New details suggest the 51-year-old Florida mother found in the Atlantic Ocean three days after she was reported missing may have accidentally drowned, the Miami Herald reported Thursday.
A nearby condo building worker turned over a beach bag Wednesday belonging to Josephine Frenna, 51, that contained her shoes, a towel and keys to her condo, according to the newspaper. The worker reportedly found the bag while she was cleaning up beach chairs over the weekend.
The medical examiner ruled that Frenna drowned without any signs of a struggle, but detectives said they weren't ruling anything out yet, and those close to her worry that something sinister happened, pointing to the fact that she didn't like to swim.
"Josephine wasn't a water person," family friend Steve Stabile told the Herald. "She wasn't one to go swimming on the beach. She hated the sand. She wouldn't even put a toe in the swimming pool."
Ft. Lauderdale police have said they're investigating any and all possibilities.
Frenna disappeared a week ago, the day before a court hearing on a restraining order against her estranged husband, a man she described in court documents as violent and dangerous.
She was last seen after walking her 14-year-old son to a bus stop near their condominium. All her personal belongings, including her keys, wallet and credit cards, were still inside, and her car was parked out front.
Detectives searched for Frenna for days. On Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard found a woman's body floating in the ocean. Investigators used dental records Tuesday to identify the dead woman as Frenna.
Police have questioned Frenna's husband, Gerardo Di Marco. They say he has been cooperative, and he has not been identified as a suspect in his wife's death.
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