Suspect In Aruban Missing Person Case Defiantly Claims Innocence In Bizarre Interview

Gary Giordano, the main suspect in the disappearance of Robyn Gardner, his companion on a trip to Aruba, was released by authorities on Tuesday after serving over 100 days in an Aruban jail. Thursday morning, he took part in his first televised interview since the arrest, on Good Morning America, in an alternatively odd and brusque interview with Robin Roberts.

Right from the start, Giordano was skittish, telling Roberts after she asked, “What happened that day?” that he had already gone over that with “the best Dutch interrogators” 50 or 60 times, and wouldn’t do that again. He told Roberts, however, that he — or his attorney, Jose Baez — would answer any specific questions that she had.

“There were many accounts you’d been drinking heavily.” Roberts said.

“I’ve never heard that,” an apparently surprised Giordano replied.

Baez then jumped in and explained that Giordano had been in jail and wasn’t exposed to the “media onslaught” of the past few months, while pointing out that, in light of the stories, “judges are not in the business of releasing people, especially with mountains of circumstantial evidence against them.”

Roberts, undeterred, asked what the condition of the sea that day was, as Gardner had been last seen snorkeling. Giordano then took that opportunity to respond to the drinking accusations, saying there were videos of the two of them at a bar, but they didn’t order drinks.

“I’ll just interview myself if you don’t mind,” he told Roberts, mid-way through his answer.

Giordano contended that the rumors of them being in a remote snorkeling location were false, as they were 100 yards from a scuba diving store. He said that Gardner’s mother told him to go home on his original return flight, as did his then-attorney. The reason he hopped on a different plane than he was originally supposed to take was because the ticket agent said a tropical storm was coming and there was another plane about to leave.

When Roberts showed him surveillance video of his apparently lackadaisical search efforts, he said that the doors were all closed and the place was empty. Roberts remarked that he looked dry, intimating that Giordano had taken some time before searching for Gardner.

“You can see I’m dry there?!” A somewhat annoyed Giordano asked. “How can you tell I’m dry there? I’m wet!”

When she pressed Giordano on his lack of effort in knocking on doors, he explained he had just gotten out of the water and was tired:

“It’s like running a marathon, and you come around the last corner and you’re expecting a whole crew of people yelling for you, and there’s nobody there. You’re not going to go high-five the air.”

Giordano also addressed why he took an insurance policy out for Gardner, as well as saying he had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance. Roberts asked if he felt responsible, and he said yes, that, “a person I cared about, a companion, has disappeared on my watch.” Giordano then quickly added that Aruba’s two main sources of income are cocaine and human trafficking.

Watch the entire bizarre interview below, courtesy of GMA: