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Post by Sher on Jul 1, 2005 17:08:47 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Three young men were charged with murder in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager at the time they were arrested, more than three weeks ago, Aruba's chief prosecutor told The Associated Press on Friday. It was not announced at the time to protect the family of 18-year-old honors student Natalee Holloway, said Attorney General Karin Janssen. "The three have been charged with the murder of Natalee Holloway from the beginning" of their arrest 10 days after the young woman went missing May 30, she said in an interview. "At the time, we didn't want to upset the (Holloway) family talking about murder while they searched," she explained. Janssen said the information was kept quiet in order not to compromise the investigation. Authorities have said they have no physical evidence suggesting Holloway is dead. The three charged are Dutch honors student Joran van der Sloot, 17, and two Surinamese friends of his, brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18. Government defends investigation Also Friday, Aruba's government defended its handling of the investigation, saying many of the criticisms arose from misunderstandings of the Dutch legal system used on the Caribbean island. Police have been criticized for letting more than a week go by without detaining the three young men last seen with Holloway and for waiting 16 days after she went missing before searching van der Sloot's home. Ruben Trapenberg, spokesman for Prime Minister Nelson Oduber, defended the police work, saying the government has put 21 detectives on the case and exceeded the budget with overtime the past month. Trapenberg also mentioned the 70 Dutch Marines on the island who helped in initial searches and were called back Thursday to comb the island again. "They do not bungle cases," Trapenberg said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "Aruban police and prosecutors are professional forces that have been successful." Prosecutors have an 89 percent conviction rate on the Dutch Caribbean island, he said. Violent crime is rare in the tourist haven. Asked why two of three suspects were transported together, apparently giving them the opportunity to compare or arrange their stories, Trapenberg said that was done to secretly monitor what they might tell each other. Late Thursday, CNN captured images of van der Sloot and Deepak Kalpoe handcuffed together being put in a car to leave San Nicolas prison. It wasn't clear where they were being taken. The Kalpoe brothers and van der Sloot were the last ones seen with Holloway the night she disappeared. Police questioned the three that same day but did not detain them until June 9. Two other people, including van der Sloot's father, Paul, an island judicial official, were detained and released. Prosecutor: ‘This technique has worked in the past here’ "One of the techniques is that after hearing separate stories and getting nowhere, prosecutors will have suspects confront each other," said Trapenberg. "The U.S. system might be different, but this technique has worked in the past here." Trapenberg also said that police initially did not have any cause to hold the young men. "Because of a lack of evidence of any crime, they opted for different tactical and monitoring techniques," Trapenberg said. "If they had arrested them immediately, they would never have collected evidence." Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, has repeatedly criticized investigators, saying that if she did not get answers soon she would believe they were protecting someone — probably Joran van der Sloot because of his father's position. "Prosecutors couldn't even attempt a cover-up because they know better than anyone that this case is under a microscope," Trapenberg said. Aruba also has welcomed foreign rescue groups like Texas EquuSearch and allowed the FBI to help in the investigation, Trapenberg said. "If an Aruban girl is lost in the U.S., are they going to let Aruban police investigate there?" Trapenberg asked. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8435397/
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Post by Sher on Jul 4, 2005 15:45:14 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - A judge in Aruba on Monday ordered the immediate release of two Surinamese brothers held for nearly a month in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager. A third detainee, the 17-year-old son of a top justice official in Aruba, was ordered held for 60 more days, court officials announced. The justice official’s son, Joran van der Sloot, and Surinamese brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, were detained on June 9 in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway. Holloway disappeared in the early hours of May 30, on the last day of a five-day vacation on the Dutch Caribbean island to celebrate her high school graduation with 124 other students. “The detention of Deepak and Satish K. has not been prolonged,” court clerk Isella Wernet said, reading from a statement outside the courthouse. The suspects are ordered released immediately. The detention of Joran van der S. has been prolonged 60 days beginning today.” Wernet went back inside the courthouse without commenting on the basis for the judge’s decision. Growing concerns The decision to release the brothers follows a weekend of steadily escalating international complexity, and concern. Aruban authorities said Saturday that the Netherlands will send three F-16 warplanes rigged with search equipment to find Holloway, even as U.S. lawmakers increased pressure on the Aruban government to do more to find the Alabama teenager. The three planes would be equipped with infrared and sonar-scanning capacity, said Aruban government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg. Trapenberg said the planes were being sent after Aruban Justice Minister Rudy Croes requested more help from Holland, the Dutch Caribbean island’s former colonizer. “Both the justice minister and the prime minister feel that Holland can help us reach a resolution with this,” said Trapenberg. U.S. lawmakers apply pressure Last week both Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, wrote letters to Aruban Prime Minister Nelson Oduber urging the government to do more and let the FBI play a larger role in the investigation. “With every passing day, I become increasingly concerned that the current investigation has reached a dead end,” Shelby wrote in a letter dated July 1. “It’s unfathomable that the Aruban government would not take advantage of the full spectrum of resources, personnel and expertise of the FBI.” Seven FBI agents have had an observatory role on the island since a few days after Holloway disappeared on May 30, but have repeatedly said they don’t have jurisdiction to direct the searches or investigation. Trapenberg, the government spokesman, said calls for an increased FBI presence don’t make sense. “It’s fine to have the FBI here, but if you send in more agents, are you saying the ones here are not any good?” he said. Click for related story Holloway’s mom keeps pressure on Family ‘graciously pleading’ for more help The U.S. teen’s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said the U.S. pressure showed that family members aren’t alone in their frustration with the pace of the investigation. “It has become increasingly difficult to simply wait and see what happens,” Holloway Twitty, a 44-year-old speech pathologist, said in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press. The mother said the family was “graciously pleading” with the FBI and Holland to do more to find her daughter. “It would be comforting for us if they were more active in this investigation,” said Holloway Twitty. “We must demand and expect that Natalee be returned to her country.” Holloway, 18, from Mountain Brook, Ala., disappeared on the last of a five-day graduation trip with 124 classmates. Island-wide searches — which have included Aruban police, the FBI, Dutch Marines, a rescue group from Texas and thousands of volunteers — have produced nothing. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8435397/
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Post by Sher on Jul 17, 2005 2:19:17 GMT -5
Aruba police, jailed teen retrace steps Focus on beach where he allegedly last saw Holloway Saturday, July 16, 2005; Posted: 8:26 p.m. EDT (00:26 GMT) Joran van der Sloot leaves an Oranjestad court back to prison Tuesday. MyCashNow - $100 - $1,500 Overnight Payday Loan Cash goes in your account overnight. Very low fees. Fast decisions.... www.mycashnow.com Mortgage Rates Fall Again Get $150,000 loan for $720 per month. Refinance while rates are low. www.lowermybills.com Unique Gift Ideas at GiftSense.com Your source for gifts for all occasions. Find it here now. http://www.giftsense.com\8892 LendingTree.com - Official Site Lendingtree - Find a mortgage, refinance, home equity or auto loan now. Receive... www.lendingtree.com YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Aruba Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Alabama or Create Your Own Manage Alerts | What Is This? ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) -- Police took a jailed Dutch teenager Saturday to the beach where he says he last saw Natalee Holloway the morning she disappeared in Aruba. Police took Joran van der Sloot, 17, to a beach near the Marriott Hotel where he has admitted being alone with the 18-year-old Alabama woman in the early hours of May 30, said police superintendent Jan van der Straaten. Van der Straaten declined to provide further details, saying only that it was "part of the investigation." Police have taken van der Sloot to the site before. Van der Sloot's mother, Anita, has said her son told her he was alone with Holloway on the beach but he did not harm her. The beach is near the Holliday Inn where Holloway had been staying during a graduation trip with 124 classmates. She vanished hours before she was to catch her flight home. Van der Sloot, the son of a judge in training in Aruba, faces no charges, and authorities can hold him until September 4, when he must be charged or released. Six other men who have been detained at various times during the investigation have been released. Extensive searches by Dutch marines, Aruban police, FBI agents and some 2,000 volunteers have found no trace of Holloway. Three divers and seven land searchers from the thingyinson-based volunteer Texas EquuSearch group were set to leave Aruba on Sunday. They have been on the island since June 23.
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Post by Sher on Jul 18, 2005 20:17:57 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- The FBI and Aruban authorities plan to test strands of blond hair found on a piece of duct tape to see if it belongs to Natalee Holloway, a missing Alabama teenager, a law enforcement source told CNN.
A park ranger found the tape Sunday on Turtle Beach and turned it over to authorities, the source said.
Aruban investigators were sending a sample to a lab in the Netherlands and shared it with the FBI. It was not known when the hair would be sent to the FBI's crime lab in Quantico, Virginia.
One of the goals of the tests will be to determine if the hair is that of Natalee Holloway, the blond 18-year-old who has been missing since May 30.
It is not known how large the piece of tape is, or how much hair was found on it. The hair was described as blond.
Aruban authorities continue to hold Joran van der Sloot, 17, in connection with the investigation into Holloway's disappearance. He has denied harming Holloway and has not been formally charged.
Holloway was seen leaving a night club with Van der Sloot and two other men the night she disappeared.
She was part of a group of about 100 classmates and parent chaperones from the Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook, who were in Aruba to celebrate their high school graduation.
Van der Sloot's mother has said the teen told her that he was on the beach with Holloway but left her there because she wanted to stay.
The Associated Press reports that police took Van der Sloot back to the beach Saturday as part of their investigation. (Full story)
No one has been formally charged in the case.
The island has been searched by hundreds of volunteers, including a team from Texas EquuSearch, a group that also brought in dogs and side-scan sonar equipment.
Earlier this month, the Dutch air force sent three F-16 reconnaissance jets equipped with lasers and special cameras to aid in the search.
The aircraft made several passes over the island in hopes of finding some clue to Holloway's disappearance, but they were unsuccessful. (Full story)
Aruba is a protectorate of the Netherlands.
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Post by Sher on Aug 2, 2005 18:32:28 GMT -5
(CNN) -- The only suspect who remains jailed in connection with the disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba faces further questions Tuesday, authorities said.
Dutch behavioral specialists will interview 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot as investigators try to shed new light on the case more than two months after Holloway vanished on the Caribbean resort island off Venezuela.
Defense attorney Antonio Carlo said his client has said all he is going to say and does not know what more he can add.
Carlo said van der Sloot's parents have been visiting their son frequently. Van der Sloot is being held in the youth section of a prison facility, with access to newspapers and television.
"He's holding up," Carlo said.
Van der Sloot, son of an Aruban judge, will be taken to a police station for Tuesday's interview.
Dave Holloway, the missing teenager's father, said the family has had "22 different stories from this guy."
"I just hope that this new team can get to the bottom of it," he told CNN's "Larry King Live."
Holloway, 18, an honors student from suburban Birmingham, Alabama, disappeared May 30 while on a graduation trip with classmates.
She was last seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot and two brothers, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, who were jailed early on but later released.
No one has been formally charged in the teen's disappearance.
Aruban authorities said Monday they were looking for a pair of size 14 tennis shoes that van der Sloot might have had on the night Holloway disappeared.
"He says he might have lost a pair of sneakers on the beach the night Natalee disappeared. That's what he claims in one of his many statements," lead police investigator Roy Tromp said.
Tromp said the suspect described the shoes as white and blue and brand new.
"He claimed he lost them in the area of Fisherman's Hut, but we're looking at other places," Tromp said, referring to a beach area near the Marriott and Holiday Inn hotels. Holloway was staying at the Holiday Inn.
Among the other places searched was a pond drained last week after a witness said he saw van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers in the area.
Authorities said Saturday they had completed their search of the pond but had found nothing.
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Post by Sher on Aug 2, 2005 18:33:20 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- Aruban authorities investigating the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway are looking for a pair of size-14 tennis shoes that suspect Joran van der Sloot might have lost, a police official said.
"He says he might have lost a pair of sneakers on the beach the night Natalee disappeared," said lead police investigator Roy Tromp. "That's what he claims in one of his many statements."
Tromp said the 17-year-old suspect described the shoes as white and blue and brand new.
"He claimed he lost them in the area of Fisherman's Hut, but we [are] looking at other places, including the pond," he said.
The pond was drained last week after a witness said he had seen Van der Sloot and two other named suspects -- brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe -- nearby. Authorities said Saturday they found nothing in the pond.
Fisherman's Hut is an area of a beach near the Marriott and Holiday Inn hotels. Holloway was staying at the Holiday Inn.
She was last seen May 30 leaving a bar with Van der Sloot and the Kalpoes, all of whom live on the island. All three were arrested June 9, but a judge ordered the Kalpoes released on July 4.
No one has been formally charged in the teen's disappearance.
In one of multiple versions the three have told police about what happened that night, they said they left Holloway at a beach near Fisherman's Hut.
Police told CNN they don't know whether Van der Sloot is telling the truth, but they are now asking the public's help to look for the shoes to assist with their investigation.
They did not explain why they are now making the search public.
Van der Sloot is expected to be questioned again Tuesday, this time by Dutch investigators who are behavioral specialists, according to police.
Authorities said Van der Sloot will be transported from the prison where he is being held to a police station for the interview.
Police on Friday night used searchlights and cameras on the ground and from the air to look at areas of interest under the remaining water in the pond.
The search yielded nothing, authorities said. On Saturday morning, divers searched one spot in the middle of pond, but came up with nothing.
Police have again downplayed a witness who came forward a few days after Holloway's disappearance and claimed to have seen what could have been the body of a woman being dumped at a landfill.
Police said the vehicle described by that man was not there that night or in the surrounding days. In addition, they said, authorities searched the area twice and found nothing.
Nevertheless, they support another search of the landfill by a private group.
EquuSearch, the Texas-based volunteer group conducting that search, has moved 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of garbage, one of its members said.
The group will return to the landfill Tuesday with three to six donated bulldozers, he said.
Holloway, an 18-year-old honors student from suburban Birmingham, was in Aruba with classmates to celebrate their high school graduation when she disappeared.
Her mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, has returned home to Alabama after spending about two months in Aruba during the search for her daughter.
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Post by Sher on Aug 2, 2005 18:34:39 GMT -5
This article is from Monday August 1st. I'm a little late in posting things this week
PALM BEACH, Aruba (CNN) -- After spending two months on Aruba following the disappearance of her daughter, the mother of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway has returned home to Birmingham indefinitely.
Beth Holloway Twitty will return to the island if there are any developments in Holloway's case.
Meanwhile, a search of an Aruban pond has ended with no sign of the missing teen, said the lead investigator on the case.
"The search at the pond is over," Roy Trump told CNN. "It's unfortunate, of course, but there was nothing there. We're finished at the pond."
The Aruban police investigator said divers made several attempts to look at certain areas of the pond in the small amount of water remaining but did not find anything of interest.
The pond was searched because of its proximity to a spot where a witness claimed he saw the three men named as suspects in Holloway's disappearance sitting in a car. (Full story)
Brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe and their friend Joran Van der Sloot were the last to be seen with her when she left a popular bar May 30.
Van der Sloot remains in custody. The Kalpoe brothers have been released for insufficient evidence, but they remain suspects in the case.
In addition to the pond, Trump said authorities are searching a landfill for the third time since a witness came forward shortly after Holloway disappeared.
The witness claimed he saw more than one person dump into the landfill something he believes could have been a covered body, CNN has learned from sources briefed on the investigation. The witness also gave police a license tag number that reportedly belonged to a white pickup truck.
Police tell CNN that a tag check found that the vehicle was not at the landfill at or around the time the witness claimed.
About 11 members of Equusearch, a thingyinson, Texas-based volunteer group that specializes in searches, also combed through the landfill Saturday. Spokesman Kevin O'Brien said the search was going "slow, very slow, with lots and lots of digging in pretty unpleasant conditions."
O'Brien said three cadaver dogs hit on specific areas within the landfill early Saturday, but a physical search located three containers of medical waste instead.
"So it's back to square one," O'Brien said.
The FBI had also combed the landfill with a dog but found nothing.
On the legal front An Aruban appeals court Friday rejected both a prosecution request for Van der Sloot's DNA samples -- and a defense request for Satish Kalpoe's DNA samples.
The attorney for Deepak Kalpoe did not file a motion in time to request his.
The appeals court did rule in favor of the prosecution on allowing Van der Sloot to be transferred from his jail cell to the downtown police station for any further interrogation. His lawyer had fought that motion.
Authorities must notify Van Der Sloot's attorney before he is questioned again, and the attorney must be present for the interrogation.
Holloway, an 18-year-old honors student, was in Aruba with classmates to celebrate their graduation when she disappeared.
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Post by Sher on Aug 2, 2005 18:35:47 GMT -5
From July 29th
PALM BEACH, Aruba (CNN) -- DNA taken from strands of blond hair stuck to duct tape found on a beach in Aruba does not match the DNA of missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, an FBI spokeswoman said Thursday.
Two tests proved negative, said Special Agent Judy Orihuela, who added the 18-year-old woman's family has already been informed.
Meanwhile, investigators continue draining a catch basin -- an operation that began 9 p.m. Tuesday -- for clues in the Holloway search.
In late May, the pond had about 2 inches of water, but after Hurricanes Emily and Dennis, the water rose to more than 5 feet. After the basin is drained, authorities expect to dredge the bottom. Firefighters have been pumping at least 3,600 gallons of water a minute, or 2 inches an hour.
The pond is next to a racquet club and across the road from the beach where brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, told police they dropped off Holloway and their friend Joran van der Sloot, 17, early May 30, the day she disappeared.
Law enforcement sources close to the investigation told CNN a local gardener claimed to have seen the Kalpoes and Van der Sloot sitting in a darkened car near the racquet club about 2:30 that morning.
The sources said that while the gardener did not specifically mention the pond, it is being drained because of its proximity to where he said he saw the car with the three males.
An appeals court judge in Aruba is expected to decide Friday whether DNA samples taken from suspects can be used as evidence.
Defense lawyers said the samples should not be allowed because proper procedures were not used to obtain them, and the prosecution agreed. If the evidence is thrown out, new samples can be taken.
The judge is also expected to rule on a motion to prevent local law enforcement officials from sharing evidence with the FBI.
The Kalpoes are still considered suspects in Holloway's disappearance despite being released from jail.
Van der Sloot, the son of an Aruban judge who at one point also was briefly detained, remains in custody.
His mother has said he acknowledged being on the beach with Holloway but left without her because she wanted to stay.
No one has been charged in the teen's disappearance.
Holloway was on a post-graduation class trip to Aruba with classmates from the Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook when she disappeared.
On Monday, Holloway's mother announced a $1 million reward for her daughter's safe return. (Full story)
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Post by Sher on Aug 2, 2005 18:36:27 GMT -5
From July 29th
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) -- The family of Natalee Holloway increased the reward Thursday for help finding the Alabama teenager who has been missing for more than six weeks.
There is now a $200,000 reward for her safe return and $100,000 for information that helps authorities solve the mystery surrounding her disappearance, the teen's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said at a news conference.
Holloway, 18, disappeared May 30, hours before she was to catch a return flight to Mountain Brook, Alabama, at the end of high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island. Extensive searches by Dutch marines, Aruban police, and some 2,000 volunteers have found no trace of her.
"By offering the substantial cash rewards, a plea is made to everyone with any useful information to please call the tip line," Twitty said.
Previously, the family had posted a reward of $175,000 for Holloway's safe return while donors offered more than $50,000 for information on the teen's whereabouts.
The teen's family has also hired a private investigator to help in the search, said Vinda de Sousa, a lawyer for Twitty.
"That does not mean that they have no confidence in the local authorities," de Sousa said.
Holloway was last seen in public leaving a nightclub with Joran van der Sloot, a 17-year-old son of a judge in training on the island, and two Surinamese brothers, Satish and Deepak Kalpoe. All three were arrested on June 9 but only van der Sloot remains in custody. No one has been charged.
Authorities took DNA samples from the three on Tuesday, a day after investigators said they would conduct DNA tests on blond hair attached to duct tape that was found along Aruba's northeastern coast. It could take a week or two before the test results are known.
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Post by Sher on Aug 4, 2005 16:01:18 GMT -5
From July 30th
ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Armed with shovels, trained dogs and heavy equipment, police and volunteers in Aruba have been digging through a landfill looking for signs of a missing American teen.
Saturday's unsuccessful search was sparked by a new witness who reported seeing several men dumping the body of a blond woman in the landfill. The witness said it happened June 1, two days after Natalee Holloway was reported missing.
According to the head of a volunteer U.S. search team working on the island, the witness was at the landfill Saturday, helping direct searchers to the area where he thinks the body was left.
On the other side of Aruba, firefighters are draining a pond near the Marriott Hotel, where another witness claimed to have seen suspicious activity.
DNA Can't Be Used Against Suspect
On Friday, a court in Aruba ruled that DNA samples collected from a Dutch teenager detained in connection with Holloway's disapperance can't be used in a case against him.
The judge also said that samples taken from one of Joran van der Sloot's friends cannot be used.
The use of van der Sloot's samples has been blocked because prosecutors failed to clarify what his DNA samples would be compared with.
In the case of van der Sloot's friend, the court said there isn't enough evidence to warrant using the tests.
The court said the prosecution could request new DNA samples from van der Sloot if it has documents clarifying what would be used in the comparison.
No one has been charged in the case of the missing Alabama teenager, and no trace of her has been found.
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Post by Sher on Aug 4, 2005 16:02:15 GMT -5
From Aug. 1st
ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Natalee Holloway's dad said he isn't sure he believes a witness account that the girl's body may have been dumped at an Aruban landfill.
Volunteers have been searching the site for several days, based on a man's claim that he saw men covering up a woman's body when he went to drop off some trash.
The Alabama teen's father said he spoke with the witness and isn't sure the story is believable. Dave Holloway said he's kind of mixed about it but wonders what would happen if the witness is speaking the truth.
An Aruban police spokesman said the landfill was searched after Holloway's May 30 disappearance based on a tip. Nothing was found then.
Meanwhile, Monday's planned landfill search by volunteers was postponed because crews were waiting for heavy equipment.
Holloway's mother, meanwhile, has left Aruba for the first time since soon after her daughter disappeared. An uncle said Beth Holloway Twitty plans to return to the Caribbean island "very soon" to keep up the focus on the search.
A Dutch teenager remains the only person in custody as a suspect in the case.
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Post by Sher on Aug 4, 2005 16:02:56 GMT -5
From Aug. 2nd
ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Behavior specialists in Aruba are questioning the Dutch suspect being held in the disappearance of Alabama honors student Natalee Holloway.
A police spokeswoman said the specialists from Holland want to observe Joran van der Sloot's body language.
They're also looking for inconsistencies in his account of what happened the night Holloway disappeared in May. The 17-year-old has already changed his version of the events at least once.
A police spokeswoman also said authorities are searching for a pair of white tennis shoes van der Sloot apparently lost the day Holloway vanished. But she didn't say why.
Meanwhile, volunteers are conducting a final search of a landfill where a witness claims to have seen men dumping a female body. The head of the volunteer search group says they will leave Wednesday unless they find something significant Tuesday.
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Post by yossi on Mar 24, 2006 6:24:53 GMT -5
The Police in Aruba , Have no education , and no Police skill's i was there ... They have alot to learn from the United States
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