[twigs]

I am a very strict parent and wouldn't have let my daughter go there. But from what I've heard, Natalee did nothing that I would call "wild." While I don't think that she used the best judgment, that's a far cry from wild. I was a pretty tame teen-ager too, but I wasn't perfect and looking back, did things then that I would call not smart now. But not wild. And thankfully, I didn't run into a murderer or kidnapper. I just don't get it why we have to keep blaming the victim in these gut-wrenching cases.

[Jaded]

mark

[over3Owithabrain]

I just don't get it why we have to keep blaming the victim in these gut-wrenching cases

I didn't. But it can be helpful, and preventive maintenance for others, to learn something from bad events. Walking home alone in the dark at night through a bad neighborhood doesn't mean you're being blamed if something bad happens and it's pointed out you used bad judgment. Ditto here.

[eddie65]

I find it interesting that Natalee was doing all the same things that her mother vilified the van der Sloots for allowing their son to do, i.e. gambling, staying out until all hours of the night or all night, drinking. From what I've heard, nobody even knew Natalee was missing until she didn't show up for her flight. Wasn't anyone aware that she didn't come back to her hotel that night?