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Post by Sher on Jun 11, 2005 0:14:16 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- One of three young suspects arrested Thursday in the investigation into the disappearance of an Alabama teenager has confessed to her murder, a senior police official said late Friday.
The suspect has agreed to lead police to the body of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, the police official said.
Police did not say which of the three confessed.
The three have been identified as brothers Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Depak Kalpoe, 21, and their friend, 17-year-old Joran Van Der Sloot, the son of a judge.
The three, taken into custody early Thursday, were the last people to have reported seeing the missing woman.
Police said Van Der Sloot met Holloway May 29 at the casino in the Holiday Inn where she was staying. The Mountain Brook, Alabama, resident was in Aruba with classmates celebrating their high school graduation.
Later that night, Holloway went to a popular nightclub, Carlos 'N Charlie's, with about 40 of her classmates. She left around 1:30 a.m. on May 30 with the Kalpoes and Van Der Sloot, authorities said.
Holly Brown, a Holloway friend who was at the club that night, said she found Van Der Sloot to be "very different."
"He lied about his age, and when we went on the [Carlos 'N Charlie's] Web site, we found pictures of him there one week before at the same place, wearing the same clothes," Brown told CNN.
Police said the Kalpoes and Van Der Sloot told authorities they went with Holloway to a beach after leaving the bar before taking her back to her hotel at about 2 a.m.
The men claimed they visited a lighthouse on the northwestern tip of the island, which is only 19 miles long and 6 miles wide.
According to police statements, the Kalpoe brothers described her as stumbling on the way into the hotel, possibly as a result of alcohol, and that a "dark-colored" man in a black T-shirt with a radio helped her.
That testimony led to Sunday's arrest of Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, two security guards at a hotel near where Holloway was staying.
But a Holiday Inn employee who has reviewed surveillance tapes from that morning said the tapes do not show any sign of Holloway. Authorities had no explanation and were looking at whether the five men have any connections to each other.
The guards' attorneys maintain the two are innocent.
None of the five men have been formally charged.
Van Der Sloot's mother said she was confident her son had told authorities everything and that he was innocent.
"He was willing to help with anything, and he had a kind of quiet resolve -- I mean he said, 'Mom, don't be upset because everything will be fine. I know I am innocent, I didn't do anything,'" Anita Van Der Sloot told CNN.
"And in a very almost naive way he was very open with us, told us everything what happened," she said, adding that he has offered to speak with the Holloway family.
Government officials have said solving Holloway's disappearance is a national priority on the small Caribbean island where tourism is a top industry.
A massive search operation has involved authorities, family, friends and volunteers.
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Post by Sher on Jun 12, 2005 1:07:37 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- A judge ruled Saturday to keep in custody three youths arrested earlier this week in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, a government official said.
The decision allows police and prosecutors eight days to continue their investigation into 18-year-old Natalee Holloway's disappearance, the official said.
The judge was flown in from the neighboring island of Curacao, a step not considered unusual in high-profile cases, said Aruba government spokesman Rueben Trappenberg. He explained that government officials want to ensure everything is done properly.
Two security guards were arrested last Sunday, based on police statements made by the three youths. None of the five men have been formally charged.
"My client keeps on saying he is not guilty," said attorney David Kock, who represents 18-year-old Satish Kalpoe. He added that as far as he knew, none of the three have admitted guilt.
Kock said, "There's a girl missing, so everybody assumes that a crime has been committed."
Antonio Carlo represents Joran Van Der Sloot, the son of an Aruban judge. Carlo said the teen "has admitted to no crime whatsoever. My client has maintained that he is innocent."
Asked how Van Der Sloot was faring, Carlo said, "He is a 17-year-old boy. His detention is, of course, having an effect on him emotionally, but he is holding strong."
He said Van Der Sloot had been in contact with his mother and was assisting in the investigation. Both attorneys refused to comment on details of the investigation.
Van der Sloot, Kalpoe and Kalpoe's 21-year-old brother Depak were the last to be seen with Holloway. They were spotted leaving the popular Carlos'N Charlie's nightclub in the early hours of May 30.
A senior police official told CNN there had been "a breakthrough amounting to a confession, or some sort of confession" in relation to the case, but did not say who made it.
Prosecutors refused to confirm or deny reports of a confession.
Law enforcement sources close to the investigation said there has not been a confession, but that cracks are appearing in the three suspects' stories.
Spokeswoman Vivian Van Der Biezen said only that the investigation was at a "very crucial" point.
Aruba Prime Minister Nelson Oduber said no one had informed him of a confession, but noted that type of information is not something he would learn of during this stage of investigation.
He said early Saturday that there was no search for a body or remains.
"Investigators will continue early in the morning doing their job," Oduber said.
Late Friday, a senior police official told CNN that one of the three youths police took into custody Thursday had confessed to killing Holloway.
The Mountain Brook, Alabama, resident was in Aruba with more than 100 classmates and seven chaperones celebrating high school graduation.
Casino meeting Police said Van Der Sloot met Holloway May 29 at the casino in the Holiday Inn where she was staying.
Later that night, Holloway went to Carlos'N Charlie's with about 40 of her classmates. She left around 1:30 a.m. on May 30 with the Kalpoes and Van Der Sloot, authorities said.
Police said the Kalpoes and Van Der Sloot told authorities they then went with Holloway to a beach before taking her back to her hotel at about 2 a.m.
The men claimed they visited a lighthouse on the northwestern tip of the island, which is about 19 miles long and 6 miles wide.
According to police statements, the Kalpoe brothers described her as stumbling on the way into the hotel, possibly as a result of alcohol, and that a "dark-colored" man in a black T-shirt with a radio helped her.
Two arrests That testimony led to Sunday's arrest of Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, two security guards at a hotel near where Holloway was staying.
But a Holiday Inn employee who has reviewed surveillance tapes from that morning said the tapes do not show any sign of Holloway. Authorities had no explanation and were looking at whether the five men have any connections to each other.
Attorneys for the two men say they are innocent. Chris Lejuz, who represents Jones, said he will file an appeal Monday morning if his client isn't released by then.
Jones, he said, does not know the three youths or Holloway.
As part of the Netherlands Kingdom, Aruba follows the Dutch judicial system, under which suspects are arrested on suspicion of a crime and not charged until later.
Government officials have said solving Holloway's disappearance is a national priority on the small Caribbean island where tourism is a top industry.
A massive search operation has involved authorities, family, friends and volunteers.
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Post by Sher on Jun 13, 2005 9:19:57 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) -- The mother of a missing Alabama teenager said Sunday that she believes three young men who were with her daughter the day of her disappearance know what happened to her.
Beth Holloway Twitty, 44, said Aruban authorities should pressure the young men to reveal what they know.
She also said she thought that two former hotel security guards detained in connection with the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway were innocent and should be released.
"All three of those boys know what happened to her," the teen's mother said during a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press in her hotel room at the Holiday Inn, the same hotel where Natalee Holloway was staying before she disappeared on May 30. "They all know what they did with her that night."
Holloway Twitty declined to say what she thought the boys had done or whether she thought her daughter was still alive.
The three young men -- the son of a Dutch justice ministry official and two Surinamese brothers -- have told police they brought Natalee Holloway to a lighthouse beside the island's Arisha Beach, but didn't get out of the car.
The brothers, Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Deepak Kalpoe, 21, also told police that Natalee and the Dutch boy had been kissing in the back seat of the car.
They said they dropped her off at her hotel about 2 a.m. and last saw her being approached by a man in a security guard uniform before they drove off, a lawyer for the brothers has said.
The three young men were detained on Thursday. Two former hotel security guards who worked at a hotel not far from the Holiday Inn have been detained since June 5.
Holloway Twitty said she met the three young men within 12 hours of Natalee's disappearance and she said it surprised her that it took authorities more than a week to detain them.
Authorities have said they are pursuing all leads, while Prime Minister Nelson Oduber has said that "no one stands above the law" on the island.
Natalee Holloway vanished hours before she was expected at the airport following a five-day trip to the Dutch Caribbean island with 124 classmates and seven chaperones celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School, near Birmingham, Alabama. Her U.S. passport and packed bags were found in her hotel room.
Defense lawyers for the former security guards said there wasn't enough evidence to continue holding them.
"This is turning into a game, an illogical investigation," said Noraina Pietersz, the attorney representing Antonius "Mickey" John, 30. John and Abraham Jones, 28, had been detained a week as of Sunday, and have denied any connection to Holloway. "The prosecution is pretending it has information that we don't have."
Attorney General Caren Janssen said Sunday that wasn't the case but declined to give details. "We are still in the middle of an investigation," she said.
A confession reported by a police chief and its subsequent retraction by the attorney general fueled rumors of the young woman's demise. The family has said no corpse has been found, and islanders and tourists attended church services Sunday to pray for the teen.
Valerie Stanton, a 35-year-old computer technician visiting from Washington, D.C., prayed Sunday at the Alto Vista chapel outside the capital.
"This could happen in any city, and it's unfortunate a dark cloud is now over the island, because people here are so nice," she said.
At the Santa Ana Catholic church in the town of Noord, also outside the capital, the Rev. Rudy Lampe told about 300 parishioners to "pray to give the family an oasis of peace."
"Today we stand with the family of Natalee," Lampe said. "This is the first time something like this has happened on our island so we are all in shock."
A couple of pictures of Holloway were posted at the entrance to the church.
Back home in Mountain Brook, Alabama, residents also attended services to pray for Natalee and scribbled notes of support and concern on a special dedication wall.
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Post by Sher on Jun 14, 2005 9:56:48 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- Authorities in Aruba have released two security guards arrested in the disappearance of an Alabama teen late last month.
Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, who work at a beachfront hotel near where Natalee Holloway was staying, were arrested in the case on June 5 but were never charged.
Holloway, 18, was discovered missing May 30. Three men remain in custody in the case -- none of them formally charged as yet.
Police have identified the three men still in custody as brothers Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Depak Kalpoe, 21, and their friend, Joran Van Der Sloot, 17, the son of an Aruban judge. The attorneys for each have said their client claims innocence.
The three young men told police they took Holloway to a beach after leaving an Oranjestad nightclub with her early May 30, when she was last seen. They said they returned her to her hotel not long afterward.
Holloway, from the Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook, was in Aruba with classmates who were celebrating their graduation from high school.
On Sunday, law enforcement sources close to the investigation said a substance found in a Honda seized after three of the men were arrested Thursday is not blood, based on a sample analyzed at an FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.
On Monday, Prime Minister Nelson Oduber said Aruba's government "is doing the utmost" to find Holloway.
"We hope that we will find Natalee Holloway alive, and are still praying that there is nothing bad that has happened to her," Oduber said Sunday.
Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, told The Associated Press on Sunday that she believes the three young men still being held in the case "know what happened to her." She also said the two security guards should be released. (Full story)
While expressing "deep concern" over Holloway's fate, Oduber also sought to reassure the media that the island is safe for visitors, noting that more than 60 percent of Aruba's income comes from tourism and more than 45,000 Arubans work in that industry.
"That's why we make an appeal to our local press and international press that the government and everybody involved will do the job," he said.
The search for Holloway was scaled back during the weekend, with teams venturing out only after receiving credible tips and coast guard patrols off shore.
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Post by Sher on Jun 14, 2005 9:57:51 GMT -5
Just my own thoughts...what the hell is going on with this case, all these twists and turns. Someone needs to get off their bum and get to work and get to the bottom of this.
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Post by Sher on Jun 15, 2005 15:34:55 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- Three young men jailed in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway appeared in court Wednesday, a day after an extensive search near an Aruban beachfront hotel turned up no sign of the Alabama teenager.
Few details were available about the court appearance, but Rudy Ooman, an attorney representing one of the three, Depak Kalpoe, said the hearing concerned the "withholding of certain documents regarding my client."
He did not elaborate, and attorneys representing the other two youths did not comment.
Holloway, 18, has been missing since May 30 when she vanished in the early hours after leaving a nightclub.
The three young men were the last people reported seen with Holloway.
They are in jail and have been undergoing questioning. None has been formally charged.
Police have identified them as brothers Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Depak Kalpoe, 21, and their friend, Joran Van Der Sloot, 17, the son of an Aruban judge.
Sources close to the probe have told CNN that the young men continue to point fingers at one another, but their attorneys said their clients are innocent.
Investigators spent five-and-a-half hours Tuesday searching for clues in an area about 500 yards long and 150 yards wide. It contains mangroves, scrub brush and drainage ditches.
A fire truck brought in a pump that was used to drain parts of the property, which is sandwiched between the main highway that goes around the coast and the beach area next to the Marriott Hotel.
The area is known as a "lover's lane" for romantic couples.
The source said that search participants included five FBI agents and a search dog from Miami-Dade County, Florida, in addition to Aruban police.
Aruba government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said he didn't know what prompted Tuesday's search.
"People have gone over the area [before] but not as intensely as this time," Trapenberg said, adding that every part of the island was being checked.
He said Aruba requested and had received additional technical assistance from Dutch and U.S. authorities, but didn't elaborate.
Holloway, from the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, has been missing more than two weeks. She was on a trip to Aruba with classmates and parent chaperones to celebrate her high school graduation.
The Kalpoes and Ver Der Sloot reportedly told police they took Holloway to a beach after leaving an Oranjestad nightclub with her early May 30. They said they returned her to her hotel, the Holiday Inn, not long afterward.
On Monday, authorities released two security guards arrested in connection with her disappearance. (Full story)
Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, who work at a hotel near where the teen was staying, were arrested in the case June 5 but were never charged.
After his release, John said Depak Kalpoe confided to him while they were in jail together that he had lied to police. John said Kalpoe also apologized for getting Jones and him into "that mess." (CNN Access)
"He [Depak] told me that the story about dropping the girl off at the Holiday Inn was all made up," John said, adding that Kalpoe told him he and his brother dropped Van Der Sloot and Holloway off near a Marriott hotel and then went home.
The area searched Tuesday is near the Marriott, about a mile from the Holiday Inn where Holloway was staying.
John said Kalpoe told him the brothers figured Holloway would turn up "a few days after."
He said Tuesday that Kalpoe should be more forthright with investigators.
"I think he's holding back something," John told CNN, describing Kalpoe as "very calm at all times."
The source close to the probe said the FBI has been briefing Holloway's parents in Aruba, and Holloway's mother said Tuesday she believes the investigation is moving forward.
"I feel like that we are working in a collaborative effort," Beth Holloway Twitty told CNN's "American Morning."
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Post by Sher on Jun 16, 2005 12:41:49 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- Authorities searched the home Wednesday of a 17-year-old detained in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama teenager more than two weeks ago.
It was unclear why police revisited the home of Joran Van Der Sloot, who was one of the three young men last reported to be seen with 18-year-old Natalee Holloway the night she disappeared.
Meanwhile, Van Der Sloot appeared in court along with brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, his friends who also have been detained as suspects.
Rudy Oomen, an attorney representing Deepak Kalpoe, said he was seeking the release of documents and evidence.
"We had a brief hearing here about the withholding of certain documents regarding my client," Oomen said. "And tomorrow the justice will decide."
At least one and possibly all three defense attorneys filed a second motion seeking documentation. Rulings on the motions are expected Thursday.
Van Der Sloot's father -- an Aruban judge -- also filed a motion seeking access to his son, which he must do under Dutch law since Van Der Sloot is a minor. Aruba is part of the Netherlands.
"My client is maintaining that he is innocent, and that he did not commit any crime," said Antonio Carlo, the attorney for the younger Van Der Sloot.
The three young men were spotted leaving the nightclub Carlos'N Charlie's with Holloway about 1:30 a.m. on May 30.
According to reports, they told police they took her to a beach and dropped her off a short time later at her hotel, the Holiday Inn.
They have been in jail for nearly a week undergoing questioning. None has been formally charged.
On Monday authorities released two security guards detained since June 5 in connection with Holloway's disappearance. (Full story)
Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, worked at a beachfront hotel near where Holloway was staying. They were never formally charged.
John, one of the security guards, told CNN that Deepak Kalpoe confided in him Sunday when they were both in jail. (CNN Access)
"He told me that when they left Carlos'N Charlie's, they went straight to the lighthouse. Deepak was driving, his brother sitting in the front next to him. The missing girl was in the back seat behind Deepak, and the Dutch guy [Van Der Sloot] was in the back seat behind his brother."
"He didn't tell me what took place at the lighthouse," John said. The lighthouse is at the northwest end of the island, which is 19 miles long and 6 miles wide.
Holloway, from the affluent Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook, was on a high school graduation trip with classmates and parent chaperones.
According to John, Kalpoe told him Holloway and Van Der Sloot were "kissing and so on in the back seat. He said she was very, very drunk. I can recall he said that."
Oomen, Kalpoe's attorney, declined comment on John's remarks.
On Tuesday, investigators searched a "lover's lane" area near a Marriott Hotel for more than five hours. The sources said participants included five FBI agents and a Miami-Dade County, Florida, search dog.
The area -- about 500 yards long and 150 yards wide -- contains mangroves, scrub brush and drainage ditches. It is about a mile from the Holiday Inn where Holloway was staying.
A fire truck brought in a pump that drained parts of the property, which is sandwiched between the main coastal highway and the beach area next to the Marriott.
Ruben Trapenberg, spokesman for the Aruban government, said some items of clothing were found, including women's underwear. He said the garment was thought to belong to an older woman, but it would nevertheless be checked.
Trapenberg said he did not know what prompted the search. "People have gone over the area [before] but not as intensely as this time," he said, adding that every part of the island was being checked.
He said Aruba requested and had received additional technical assistance from Dutch and U.S. authorities, but he didn't elaborate.
A carnival scheduled for this weekend has been postponed, authorities said, because so many police resources are being used in the search for Holloway and out of respect for her.
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Post by Sher on Jun 17, 2005 16:55:39 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba — Authorities in Aruba on Friday arrested another person in connection with the disappearance of missing Alabama honors student Natalee Holloway (search), officials said.
According to sources, the new man detained is a 26-year-old friend of Joran van der Sloot (search), the Dutch teenager who is said to have been with Holloway the night she disappeared.
The Aruban attorney general's office initially identified him only by the initials "S.G.C.," but Holloway's mother told an interviewer that his name was "Steve." FOX News later confirmed that the man's name was Steve Gregory Croes.
Croes, who works as a party boat disk jockey, said he was contacted by police Thursday night and went to the station voluntarily to give a statement, said his employer, Marcus Wiggins.
Croes also said he knew one of two Surinamese brothers being detained in the case because they went to the same Internet cafe, Wiggins told The Associated Press. However, Wiggins said that he had not seen the other three young men detained in the case on the boat where Croes works, a vessel called the Tattoo that offers nightly dining, swimming and dancing. As for Croes' work ethic, Wiggins had nothing bad to say.
"I've never had problems with him," Wiggins told the AP. "He keeps to himself and shows up to work every day and does his job."
FOX also learned that police may have questioned yet another young man, said to be of Dutch nationality, on Thursday night.
Mariaine Croes, spokeswoman for the Aruban Attorney General Caren Janssen, confirmed that Steve Croes was "in custody and being interrogated."
"Every day that the investigation continues," she told FOX News, "we are a step closer to solving this case."
Mariaine Croes also said she was no relation to Steve Croes, adding that the surname was a common one on the island.
Van der Sloot, 17, remained in police custody, along with brothers Deepak Kalpoe (search), 21, and Satish Kalpoe (search), 18, Surinamese residents of Aruba.
Van der Sloot and the Kalpoes were questioned and released shortly after Holloway's May 30 disappearance, but then formally arrested June 9, after police moved their focus away from two security guards who had been arrested and were later released.
Beth Holloway Twitty, Holloway's mother, declined to give any more details about "Steve" but she told Associated Press Television News that she believes more people could be detained in the case.
"This is just the beginning," she said.
Holloway Twitty has been in Aruba (search) since nearly the early days of the search for her daughter.
"I want my daughter and I want her now," she said. "I'm very frustrated. We are in day 18 with no answers."
Paul Reynolds, Holloway's uncle, told FOX News the family remained confident that they would find out what happened.
"The authorities in Aruba and the United States are assuring us every effort will be made to find out what has occurred," Reynolds said Friday.
Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers appeared in court Friday morning. It was not clear where Croes was being held.
Prosecutors asked a judge to rule that there was sufficient cause to continue holding van der Sloot and the Kalpoes. The three were detained June 9. Under the law, a judge must review their case after 10 days, rendering a decision by Sunday.
No one has been charged with a crime in the case.
The court was expected to rule Friday on a petition by van der Sloot's father, Paul, to visit his son in jail and on a request by the son's attorneys to see any evidence against him.
Paul van der Sloot is a judge-in-training, serving a three-year term on the bench that allows him to hear a limited number of cases.
On Thursday, prosecutors filed a motion to stop Joran van der Sloot's lawyer, Antonio Carlo, from seeing him, said Mariaine Croes, a the attorney general's spokeswoman.
Authorities claim their investigation could be damaged because Carlo spoke with one of two former security guards who were detained in the case and then released, Mariaine Croes said Friday.
The judge was brought in from neighboring Curaçao island, as is typical in high-profile cases.
Holloway disappeared the same day she was to return from a five-day trip with 124 other students celebrating their graduation from high school in Mountain Brook, Ala.
Searches by authorities, volunteer islanders and tourists have come up empty. Authorities refused to say whether they believed Holloway was dead.
On Thursday, however, Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten told The Associated Press that authorities used a helicopter "to search for possible remains — but found nothing." He declined to say where the search was conducted.
On Wednesday, authorities searched the van der Sloots' one-story, yellow-beige home, where Joran lived in an attached apartment. Agents were seen carrying two white garbage bags filled with items from the house, while authorities towed away a blue sport utility vehicle and a red Jeep from the property in Noord, outside the capital, Oranjestad.
After the approximately four-hour search, Janssen said Paul van der Sloot was not under investigation.
Asked why it took investigators more than two weeks after Holloway's disappearance to search the van der Sloot home, Janssen said Thursday, "You have to build up an investigation. You can't just go in there like a cowboy. You have to give certain direction to investigators."
The Kalpoe brothers have told police that they and Joran were with Holloway the night she disappeared and that she and the Dutch youth were kissing in the back seat of their car. The detainees initially said they took Holloway to a northern beach and then dropped her off at her Holiday Inn.
But Antonius "Mickey" John, a former hotel security guard released from custody Sunday, said to reporters that Deepak Kalpoe told him during a chat in jail that he and his brother actually dropped the young van der Sloot and Holloway off together near the Marriott, about 10 blocks north of the Holiday Inn. John said he passed the information on to police.
On Tuesday, FBI agents and officers from the Miami-Dade police department used German Shepherds to search the area, known as Malmok beach, which is a popular nighttime spot for lovers.
Deepak Kalpoe's lawyer would not comment on John's statement Wednesday, but has said his client maintained his innocence.
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Post by Sher on Jun 18, 2005 17:32:23 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- Nearly three weeks after Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway vanished from this resort island, her mother expressed frustration at the pace of the investigation and vowed, "I will find Natalee."
Beth Holloway Twitty made her remarks Friday, hours after authorities arrested a sixth person in connection with the disappearance. He was identified by a family member as Steve Croes, a 26-year-old disc jockey for a popular party boat
Twitty told CNN that authorities have not disclosed how Croes might be connected to three men being held in custody: Joran Van Der Sloot, the 17-year-old son of an Aruban judge, and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, ages 21 and 18 respectively.
"I'm anxious to find out further information," Twitty said.
Prosecutors asked a judge Friday to hold the three for another eight days for further investigation.
Judge Bob Wit ruled that Van Der Sloot's father, Paul Van Der Sloot -- himself a judge -- cannot visit his son, the boy's mother told CNN. The mother, Anita Van Der Sloot, said the judge did allow her to visit, however.
Late Friday night, Judge Van Der Sloot accompanied Anita Van Der Sloot to the police station, where their son is being held, and she visited with him, she said.
No one has been charged in the case, and defense attorneys for the three have said their clients maintain they are not guilty.
Twitty said she believes Van Der Sloot and the two brothers are "definitely involved with my daughter's disappearance," but offered no evidence to support her assertion. She said she had a brief encounter with one of them before their arrest.
"What was given to me from him was a very condescending, arrogant and very cold -- and almost somewhat powerful -- attitude," she told CNN.
Twitty did not say which of the three had approached her.
Holloway, an 18-year-old honors student from the affluent Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, disappeared early Monday, May 30, after she left a nightclub with Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers, authorities said. She was in Aruba with about 100 classmates to celebrate their recent graduation.
Earlier Friday, authorities arrested Croes and searched his home.
His uncle Rufo Solognier, a retired police officer, described Croes as a quiet man, divorced with a 2-year-old son. He said he did not know of any connection between Croes and the three others in custody.
Police Commissioner Jan Van Der Straten said the arrest came after one of the three named the individual.
Croes is a disc jockey on the Tattoo cruise ship, which advertises itself as "a party boat.
Croes' boss, Marcus Williams, described him as a model employee. He added that he believes Croes and one of the three others being held met in an Internet cafe.
Williams said the boat generally does not sail Sunday nights. On those few Sundays when it does, it is always back by midnight, Williams said.
Holloway was last reported seen about 1:30 a.m. Monday May 30.
Twitty said she is not giving up hope: "We are here, we're waiting, we're watching, we're listening and we are ready for Natalee. ... We are doing everything we know to do to get the answers."
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Post by Sher on Jun 19, 2005 18:19:02 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- Police questioned an Aruba judge Sunday for the second day in a row in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.
Police Commissioner Jan Van Der Straten said police questioned Judge Paul Van Der Sloot while his wife, Anita, visited their son, 17-year-old Joran, who is being held in connection with the case.
Van Der Straten dismissed as "completely false" media reports that police also had interrogated the judge's wife.
Joran Van Der Sloot is one of three people last reported seen with Holloway before she disappeared in the early hours of May 30.
The judge also was questioned Saturday and remained in the police station for about five hours. Asked Saturday whether the father was being interviewed as a suspect or a witness, a source close to the investigation said "the latter."
Also jailed in the case are brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, and a man identified by a family member as Steve Croes, a 26-year-old disc jockey for a popular party boat. He was arrested Friday. (Full story)
The commissioner said the suspects were being held in separate facilities in the capital to ensure they cannot communicate with one another.
The police commissioner said Saturday the arrest of Croes came after one of the three youths named him. The party boat he works aboard docks about 300 meters, or about 1,000 feet, from the Holiday Inn where Holloway was staying.
The 18-year-old honors student from the affluent Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook disappeared early May 30 after she left a nightclub with Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers, authorities said. The three men were taken into custody June 9.
Holloway was in Aruba with about 100 classmates to celebrate their recent graduation.
Authorities have found no sign of her despite a massive search of the Caribbean island off Venezuela.
Judge Bob Wit ruled Friday that Paul Van Der Sloot cannot visit his son in jail, but that the boy's mother may do so. Wit's reasoning wasn't made public. Anita Van Der Sloot also visited Friday with her son.
No one has been charged in the case, and defense attorneys for Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers have said their clients maintain they are not guilty.
Prosecutors asked a judge Friday to hold the three men another eight days.
Under Aruban law, prosecutors can ask judges to approve three eight-day extensions, followed by a 60-day extension and then a 30-day one.
Suspects may be held up to 116 days -- and in rare cases even longer -- before formal charges are filed, said Mariaine Croes, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor.
On Wednesday, authorities searched Van Der Sloot's home, seizing two cars and removing bagfuls of evidence. (Full story)
Two days earlier, they released two security guards who were arrested in connection with Holloway's disappearance.
The guards, Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, were arrested June 5 but weren't charged.
After his release, John said Deepak Kalpoe confided to him while they were in jail together that he had lied to police. (CNN Access)
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Post by Sher on Jun 20, 2005 21:50:10 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba — An Aruban judge on Monday ruled that there is enough probable cause to continue holding a fourth suspect in the disappearance of American tourist Natalee Holloway (search), FOX News has confirmed.
A spokesperson for the prosecution confirmed to FOX News that Steve Croes, 26, who works as a disc jockey on a tourist party boat in Aruba called "The Tatoo," will now be detained for another eight days. The new timetable began at 2 p.m. EDT Sunday and will end next Monday.
Croes was brought to the Aruba court at 9:10 EDT Monday morning. Although authorities are not specifying exactly why Croes has been in police custody since Friday, it's known that the fourth suspect is in fact friends with the three other young men being held as suspects in the case of the missing Alabama teenager.
Croes was arrested Friday after giving police a statement, said Marcus Wiggins, his boss on the boat Tattoo.
Under Dutch law, which Aruba follows as a Dutch protectorate, authorities can detain people for up to 116 days without charging them.
Meanwhile, Aruban police have been questioning the father of a Dutch teenager held in the disappearance of Holloway, hoping the island justice official may know something to help solve the mystery of what happened to her, an official said.
Paul van der Sloot (search), a judge-in-training on the island, was questioned for two hours Sunday afternoon after five hours Saturday night, said Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten.
Joran van der Sloot (search), 17, was one of the people last seen with Holloway the night she disappeared. Three other men have been detained, but no one has been charged.
Van der Straaten said the father was asked to come back Sunday because officials were not able to finish the interrogation on Saturday, but declined to give more details.
"He was questioned as a witness, no more or no less," van der Straaten told The Associated Press.
The attorney general's spokeswoman, Mariaine Croes, said witnesses are questioned when prosecutors believe they may be able to add something to the case.
"You may know something more or you may have seen something more, but you are not a suspect or thought to be part of any crime," Croes said.
During Sunday's interrogation, van der Sloot's wife, Anita van der Sloot, met with Joran in jail, said van der Straaten.
Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Ala., disappeared in the early hours of May 30, the last day of a five-day vacation with 124 students celebrating their high school graduation. Her U.S. passport and packed bags were found in her room.
Joran van der Sloot and two friends said they took Holloway to a northern beach but dropped her off at her Holiday Inn, where they claim she was approached by a security guard.
On Saturday, a judge ordered Joran van der Sloot and his two friends, brothers Deepak Kalpoe (search), 21, and Satish Kalpoe (search), 18, to stay in jail for at least another week while the investigation continues.
Investigators refuse to say whether they believe Holloway is dead. Her mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, has said she will continue to believe the teen is alive until she has proof to the contrary.
Holloway Twitty, 44, sat in the front pew during a Saturday night Mass dedicated to her family at a Pentecostal church.
"We admire the strength and courage you've shown as a mother," pastor Gilbert Martes told Holloway Twitty, who listened to the sermon with her eyes closed.
Holloway Twitty has insisted that Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoes hold the key to the investigation and that authorities pressure the young men harder to tell the truth.
In Alabama, a Holloway family friend said Holloway's relatives identified and located Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers less than a day after the teen vanished. But the three young men were not detained until 10 days later.
"It's just disappointing that they [authorities] weren't able to move faster," Jody Bearman, who organized the graduation trip, told AP.
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Post by Sher on Jun 22, 2005 14:41:51 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- The mother of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway said Wednesday more individuals "need to be pursued" in connection with the student's disappearance more than three weeks ago on the island of Aruba.
Beth Holloway Twitty said she's sure the four young men in custody -- but not formally charged in the case -- have more information to divulge.
"I have no doubt that they know what and who and where and when and why and how. I have no doubt," Twitty said on NBC's "Today Show."
"The only thing I think there are some other individuals, though, that need to be pursued, and I know the local authorities are doing that and will be doing that," she added.
Twitty told CNN's "American Morning" she met Tuesday with the parents of 17-year-old Joran Van Der Sloot, one of the people in custody. He's one of the last people reported to have seen Holloway.
She said the Van Der Sloots invited her into their home, when she was handing out prayer cards in their neighborhood.
Twitty refused to give details about their 90-minute discussion.
"I think I walked away with the confirmation that we still have some individuals that we need to pursue," she said.
Holloway, an 18-year-old honors student from the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, disappeared May 30 after she left a nightclub with Van Der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, ages 21 and 18 respectively, authorities said.
She was in Aruba with about 100 classmates to celebrate their recent graduation.
The three men and a fourth suspect, 26-year-old disc jockey Steve Croes, face accusations of two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping leading to murder.
None have been formally charged, and Twitty says she has seen "no evidence whatsoever" that her daughter is dead.
Defense attorneys for Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoes have said their clients maintain their innocence.
Meanwhile, four members of a Texas-based search-and-rescue team will arrive in Aruba late Wednesday to begin planning their search for Holloway, said Tim Miller, director and founder of Texas EquuSearch.
Members of the group will meet with Aruban government officials and Holloway's family as soon as they arrive, Miller told CNN Wednesday.
The team has been delayed because of problems getting a charter flight and permission for their four search dogs to travel to the Caribbean island, Miller said.
All elements of the team should be in place Friday, he explained, including a side-scan sonar device that can peer 800 feet down into the ocean.
Miller founded Texas EquuSearch several years after the 1984 disappearance of his own daughter. Miller's efforts to find her were frustrated by a lack of help from authorities who thought she was a runaway. She later was found murdered in Texas, according to the group's Web site.
"I know what the Holloways are going through right now... (we're going to) try to do everything possible to locate this child," Miller said.
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Post by Sher on Jun 23, 2005 14:33:50 GMT -5
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- An Aruban judge, the father of a 17-year-old suspect in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, also has been arrested in the case, a prosecution spokesperson said Thursday.
Paul Van Der Sloot is being viewed as a suspect in the case of Natalee Holloway, a missing 18-year-old from suburban Birmingham, Alabama, Mariaine Croes said. He was arrested about 2 p.m. Thursday.
"He's a suspect," Croes said. "There's a reasonable suspicion that he knows something."
Police also questioned Paul Van Der Sloot over the weekend in connection with the case. A law enforcement source close to the investigation said at the time that the judge was interviewed as a witness.
He spent about five hours in the police station Saturday for questioning and was brought in again on Sunday while his wife, Anita, visited their son, 17-year-old Joran.
Last week, an Aruban judge ruled that Paul Van Der Sloot could not visit his son in jail. Earlier, authorities had searched Van Der Sloot's home, seizing two cars and removing bagfuls of evidence.
This week, Holloway's mother said more individuals "need to be pursued" in connection with the case.
Beth Holloway Twitty said Wednesday she's sure the four young men in custody -- but not formally charged in the case -- have more information to divulge.
"I have no doubt that they know what and who and where and when and why and how. I have no doubt," Twitty said on NBC's "Today Show."
"The only thing I think, there are some other individuals, though, that need to be pursued, and I know the local authorities are doing that and will be doing that," she added.
Twitty told CNN's "American Morning" she met Tuesday with the parents of Joran Van Der Sloot, one of the people in custody. He's one of the last people reported to have seen Holloway.
She said the Van Der Sloots invited her into their home, when she was handing out prayer cards in their neighborhood.
Twitty refused to give details about their 90-minute discussion.
"I think I walked away with the confirmation that we still have some individuals that we need to pursue," she said.
Holloway, an honors student from the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, disappeared May 30 after she left a nightclub with Joran Van Der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, ages 21 and 18 respectively, authorities said.
She was in Aruba with about 100 classmates to celebrate their recent graduation.
The three men and a fourth suspect, 26-year-old disc jockey Steve Croes, face accusations of two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping leading to murder.
None have been formally charged, and Twitty says she has seen "no evidence whatsoever" that her daughter is dead.
Defense attorneys for Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoes have said their clients maintain their innocence.
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