Man Accused In Ex-Wife's 1994 Murder Goes Before A Judge
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – No bond for a Lighthouse Point man suspected in his ex-wife's death and disappearance nearly two decades ago. He made his first appearance before a Miami-Dade judge on Thursday.
Clifford Friend, 56, was taken into custody on Wednesday after the Miami-Dade Grand Jury indicted him on a charge of first degree murder in the death of his ex wife Lynne Friend.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said investigators developed addition evidence in the case. This is the fourth time it's gone before a grand jury, and it's the first time they filed murder charges.
Fernandez Rundle said much of the evidence is circumstantial and even with out a body, they are able to file charges. She said the same holds true in other cases. "For those of you thinking otherwise," she said. "To eliminate evidence, to tamper with evidence, to bury it or get rid of it or throw it in the ocean, we're going to be after you and we're going to look for the other circumstances that make the case."
Friend's attorney Peter Heller said he doesn't know of any new evidence that was used to get the indictment, but the new charges are no surprise.
"He expected this, we knew this was coming and he's prepared himself mentally. We have to get to the next phase which is to move on and defend the case," said Heller.
Lynne Friend, 35, vanished on August 28, 1994 shortly after winning full custody of their five-year-old son Christian in a contentious battle with Clifford. According to records and witnesses, Lynne had planned to relocate with their son out of the state to live with her new fiancée, a move which Clifford reportedly objected to. Her father, Ben Allen warned her to leave as quickly as possible. In a phone interview with CBS 4 News, he said he was worried about her. "He's already said he's going to kill you if you took the child out of Florida," he told us. "She said, 'Oh, I can handle him, I can handle him."
According to CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald, on the night she disappeared, Lynne Friend was on the phone with her fiancée, but hung up with him after another call from her ex-husband came in. He reportedly wanted her to drive to Pembroke Pines to pick up a child support check. She was never heard from again.
After a long investigation, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office says they uncovered evidence that an hour after taking the call from Clifford Friend, he and a male friend were seen dropping a large package from a boat off Government Cut. A search of Friends of boat would turn up two cement blocks and some light gauge rope. Despite a massive search of the area where the two men dumped something into the water, nothing was ever recovered.
According to the paper, Clifford Friend remarried in 1995 and now owns and pawn shop and home in Lighthouse Point.
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