Why did the boys lie?..easy..say there was sex..with one or more of them..they say consensual...liquor and drug induced..she says rape..they figure they're in big trouble.. so they lock into a story...the dad wants to protect his son...and he's an attorney..so he doesn't even want to ask his son what happened..
Personally, I think that says more about the roommates and chaperones than it does about Natalee. I just have not seen anything to suggest to me that Natalee was loose or even used that bad of judgment. Even a glass of wine to someone who didn't drink could have made her "tipsy." I know--I was her size and went out once to a bar and drank just one glass of red wine. Was very surprised. Was with my boss and it scared him to death.
Or the boys could have admitted to having consensual sex because that's not criminal. Having her die on them, particularly if there is a date rape drug in her system, could spell huge trouble for them (or maybe not in Aruba) and that would be a crime. With no Natalee to say otherwise, they were laying the groundwork for an excuse.
Paul apparently said "no body, no crime" (per chief prosecutor) for a reason. It certainly makes me think there's a good argument that there was a body. I do think Paul's standing in the community is motive for him to get involved. But I still think everything you've written can be explained otherwise--that a crime did in fact take place and that Natalee was indeed as nice and responsibile as she appears.
It was said earlier that Natalee didn't always stay in her room at night. She liked so many that she would go from room to room and stay with different people.
I pointed out that this may be indicative of being roomed up with people that she may NOT have wanted to 'room' with. When our students went to Europe, you didn't get to choose who was in your room, the rooms were merely booked. Kind of a luck of the draw.
The problem with this arrangement though is that with no one knowing for sure where or with whom Natalee was spending the night, none of the students became concerned. I had posted earlier that courtesy (good manners) would have been to at least let the people in the room to which you are assigned, know where you are going to be that night, that way, no one worries and she gets accounted for. fwiw
Why did the boys lie?..easy..say there was sex..with one or more of them..they say consensual...liquor and drug induced..she says rape..they figure they're in big trouble.. so they lock into a story...
So the boys get a big pass because there was sex and it's Natalee's mindset that makes all the difference? What exactly could we know about Natalee that would shed light on the current situation (with the exception that she has previously staged disappearing acts)? It's quite a stretch to dismiss Joran's lies with some Clinton like explanation (it's just about sex) while advancing the theory that the real treasure trove of information is in Natalee's pattern of behavior.