Posted on 06/13/2005 2:01:55 AM PDT by bd476
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - The mother of a missing Alabama teenager said Sunday that she believes three young men who were with her daughter the day of her disappearance know what happened to her. Beth Holloway Twitty said Aruban authorities should pressure the young men to reveal what they know about the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway.
"All three of those boys know what happened to her," Holloway Twitty said during a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press in her room at the Holiday Inn, the same hotel where her daughter was staying before she disappeared on May 30. "They all know what they did with her that night."
Holloway Twitty, 44, declined to say what she thought the boys had done or whether she thought her daughter was still alive. She also said she thought that two former hotel security guards detained in connection with Holloway's disappearance were innocent and should be released.
The three young men — the 17-year-old son of a Dutch justice ministry official and two Surinamese brothers — have told police they brought Natalee Holloway to a lighthouse beside the island's Arisha Beach, but didn't get out of the car. The brothers, Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Deepak Kalpoe, 21, also told police that Natalee and the Dutch boy had been kissing in the back seat of the car. They said they dropped her off at her hotel about 2 a.m. and last saw her being approached by a man in a security guard uniform before they drove off, a lawyer for the brother's has said.
The three young men were detained on Thursday. Two former hotel security guards who worked at a hotel not far from the Holiday Inn have been detained since June 5. Lawyers for all five have insisted their clients are innocent, and no one has been charged in the case.
Holloway Twitty said she appreciated all that Aruban authorities have done but added, "I will not be satisfied until they give me back my daughter. I want her and I want her now."
But Holloway Twitty also said that she reviewed all of the security videos from the Holiday Inn and that she has concluded that the young men never brought her daughter back to the hotel as they told police.
"That story was a lie," she said. "I don't believe they ever brought Natalee back to the hotel."
Authorities have said they are pursuing all leads, while Prime Minister Nelson Oduber has said that "no one stands above the law" on the island.
Natalee Holloway vanished hours before she was expected at the airport following a five-day trip to the Dutch Caribbean island with 124 classmates and seven chaperones celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School, near Birmingham, Ala. Her U.S. passport and packed bags were found in her hotel room.
Defense lawyers for the former security guards said there wasn't enough evidence to continue holding them.
"This is turning into a game, an illogical investigation," said Noraina Pietersz, the attorney representing Antonius "Mickey" John, 30. John and Abraham Jones, 28, had been detained a week as of Sunday, and have denied any connection to Holloway. "The prosecution is pretending it has information that we don't have."
Attorney General Caren Janssen said Sunday that wasn't the case but declined to give details. "We are still in the middle of an investigation," she said.
A confession reported by a polic chief and its subsequent retraction by the attorney general fueled rumors of the young woman's demise. The family has said no body has been found, and islanders and tourists attended church services Sunday to pray for the teen.
Valerie Stanton, a 35-year-old computer technician visiting from Washington, D.C., prayed Sunday at the Alto Vista chapel outside the capital. "This could happen in any city and it's unfortunate a dark cloud is now over the island because people here are so nice," she said.
At the Santa Ana Catholic church in the town of Noord, also outside the capital, the Rev. Rudy Lampe told about 300 parishioners to "pray to give the family an oasis of peace."
Holloway Twitty said she she will not leave Aruba until her daughter is found.
"I have no choice but to stay strong. I was somehow chosen for this (situation) and I've got to see it to the end."
Aruban police should scare the daylights out of these three men, one by one, threaten them....but they've probably all got lawyers now and won't say a word. Natalee's stepfather said Joren was arrogant and cocky. No sign of remorse, of course. If he gets away with this, he'll do it again. Aruba should see the demise of their tourist dollars over this.
Aruba's version of Robert Chambers or Michael Skakel.
I agree, but if you also have a revolver, you are even more safer and less apt to be a victim. These things just dont happen to women who practice safe habits, are aware, are sensible, AND carry a gun.
Plus, from all accounts, Joren was basically stalking Natalee. Her friends said he'd show up every day, like clockwork. He had an agenda, and she didn't realize he was dangerous. She thought he really liked her. If she'd had any suspicions about him, she'd have warned the chaperones and asked them to keep an eye on him.
We took a cruise to the Bahamas last summer. At one of the ports there was a seafood restaurant that had a pier where they fed the sharks. Each hour they would throw the stuff from the kitchen off the end of the pier and a huge swarm of sharks would feed. It was a strange feeling to see certain death just a few feet away. If a body had been thrown off the end of that particular pier it would have been consumed in a short time. I'd wondered if Aruba has a restaurant that had a similar shark feeding ritual, and what would remain (clothes?) if something like this was done.
I hope they can nail whoever did this.
They aren't calling them chaperones anymore, they are calling them facilitators. The seven of them were just there in case one of the kids came to them. They did not supervise them.
Sandy, I don't believe Alabamians can travel out of the country with a gun regardless of permits.
"Fortunate that she was from Alabama?" Unfortunatley, she was in Aruba when she went missing. Are you saying that there were women from Florida and Alabama who were on spring break that were targeted for murder who just happened to have a gun ready and they saved themselves? Gee, I guess I just didn't hear about those incidents. Do you know the statistics on how many women have been murdered or kidnapped during spring break in the past 10 years? If you do, please share, then we can compare it to the girls who were on spring break this year who carried weapons and successfully defended themselves.
I will put a plug in for women who carry guns. Years ago I drove through a reservation in New Mexico with a college friend. I got out to get gas and several thugs circled around me. My friend pulled her gun and asked me if I was having any trouble. They saw the gun and quickly disbanded.
Since she appears to have gone straight from the bar to the the guys car. She would have needed to have the gun with her while in the bar.
I am a definite advocate of the right to carry and thank heavens your friend had a gun. But it is ridiculous to say that no women from Flordia or Alabama died during spring break because they carried weapons.
Anyone see this??? watch the movies...did they find something?
http://www.aru-bay.com/photo6.html
There is no record of any armed woman in Florida or Alabama having been murdered during spring break. If you have a name, give it, so the police in those states can be notified and investigate it.
There are plenty of people way past the age of 18 who do not act sensibly nor as an adult. That does not mean they need a chaperone. You have to delineate an age at which people become responsible for themselves.
I completely agree about "it is ridiculous to say that no women from Flordia or Alabama died during spring break because they carried weapons." You can't always carry a gun, but you can always carry your common sense.
I must need glasses, I can't tell what it is they are doing...
Did anyone else hear that the 2 security guards were released earlier tonight 6/13/05??
I think I heard something about it on Fox Radio News. But with the way we keep get false reports, I'm not sure if it's true or not.
If those 3 implicated 2 totally innocent people, they should be charged with that as well as whatever else they've done.
Amen, you hit the nail on the head...a good chaperone would have sent any kid going into bars or casinos on the first flight back to Birmingham.
Your post is right on, my friend. This was not a group of kids deciding to go wild on an island. This was a SENIOR TRIP. Senior trips are supposed to be fun but some degree of culture and education.
What is so EDUCATIONAL or CULTURAL about a place known where GIRLS GONE WILD dvd's are filmed and where the drinking age is much lower than most of the USA?
I went to Toronto in 1985 and went to the Museums, forts, and other historic spots and we all went out to Canada's Wonderland for fun...with real rules of NO DRINKING or hanging out with strangers or else you GO back to my town on the first Greyhound out of the city.
The chaperones were pathetic and irresponsible and they hold a lot of blame.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.