Woman Missing in Aruba Lived, Worked in Bethesda Area

A 35-year-old woman who has gone missing in Aruba lived and worked in the Bethesda area, according to her boyfriend and the Natalee Holloway Resource Center.

Robyn Gardner 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 Gary Giordano, a man she was traveling with, told authorities there that she disappeared during a snorkeling excursion. Giordano was arrested Friday in connection with the disappearance as he was attempting to leave the island, the Herald reported.

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.