New Search, New Witness in Aruba

Aruban authorities launched a new search for the remains of Robyn Gardner or evidence against her detained travel companion.

Search teams fanned out in the northeast of the Dutch Caribbean island. Previous efforts focused in the south, near where Maryland businessman Gary Giordano said Robyn Gardner disappeared while snorkeling.

But a fisherman said he saw the couple from his boat Aug. 2, when Gardner last was seen. They didn’t even get in the water, much less go snorkeling, the fisherman said, according to law enforcement sources. The couple left the beach together, according to the fisherman. That doesn’t match Giordano’s timeline, according to sources.

“That story has not been proven yet,” Solicitor General Taco Stein said. “It has not been anchored in reality, but if that statement, there is reality, it’s something that might change the path of the investigation.”

Giordano’s behavior after her disappearance was bizarre, sources said, like leaving the initial search early to sleep in his hotel.

He was arrested Aug. 5 trying to catch a flight out of Aruba, telling customs he was switching flights because of the weather and Gardner was taking another flight, sources said.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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