(From the Sun-Sentinel)
Woman's Fate Is A Mystery
Disappearance Haunts Mother's Friends
January 09, 1995|By DONNA PAZDERA Staff Writer
Sometimes, before she can catch herself, Esther Sanchez picks up the phone to call her best friend, Lynne Friend.Then she is shocked back to reality, remembering that Friend is gone.
Sanchez has a hard time realizing her friend is dead because the case has gone unsolved for four months. Friend's body has not been found.
``There's not a day that passes that I don't think of her,'' Sanchez said. On Aug. 28, Friend, 35, the marketing director for Parkway Regional Hospital, disappeared. Friend, the divorced mother of a 5-year-old boy, was going to move from her home in Hallandale to Tennessee and remarry in October.
On the night she disappeared, Friend's ex-husband, Clifford Friend, and his best buddy, Alan Gold, were noticed by U.S. Customs officials in a boat off Miami Beach. Customs agents said they saw the men dump a large object into the ocean.
Despite an ocean search lasting several days, Lynne Friend's body was not recovered. No arrests were made.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is continuing to investigate the case, special agent Bill Beckerman said.
Court records show that Clifford Friend feared losing his son when his ex-wife moved to Tennessee. Last summer, Lynne Friend won primary custody of their son after a protracted court battle.
The agreement stated that if Lynne Friend didn't get married or did not return to South Florida, Clifford Friend would win custody of his son, records show.
Since his ex-wife's disappearance, Clifford Friend has lived in seclusion with his son.
Clifford Friend's attorney, Michael Petit, does not allow his client to talk to the news media.
Chris Mancini, attorney for Alan Gold, won't say whether his client has retained him for the Friend case.
But in an October interview, Mancini said he did not think that Gold was involved in Lynne Friend's disappearance.
``Alan Gold is a savvy guy,'' Mancini said. ``He would not involve himself in that.''
Because the case is unsolved, Lynne Friend's friends said they are afraid for themselves.
