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Nancy Grace
Possible Motive in Gardner Aruba Disappearance?
Aired August 17, 2011 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Another American girl goes missing, Aruba. A beautiful young American tourist, Robyn Gardner, heads to an Aruban vacation with so-called traveling companion Gary Giordano, as apparently just friends, she`s never seen again. Reports Gardner snorkeling just off Baby Beach, known for warm water and no waves, but not a single witness places Gardner at the beach, in the water, snorkeling or even with snorkeling gear. Gardner and Giordano have a seaside lunch, both of them bone dry. Two hours later, she`s gone.
Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, breaking news. A condom, unused and straight out of the package, along with a bloody handprint, just discovered behind that same restaurant as the seaside lunch. This after surveillance video catches Giordano in the same spot out back. That`s where the condom and the bloody handprint is found.
And did Giordano take out a $1.5 million insurance policy on Robyn just before they leave the States? Now claims emerging Gardner woozy at that lunch, woozy after being given sleeping pills. Who takes sleeping pills before they snorkel? With cops having a hard time identifying Giordano on casino, bar, hotel video because he keeps changing those toupees, just like disguises, tonight, where is American tourist Robyn Gardner?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports of a bloody handprint that was discovered in this area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robyn Gardner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it blood that belongs either to Robyn Gardner or Gary Giordano?
GRACE: Gary Giordano.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Criminal charges are coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is that spot. Take a look. That`s Baby Beach in the distance. But this is the area where he says the two of them were snorkeling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Literally as we go to air, breaking news. A condom, unused, straight out of the package, along with a bloody handprint, a palmprint, has just been discovered behind that same restaurant where Gardner and Giordano had the seaside lunch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-five-year-old Robyn Gardner vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports of a bloody palmprint that was found out behind the Nanki country club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No proof, to my knowledge. I don`t see any proof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is exactly the place where Gary Giordano says he and Robyn went snorkeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t see her snorkeling. I can`t see her going in the water much more above her waist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a palmprint that would match Gary Giordano?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities are investigating a $1.5 million insurance policy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities would look at that as possible motivation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She did tell me that he had a criminal record for violence towards women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had a personality that he could turn on, like a car salesman`s personality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somewhat doesn`t make sense that you`d walk that far to go snorkeling when Baby Beach is right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a rather secluded, rocky, difficult-to- navigate piece of territory. But if you want to be alone, then maybe this is the spot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are live in Aruba, taking your calls. Breaking news. As we go to air, an unused condom apparently straight out of the package and a bloody palmprint found at that restaurant, the Rum Reef restaurant, where the two were having that seaside lunch just two hours before Giordano reports Robyn is gone.
Also, video surveillance emerges, Giordano fumbling around behind the restaurant for several minutes before he goes in to try to report her missing. Now, how does that jive with initial reports that he approached a couple, an unknown couple on the beach, asking them to call 911? How many people did he ask to call 911? And why was he making such a spectacle of looking for her?
As we go to air tonight, we also learn a lot of late-breaking news. We learned as cops and volunteers, everybody out looking for Robyn Gardner, the young American tourist, he goes back to the hotel, saying he`s got to get some sleep. OK.
Out to Martin Savidge, CNN correspondent, standing there at Nanki Point in Aruba. Martin, what is this about an unused condom and a bloody palmprint? What was the bloody palmprint on behind the restaurant?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nancy, these two key pieces of evidence came to light today in the investigation. Authorities had known about it for a couple of days, but here is what we have heard, and that is the blood and perhaps a handprint in that blood was discovered in the area where Gary Giordano had said that they had been snorkeling. Right now, authorities will only say the blood find is interesting. And they say they will not confirm or they will not deny. I asked them the same about the condom. Again, interesting. But they will not confirm or deny, saying that this...
GRACE: OK, everybody...
SAVIDGE: ... is an ongoing investigation, and that`s key information...
GRACE: ... let me just tell you what you`re seeing right now. You`re seeing an abandoned country club, not far from where Martin Savidge is standing. The abandoned country club and the restaurant are very close to each other and very close to where he said they were snorkeling.
There you see a pullback of the restaurant. It`s right beside the abandoned country club. That is where the unused condom and the bloody palmprint have been found.
And to you, Rupa Mikkilineni. I also understand that a video surveillance catches Giordano out behind that restaurant. How close was that to where the unused condom was?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. This is very unclear as to exactly how far the unused condom was from the bloody handprint, but we do know that both of these items were found behind that building.
GRACE: OK, to Alexis Weed, our producer on the story. Alexis, now odd reports that this guy had some kind of very unusual fixation on Natalee Holloway. What do you know?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. This is being reported by "The National Enquirer." They`re saying that an unnamed person was questioned by the FBI. This unnamed person claims that the FBI was very interested in finding out whether Giordano had an unusual fixation, a fascination with the Natalee Holloway case.
GRACE: And if you notice that all the people that he tries to take on these free Aruban vacations -- they`re all young blondes. Dana, pull up the video of the mother and daughter that I spoke with the other night, where he tries to take mother and the daughter -- propositions them for sex, tries to take them on a free Aruban vacation for a photo shoot. She looks almost just like Natalee Holloway, at first glance, and Robyn Gardner.
And also, we`re learning, Rupa Mikkilineni, that he takes out a life insurance policy on Robyn Gardner?
MIKKILINENI: Nancy, we have been hearing this. This is the big news today. ABC News has reported that he took out a life insurance policy on Robyn Gardner. It`s worth $1.5 million. Now, our sources in the prosecutor`s office are not confirming this precisely in this manner. They`re saying that he did purchase travel insurance for both himself and Robyn. Now...
GRACE: You are seeing the mother and daughter that we spoke to the other night. They took your calls. Apparently, Giordano goes online, finds this young blond model, tries to take her and her mother to Aruba, then propositions them both for sex, stating that it won`t be a, quote, "Natalee Holloway situation."
Unleash the lawyers. Alan Ripka, defense attorney, New York, Alex Sanchez, renowned defense attorney, New York. Alex -- let me see Alex Sanchez and Alan Ripka. You know what else I learned, Sanchez? That when he was trying to leave the country, when the police apprehended him, he was already technically on U.S. soil, he had gone through Aruban customs and was on the other side -- he`s drenched with sweat, Sanchez. I guess you`re going to tell me that means nothing, right?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I mean, if you believe the reports of the authorities, yes, that`s troubling. But I`m not so sure we should believe the reports of the authorities. After that debacle in Aruba with Joran Van Der Sloot, I don`t know if anything they say has much credibility at this point. And you...
GRACE: Well, I have to agree with you on that, Alex Sanchez.
SANCHEZ: You have said -- that`s right.
GRACE: I mean, I take everything they say...
SANCHEZ: Glad you do.
GRACE: ... with a box of salt. But come on, Alan Ripka, I don`t think they would go so far as to make up that he was drenched with sweat. And also, we learned the night when volunteers from the restaurant, the cops, everybody is out combing the beach, looking for this girl, he says he`s got to go back to the hotel and get some sleep. Thoughts?
ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, well, it`s not great against him, certainly, if there`s going to be a trial. It looks like that there`s consciousness of guilt, although flight is not evidence of guilt. And without having a body or any other evidence or witnesses, they`re going to have a tough time with that circumstantial evidence, Nancy.
GRACE: We`re taking your calls. Out to Melinda in Texas. Hi, Melinda.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi there, Nancy.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am wondering -- did I hear you say that she was possibly drugged?
GRACE: Yes. As a matter of fact, I`m going to go back to Martin Savidge standing by in Aruba. Reports now that he, Giordano, states that Gardner had been given or took sleeping pills and was woozy at the lunch they had, that seaside lunch, just before she goes missing. Why would you take sleeping pills before you snorkel, Martin Savidge?
SAVIDGE: Well, it wouldn`t be good advice by any expert who knows anything about snorkeling. These are all being gleaned -- these statements are coming from Gary Giordano in the very first days of this investigation, the initial statement he made to authorities. As you know now, Nancy, he`s no longer speaking to them. So this is coming from the very first interrogation session. And yes, he said that she was taking sleeping pills.
GRACE: Everyone, the tip line 407-237-2295. Tonight, amidst claims that Giordano takes out a $1.5 million insurance policy on the life of Robyn Gardner, bombshell tonight. We learn an unused condom, a rubber, straight out of the package, and a bloody palmprint found in the same vicinity as where Gardner goes missing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see there is this isolated cove and it`s here that Gary Giordano says he believes that Robyn Gardner was swept away by some sort of current, never to be seen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports of a bloody handprint that was discovered in this area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police try and figure out what happened to a beautiful young American tourist.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She simply disappeared into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) woman that went away on a vacation together and she didn`t come back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have reason to fear that there could have been something that happened to Robyn Gardner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of allegations out there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve got domestic violence allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He plans out his moves.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peeping Tom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you both sleep with me, I`ll take care of you financially the rest of your life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go and hit a woman during sex, but no criminal convictions against Gary Giordano.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We suspect for murder, but there`s no proof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re about 500 feet here, and from this vantage, you can see how small this island really is. You can also tell how rugged the terrain is. There are hills that you didn`t expect. Seems like it`s terrain that`s extremely difficult to search.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pilot Greg Malusky (ph) flew "GMA" around the island and took us to the spot where both Natalee Holloway and now Robyn Gardner went missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water is shallow. The water is calm. It`s a very safe place (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you heard of anybody drowning there before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You are seeing video from ABC`s "GMA." Everybody, we are live in Aruba and taking your calls. An American tourist, Robyn Gardner, goes for a free Aruban vacation. It didn`t turn out to be so free. It apparently has cost her her life. Shockingly, the Aruban police have not brought in cadaver dogs.
Out to Martin Savidge, CNN correspondent there in Aruba. What`s is the hold-up?
SAVIDGE: Well, they don`t have them, that`s for one thing, Nancy. The authorities here do not have cadaver dogs. It`s just not something they routinely need, and thereby, they`re difficult to maintain. So here`s what they have to do, is request them. And of course, this being part of the government out of Holland, that`s where the dogs would have to come from. They have expert teams. They`ve worked at natural disasters around the world. But they would have to be transported here. We have not been told that`s...
GRACE: OK. Hold on.
SAVIDGE: ... (INAUDIBLE) as yet (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Let`s think, Martin Savidge. Today, got to check to make sure it`s August 17. She went missing August 2. They`ve had two weeks to bring in cadaver dogs! What, do I need to pick up the phone and call the Holland police myself, call the Netherlands? What`s the problem?
SAVIDGE: Well, authorities will say that so far, they haven`t felt they needed the cadaver dogs. They believe that they have the assets on the island. And as I say, they still haven`t made the call. They are planning a massive search.
Let me show you where that search is going to be located, Nancy. As a matter of fact, you can see it from right here. Beyond the distance, the white house with the door at the top of the rise there, that`s Seroe Colorado. It`s within sight of this spot, and that is where they plan to search -- steep cliffs, dropping to the ocean, treacherous, very difficult, harsh terrain. And they send -- they will send, they say, a whole team of police and soldiers through that area.
GRACE: Well, you know what? I appreciate that. I really do. But Pat Brown, police have been suspicious that she is dead for well over 72 hours now. And that`s long enough for the Netherlands to bring in the cadaver dogs. Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler," weigh in.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I agree with you that would have been one good response. Apparently, they think they can find her some other way. And I don`t know why that is because we are talking about a very treacherous bunch of landscape here. And it`s always so hard to find somebody if they go down a ravine or they`re in a shallow grave. So they really could use every bit of help they could get.
GRACE: Joining us, two special guests, Lianne Delawter, a close friend of Robyn Gardner, and Reece Armstrong, another close friend of Robyn Gardner. First of all, to you, Reece. What is your reaction to what you`re hearing out of Aruba?
REECE ARMSTRONG, FRIEND OF ROBYN GARDNER: It`s just an out-of-body experience. Like you said, I just -- I don`t see what`s being done that`s enough to find my friend and bring her home.
GRACE: Lianne, tell me about Robyn. Why did she take this trip with Giordano?
LIANNE DELAWTER, FRIEND OF ROBYN GARDNER: I believe that Robyn was going through a bad time in her life. She had just lost her job. You know, her and Richard were going through a rocky patch in their relationship. And you know, it just seemed like the time.
She -- he -- he came in, said that, you know, I have this trip, got these points, let`s go away. And she went.
GRACE: She`s talking about what, Marriott or frequent flier points? Yes, Marriott points. All that used to fund this trip. But we now learn in the last hours that Giordano had enough money to spring for a $1.5 million insurance policy on the life of Robyn Gardner. As of yet, Aruban authorities still not bringing in cadaver dogs. Tonight, where is American girl Robyn Gardner?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is exactly the place where Gary Giordano says he and Robyn went snorkeling. It certainly is more secluded, and this is not the pristine kind of beautiful beach area that most of the tourists are accustomed to finding. You also wonder how Gary Giordano would know exactly this was here.
The road begins to end, and now you`re going from asphalt to what is essentially a dirt path.
He got out of the water. And she never did literally two minutes away from where they last had their meal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. We are live in Aruba and taking your calls. An American tourist, Robyn Gardner, goes missing. Tonight, as we go to air, breaking news. We learn that an unused condom, along with a bloody handprint, found in the same area right behind where Giordano and Gardner were having a seaside lunch.
And we also learn, Alexis Weed, that cops are having a hard time picking Giordano up on casino, hotel, surveillance video because it keeps changing that toupee.
WEED: Right, Nancy. That`s what we`re hearing, is that he might have an array of toupees, and therefore has been very difficult to identify. Police do reportedly have a wealth of surveillance video that they`re currently reviewing.
GRACE: So he travels to Aruba with an array of toupees?
WEED: He must be, Nancy.
GRACE: OK. I didn`t understand, when you wear a wig or toupee, would you have a lot of the same one, and you -- they`re interchangeable, like T- shirts or hats? How does it work, Alexis?
WEED: Yes, I don`t know, Nancy. But police are saying that...
GRACE: Well, you`re the one telling me.
WEED: Right.
GRACE: What`s the deal? Why is he changing toupees?
WEED: We don`t know why he`s changing them. We can only speculate. But it`s said that he`s been very difficult to identify on these surveillance tapes, and we know they have more than one, because he is changing his toupees.
GRACE: And show me that video again, Dana, of him walking along the beach with the search -- the search volunteers. Apparently -- to you, psychologist Caryn Stark -- he misdirected police as to where to search for Robyn Gardner. What about the toupees?
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: What`s wrong with this picture, Nancy? Let`s look at that guy. I mean, he`s so mischievous and deceiving. He couldn`t wait...
GRACE: Did you say mischievous?
STARK: Yes. He couldn`t...
GRACE: OK, because I wouldn`t -- I wouldn`t necessarily use the word "mischievous" to describe someone in connection to a possible dead body! When I think of John David throwing his "Cat in the Hat" book on top of the TV armoire, that`s a little mischievous, maybe, or Lucy hiding her ballet tutu. Maybe a little mischievous. I don`t know that I would use that word to describe a possible killer!
STARK: Well, he`s -- but Nancy, we`re talking about somebody who was so interested in Aruba, and he`s kind of like an amateur detective or spy. I mean, he`s wearing all kinds of toupees. He wants a blonde to go with him. He keeps trying to get these young girls to go to Aruba. He does a life insurance policy. He`s not like a professional, he`s like a kid -- who could kill.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: News reports that Giordano opted for the $1.5 million insurance policy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports of a bloody hand print. Is it blood that belongs either to Robyn Gardner or Gary Giordano.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Suspicion is all they need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The relationship to the rocky point which is where Gary Giordano says they went snorkeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A good little hike if you`re walking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is certainly secluded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To do something like this, without being seen.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: She just vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 100 percent sure she wouldn`t have gone snorkeling.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: You don`t know a horse, look at his track record.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: He had a protective order that was requested by one of his wives.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: Giordano and his wife Kline frequently fought.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abuse and violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Find her. Let`s get her home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My gut feeling and instinct is she`s out there somewhere to be found.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Details are pouring in. ABC news can exclusively report that investigators found blood behind this restaurant. The last place that the two were seen together and that Robyn seemed woozy. Giordano later told police they were drinking vodka and that Robyn used sleeping pills.
ABC news has also learned that Giordano`s behavior seemed erratic. Authorities say he left the search early to get some sleep at his hotel. And three days late, Giordano got within feet of leaving this island, getting stopped at Aruba`s airport after passing all the way through security and U.S. customs where he inexplicably told people his travel companion was "taking another flight".
And when police arrested him, they say he was drenched in sweat.
That`s not all. Investigators tell us they had trouble I.D.ing Giordano in surveillance video because he frequently changed his toupees. With a possible motive in hand, the search continues for Robyn`s body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You`re seeing video from ABC`s "GMA." They`re talking about a body, but there is no evidence at this juncture that Robyn Gardner, the young American tourist in Aruba is dead.
Right now, Gary Giordano, her so-called traveling companion who says they`re just friends, they went to this trip, no strings attached. Not speaking at all to police.
Take a look at that photo, back it up, Dana.
I was just noticing that in that photo, we keep showing, not that one, the one of him in a tuxedo, he`s with another woman who has really blonde hair, really pale skin, this amidst reports that he is some type of an unusual fixation on Natalee Holloway.
We are taking your calls, out to Tammy in Maryland. Hi, Tammy. What`s your question?
TAMMY, CALLER, MARYLAND: Hi Nancy, I just want to tell you I love watching your show.
GRACE: Thank you. Thank you for calling in, dear.
TAMMY: Thank you. I have two questions. First of all, my first question is to you, are they going to bring the Cadaver dogs in to search for her body? And my second question is, can the Aruban authorities make him take the lobby, find out whether or not he`s telling the truth or lying?
GRACE: Number one, your guess is as good as mine as to when or if they`ll bring in cadaver dogs. They should have been brought in around August 4th.
As to making him take a lie detector test, unfortunately, no. Cannot force anyone, even in Aruba, to take a lie detector test. As for what the cops are telling us, remember, take it all with a box of salt. Do we have to re-learn history on the Natalee Holloway case?
As a matter of fact, Giordano is set to walk in about 11 or 12 days. With the FBI and Aruban police scrambling to take more evidence against Giordano without a body or any other evidence than they have got right now, he could walk free.
As a matter of fact, back out to Rupa Mikkilineni. When he was first apprehended, after passing through customs, he was drenched with sweat and had told people his traveling companion who was Robyn Gardner was going to take another flight. Where did that come from?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, PRODUCER, NANCY GRCE SHOW: Nancy, that`s right. We`re hearing he raced to the airport to get on a flight to get out of this country. And, of course, he was actually -- there are conflicting reports about this, but the authorities asked him to stay in the country, though they did not take his passport. And then when he was asked where is your traveling companion, and this is where it is confusing exactly who he told this information to, somebody at the airport, or authorities later when he was questioned. But apparently he claimed his traveling companion was taking another flight later.
GRACE: I want to go through the timeline, Alexis Weed.
He`s having lunch at rum reef with Gardner, who he tells people has taken - she`s taken sleeping pills. That`s around 4:00 in the afternoon. Fast-forward, they have lunch, they`re both bone dry, with no snorkel gear to be seen. At 6:02, just two hours later, he appears where on surveillance video, Alexis.
ALEXIS WEED, PRODUCER, NANCY GRACE SHOW: Right, Nancy, we`re hearing through ABC news that he appears on this surveillance video at 6:02, he`s behind the restaurant where they had that meal and he`s knocking on some shutters on the back of that restaurant, he then at 6:20 is heads to the kitchen, the back kitchen of the restaurant and says to someone there that they need to call police.
GRACE: Well, how does that jive, Martin Savidge? Joining us from Aruba, with the initial reports that he approaches an anonymous couple on the beach begging to use their cell phone at 6:30 to report her missing, that she`s drifted out to sea, Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here is how that can go down. First of all, the way that ABC describes all the cameras is not possible because we walked around the place. There are six cameras at the front of the facility. There are none at the back of this facility. So you can`t see what`s going on behind the restaurant.
That restaurant also closes between 5:00 and 5:30. We double-checked that today. So at 6:30, if he had gone there, there was no one there. That`s why he may appear to be rattling on doors or knocking on things. There is no one there at that time. It is closed, which could be why he then may have gone to the beach to get a phone there. The question is why didn`t he have a phone?
GRACE: Tell people in the kitchen to call 911. But that makes sense, Martin Savidge. That makes absolute sense. I want to go back to Delawter.
Lianne Delawter, friend of Robyn Gardner. Ma`am, is it true that Giordano invited Robyn on a cruise last February? And last February she refused to go with him and then he sent a barrage of nasty, almost threatening text messages to her. Why did she back out of the cruise last February?
LIANNE DELAWTER, FRIEND OF ROBYN GARDNER: I`m not exactly sure why she backed out. But I know that he did send her these text messages and it was really mean.
GRACE: What were they?
DELAWTER: I don`t know exactly the content of them. But they were very, very mean. Enough to have disturb Christina and have her put up radar about Robyn going on this trip.
GRACE: And what is so crazy, Lianne Delawter is the other night I interviewed a mother and daughter. And he had found the daughter at glance is a young model, and he tried to proposition the mother and daughter for sex and take them on a free Aruban vacation for a photo shoot. And actually said the words, it is not going to be a Natalee Holloway - that`s the young girl - a Natalee Holloway thing.
And we also finding out that other women traveled with him before and he`s taken out life insurance policies on them, claiming, oh, it is in case you have to go to the doctor or you need an ambulance or a trip back home which absolutely does not make any sense.
To Lianne Delawter, also a friend of Robyn Gardner, do you believe Robyn would ever put her head in the water and gone snorkeling, Lianne?
DELAWTER: Absolutely not. Robyn was the type of girl and I said it again and again that would looked at fish with you through a fish tank but absolutely not with a snorkeling mask.
GRACE: Weigh in, Reece Armstrong, do you agree or disagree? Would she has gone snorkeling?
REECE ARMSTRONG, FRIEND OF ROBYN GARDNER: I completely agree, no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mystery surrounding the disappearance of the American woman in Aruba.
GRACE: Where is missing American, Robyn Gardner?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want tips. They want information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Re-evaluate the car they were in, even though it was cleaned and brought back, I think it needs to be looked for trace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gary Giordano.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He must stay in jail another 16 days as prosecutors build a case against him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t want to look like this was another Natalee Holloway case where they didn`t do enough.
GRACE: It is amazing how that current seems to grab American girls and take them out to sea whenever they go to vacation in Aruba. That girl is not out in the water.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: He was trying to get my daughter to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no witnesses that show the couple snorkeling.
GRACE: They would have found her body by now.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to get other girls to go who are also blonde. Main he had a sale for a blonde.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are persons confirming to see them on the beach.
GRACE: Did you ever think he could be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the area, but not in the water.
GRACE: Lying?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities here are investigating an insurance policy, taken out by Gary Giordano as a possible motive in the disappearance of Robyn Gardner, Aruban solicitor general confirms exclusively to ABC news. The 35-year-old Maryland woman has been missing for two weeks since reportedly snorkeling with Giordano off this isolated beach on August 2nd. ABC News has learned the policy could be worth up to $1.5 million. The FBI is also investigating the policy and is here on the island to question Giordano.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: You`re seeing video from ABC`s "GMA." We`re live in Aruba taking your calls.
Where is American tourist Robyn Gardner? She goes on a trip with a friend from the states. She`s never seen again after a woozy seaside lunch where Giordano, her traveling companion, tells people he`s giving her sleeping pills.
We`re taking your calls, but to detective lieutenant Steve Rogers, out of the Nutley police department, former member of the FBI task force. Steve, question, we understand that in the Aruban jurisprudence system, he can be questioned over and over and over behind bars. His lawyer can talk to him before and after, but doesn`t get to sit there during the questioning. Now, we know it didn`t work on Joran van der Sloot at all. Can sit there and play a game of checkers and laugh at cops the Aruban police. But where would you take the questioning, Steve?
DET. LT. STEVE ROGERS, NUTLEY NJ POLICE DEPARTMENT: I would take the questioning right to the timelines. I mean, that`s so very important. Those timelines you outland, Nancy, clearly indicate to any investigator that this guy was on a mission and that he was attempting to cover up anything he did. So right, right to the timeline and that`s enough compelling evidence in my mind as an investigator to nail this case shut for prosecutors. But I`ve got to tell you, as you alluded to before, I have a lot of questions about how the Aruba police are handling this and as a law enforcement officer, I would bit be disappointed.
GRACE: That`s a nice way to put it. To Dr. Marty McCarry, physician and professor of public health Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Martin, thank you for being with us. He volunteered that they had been, "drinking vodka" at the hotel and she had been taking sleeping pills when they`re having a 4:00 lunch. Now an unused rubber, a condom straight out of the package is found behind that restaurant. We learned that he parked in a secluded area behind the restaurant in a rental car with tinted windows. Now a bloody palm print has emerged in the same area. What would vodka and sleeping pills do to her?
DR. MARTY MCCARRY, M.D., PHYSICIAN, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOH HOPKINS: It sounds like all of the ingredients of a typical sex crime or some intention to do some harm to somebody. You know creating a narrative where somebody was on sleeping pills would also fit a narrative where somebody was, say, had a Rohypnol or Ativan, one of the sedatives that could go in somebody`s drink or they simply fit a story where somebody wanted to say that they were lost or missing or washed ashore while, say, snorkeling.
So, these all fit together. They sound like ingredients on what sounds to be a sort of, you know, bad intentioned crime of some kind, sexual crime perhaps premeditated where you know this life insurance would explain that maybe there is something more to a simple sexual crime here.
GRACE: Her family is back from Aruba and state side. Her mother and father absolutely devastated, wondering what has become of their girl.
To Caryn Stark, psychologist, New York.
Caryn, I know that you have been combing over the facts of the case. But you put all this together with his stone fortress that has been described home in Maryland where he`s got surveillance cameras everywhere, including in the bedroom, women complaining they had video of them during sex, another woman claiming that he offered her an Aruban vacation, another woman claiming that he beat her, another woman claiming that when she reached up to touch his hair, he grabbed her arm and twisted it. Add it all together and he`s volunteering so much information.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST, NEW YORK: And, Nancy, if you came home and John David said to you I didn`t eat the cookies, what would you think?
GRACE: I would know he ate the cookies.
STARCK: Exactly. Well, here is a guy saying you know this isn`t Natalee Holloway. It is not going to be that kind of incident. Also saying, well, my companion is on a different plane, but nobody really wanted to know. So he`s telling you out of guilt, he`s giving you too much information without anybody really asking. And he`s making all these mistakes that anybody who was really pulled together and knew what they were doing would never have timelines that contradicted.
GRACE: The timeline is really fouling him up.
Unleash the lawyers, Alan Ripka, Alex Sanchez.
Alex Sanchez, he`s volunteered a lot of information that doesn`t fit together. And if it comes out that he misled cops as to where to look for her, he`s in trouble.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, that`s why he should have a lawyer who is advising him not to say anything at this point because every time he opens up his mouth, may be making admissions, even if he doesn`t realize it, he may be making statements which can link him to the crime.
Best thing he can do is simply remain quiet. The only problem is in Aruba, if you remain silent, your silence can probably be used against you at a later trial.
GRACE: Well, obviously it did not work on Joran Van Der Sloot.
Dana, let`s sea let`s see the shot of the mask, the deer mask.
Alan Ripka, another woman, talk about similar transactions, refused to go on a trip with him and then he turns up in her backyard in the middle of the night with this deer mask on, illuminating the bottom of his face with a flashlight or a lighter, like chuckie? What about that? How about if that comes in against your client, Alan?
ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, obviously these are going to show very poor patterns of behavior, but, Nancy in this particular case, it is not going to matter because what defies logic, unlike the Holloway case, this is during the day, daylight, no one saw a thing.
GRACE: What does that mean?
RIPKA: It means the video -
GRACE: Murders don`t happen in the daytime.
RIPKA: In the daylight, you would assume there is someone else out there. If there are people on the beach he runs up to and he`s soaking wet and saying give me your cell phone. There are so many things that could have caught him killing somebody and they don`t have a single thing that we know about. And if something happens during the daylight, someone is going to see it, you`re going to find some forensic evidence.
GRACE: Well, so far, as we go to air tonight, an unused condom straight out of the package, and a bloody palm print found in the same area, there behind the restaurant and this abandoned country club nearby. We`re trying to isolate exactly where the two were found.
We`re taking your calls. Out to Russ in Georgia. Hi, Russ. What is your question?
RUSS, CALLER, GEORGIA: Hi, Nancy, how are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
RUSS: OK. My question is I see that Gary Giordano, before he went on his trip, he took out a $1.5 million accidental death policy and made himself be, you know, beneficiary. Why would he do that for? What is his motive?
GRACE: You know what, apparently his motive is money. I want to go back to Alexis Weed. Do we know what type of policy it is?
WEED: We don`t know exactly Nancy but was are hearing report that it was an ADD, an accidental death and dismemberment policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD FORRESTER, ROBYN GARDNER`S BOYFRIEND: I got serious reservations about Mr. Giordano`s story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it keeps changing that he and Robyn Gardner were snorkeling.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: Robyn never made it back to shore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another version, the couple walked into the ocean until the water was over their head.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: She just vanished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brick bring her home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would have been over at Baby Beach.
DENTIFIED FEMALE: When you don`t know a horse, look at his track record.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Find her. Let`s get her home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s probably 100 yards away. ( END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: They have been looking down mines and down wells for Gardner`s body. And of course that rental car Giordano had with Gardner had been turned in and cleaned.
Did they clean it with Luminol? That`s my question to Martin Savidge, have the authorities gone over the hotel and the hotel room with Luminol to look for blood?
SAVIDGE: We don`t know about that the luminol. I will tell you about the automobile. And this is another point that does not look good for investigators as we know, they got to it after it was cleaned. They impounded it for a while, but then they released it back to the rental car company. If you wanted to go back and look at that vehicle now, it`s been rented at least two other times.
GRACE: Oh, no. The chain of evidence has now been destroyed. Out to the lines.
Shar in Florida. Hi Shar, what`s your question?
SHAR, CALLER, FLORIDA: Hi, Nancy. It`s a pleasure to speak with you tonight. I was wondering if the authorities have checked the mileage on the rental car when it was turned back in.
GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Rupa?
MIKKILINENI: We don`t know about the mileage, but we know they had considered looking at the GPS system. But unfortunately this car did not have a GPS system so they couldn`t trace where the car had been.
GRACE: Everyone, the tip line, 407-237-2295.
Let`s stop and remember Master Sergeant Linda Tarango-Griess, 33, Sutton Nebraska, killed Iraq. Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart. A university of Nebraska graduate of a degree of Criminal justice and Volunteer firefighter, remembered for her beautiful smile.
Loved softball, golf, leaves behind parents Juanita and Augustine, sisters Julie and Vicki, brother Agustin, aunt Maria who helped raise her, widower Doug also serving in Iraq. Linda-Tarango-Griess, American hero.
Thank you to our guests but our biggest thank you to you for being with us.
And tonight, our prayers to the family of one of our longtime viewers, Anne Watson Johnson. She passed away August 14, Georgia. Secretary for the railroad for 38 years. A member of the railroad clerks union. Disciples of Christ and St. Andrew. Leaves behind widower Joe, brother Billy, son Jeff, grandchildren Tiffany, Jeffrey, great grands Natasha and Marlin.
Anne Watson Johnson, good night, friend.
Everyone, see you tomorrow night at 8:00 sharp eastern. And until then, good night.
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