Gaithersburg Business Owner Investigated for Aruba Disappearance

A Gaithersburg business owner is being investigated by police in Aruba for the disappearance of a 35-year-old Bethesda woman, NBC reports.

On Friday, authorities detained Gary Giordano, 50, of Gaithersburg, as he was trying to leave Aruba.

Robyn Gardner of Bethesda was last seen Aug. 2 at the Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino in Oranjestad, Aruba, according to the Washington Post. The Aruba Herald is reporting that Giordano, the man she was traveling with, told authorities there that she disappeared during a snorkeling excursion.

NBC reports that Giordano has had several restraining orders against him in Montgomery County by former girlfriends who claim he stalked and physically abused them.

Giordano is listed on the business networking site LinkedIn as the CEO of Leverage LLC, a technology consulting firm based in Gaithersburg. His profile also says he was a consultant for the Red Cross and a sales executive at Sogeti LLC.

Earlier news reports indicated that Gardner is from Frederick. Gardner’s boyfriend, Richard Forester, told Patch via Facebook that that while Gardner maintained an apartment in Frederick, she “lived with me approximately 6 nights a week. Her cats and most of clothes [sic] were at my apartment. We both worked in Bethesda.”

Forester lives in North Bethesda, according to the Natalee Holloway Resource Center. The center, based in Washington, D.C., is dedicated to assisting in the search for missing persons and is named for the teenager who went missing in Aruba in 2005 during a high school graduation trip.

Forester confirmed to Patch he and Gardner lived in the Grosvenor neighborhood.

Forester told ABC7 that he initially thought Gardner was traveling with a friend, but now believes the relationship with her traveling companion may have been a romantic one. “I just don't think she was snorkeling. I think something has happened at this person's hand,” Forester told ABC7.

Forester told WTOP that Gardner has lived with him since January and recently lost her job at a Bethesda dentists’ office.

Patch Editor Erin Donaghue contributed to this report.