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It's not that different now than it was. This incident while tragic is very isolated.

Everyone who says they wouldn’t let their child go to a place like this is kidding themselves if they think they will be in a safer environment in most any college town. The crime statistics for Tuscaloosa, AL (where Natalee would have been in a few weeks) are FAR greater than Aruba.

"Everyone who says they wouldn’t let their child go to a place like this is kidding themselves if they think they will be in a safer environment in most any college town."

I agree. Think of this not as "blaming the victim", but as a cautionary tale. She abandoned the most basic rule of safety... never go somewhere alone with strangers. College girls are extremely naive, fathers need to be very blunt about what young men are like, even if it's awkward.

It just looks like she took a little college spring break preemptively. Like before she went to college..
One last time to party with her HS friends before they had to buckle down and study in College....

It could have happened to her in College, too....
It appears the girlfriends she made in High school didn't do much to protect her from herself and the evil that lurks..

Whose to say the girlfriends she met at college would have been able to do it different.

It's all sad because this was one of our brightest.... Pre Med- big plans ahead. In the career to save lives...

She makes some bad life choices on this five day trip and it cost her hers.
But her death will be a discussion point in homes in NY, FL, AL, CA.... All over. Her sad death may save naive 18 year old girls going forward.. And may save more ladies lives than she could as a doctor.

I'm guessing the remaining 123 students and chaperones have learned some lessons on their senior trip that they don't learn in a classroom..

And it appears, in our world today, it's these lessons you need to really grasp before you get out of the cocoon you call HS and your hometown..
Not just the three R's anymore...

Thanks for letting me know Aruba hasn't changed all that much as far as crime goes.

I agree with you about people who say they wouldn't let their children go to a place like this is kidding themselves. The Aruba I remember was much safer than some of the places parents let their kids go for spring break or even just taking a day trip with friends to places like Corpus Christi, Galveston and numerous places up and down the Texas Gulf Coast.

People don't realize just how small Aruba is and how much is known by the local authorities about some of the "bad" elements like the drug dealers. Shoot, the last night we were there we met what seemed to be a very nice man with what we took to be his wife or girlfriend. The concierge at our hotel pulled aside and let us know the "nice" was a dealer and her pimp. The poor girl was trying to find a better life than the one she knew on Haiti. Anyway, my point being, the island is so small that the concierge, the maids, the waiters all got to know a little about you and tended to watch out over you.

More interesting to me were the wealthy Venezualans who thought nothing about dropping 10,000.00 USD on one number at the roulette table. I had never imagined such riches where one could waste money like that.

Again, I apologize for going off topic. I suppose I'm having a difficult time in associating murder and Aruba in the same sentence.

I think I'll go call my son now just to touch base. Again, I offer my prayers, thoughts and hope for justice for Natalee. Her poor parents!