tonight on "nightline," under fire. a network exclusive. in his first interview, an american businessman held for months in aruba on suspicion of killing his traveling companion tells his side of the story about what really happened. but is he telling the troouuth? >>. gone with the wind. winds continue raking the west tonight after starting brush fires, leveling buildings and bulldozing trees. and it isn't over yet. and beyonce's new project. the baby bump is getting big. >> it is so exciting because i believe it's what we live for. >> tonight, beyonce talks

exclusively with abc's katie couric about her next chapter. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," december 1st, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. we're going to begin tonight with an abc news exclusive. it's the first interview with an american businessman, immediately after his release from four months in jail on the caribbean island of aruba, wra he but suspected of, though never charged with, the murder of his traveling companion. she was robyn gardner. a 35-year-old maryland woman, not presumed yesterday. he is gary giordano, answering some questions and raising others. abc's matt gutman has been covering the story from the start and here he is now. >> reporter: after 116 days in an aruba prison, gary giordano, arrested for the suspected murder of robyn gardner, back on

u.s. soil. did you ever think this would come, all those nights in prison? >> no. no. i'd accepted the fact that they were going to -- keep me from my kids forever. >> reporter: in new york, an onslaught of reporters. and soon, this emotional reunion with his three teenage sons. >> this is an opportunity just to ask you some questions. >> reporter: flanked along with his attorney jose baez in his first interview with "good morning america's" robin roberts. but right from the start -- >> what happened august 2nd that day with robyn gardner? >> he seemed to raise as many questions as he answered. >> i answered that question 50, 60 times. i'm not prepared to at this point go from the moment of that day to the end of the day. >> reporter: that day, august 2nd, giordano said he went snorkeling with his travel

companion and lover robyn gardner, at this beach. >> we were 100 yards from a scuba diving store. not a remote location, okay? we were in view of other people at baby beach. >> reporter: earlier they were seen at this restaurant, where a waitress told abc news that gardner seemed woozy. giordano, she said, was acting strangely. they strolled to the beach. the next we see of him, this video. he's loping through the restaurant, searching for help. investigators told abc news he showed a marked lack of urgency for a man who just lost his lover. all along, he claimed a storm kicked up, he had to swim for his life. when he looked back for gardner, she was gone. >> i was exhausted all of the water. i had my shoes on when we went in the water. when i came back, i was swimming back. i was exhausted when i got back to shore. then i had to run all the way around. here was the thing. it's like running a marathon, you come along the last corner and you expect a crew of people yelling for you and there's

nobody there. you're not going to high five the air. >> reporter: police found so much of his behavior suspicious. they had no hard evidence. but they did believe they had a possible motive. of particular interest, a $1.5 million travel insurance policy giordano purchased for gardner naming himself the beneficiary just the day before they traveled. >> i purchased it many times before. it's cancellation insurance. >> reporter: just two days after she disappeared, he called four times. one american express agent became so alarmed he called the police and the fbi saying, quote, giordano seemed excited, like he was about to win something. the day after he made those calls, police moved in. >> so, i'm running, you know, i'm in the airport, i go through customs, blah blah blah, check in my bag and the gate is open and then the head of detectives walks up to me and says we're arresting you for the murder of

robyn gardner. >> reporter: so what are his reasons for taking out that travel insurance policy? >> i have a house, a large house and a lot of payments and if i go traveling and i disappear, i want them to be covered, okay? so i maxed out of everything, medical, i think was $150,000 or whatever. but that's automatic. i can't unselect her, okay? and when it came down to the accident insurance, you can't unselect her? okay? so i selected that for me and she got the same thing. >> so, she's missing and two days later you're inquiring about -- you're not trying to collect but -- why would do that and she's still missing? >> that's exactly right. that's a wonderful question and i understand that. my lawyer at the time -- >> not jose. >> not this man here, michael lopez. he told me, you need to call insurance immediately because these helicopters, the scuba divers who are going to go in the water, which they didn't, until days later, they might

send you an invoice. >> reporter: but a four-month long investigation, which cost the tiny island more than the entire budget of its justice ministry, found not a shred of evidence. no body, no murder weapon and no convincing motive. >> what mr. giordano has told us in the investigation is not true. his description of the situation is not in accordance with reality. we know that that day there was virtually no wind there were no waves and the current was practically nil. >> reporter: giordano wouldn't talk about the weather or anything else that evening. he only mentioned robyn gardner by name a few times. >> they want to know if you had anything to do -- >> absolutely not. >> do you feel -- >> if a person that i cared about, a companion, if you are -- traveling with you or you, has disappeared on my watch, that -- it will weigh heavily on me for a very long

time. >> reporter: gardner's family today had no comment, but in a statement earlier this week, said, "our family is very disappointed that even after all this time, we are no closer to finding out what happened to our robyn." we may never know what happened to robyn gardner that day, and what gary giordano knows, or if he had anything to do with it. and giordano, back home with his sons -- >> guys have gotten taller. >> reporter: says he wishes none of this happened. >> would you have done anything differently? >> absolutely. that's a silly question. i mean -- of course. there's a missing person. would i do something different? yeah, i wouldn't have come. >> reporter: now that giordano has finally left aruba, it is unlikely he will ever go back, unless investigators somehow find that piece of hard evidence that has alluded them all these month. enough evidence to charge him with the murder of robyn gardner. for "nightline," i'm matt gutman in new york. >> the mystery still out there. thanks to matt gutman for that. just ahead, we'll go out

west. howling winds wreaked big damage out there, and it is not over yet.

>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> you know, we're lucky these days to have dependable early warning systems when hurricanes and tornadoes strike. but not every violent weather pattern is so polite about announcing its arrival. tonight, once again, the santa ana winds, those dry gusts that

blast out of the southwestern desert toward the pacific ocean this time of year, they are making a surprise show of force with potentially destructive results. here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: raymond chandler once wrote of the santa ana winds that they curl your hair, make your nerves jump and your skin itch. on nights like that, he wrote, every booze party ends in a fight. well, this latest santa ana to wallop the west coast was the worst in a dozen years. >> we had a crashing sound like an airplane hitting the house and you can see the hole that the tree brought in. >> reporter: the gusts so strong -- >> force of wind could possibly take down all these trees? winds are really bad right now. >> reporter: reporters had trouble standing their ground. >> it's insane. it feels like a postapocalyptic war zone or something. >> what have you seen? >> i've seen, probably 100 trees

down, blocking entire streets, like, block after block after block. you just have to keep making a u-turn goes to the next one. >> reporter: at l.a.x., the wind knocked out power to all nine terminals for an hour. two runways had to be shut down because of debris. the wind blew out transformers, cutting off power to more than 300,000 people. then sparks in the dry brush caught fire. the big worry for fire crews is that these small blazes could easily become wildfires. >> firefighters are staffing up. over 200 additional hand screws, aircraft, engines and we'll be ready. >> reporter: today, big rig trucks were tossed like toys on the side of windy freeways. traffic signals were snapped like toothpicks. huge trees toppled from the roots. >> i didn't know if it was an earthquake or what it was and all of a sudden i heard this huge, i mean, the ground shook.

ran outside and i saw this. >> reporter: this eucalyptus tree crashed into a beverly hills mansion owned by grey's anatomy star eric dane. on sunset boulevard, two giant palm trees blocked the morning commute. and in pasadena -- >> i'm king of the world! >> reporter: the kids seemed to enjoy climbing the giant tree that crashed into mommy's car. mommy -- not so much. >> both cars are totaled. and -- yeah. so, here we are. >> reporter: so many downed trees that some people were practically trapped inside their homes. >> we couldn't even get out. we had to, like, crawl through trees. we thought it was going to come through the house. >> reporter: the storm and the power outage not only forced schools to close, many shops, banks and gas stations also shut down. the americana shopping center tried hard to keep up the christmas spirit. the carols playing full blast. ♪

but the top 20 feet of the tree was sheared off. nearby christmas tree lots were little match for this storm. santa ana winds are seasonal, but they are not usually this powerful. >> it looks like a war zone here. >> the winds are squeezed through the canyons of southern california. almost like in a river where you have a river and you have your rapids. same thing happens with the air and the velocities jump up to 60, 70, 80 miles an hour. last night, we had one velocity at 97 miles per hour. >> reporter: the storm still threatens five states. it's not over yet. and the damage already spreads all the way to northern california. >> i heard this thing come down last night and it was -- whoa. >> reporter: in colorado and utah, gusts higher than 100 miles an hour as the winds swept across the southwest. plenty of people made the best of it. >> i'm just checking stuff out, just staying at home, playing a

little ukulele. that's about it. >> reporter: one enterprising californian even rigged up a kite to his go-cart and raced across an empty playing field. right about this hour last night that the winds here in pasadena were at their peak and a tree crashed into the top of that shell station. right now, as you can see, it is quiet here but elsewhere, the winds are beginning to pick up as this region braces for round two. terry? >> the houchling winds out there. thank, david. next up, beyonce is crazy in love and on her way to being a mom. and she items abc's katie couric all about it.

she's come a long way since her destiny's child days. but right now, beyonce could be making the two biggest moves of her life.

first, she's pregnant. doesn't get any bigger than that. and second, she's reversing the camera to take a director's role in documenting her own work, including on a new dvd. elements of "4," out now. tonight, she talks with abc's katie couric about all of the above. ♪ >> reporter: with megahits like "single ladies" -- ♪ all the single ladies >> reporter: at just 30, beyonce's done it all. she's singer, song writer, actor, fashion designer and model. but never quite satisfied, beyonce is stretching herself yet again. ♪ up in the club >> reporter: she stars in, produces and directs her latest dvd, "live and roseland: el moments of 4." a new convert film of her p performances last summer at the iconic new york venue. you directed this dvd, you

produced it, you did the choreography, i mean, you did everything. >> i did a lot. >> reporter: was that exciting for you? i mean, obviously, you've had a strong hand in your career, i think, from the get-go. >> yeah. >> reporter: but i think you took ownership of this in a way you'd never had before. >> it's something that i think i have a niche for. and it's exciting because i feel like i'm learning things that, you know, are completely new to me and it keeps my life exciting. sometimes a little too exciting, it's stressful. it's so stressful. but i'm really interested in getting behind the cameras and directing and hopefully directing for other artists. >> reporter: you have a rocking all female band. >> i do. >> reporter: performing with you. was that a statement you were making, beyonce, girl power? >> it was. i found all of these incredible women around the world and all

different ages and i wanted every woman represented. i didn't want, you know, just models. i wanted every woman, so everybody felt like they could see themselves on the stage and hopefully get inspired. i grew up in a group since i was 9 with other women. and i think we are the best teachers for each other. >> reporter: you knew that when she was singing at roseland, she had something up her sleeve. or more precisely, under her dress. when you did this performance, you were just pregnant, or just a couple of months pregnant, right? >> yeah. >> reporter: and so, i'm going to do the math later, but -- >> i was definitely pregnant. i think i was further along than people think. >> in fact, you looked amazing, but you did have sort of a little draping. did anybody have any kind of suspicion that something was going on? because you usually wear pretty tight things right there. >> usually my waistlind is pretty cinched in.

i don't know. i tried my best to give the best performance. >> reporter: she's now taking a break from performing so she can focus on her latest production. what's the best thing about being pregnant? >> the best thing -- it's so exciting because i believe it's what we live for. it's how we live forever. it's our legacy. and it's so much bigger than any accomplishment and it's so exciting. >> well, tune in tomorrow night for a special "20/20," beyonce and katie, one night only. thanks for watching abc news. going to leave you tonight with images of the 89th annual christmas tree lighting ceremony in washington, d.c. hope you check in for "good morning america." they're working while you're sleeping. we're always online at abcnews.com. jimmy kimmel is up next. take a look there. and we'll see you here tomorrow. ♪