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Suspect was in pushing match
http://www.postherald.com/me061005.shtml

Man had scuffle with some of Holloway's friends
By DANIEL JACKSON
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD

One of the three young men arrested Thursday in the disappearance of Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway got into a pushing match with some of her friends in an Aruban bar, one of Holloway's friends said Thursday.

Bryan Reynolds, 18, one of 124 recent high school graduates whowent to Aruba in late May, said some of his friends almost got into a fight with Joran Andreas Petrus Van Der Sloot and his friends.

The scuffle started after Van Der Sloot, a Dutch suspect arrested at his upper-class home in Oranjestad, Aruba, Thursday morning, had been talking to 18-year-old Holloway at a bar where she and classmates hung out during the five-day trip, Reynolds said.

"There was almost a fight between my friend and him," said Reynolds, who was sitting in his car in the parking lot of Mountain Brook Community Church on Thursday after attending a noon prayer service with his classmates and others. "I had to break them up. That's when I got a good look at them."

Van Der Sloot, the son of a Dutch justice official studying at the Aruba International School, and two Surinamese brothers identified by police as Satish and Deepak Kaploe, were arrested Thursday morning, more than a week after Holloway disappeared. The last known people to have seen Holloway, the suspects told police they gave her a ride to her hotel in the early morning hours of May 30, the night she vanished, and never saw her again.

Reynolds said he saw the suspects hanging out at the Holiday Inn where the Mountain Brook High School graduates stayed in Oranjestad. When Holloway went missing, Reynolds said they were the first people he considered as potential suspects.

"That was the first people who came to mind," said Reynolds, who said Holloway is one of his best friends.

Last week, authorities also arrested Nick John, 30, and Abraham Jones, 28, two security guards who both insist they never saw Holloway.

Chris Lejuez, an attorney representing Jones and John, said his clients are being investigated on suspicion of murder and kidnapping, but authorities have not released evidence that Holloway was the victim of foul play. Nor have they ruled out other possibilities, like accidental drowning. None of the suspects has been charged.

Holloway's relatives, who still hope they will find her alive, believe the investigation accelerated in the right direction Thursday when authorities arrested the three suspects, Holloway's aunt Marcia Twitty said during a news conference in front of the Mountain Brook church Thursday.

"We wanted to see this happen," Twitty said. "These are the last three people seen with her. You'd think they have to know something."

Authorities previously questioned Van Der Sloot and the Kaploe brothers about Holloway's disappearance, but at that time, the attorney general's office said they were considered witnesses, not suspects.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the three young men told police a man dressed in a security guard uniform approached Holloway when they dropped her off in front of the Holiday Inn.

The Kaploe brothers told police Holloway had been drinking, and she fell down when she got out of the car, but refused help from Van Der Sloot, saying, "I can stand on my own," The AP reported.

A man dressed in a black security uniform and carrying a walkie-talkie approached Holloway, seemingly in an effort to help her, the suspects told police. The suspects said they drove off and never saw her again, The AP reported.

But Holiday Inn employees said the hotel's security cameras did not record her return.

Police also impounded a gray Honda car Thursday. Holloway's friends reported seeing her leave a nightclub in a silver car the night she disappeared. That night, Holloway ate and danced at Carlos 'n Charlie's bar and restaurant. Police found her passport with her packed luggage in her hotel room after she missed her return flight the next morning.

Under Aruban law, serious suspicion from investigators is all that is needed for a judge to rule the suspects can be detained by police. The Aruba government, local tourism organizations, her family and supporters in Alabama and at Carlos 'n Charlie's are offering a $55,000 reward for information leading to Holloway's rescue.

An intensive search for Holloway is ongoing in Aruba, Twitty said. In Birmingham, people continue to offer support to her family and friends.

Clarissa Winchester of Gardendale signed the memorial wall for Holloway at the church Thursday. She drove her two daughters through lunch hour traffic to try to make the prayer service.

Her 4-year-old daughter, Caroline Grace Winchester, had been asking about Holloway, she said.

"More and more people in the community feel the burden as days go by," said Clarissa Winchester, 28. "She's one of ours. We make more of a connection with her the longer we see her face. ... We love her, and we want her to get home."

She did not make it in time for the service, but did write a Bible verse, Genesis 31:49, in big red capital letters on the board.

The verse says: "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another."

Underneath, scrawled in by a black marker, was a heart and a message that Clarrisa Winchester wrote from Caroline: "Love Caroline, 4 years old. We all miss you!"

Post-Herald reporter Andrew Nelson and The Associated Press contributed to this story.