Fort Lauderdale police said they have new evidence, which may indicate that the South Florida woman, whose body was discovered up north, drowned accidentally.
Police said a cleaning woman found a bag belonging to Josephine Frenna. The bag contained house keys, sandals and a cover up. Frenna’s condo sits behind a beach, leading some to believe that she went for a swim and drowned.
But Frenna’s distraught family, wearing black as they mourn her death, said they believed Frenna was killed.
“She may have owned a bathing suit, but she would never go in the water,” family friend Steve Stabile said. “She didn’t like the sand. She wouldn’t go on the beach and she surely wouldn’t venture onto the beach during a rainstorm. As everybody knows, there was Tropical Storm Fay that day and it was windy and it was raining. When she was seen in the morning, she was wearing a jacket.”
Frenna, 51, was reported missing after her 14-year-old son returned to their home in the 4000 block of Galt Ocean Drive after school and realized his mother was not home.
Police headed north on Monday after Saint Lucie County police responded to a report that the body of a woman in a bathing suit was found near Sebastian Inlet. Police were later able to confirm that it was Frenna.
Family members said Frenna was killed, and said her estranged husband Gerardo DiMarco may be involved.
“There is no doubt for me,” Frenna’s cousin Giuseppe Vizzi said.
Stabile said Frenna’s death was a homicide.
“We believe a crime has been committed and there are no perfect crimes,” Stabile said. “So eventually somewhere, somehow, someday the truth will come out.”
But police said they can’t find any evidence to support her family’s claims.
Frenna had an active domestic violence order against her husband and was scheduled for a restraining order hearing Friday. DiMarco filed for divorce recently, police said.
In the order, Frenna wrote, “He is a threat to me and my son. My son does not want to go with him. We are afraid of our life.”
In the report, Frenna said DiMarco threatened to throw her off the balcony. She also said he physically grabbed her, screamed and cursed at her and called her names. Frenna also presented in the report a photo of a broken door, which she said was broken by her husband holding an axe.
Detectives have spoken to Frenna’s husband, and he is cooperating.
“We understand that they have questions or beliefs on what may have happened,” Sgt. Frank Sousa, of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, said. “But from a law enforcement standpoint, there is no physical evidence that can be presented to the state attorney’s office to indicate that this was a homicide.”
The medical examiner ruled that Frenna died from drowning, but that doesn’t prove that foul play was not involved, police said. Police are still waiting for toxicology results.
Police said they are investigating.