A Miami jury convicted Clifford Friend of second-degree murder for killing his wife and then dumping her body overboard at sea in 1994.
Prosecutors had contended that Friend killed his wife, Lynn, 35 at the time of her death, and then worked with his friend Alan Gold to dump the body in the middle of the ocean on August 28, 1994. Gold testified during the trial that he had helped friend get rid of the body.
Prosecutors said Clifford killed Lynn in 1994 over a custody dispute for their then 5-year-old son Christian. Lynn was planning to relocated out of Florida with Christian and Clifford had fought the move and vowed to stop it, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
The break in the case came when two Customs and Border Protection agents were patrolling the water and spotted Gold and Friend dumping something in the water. The CBP agents at first thought the duo were smuggling drugs and trying to get rid of evidence.
The agents found cinder blocks, gloves, black clothing, and a small mushroom anchor. The duo were initially let go, but one of the CBP agents saw a story about the missing woman a few days later and linked the name of the person he stopped with the last name of the missing woman and called Hallandale Beach Police.
Police were never able to find Lynn’s body, despite an exhaustive search in the area where Friend was seen dumping materials by CBP agents.
