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SCMP Reporter

THE mysterious death of corporate lawyer Frank Gonzalez - the estranged husband of category III actress Julie Riva - is believed to be drugs-related.

  Detectives believe an ''unidentified substance'' with the body when it was found in a Kowloon hotel room was either heroin or cocaine.

   Inspector Dave Jordan of Tsim Sha Tsui police, said: ''As far as we are concerned there are no suspicious circumstances.

  ''There is a suspected drug involved, but it will be up to the coroner to make a decision about future investigations once we have the medical reports.''   The body of the 41-year-old lawyer was discovered on November 21 in a Sheraton Hotel room by a member of staff. He was due to have been at the Art Asia exhibition with the Hong Kong-born Riva.

  His body will be flown back to his family in Puerto Rico this week, but autopsy and drug test results are not expected before the New Year.

  According to his wife, she and Gonzalez were due to go on a second honeymoon to reconcile their marriage.

  In an interview with the Sunday Morning Post, Riva, 31, told of her shock and heartbreak over the death of the man with whom, she says, she was planning a future.

  ''We weren't separated, it was just one of those rows couples have, probably about the kind of food we ordered in a restaurant or something petty like that,'' she said.

  ''I still saw him regularly and never moved my things out of the apartment. We were on a healthy road and Frank was certainly very keen to make the marriage work. I had dinner with him and five other friends on the Friday night. He was fine and seemed happy. He was healthy enough.

  ''That Saturday, he went on a boat, which he wouldn't have done if he had been planning to commit suicide. He had talked recently about advancing his career, so I don't believe it was suicide.

  ''I'm sure he couldn't have been murdered. He had only been in Hong Kong for six months and hardly knew anyone - I don't really want to think about what it might have been,'' Riva said.

  What remains unexplained is why the lawyer, employed by American bankers J. P. Morgan, was in a Kowloon hotel room when he had a luxurious apartment in Old Peak Road. He was not known to be a drug-user.

  ''I really don't know why he was in the Sheraton. Apparently, he checked in that Saturday and was found on Sunday afternoon,'' the actress said.

  ''The only hotel we ever used was the Hilton, while we were waiting for the apartment to be ready.

  ''He wasn't a talkative person, but as far as I know he never took any drugs.''   The couple married two years ago in a New York registry office after being introduced at a dinner party. ''We were attracted because we had a lot of things in common - reading, movies, music. He knew about my films and supported my career.

  ''It was a mutual decision to come to Hong Kong, and Frank asked for a work transfer. I was travelling backwards and forwards for my film work, and to look after my disabled mother.

  ''He liked it here because it is so different from where he comes. He had quite a poor background and he fought his way to the top,'' Riva said.

  Friends say her marriage to Gonzalez was her third, although she says it was her second. At 19, she married Swiss national Remo Riva but divorced a year later.

  In an interview she gave to the Sunday Morning Post Magazine two days before her husband's death, Riva said: ''I live my emotional life so fully at work that I really don't need it at home.

  ''I hardly ever date, and funnily enough I don't really need it that much.'' It has been claimed Riva kept her marriage secret to maintain her sexy, single screen image.

   But Riva maintained they were patching up their marriage.

 ''We were going to take a holiday together in the Chinese New Year, somewhere exotic like Goa. The idea was to bring us back together again.

  ''Many people didn't understand what was going on . . . but we were both still very responsible to each other.

  ''Apart from coping with my own grief, I've had to handle a lot of problems. It's only now that I feel like I'm starting to live again.'' 



Drugs suspected in death of sex star's husband