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."
If you Google "Joran van der Sloot," the 17 year-old, a lot of interesting stuff comes up, including a Dutch site that says "The Americans want Joran dead." He aparently ran an internet site, now taken down, on which he posted pictures of young tourists he had seduced.
I can't understand how 124 pairs of parents, or more if you consider step-parents, grandparents, etc., could have all collectively lost their judgment and condoned, even tacitly, such a foolhardy trip. I suppose as the story continues we will see more details of how the trip was "sold" to the parents by the students, who if anybody was in charge, what if any were the rules or guidelines and penalties, etc.
Millions of kids go on senior trips and nothing bad happens. That doesn't make the news, however. And most of these "kids" were 17 or 18. They are really young adults.
"this guy could well have slipped some ecstasy into that poor girl's drink..... it appears he was standing by to take her away when she was incapacitated. This may have been an experiment in date rape that could have gone terribly awry, necessitating that he dispose of the evidence."
Very interesting theory. I was wondering what sort of situation would lead to her murder since the boys had way too much to lose by killing her. A date-rape drug with too much effect could explain it. I think you've got the most likely theory.
I agree that it is most likely an accident of some sort. My first thought was that the boys had dropped her off and she decided to go for a moonlight swim and drowned. Now it seems they never dropped her off, so obviously something happened to her while she was with them. How long does it take for alcohol poisoing to kick in?
Maybe the boy had been working on her for several days and realized on the last night he was not going to seduce her, so he slipped her some kind of drug.
Starting when my children were quite young, I took them to the beach every year for spring break. We always went to the same quiet beach that didn't attract boisterous teenagers. The practice was family tradition we all enjoyed.
The year they turned 16 and 17, they asked if we could go to Panama City Beach where all their friends would be. Several mothers and I booked rooms at the same hotel and watched these kids like hawks. This past spring, at 18 and 19, they asked to go with their friends, and more importantly, without me. I struggled with it for a while, thought about the quality of their raising, and finally agreed. Believe it or not, those youngins called me every couple of hours. I probably spoke to them more during those five days than in a normal week.
Granted Panama City Beach, FL is not Aruba, but at some point we have to trust our children to act responsibly and allow them to go places on their own.
I know that as a teen I would have begged to go on a trip like this. But now, 25 years later, I know nothing good could come from it.
It seems to me that it's a very bad practice to "reward" kids for graduating high school with cars or trips, when they've only done what they're supposed to do, and they have yet to contribute anything to society.
Don't feel bad. FOX was reporting this for HOURS. FOX needs to apologize.
I'm sure there are plenty of resulting abortions, among other things.
The killer of the little girl in Fl.
You know your children better than I do. My daughter, now 30, was in boarding school at 14 and flying half way around the world by herself several times a year. I have trusted her judgement and maturity since she was 10. We have lived abroad for 25 years so I assess the risks somewhat different than you do. Downtown DC after dark is a far more dangerous place than Aruba.
Natalee was 17.
Natalee's age is 18.
Born November 7, 1986.
People ridicule me when I say that. Really.
It should be an expectation.
Look, I am all for the right to carry weapons, that is not the point. I was simply pointing out the arrogance of this family and friends in blaming the Arubian government. I am sorry, but for you to make a blanket statement that "it doesn't happen to armed women," is naive and frankly, silly.
LOL! My kids attend a private Christian school, and the seniors in our school take a trip every year ... and it is an officially school-sponsored and authorized and strictly chapheroned trip ... to D.C.
You know what I got for h.s. graduation ... of course this was 29 years ago ... about $100 in cash from various family members, and my parents sprung for me and my two best friends to go eat a post-graduation dinner at Pizza Hut. I thought I'd won the lottery at the time and I have fond memories of that, especially the dinner ... I still remember what I had, Cavatini Supreme, which I don't think Pizza Hut serves anymore ... with my friends who I've kind of lost touch with over the years. Try doing that with a graduating senior today, they'll try to find some way to take you to court, LOL!
Nov. 7, 1986 is the birthdate of Jaye Elizabeth Herrod, Alabama's current Junior Miss. Information about her appeared on the front page of last Monday's Mobile Register, alongside an article about Natalee Holloway. You may have gotten the two articles confused.
I too have been shocked that none of her friends have commented on Natalee's comings and goings during the last day of their trip. Here's a report from the Birmingham Post Herald that's a bit disturbing:
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.
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