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Missing Md. Woman Met Aruba Travel Partner Via Online Dating

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (WJZ)— Robyn Gardner vanished on a tropical island with a man she met online.  Now authorities say they want to question him again.  Mike Hellgren has more on the investigation that's generating worldwide headlines.

Police in Aruba have stopped searching for Robyn Gardner, saying they're out of leads.  The 35-year-old from Frederick vanished in Aruba while on a trip with Gary Giordano, a friend she met online.  Police call him a suspect in her disappearance.

"It was a bit of a rollercoaster friendship.  Some days he was nice and other days he wasn't," said her roommate Christina Jones.

Jones says Gardner recently lost her job and her relationship with her boyfriend, Richard Forester, was on the rocks.

"I'm not giving up," Jones said.  "Nothing is as difficult as not getting on a plane and going to try and find my friend."

"I'm sad, I'm scared, I'm lost, I'm angry," Forester said.

Giordano has a $1.3 million home in Montgomery County.  According to court records, one woman previously took out a protective order against him.  Another former girlfriend asked not to be identified.

"[He] yanked my arm really hard," she said.  "He was, let's say, quite physically aggressive."

Giordano's lawyer says his client denies any involvement in the disappearance and that they were nothing more than friends.

"They met each other on a dating site and saw each other two times a month," said Giordano's lawyer, Michael Lopez.

Every hour that passes is agonizing for Robyn Gardner's loved ones.  Still, they have faith.

"This just truthfully is about a man and woman who went on vacation together and she didn't come back," Jones said.

Natalee Holloway's mother is assisting in the investigation.  Her daughter vanished in Aruba in 2005; her body was never found.

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