Robyn Gardner's Boyfriends Clash Over Her Last Hours
Aug. 24, 2011 -- Robyn Gardner was groggy from sleeping pills, vodka and a meal when she went into the water in Aruba where she quickly cut her toe, forcing her out of the water, a source told ABC News.
But the 35-year-old Maryland woman ventured back into the water a second time, and that was when she was allegedly caught by treacherous currents, her companion Gary Giordano has told police, the source said.
Giordano's version of events emerged as doubt has been cast by witnesses in recent days that Gardner ever went into the water. A witness at the restaurant where the couple were last seen together expressed surprise at the claim that Gardner went snorkeling because of the obvious effort she had put into her hair and make-up that evening.
A second witness claims to have seen the couple stroll on the beach, but not enter the water.
Source Insists Robyn Gardner Did Go Swimming Day She Disappeared
Giordano, 50, is being held in an Aruban jail and is the lone suspect in Gardner's disappearance, although he has not been charged with a crime. Aruban police have said they believe Gardner is dead.
Giordano has previously stated that Gardner had taken sleeping pills earlier that day and the two drank vodka at the Marriott Hotel before showing up at the Rum Reef Bar & Grill in the Baby Beach area of the island on the Aug. 2 evening that she vanished.
People at the beachfront restaurant said she was woozy and barely ate her salad.
But the source said that she did go in the water, gashing her toe on her first attempt to go swimming. She retreated with her toe bleeding, and a spot of blood was found near where the couple's rental car had been parked, the source said. Forensics is still testing the blood.
The source also said that helicopters spotted two sharks and a giant sea turtle in the area about the same time that Gardner vanished.
Gardner's live-in boyfriend Robert Forester scoffed at the latest claims, telling "Good Morning America" that Gardner was not the type to go snorkeling because it would mess up her hair and make-up, or to take sleeping pills.
