >> extremely funny. >> yeah, off the wall funny. >> when you pull up george in

your just pressed play, what do you see him doing? >> laughing. >> i see him laughing and everybody laughing along with him. >> after graduation and some false career starts, george was back in greenwich, working alongside his dad in the liquor store. he talked about getting the shop established online. george smith iv never had a shortage of girl friends. after 2002, he took himself off the market after meeting a striking beauty from connecticut, jennifer hagel. a cop's daughter that wanted to be a teacher. >> she was his life. as soon as they met, i mean, it was totally different in a good way. >> jennifer hagel told nbc news in 2005 about their love story, how she and george became engaged. >> george proposed to me when we were vacationing, very romantically. walking the sunset. last february, february, 2004.

and he surprised me with this ring. george had it all. he was funny and romantic and handsome. >> the wedding a gem of a setting, a garden overlooking the ocean in rhode island where george's family had a summer place. >> it was just the perfect day. it was magical. it was the best day of my life. >> the outline of their future was coming together. george would take over the liquor store, jen would have her elementary school kids. but first, they were going on their honeymoon. a magnificent mediterranean cruise that george had been planning for months. here they are together at the bride and groom's bon voyage brunch. >> we have a photograph of him waving like this, looking back, i can't believe that was our final good-bye. it is hard to comprehend that was the last time we would see george. >> the last time his family would see him. but for all those about to be

ship mates converging on barcelona for the start of a splendid 12 day cruise, george smith was a first impression. coming up, for one young woman, that first impression was puzzling. >> he was telling people how he had $17,000 in his safe in cash, and we were like why are you saying that. >> was he saying that and who might have been listening? when "overboard" continues. [ ryan ] for my clients, there's nothing like a fresh-cut style to add a spring to the step. but as time passes between cuts, split ends can make hair look frizzy and rough. so i recommend tresemmé's all-new split remedy line. three uses repairs up to eighty percent of split ends for a smooth finish. so your step stays lighter and your style looks fresher longer. get salon-polished, chair-worthy hair without the salon price. tresemmé. professional. affordable. nyqui tylenol: me, too. and cougnasal congestion.ers? get salon-polished, chair-worthy hair without the salon price.

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vacation of a lifetime. >> it was a fabulous cruise. >> reporter: 2,000 passengers, a sparkling cruise ship and a glorious 12-day spin around the med. royal caribbean's "brilliance of the seas" departed barcelona in late june 2005, headed for one exotic destination after another, the french riviera, florence, italy, the sun-kissed island of santorini, greece. it was as good as the brochure promised and fresh bit of wonderment each sunrise as the passengers stepped out on to their balconies. carefree days. >> one of the things that attracts us to a cruise, your hotel, if you will, goes with you. there's very little that you have to worry about. >> reporter: clete hyman was on the cruise with his family. a california police chief by day, he was ready for r&r. >> you don't expect work to follow you. >> generally, no. when i go on vacation, the whole

idea was to leave work behind. >> but it did in this case. >> yes, it did. >> reporter: clete would become key ear and eyewitness. below on deck seven, a teenager was taking in the views from her cabin, giving her new camera a workout. >> i took a couple pictures at my house but then the rest i saved for the trip. >> on the second day of the cruise, emilie snapped this photo in florence, and it was in florence that george and jennifer first met fellow passenger josh askin, a 20-year-old from laguna hills, california, cruising with his family. keith greer is josh askin's attorney. >> they hailed a cab together and headed off into florence. that's when they first talked and got to know each other. >> reporter: on day five of the cruise, the newlyweds planned a short excursion by themselves on the greek island.

>> george loves greece and he just couldn't wait to get off the boat that day. so the two of us had, you know, walked around for a little bit, and it was just such a breathtaking place that we were saying, god, i can't wait to come back here. >> reporter: the cream on the top of a very cool day for george was a celebrity sighting of tara reid as she taped a tv show. >> so excited. apparently he was like a little boy getting to meet a movie star. >> reporter: who could have guessed that the last happy snaps of george smith were being taken that very day. final photos for a family album and a final shout-out e-mail. >> just said, i'm having the time of my life. he said, don't get in contact with me unless it's the end of the world or unless someone dies. >> what a strange thing to look back on in a different context, huh? >> yeah. >> reporter: when the sun set that july 4th evening, george smith had only a few hours left to live.

on board, the older passengers like clete hyman headed to their cabins after dinner. but life was just starting for the younger shipmates. >> every mediterranean cruise i've been on is one big party. >> reporter: the crowd of teens and twentysomethings and teens all newfound friends started in the casino where kristen fully expected to run into george and jennifer on the night of july 4th. that's just where they popped up after a cozy dinner at the chops grille. >> we had this great dinner, very romantic dinner. we were saying, we're two of the luckiest kids in the world. here we are in the mediterranean toasting to our future. and it's a moment that i will -- that i won't forget. >> reporter: after a brief visit to the cabin so george could shed his sport coat they head down to the casino royale. here in never-before-seen footage, jennifer is seen in the

casino. george is also captured on tape. george takes his usual place at the craps table next to josh askin from california. >> george taught him how to play craps, you know, which was neat. >> reporter: there is another group making the rounds that night. young men who, like josh, are vacationing with their families. brothers zachary and jeffery rozenburg from brooklyn, new york, and their cousin gregory rosenberg from florida. one of them had brought a friend, rusty kofman. the boys' families had emigrated from the soviet union so they became known in the events that followed as the russians. >> there would be stories of coarse behavior among the young russians. >> josh said they were loud, they were flashy guys, they stood out. they drank a lot. they were gregarious. >> reporter: by midnight, the joint is jumping. at one point on the security camera, you can see george and josh walk by together. this is the last known image of george smith.

josh says he and george head up to josh's room for a few belts from a potent bottle of booze, absinthe, that the two had smuggled on to the cruise. he said george also grabbed more gambling money from his cabin before returning to the casino where kristen ruiz overhears a conversation investigators will later zero in on. >> in the casino george was pretty intoxicated and he was telling people how he had $17,000 in his safe, cash. we're like, why are you saying that? that's really weird. you should be quiet. >> reporter: though the dollar amounts differ, records show that at least two other witnesses heard that george had money stashed in his cabin. his family scoffs at the idea that he had actually brought that kind of cash on board, but his sister bree says an accurate count isn't the point. >> although he may not have had it on him, what was the rumor on the ship? i guess what really matters is what they thought on the ship.

>> he had a beautiful watch, which was a breitling, that he got as a wedding gift. he looked quite prosperous. >> reporter: did the wrong person overhear george? did money play a role? what would happen to him in the few short hours he had left to live? the questions that would be posed again and again over the next few years were being set in motion by the events about to take place. >> lloyd's involvement is when things start getting weird. >> things would continue to get weird, late into the night. >> that's when i heard a horrific thud. >> when "dateline" continues.

after midnight, ship under

way, in the casino on deck six, the party's been in full swing for hours. then some of the younger posse decide to call it a night. >> that was the one night that eric and i decided to go to bed early and we went to bed at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. >> but jennifer and george are still going. so are josh and the russian boys. there's a bleary proposition seconded to move the party up to the disco. from here on, the story from the wee hours is based upon the memory of josh askin, the young man from california, as related by his attorney keith greer. josh says the turning point in the evening is when the group migrating to the disco is joined by the floor manager from the ship's casino, lloyd botha, a 27-year-old man. from south africa. >> lloyd botha, what is his involvement? >> lloyd's involvement is when

things start getting weird. >> reporter: now off duty, he takes the elevator up to the disco. that's when josh says he notices something sleazy. >> at that point in time lloyd has his arm around jennifer and josh remembers this very vividly, that lloyd appeared to be coming on a little too strong, not paying attention to the proper boundaries he should have as an employee of the cruise line. >> reporter: but it's not a party stopper because the disco is still pounding bass and pouring alcohol. george grabs a table with josh askin and the three russian boys, and surreptitiously the bottle of absinthe comes out again. the guys start doing shooters. several witnesses say they heard some sort of argument between george and jennifer. jennifer starts to leave, and what happens next becomes important. >> she leaves, and josh sees her leaving with lloyd. >> he does see that. >> he sees that. >> reporter: about 15 minutes

later, the lights come on in the disco, time for everyone to go. by now george is said to be stumbling drunk. >> josh says he needs help to get back to the room so the two bigger russian boys basically take an arm on each side and then the four of them escort him back, you know, to the elevator back down to his room and to the cabin. >> reporter: with the aid of some technical gadgetry called locklink, royal caribbean is able to pinpoint the exact times a passenger's key card is used to open a cabin door. now that "dateline" has those records, combined with the ear witness statements from passengers in cabins on either side of the smiths, we have the most complete picture yet of the boys' activities in those critical last minutes before george smith disappears. at 3:52 a.m., george's key is used to open his cabin, number 9062, and, by their accounts later, the boys all enter. next door in cabin 9064

passenger clete hyman, the deputy police chief from california, is disturbed. >> we are awakened by what i'd call loud cheering, something like a college drinking game. this happened two distinct times. >> reporter: clete hears voices outside the door. josh admits that the boys and he are on the move, george in tow. their mission? find jennifer. she wasn't in the cabin. what's up with jennifer. >> he was worried she's not there. they've all been drinking. >> reporter: josh says the posse does a loop of the solarium looking for jennifer. george's locklink records place the russians and josh back in george's room by 4:01 a.m. >> the russian boys took care of george from there, got him into bed, may have taken his shoes off, laid him down, tucked him in. >> reporter: now the couple on the other side of the smiths,

pat and greg lawyers, in 9060, also hear something. >> some noises started occurring in the wee hours. >> there was a young person who was saying, settle down, calm down, george. >> i heard a voice just repeatedly say good night. you could literally follow the progression through the cabin and to the front door. >> reporter: the boys start to leave, and what happens next becomes critical. now, remember, by josh's account there were four altogether, him and the three russians. four. >> waited for a couple of seconds and then opened the door and looked out. >> what did you see? >> i saw three younger males walking down the hallway. >> walking away from you. >> that's correct. >> reporter: if only three boys are seen leaving, does that mean that one has stayed behind in george's cabin? >> the fbi got very excited about that statement from clete hyman. >> reporter: perhaps there were four boys on the move and chief hyman just missed one of them. >> maybe there was only three because one had already turned the corner or maybe one was just obscured because he was in front of the others. >> reporter: but the noises

coming from cabin 9062 aren't over just yet. listen to what happens next. these are likely george smith's last moments in the room. after a lull, through the wall, chief hyman hears a single male moving about, speaking in a conversational tone of voice, though oddly no one replies. is it george's voice or someone else's? then sudden loud noises. >> it sounded like furniture moving. i could hear cabinet doors opening and closing, like maybe things were being put away or that they were looking for something. and then it appeared to be concentrated out on the balcony area. and then there was silence. it got very quiet. >> silent for how long, couple of minutes? >> yes. maybe three minutes. approximately. and at that point that's when i heard what i would describe as a horrific thud. >> a thud thought to be george falling from the balcony and onto the awning over the lifeboats two decks below.

after a chaotic night, clete hyman and the couple bookending cabin 9062 hear nothing more from inside the room. josh and the russians say they never heard the thud because by then they'd returned to one of their rooms on deck three to order a pig-out of room service. >> ordered a lot of food. in fact, the boys took pictures of the stacks of bus trays and food that they ordered. >> so josh's best alibi is this room service gorge, huh? >> yeah. >> locklink records place the boys back in their respective rooms a bit after 5:00 a.m. in just a few hours, some passengers will wake up not to a postcard view of the latest port of call but to an ugly bloodstain on the lifeboat awning. and even uglier rumors about possible foul play aboard the "brilliance of the seas." coming up, exclusive access. "dateline" obtains new photos of george's room.

>> there's blood on the sheets and no one knows how it got there. >> see what they reveal when "overboard" continues. [ male announcer ] good news: men use soap. bad news; men use soap that can really dry their skin. fear not. dove men+care is here. it's the bar with 1/4 moisturizing cream. so it cleans and leaves skin feeling moisturized. dove men+care.

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we woke up early in the morning, and we went outside at about 7:00. >> reporter: turkey, day six of the royal caribbean cruise. teenager emilie rusch is up with the dawn and out on her balcony camera in hand to take in the view. then something on the metal awning covering the lifeboats below catches her eye. >> and i noticed there was this red bloodstain on it. and i didn't think it was blood at first. >> reporter: she snaps this photo, just as other early risers are starting to also notice the same sickening smear. ship personnel are notified and start searching cabins just above.

number 9062 is empty. a page goes out on ship speakers for mr. and mrs. smith. a groggy josh askin awakens. >> josh finally sticks his head out and advises his cabin attendant, if you're looking for george, he had a lot to drink last night. he may not hear the page. >> reporter: jennifer hagel is located getting a previously scheduled massage in the spa. she tells ship staffers she doesn't know where george is. he wasn't in the cabin she says when she woke up. she assumed he was sleeping it off in a friend's stateroom. she's then escorted to a room and josh shows up. >> jennifer's obviously a little shaken and she says to josh at that time, i don't remember anything about what happened last night. i don't remember last evening. >> reporter: the ship's officer before her has blunt news. her husband of ten days is missing. >> i just literally remember grabbing both of my arms and just squeezing so tight thinking, i have got to still be dreaming. this has got to be a nightmare.

i really thought i was going to have a heart attack. i didn't know what to think. i didn't know what to do. everything i just -- everything i knew in that moment was just gone. >> reporter: a call is placed to george's parents, the smiths, back in connecticut. >> you know, you just -- you go numb. >> how do you wrap your brain around that? he's not in his cabin. we don't know where he is. >> well, he's there somewhere. he's just not disappeared. i mean, he's on that ship. >> reporter: but the smiths hadn't yet been told about the blood on the lifeboat awning and that, after a search of the ship, george was presumed dead and his body lost at sea. early on, a theory about what had happened was taking rumor. george had likely perched on the railing of his balcony to smoke a cigar, lost his balance and fallen to the overhang below, an accidental death. but the tipsy guy accidental death theory wasn't holding, least of all with the dead groom's parents and sister in connecticut who had a very dark belief about what had happened

to george smith. >> i have a 100% certainty that it was foul play. >> he was murdered. >> he was murdered. >> i think it was a botched robbery. >> and this unsolved mystery required more than mere speculation in the eyes of law enforcement. from the moment the bloodstain was discovered, turkish authorities with jurisdiction and later the fbi were asking was this foul play? did someone push this american passenger to his death? >> reporter: the smiths' cabin was regarded as a crime scene until proven otherwise. were there signs of a struggle? was there blood inside of the cabin as well as out? the photos you're seeing were taken after the csi team from turkey had boarded the ship and processed the cabin. you can still spot fingerprint dust. but because the turks had already taken evidence from the room, the photos don't tell us much. but "dateline "has obtained a new set of photos.

these were taken by a royal caribbean staffer before the turks came on board. so only these show the smiths' cabin close to how it looked when george smith went overboard. >> when we got the photographs that were taken by the royal caribbean photographers they did reveal some interesting information. >> reporter: at first glance, the cabin appears messy but not trashed. no sign, for instance, of the overturned furniture the ear witnesses next door thought they'd heard. purses are on the bed. what looks like george's shirt and shoe on the floor nearby. but when the camera zooms in on the bed, something's amiss. in this never-before-seen photo, you can see two spots of blood on the bed sheets. >> they're not large blood spots. it's not like you have splatter from some sort of knife cut or something like that. but there's blood on the sheets that really is not explained and no one knows how it got there. >> reporter: more pics, towels in the bathroom appear to have blood stains. but later analysis reveals the

truth. >> it turned out that a lot of what they thought were blood samples were cosmetics found on towels in the bathroom and on the floor in the cabin. >> nothing in the cabin itself screams foul play, not forensically. the overhang was scrubbed of blood and the ship sailed that same evening for santorini greece. but if the awful demise of a fellow passenger put a dampening mood on some on board, it didn't seem to slow down josh or the russians. >> several nights later, there was accusations of a gang rape, a sexual assault, by the russian boys. >> the boys say the encounter with a young female passenger was consensual, but when officials found out, they kicked the russians and josh and their families off the ship in naples, italy. authorities investigated the incident which the boys had videotaped but did not prosecute. not long after the boys returned to the states they were contacted by the fbi about george smith. you don't often get a call, fbi

holding for you on 2. >> no. >> reporter: was there a terrible story unheard about george's last night alive? was there a conspiracy of silence between josh and the russians? to find out, the fbi set its sights on josh askin. so the tenor is, you have an opportunity here, kid, and you better take it. >> yes. or we're going to come down hard. >> or you'll be an accessory to murder. coming up, the temperature rises inside the investigation. >> he comes out upset, beside himself. >> and later, a different member of this group of late-night partiers finds himself on the hot seat. >> how long were you guys in the room? who put him to bed? >> when "dateline" continues. [ degeneres ] what's more beautiful than a covergirl? two covergirls. that's right. get two miracles in one product. covergirl makeup... and olay advanced hydrating serum. it's new tone rehab 2-in-1 foundation.

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>> reporter: josh askin is 27 years old and playing drums in a rock band. here he's seen in a youtube video at the san diego city fest this past august. josh is taking college courses and has a pool cleaning business. he was just 20 when he befriended george and jennifer smith on their honeymoon cruise. keith greer is his attorney. does it still follow him? do people ask him questions about that night on the ship? >> all the time. still very much alive.

>> reporter: george and josh's fates have been intertwined for a long time. greer, the lawyer, says josh doesn't know what happened. >> my name? my mother's name. >> reporter: but beginning the first day of the investigation in a turkish port, josh has sounded like someone who believes that there may be foul play. in this video, josh giving a statement to turkish authorities, he thinks the cops are focusing on jennifer. it riles him up. >> she has no idea what happened. >> reporter: josh points the finger at the casino manager lloyd botha who josh says left the ship's disco with jennifer the night in question. >> she was with another man. the casino manager lloyd. you need to get him in here. >> reporter: despite josh defending the bride even as he implicated the casino manager, questions still swirled about

jennifer's whereabouts that night. exactly where was she when her husband fell like a thud. the fbi has told her to not speak. >> it's not scandalous. i can tell you that. that's what people are wondering. sometimes the truth is more basic or simple than people think it is. >> in the absence of facts, rumors buzz that the casino manager hooked up with the drunken bride and took her to his cabin that night. in the more outrageous version of that, it was suggested that one or both of them then went down to the smiths' stateroom and threw george overboard. but the details the ship has suggest that neither of those stories is true. for starters, jennifer hagel and lloyd botha denied having anything to do with george's death. both took an fbi polygraph, both passed. what's more, despite what josh askin said he saw that night, there is evidence that lloyd did not in fact leave the disco with jennifer and for a good reason says the smiths' attorney. >> he had a girlfriend on the ship and there's a statement from lloyd's girlfriend that

puts him back in the room at 3:25. his girlfriend was there waiting for him. >> reporter: so what's jennifer's story? numerous passengers told royal caribbean they saw jennifer hagel leave the disco alone. a cleaner on duty that night was seen getting into the elevator with her. the cleaner said he asked jennifer if she needed help. he rode with her to the ninth floor and watched her make a right off the elevator though her cabin was to the left. about an hour later, she was found passed out sleeping in this alcove. she was returned to her room in a wheelchair. when the cabin was opened at 4:57 a.m., george was no longer there. jennifer went to sleep. lloyd and jennifer were no longer considered suspects. but josh askin, so eager to point fingers, found himself dead-center on the fbi's radar screen. >> it's wound up being a nightmare that just continues today. we just got a call from the fbi a month and a half ago.

>> reporter: the lawyers said when the feds first approached josh and asked to talk he said sure. but the dynamic in the meeting changed fast. >> it was aggressive, intimidating. they were not friendly. >> reporter: he says the agents leaned on josh hard. >> they never directly accused josh of being involved in a murder, but they always treated him like he knew something that he wasn't sharing. >> reporter: greer says, for his own peace of mind, he had josh polygraphed to see what he was dealing with. he says josh passed with flying colors. but when the fbi did the same, the results were upside down. did the fbi polygraph him? >> they say they did, and this -- >> wouldn't you know if they did or didn't? >> i think it was another ploy. the polygrapher rushes josh off to the room with the machine. a very short amount of time, josh comes outside upset, beside

himself, saying they're saying i didn't pass, he blew up the machine. this is outrageous. they're playing games. >> reporter: greer says josh insists to this day he's told the fbi everything he knows. but when the smiths' attorney mike jones took a never-before-released deposition in 2009 as part of the family's lawsuit over the george smith estate, josh askin was anything but forthcoming. >> in 2005, did you go on a royal caribbean cruise with your family? >> i invoke my fifth amendment right. >> reporter: even on the basics, josh invoked his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. and on the big questions. >> do you have a belief that george was murdered? >> i invoke my fifth amendment right. >> were you present when george smith was killed? >> i evoke my fifth amendment right. >> did you play a part in the death of george smith? >> i invoke my fifth amendment right. >> reporter: he takes the fifth amendment, elects not to answer the questions. it makes him look guilty. >> it does. the problem was the fbi was saying if josh remembers something different and testifies ou