From the Sun-Sentinel, April 13, 1995.
A prosecutor is hoping to use her skills as a circumstantial evidence expert to crack the case of a missing Hallandale woman.
Lynne Friend, a 35-year-old hospital marketing director, disappeared on Aug. 28. She was about to be remarried after winning a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Clifford Friend.
Lynne Friend is presumed dead, though her body was never found.
But that hasn't stopped Susan Dannelly, a Dade County assistant state attorney, who took over the case earlier this year.
``I became intrigued by the case and asked to work on it,'' Dannelly said. ``There's a lot of possibilities here.''
Dannelly said it is possible to convict someone without finding a body. That's where the circumstances surrounding a death come in.
``She [Lynne Friend) has disappeared under extremely suspicious circumstances. A prosecutor can't look at it any other way. I don't think she disappeared willingly. There's a sinister overtone,'' Dannelly said.
Dannelly said she got a funny feeling when she saw news footage of Clifford Friend with his 5-year-old son, Christian, at Miami International Airport a few days after his ex-wife's disappearance.
Dannelly said she got the same feeling when she heard about the case of Ted MacArthur, a former Metro-Dade police detective, whom she helped convict in 1993. MacArthur is serving life in prison for shooting his wife in 1989 and making it look like an accident.
``It all struck me as odd. [Clifford Friend is) a suspect,'' Dannelly said.
Clifford Friend was seen with a friend dumping a large object into the ocean off the coast of Miami the day of his ex-wife's disappearance.
Michael Petit, Clifford Friend's attorney, scoffed at the MacArthur analogy.
``I don't know how anything in Cliff's case reminds her of MacArthur's case,'' Petit said. ``We'll investigate this case until we know the truth about what happened,'' Dannelly said.
