Natalee Holloway - Case Discussion Extended Thread 5

Various News Outlets | 7/4/05

[TexKat]

Mountain Brook High School graduate Natalee Holloway went missing May 30 during a senior trip to Aruba.

AP photo

[Dark Skies]

Holiday Inn SunSpree Aruba Resort & Excelsior Casino is in Palm Beach, Aruba and is open slots 10am-5am, tables 1pm-5am. The 12,000 square foot casino features 257 slots and sixteen table games.

source:www.casinocity.com/aa/palmbeach/casinos.html

[TexKat]

Arubans: Natalee's Mom Out of Line - Fox News

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 ORANJESTAD, Aruba — A latent but growing resentment here became evident for the first time when more than 200 people, some wrapped in Aruban flags, said they were incensed by statements made by the mother of a missing American teen.

Those assembled outside the colonial courthouse in this Caribbean capital Tuesday night said they fear their tiny island nation is falsely being portrayed as not doing enough to find Natalee Holloway , the Alabama girl who vanished May 30 on a graduation trip with her high school class.

Two brothers, Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe (search), 18, who had been held as suspects were released Monday for lack of evidence.

In a brief and tearful statement Tuesday, Beth Holloway Twitty , Natalee's mother, accused Aruba of letting guilty people free.

"Two suspects were released yesterday who were involved in a violent crime against my daughter," she said.

More

[sarasota]

Thanks, Tex. This is not the "piling on" that Beth and Jug need. How very sad.

[hummingbird]

"These criminals are not only being allowed to walk around among the tourists and citizens of Aruba," she said, but there were no limits on where they could go.

It seems to me that Beth was saying to the Aruban citizens that she was on their side, as in, why should the Aruban citizens be subjected to this kind of environment. After all, if Holloway-Twitty families had not come down, two innocent security guards might very well be in prison at this point. Why should the Aruban citizens be subjected to corruption on their island? That's my "take." Anyway, I think a 'rent-a-mob' machine is being employed to sway the average Aruban to negativity against the H-T family to take the light off of the much bigger picture of corruption and organized crime.

[hummingbird]

"We are here to ask that you trust our legal system," he said...

And, maybe its not so much the legal system at issue, as it is the people who are responsible for upholding it.

Its one thing to have a codified law that is different from ours, which one has to work within; it is quite another thing when law enforcement sends people on wild goose chases (like they are doing with the Texas rescue team).

[ladyjane]

If it is a 'rent-a-mob' it will backfire. Anybody still thinking of taking a vacation in Aruba will be less likely to want to go there now.

[hummingbird]

dumb question: do the casinos in the hotels stay open all night? Just thinking about the 4 am. pickup and the alleged atm withdrawals - could Joran or his father have gone back to the HI and continued gambling? Could one of them been there gambling during the crime?

Good question. I had assumed they closed in the early morning hours (to tourists)but that, along with raves, there was after-hours gambling with the regulars. I don't know.

Also, it has probably been posted (blush for missing it!), but is there a definite count on the ATM transactions, the time of the transactions, any photo of who made the transactions, and...(now I really show my ignorance about ATMs)...with respect to ATMs - are they only for withdrawals or can you make deposits, too?

[Dark Skies]

There is a long existing pressure on the Investigation Team to change direction of the investigation and start looking to the other side to those closer to Natalee and interrogate the mother, father, step father, and ex boyfriend who was also in the group of students who came here to celebrate their graduation. At some point rumors wanted that the ex boyfriend did not leave Aruba as the immigration department did not register his departure however, according to American Airlines Jeremy Brown was on the flight back to the US on May 30.

Source: http://news.caribseek.com/Aruba/AM_Digital/article_16516.shtml

[hummingbird]

Wow...there is information out there on just about anything...thanks, Dark Skies!

[girlscout]

*

[Voir Dire]

"Anybody still thinking of taking a vacation in Aruba will be less likely to want to go there now."

For sure. It's not just the fact of one American gal missing- it's the exposure of a very strange judicial system that does not protect tourists who will bring their vacation and gambling $$$.

[truthluva]

"No body, No crime" may OR may not mean she is dead. If they are leaning toward murder charges and perhaps the kidnapping story is the truth there will be no body.

I know, the kidnapping story seems way out there, but this whole thing seems way out there too. Either way, making the statement certainly makes many people believe he knows a great deal more than he's telling.

[hummingbird]

If it is a 'rent-a-mob' it will backfire

I hope so. Newsarticle talking about growing and 'latent' negative feelings among the locals sounds like seeds are being planted, in an orchestrated fashion, to turn the Aruban citizens against this case and deflect attention from what the Holloway-Twitty P.I. may have found lurking under the surface of the Aruban economy.

I'm just thinking thoughts; your mileage may vary.

[Dark Skies]

Thx HB...have you heard of Jeremy Brown before? I hadn't.

At any rate, it looks like the authorities are trying to shift the focus of the investigation.

[gingersnaps]

Well I'm sorry to say this --and I do mean sorry-- but I'm going to say a very rueful "I told you so" to people who insist on mocking and denigrating the Aruban legal system. (Hey, if Rush Limbaugh can say I-told-you-so, I will too...)

Yesterday I posted that it was HURTING the investigation for the media to behave in the ignorant, arrogant and condescending way they have.

And I added that vituperation is counterproductive here.

Now I reiterate I have great sympathy for Natalee's distraught parents. And that it's understandable they would make mistakes under this frightful stress. I'm sure I would too.

BUT. It must be said: Mrs. Twitty's statement yesterday was a huge, huge blunder.

There is a furious backlash in Aruba against her now. I just saw, on Fox News, a very decent looking Aruban citizen named John Merriweather. Mr. Merriweather, described as a retired civil servant, was practically shaking in fury over Beth Twitty's statement yesterday -- noting that the Aruban people have shown great hospitality and good will toward the Twittys. And now she has slapped them in the face (Mr. Merriweather did not say exactly that, I'm just paraphrasing.)

Now whatever you may think of the Aruban legal system (and I happen to think they have NOT been irresponsible or ineffective here -- but that's beside the point), many innocent Arubans of good will have been infuriated by Mrs. Twitty's statment.

To those of you who say "Scr*w what the Arubans think," why don't YOU stop and think: How does this help the Twittys find Natalee? Answer: IT DOESN'T. IT HURTS THEM.

If there are any people in Aruba who might have a useful tip that might help solve this case, do you think they'll come forward now? I don't!

It is not my purpose to "pile on" the Twittys. I've been very sympathetic to them and remain so. But for God's sake, they desperately need to reassess their tactics here.

(Again sorry for the hit-and-run post. Again I have to leave and probably won't get back to address any replies. But I do appreciate the information you're posting here, TexKat, and the opportunity to blow off a little steam!)

[hummingbird]

have you heard of Jeremy Brown before? I hadn't.

First I had heard of him, but there are many who are much more tuned in.

kcvl (I hope you are the person who knows the family), do you know about Jeremy Brown?

I really think the smear machine against the Holloway-Twitty families is in overdrive right now. I think the officials will do anything to make this go away. And, I do hope Beth takes very good care of that diary.

Having Greta there, with FOX cameras, hopefully is affording the Holloway-Twitty family some protection and I hope that there are undercover folks there, too.

[hummingbird]

If there are any people in Aruba who might have a useful tip that might help solve this case, do you think they'll come forward now? I don't!

If there were any people, in any country, under these circumstances that would not come forward with a tip, I would say that is pretty chickensh*t. I don't think the Aruban people are like that. I do think some of their officials are and I do believe the vdSs are of very questionable character. But, the behavior of the vdSs is not the behavior of the average, honest Aruban who gets up and goes to work each day like the rest of us.

Arubans, as Americans, as any citizen of any country, can be played by the media and those who control the media. It happens every day. That's why celebrities have agents, commercials are made for products, press releases are issued, public relations people are hired, managers are hired, etc.....

[Andy'smom]

Jeremy Brown is one of the kids from MB who went on the trip. How he is connected to Natalee I haven't heard.