Body Found Off Fla. Coast ID'd as Missing Mom

Aug. 26, 2008— -- A body found floating off the Florida coast has been identified as that of Josephine Frenna, a Fort Lauderdale mom who was reported missing last week by her teenage son.

Frenna's body, dressed in a blue bathing suit, was found in St. Lucie County some 100 miles north of her home in Fort Lauderdale, likely carried in the water, police said, by the strong Gulf Stream current. The St. Lucie County medical examiner said Frenna had drowned.

"The body had no obvious signs of trauma," St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said in a statement.

Frenna was last seen Thursday morning, the day before she was to appear at a hearing to obtain an extended restraining order against her husband, police said.

Fort Lauderdale Police Det. Kathy Collins said today that Frenna's family had been notified of her death, and that the investigation is ongoing.

"We're certainly not done," she said. "We had a lot of suspicious stuff down here."

Frenna, 51, was reported missing Thursday night by Pietro, her 13-year-old son.

"When he came home from school he discovered all of her personal property there, but she wasn't there," Fort Lauderdale Police Sgt. Frank Sousa said Monday.

Police launched an investigation after discovering that Frenna had an active domestic violence order against her husband, Gerardo Di Marco, and was due in court for a hearing Friday to extend the restraining order.

Frenna's husband was questioned that day and released. "They found him at a nearby motel that day," Sousa said.

Collins said Di Marco was not a suspect.

"We still have no evidence of a crime," she said.

Sousa said today that his department has not ruled out homicide in the case.

"The cause of death is drowning," he said. "The manner of death hasn't been determined yet."

Sousa said police are unaware of any witnesses who may have seen Frenna at the Fort Lauderdale beach Thursday morning.

"Her family says she doesn't swim," he said.

Caryn Carvo, a partner at the law firm Carvo & Emery, where Frenna was a client, said Frenna got the injunction in July, barring contact between her and DiMarco. The hearing Friday was to consider extending the order beyond the original 30 days.

Marc Shelowitz, Di Marco's attorney, said Monday his client did "absolutely not" have anything to do with his estranged wife's disappearance. He could not be reached for comment today.

Di Marco's first concern right now, he said, is their son, whom he visits several days a week for a few hours at a time per court-ordered visitation rights. Shelowitz said Di Marco hadn't seen his wife since the restraining order was issued.

Carvo said she couldn't disclose much of the domestic violence history between the couple, citing client confidentiality, but said the allegations included Frenna being thrown off a balcony, Di Marco allegedly taking an ax to the door after Frenna had locked him out and other alleged threats to her physical safety.

Frenna was due in Carvo's office at 10 a.m. Thursday but never showed up.

Shelowitz said the allegations Carvo named, which were in the petition for the injunction and have been reported in the local media, were exaggerated compared to the testimony given during the court hearing in July.

In the search for the missing mother, police found that nothing had been disturbed in the house, and there was no physical evidence of foul play.

Collins said Frenna's condominium building is located on the beach.

Carvo said the couple were married Sept. 5, 1993, in Montreal, where Frenna and Pietro lived until recently.

"Her primary focus was her child," Carvo said. "She would never leave her child unattended like that."