ORANJESTAD, Aruba — A judge ruled Monday that Aruban prosecutors have enough evidence against an American tourist to continue holding him while they investigate the disappearance of his travel companion.
Police led Gary V. Giordano, a 50-year-old businessman, into a van to be taken to jail after the closed hearing inside the police station where he has been held since he was arrested while trying to leave the Dutch Caribbean island.
The officers covered Giordano’s head with a blue and white towel in an attempt to shield him from reporters and photographers outside the station, where the closed court hearing was held.
Prosecutors had submitted two requests to extend his detention for eight days each.
The judge took the unusual step of approving both simultaneously, rather than waiting for the first to expire, “because of the seriousness of the case and of the importance of the investigation,” said Solicitor General Taco Stein.
Giordano, who is from Gaithersburg, Md., has told police that his travel companion, 35-year-old Robyn Gardner of Frederick, Md., disappeared while they were snorkeling Aug. 2 off the southern tip of Aruba.
Authorities said they detained him as he tried to leave the island three days later. They said they had questions about his account of what happened.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Giordano is “suspected of involvement in the possible drowning” of Gardner, whose body has not been found.
