>>> now to a surprising development in the disappearance of american robyn gardner in aru aruba . gary gee iordano, the only suspect in this case is free to go. a move that could have him back in the states within days. nbc's lily luciano has the story.
>> he cried. it's the try of an innocent man finally being released.
>> reporter: the ruling came as a shock, both to prosecution and defense. gary giordano held for nearly four months in the disappearance of american robyn gardner in aruba walks as early as tuesday. aruban law allows for the suspect of a crime to be held for 30 days without a charge. that's been extended several times in the investigation. but without enough evidence to charge giordano , prosecutors ran out of time.
>> i said we are determined to come to a conclusion, to find out the truth in this case and that will continue. we have still a lot of things to investigate.
>> giordano , seen in the surveillance tape with gardener on his day of her disappearance claims they went snorkeling together. when currents got strong, he signaled for her to swim back to the beach. but by the time he got back to shore, he lost sight of her for good. he attempted to flee the island just three days after she went missing. with his potential release, prosecutors fear he may be a flight risk but they say this new ruling doesn't mean the case is over. prosecutors have now filed an appeal to gee giordano behind bars while they continue their search for clues. it must be approved by a three-judge panel by tuesday, or else gary giordano walks free, free to return home while the disappearance of robyn gardner remains a mystery.
>> here is more insight is attorney karen stow. good morning.
>> good morning, lester.
>> the prosecution is continuing to investigate, but is there any evidence that a crime was committed?
>> there's a gut feeling . deja vu with the natalie holloway case here. prosecutors have a gut feeling and that's based on witness testimony, the fact that there was a $1.5 million insurance policy that he took out for this vacation insurance in case something happened to miss gardner during this vacation period. so there's a lot of information that makes us question whether or not it was him and whether or not this was just an accident. he's maintaining that she was swept out to sea. obviously, there's a lot of information here that says that that's not what happened, that possibly she was, in fact, murdered.
>> but this decision to allow his release is based upon the fact that there hasn't been any new evidence in the case. so is this appeal going to -- when the judge looks at this appeal, are they going to say, well, where is your new evidence?
>> i think that's what he's saying now. he's been held for over 100 days now. if there was any new witness testimony or anything new in the investigation, they could extend that. the fbi back in maryland did do a sweep of his home, so if there is any new evidence, they can rearrest him and have him extradited.
>> you mentioned the natalee holloway case. is that what's driving this here? is there a sense that there was embarrassment for authorities? are they making sure the suspect doesn't get out of their reach?
>> not so much an embarrassment, but yes, van der sloot was arrested on another murder. but their main source of income over there is tourism. how are you going to have tourism, lester, when no one is going to want to go over there thinking i'm going to go over there and get murdered. every mother in the world if their daughter says i'm going to aruba has a nervous breakdown. tremendous amount of pressure to try and resolve this so their industry is not affected.
>> and you mentioned extradition. is that an easy process or would they have to have solid evidence before the u.s. would hand him over?
>> it's not an easy process. obviously you try as a prosecutor and a former prosecutor you hope that they waive it. but even with van der sloot , he was in the netherlands when he was re-arrested. the process takes a while and, yes, there's a lot of paperwork. you have to do an affidavit there, you have to do an affidavit here. it's a process.
>> karen, thanks. always appreciate your
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45444287/
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