Aruba Murder Suspect Calm With Scratches on Throat: Police Report
Gary Giordano was calm and uncooperative,witnesses told police.
Aug. 30, 2011 — -- In the police report filed by Aruban authorities investigating the disappearance of Robyn Gardner, witnesses said the prime suspect in her disappearance, Gary Giordano, had a cut on his throat and blood was on the beach.
Gardner was last seen alive Aug. 2 at the Rum Reef Bar & Grill in the Baby Beach area of Aruba with Gary Giordano. Giordano, 50, and Gardner, 35, had traveled to Aruba together. He is being held in an Aruban jail but could be released today. Giordano claims that Gardner got swept out to sea when the two went snorkeling.
Three witnesses, two women and a man, told police that Giordano approached them on Aug. 2, saying, "Can you help me? We were snorkeling and my girlfriend is missing," she told police.
One woman told police that while Giordano's sneakers were wet, his shorts were not.
Aruba Murder Suspect Had Scratch on His Throat
"They were certainly not soaking wet because there was no water dripping from his pants. In my opinion, the man was covered in sweat," she said in the police report.
She went on to tell police, "The only thing I had noticed was that the man was very calm."
The woman's friend told police, "What I thought was strange was that this man was not searching...I also noticed that he had a scratch on his thorat. It looked as if someone had scratched him with a nail," according to the police report.
A third witness, a man, also described Giordano's calm demeanor in the initial hours of Gardner's disappearance.
"In my opinion, the man was weird...weird, I mean that he should have cried or put pressure to find his girlfriend," he told police.
This same male witness told police that he saw blood on the beach, saying, "The spot was the size of the opening of a plastic cup. I saw that the man had a cut on his right shin. I immediately heard him say, 'No...that's my girlfriend, I wouldn't kill her,'" according to the police report.
When one of the female witnesses asked about the blood, Giordano told her, "No, no, we were not fighting. We were cool all day, it was nothing like that," according to the police report.
Aruba Murder Suspect Defends Calling About Insurance Policy
ABC News also reviewed Giordano's statements to police. He told police that he never argued with Gardner, saying, "We enjoyed each other...there was no reason to argue."
Gardner's live-in boyfriend in Maryland and many of her friends and family were unaware of her relationship with Giordano.
Giordano told police that when he lost sight of Gardner, he "tried to get someone's attention. I tried to make as much noise as possible to raise the alarm. I was scared and panicked. I banged on the shutters to make noise," according to the police report.
Investigators replied by telling Giordano that surveillance video doesn't show him hurrying or panicked.
"I was completely exhausted," he told police.
Police also questioned Giordano about why he called American Express about an insurance policy on Gardner. He told them his lawyer advised him to do so.
Giordano reportedly moved to redeem a $1.5 million insurance policy on Gardner after she vanished. When police asked Giordano if Gardner had chosen on her own to make him a beneficiary, he said, "Yes, she filled out the papers herself."
ABC News consultant and former FBI Investigator Brad Garrett said the totality of Giordano's behavior is troubling.
"We all react to things in a different fashion many times, but there are some baselines when you're with somebody you care about," said Garrett.
Garrett said it's crucial that police investigate what happened during the two hours after Gardner was last seen alive and before Giordano reported her missing.
"That's a crucial time that police really have to fill in minute by minute if they possibly can," Garrett said.
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