Politics & Justice in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office

The Murder of Lynne Friend

(from the Sun-Sentinel)

Missing Woman Mourned

Authorities Suspect Foul Play Involved

October 08, 1994|By BATTINTO BATTS JR. Staff Writer

CORAL GABLES — Friday was supposed to be a day of smiles and happiness for Ed O'Dell and Lynne Friend, who were to be married on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

Instead it was a day of tears and sorrow, as O'Dell sat among Friend's family and loved ones at her memorial service.

"I keep thinking about what we would be doing," O'Dell said. "I wonder if we would be having dinner now. I wonder if I would have been calling her `Mrs. O'Dell' and she would be giggling."

About 100 attended the service at University Baptist Church in Coral Gables.

Missing for six weeks and presumed dead, Friend was remembered for loving her son dearly, caring earnestly for her friends and longing for a better life.

Friend, 35, vanished from her Hallandale home on Aug. 28 - just days before she and her son, Christian, were to move to Nashville, Tenn., to live with O'Dell.

A marketing director at Parkway Regional Medical Center in Dade County, Friend was divorced from Christian's father, Clifford Friend.

Authorities think Friend was murdered and her body dumped in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Miami Beach.

On the night she disappeared, U.S. Customs agents reported seeing Friend's ex-husband and a companion drop something off a boat into the ocean.

No one has been arrested in the case.

Clifford Friend could not be reached for comment. He and Christian left for Texas on Thursday.

"Looking back now I wish I had grasped how scared Lynne was," said Greg Anderson, Friend's attorney in her custody battle for Christian. "It makes me second-guess and wonder if there was something I could have done to prevent this."

A U.S. Navy ship searched the waters off Miami for five days this week with a high-tech sonar device.

Authorities have refused to comment on any possible findings. O'Dell paid $13,000 for the ship OCP Seacon to continue the search through Friday afternoon.

"I want Lynne's body found," O'Dell said. "I want to be able to go to her grave and put flowers on it."

O'Dell, a Tennessee-based executive for a company that builds hospitals, said he and Friend met eight years ago at North Miami Hospital. She was looking forward to moving to Tennessee because of its tall trees and wide-open land. Christian enjoyed seeing the animals play in the front yard.

Friend's brother, Larry Allen, flew in from Norway for the memorial service. He reflected on how a day planned for happiness turned out to be sad.

"Today was supposed to be the beginning of a new life for her and Ed," Allen said. "She had been through so much. This is not the way it was supposed to work out."