Suspect Gary Giordano Sent Angry Texts to Robyn Gardner Before Disappearance

Aug. 11, 2011— -- Gary Giordano had a history of sending aggressive, angry texts to missing Maryland womanRobyn Gardner, according to her best friend and roommate.

Christina Jones said Giordano, who is being held in an Aruba jail in connection with Gardner's disappearance, had previously asked Gardner to go on a cruise with him. When Gardner went away with Jones to New York instead, he flipped, Jones told ABC News.

"He was texting her while we were at breakfast, very angry at her because she decided she wasn't going to go on the cruise," Jones said. "And his responses by text, which I don't feel comfortable repeating, were aggressive, harmful, something that doesn't sit right within myself."

Gardner, 35, disappeared last week while on vacation with Giordano, whom she met on an online dating site over a year ago, according to Jones. Giordano told police the two were snorkeling together, but Gardner never returned to shore. He was arrested when police decided his story didn't add up, according to Aruba authorities.

Jones said that her friend was aware that Giordano, 50, had a history of domestic abuse allegations, and that they had a "rollercoaster friendship."

When Gardner told Jones she was going to Aruba with the volatile Giordano, Jones questioned her friend.

"When she came to me and said, 'Hey, I'm going to Aruba,' I said, 'Cool, I'm so happy, get out of town, why wouldn't you?'" Jones said. "And then she said she was going with Gary, it became a 'why? Why? Are you sure?'"

Gardner, who Jones described as trusting and sweet, reassured her friend that the trip would be fine. Gardner had recently lost her job as a dental assistant, and was having relationship issues with her boyfriend of two-and-a-half years, Richard Forester, Jones said.

"She made me feel better, that it was going to be okay and she was just going to clear her head," Jones said. "She was just so lighthearted about it and kind of needed to get away."

Jones said that Gardner and Giordano had an on-again, off-again relationship for over a year in which they would go out for drinks and be friendly for awhile, and then not talk for a few months.

"Some months she wouldn't even see him and then other months he'd weasel his way back in there, and you know, she's going to go grab a drink," Jones said. "Sometimes Robyn was very focused on having a solid relationship with Richard when things were good, and then you wouldn't hear about Gary."