The Murder of Lynne Friend
On Sunday August 28, 1994 Lynne Friend spent the day packing up her things for the big move to Tennessee
That evening there was a going-away party for Christian, son of Lynne and Clifford, soon to be stepson to Ed O'Dell.
At 8 pm, Lynne was on the phone with Ed.
At 8:01 pm, Clifford Friend was not at his son's going away party on the last day that he would have his son until October. At 8:01, Clifford was purchasing gasoline for his vehicle at a station remote from his son's party but near where he lived and not far from where Lynne lived.
At about 8:15 Lynne's phone call with Ed was interrupted by a call-waiting signal on her phone. Lynne clicked over to take the incoming call.
A few moments later Lynne came back on the phone with Ed and told her that it had been Clifford calling and that he had said to come right over to his house if she wanted a child support check. Ed, with the vitriol of the child custody court hearing in mind, asked Lynne if she thought it was safe. Lynne reassured him. Be careful, Ed cautioned her.
At about 10:00 pm a middle-aged couple was driving home from the movies. It began to rain. It began to rain as it can rain only in South Florida in the summer, that is as hard as it is possible to rain.
The couple lived in a corner-lot house that sided on a quiet, narrow street that bordered an empty field. The quiet street was in the area between where Clifford had his house and where Lynne had hers and close by both.
The street was deserted as the couple drove down it approaching their home. Breaking custom because of the storm the husband drove the car as close to the door to the house as possible to save his wife a drenching. After his wife scampered out the husband put his car in reverse, and turned around to back up and park the car in its customary place. As he turned his head around to look, he was surprised to see a car on the empty field side of his quiet street that had not been there just moments before, and another vehicle, an SUV type, not far from the car. He also saw a man, out on the street in the poring rain, and he saw the man approach the side of the car by the field. He saw the man bend down and do something to the front tire of the car. And then he saw the man leave the car and walk to the SUV and get into the passenger side. And then he saw the SUV drive off.
At 11:30 pm Marine Enforcement Officer Tim Stellhorn and his crew were on board their patrol boat in Government Cut off Miami Beach Atlantic Ocean . A go-fast boat with its lights out passed them unnoticed. The go-fast was heading due east. Stellhorn throttled up and followed. He got right behind the go-fast and directly in its wake.
There are blind spots and then there is the blind spot that exists for the operator of a motor vessel when another motor vessel is directly in its wake. Stellhorn’s patrol boat was in this blindest of blind spots for the operator of the go-fast. They followed the go-fast until three miles out in the Atlantic in international waters when Stellhorn decided to “light it up.” He switched on his powerful search light and focused it on the go-fast.
There are deer caught in headlights and then there is being caught in a powerful search light at 11:30 at night three miles out in the ocean by a boat directly in your wake. At that moment, Stellhorn saw 6’4” Alan Gold struggling to lift a suitcase onto the side of the go-fast, and then push it over into the water. A second smaller object, that seemed to Stellhorn to be tied to the first in some way, followed the first overboard.
Lights and sirens.
The go-fast abruptly changed course, making a ninety degree turn to the south. As the patrol boat made the same turn to the south right behind, Tim Stellhorn looked to his left into the ocean where the objects had been dumped and saw the suitcase bob from side to side for a second or two and then disappear beneath the waves. The go-fast stopped one-eighth of a mile later. At the helm was Clifford Friend.
“What did you throw overboard,” Gold and Friend were asked separately. “Nothing, it must have been towels blowing off that you saw,” said Gold, who was found armed with a small pistol. “You don’t want to know,” said Friend to Stellhorn, who did indeed want to know.
