Aruba tourist Robyn Gardner’s companion to be freed Tuesday
by admin on Nov.29, 2011, under Travel insurance
Gary Giordano, the Maryland man jailed in Aruba since early August in connection with the mysterious disappearance of his traveling companion, is due to go free Tuesday, according to multiple news reports, including one in USA TODAY’s On Deadline blog .
An Aruba judge ruled Friday that after nearly four months of investigation, there is no evidence that Robyn Gardner came to harm at Giordano’s hands. Giordano, who took out a $1.5 million insurance policy on Gardner, has never wavered from his statement that Gardner was swept away by a strong current while they were snorkeling on the island’s Baby Beach in early August.
Searches by cadaver dogs, surveillance videos and more have failed to show what happened to Gardner. No body or indication of her whereabouts have come to light. However, Aruba Solicitor General Taco Stein maintains that Giordano is lying.
“We know for a fact that he is not telling the truth,” Stein said, according to a Washington Post blog . “We are determined to go on with this investigation, not only for ourselves and for justice, but for the relatives of Robyn Gardner.”
Last month, I was on Aruba and visited Baby Beach, which is known for its calm waters. I asked locals what the buzz was about her death.
Some said it was thought Gardner was buried in a beach pet cemetery, where sniffer dogs wouldn’t be likely to find her. Others said she could have gone by boat to nearby Venezuela, either sold into prostitution or waiting to collect with Giordano in an insurance scam. And others said Gardner was woozy after leaving the Rum Reef bar next to Baby Beach and that there was no evidence she and Giordano had the equipment to snorkel and that they weren’t seen doing so.
None of these theories are proven, of course. And the people of Aruba are sensitive, because while it is statistically a safe island, U.S. teen Natalee Holloway’s disappearance six years ago gave it a black eye. Now another American is missing.
Readers, what do you think about Robyn Gardner’s disappearance? And:
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