Posted on 06/19/2005 10:14:36 PM PDT by stlnative
Doc, you prescribed some good medicine for curing the rose colored glasses syndrome as to Aruba. For a nice and good time at the beaches I suggest a trip to Destin, Florida.
We should keep our money in America, not some alleged tropical island Utopia. I wonder how this would pan out if this shoe were on the other foot?
First, the Dems would say President Bush caused it to happen. Second, the UN, the ACLU, Human Rights Orgs, would be on every TV station demanding justice.
The left wing rent a mob would be out in full force. Ted,"Jabba The Gut" Kennedy would be frothing and pushing for more gun control along with Sarah Brady.
Has anyone noticed not a peep from any other congressman or senator other than Bachus, from Alabama. NSNR
Mark for later
Blurb..Joran doesn't have to have an explanation for anything. I suspect the body will never be found and HE knows it. No body, no crime.
Brigette, your post was chilling. I think you may have nailed it..:(
Psychopaths only think of themselves and or manipulating others. This was my contention all along on joran the moran. NSNR
I don't get why anyone would be suspicious. they were told at 2 pm and were on the ground in Aruba at 10.
The travel agent was told at 2 pm. I can't find any reference as to when the parents were told. According to Riehl, the plane left Birmingham at 4:30, the parents were at the hotel in Aruba by 10 pm and by 12:30 am they had conducted an independent investigation, contacted Aruban police and were in front of the Van der Sloot's home.
private corporate jet of a family or friend is not suspicious at all.
No, the 'jet' isn't suspicious. The speed w/ which the jet was acquired, the trip was organized, flight plans filed, clearances acquired, etc. is a little curious. I'm supposing that the intervention of the congressman? expedited that process.
But that gets us back to some of the vague comments that the congressman made and the possible 'connections' back to the parents/ the business they were in. Could Natalee have been a 'target' abduction?
FWIW, my questions were from what I presume would be the angle that authorities would approach, that is, systematically ruling out suspects.
I saw a report over the weekend from a charter boat captain, saying that if they put her body in the water on the west side of the island, it would never be found because of the currents.
Is there a name out there yet for the man who was murdered in Aruba over the weekend?
Also isn't there another Aruba man missing and does any have his name yet? (something about the found the guys truck but not him yet.)
Someone up the thread mentioned how Freepers will blast senseless rumors into a million pieces. I'd like to go on record as having used my 12-gauge to cyber-blast that one all the way to Mars.
See there..and are we all thinking Scott Peterson tried to pull off? You know, they never did find all of Laci's remains.
The partying I can understand...the 'drinking responsibly' bit...I ain't buying into that. Just a couple of drinks at the end of a vacation & what I would assume to be relatively inexperienced drinkers, would probably be enough to put 3/4's of them under the table.
Oops.."thinking about WHAT Scott Peterson tried to pull off"..(Preview is our best friend..LOL).
Questions = Rumors?? You're making zero sense.
I read that the Arubans thought she had gone for a fling...
That's what I thought, too. In the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens rather often.
Some get tipsy, some get sloppy. She was probably just tipsy. I remember back in HS. I was a sloppy drunk. Many of my friends were tipsy drunks. That carried over into adulthood. I don't drink now. Some of them had to quit too, some of them still drink responsibly.
By JEFFRY SCOTT Cox News Service
Monday, June 20, 2005
ORANJESTAD, ARUBA — On Sunday, the family of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway searched the caves on the southwest corner of this island in Arikok National Park, while in downtown Oranjestad life was slower than usual.
The country's tourism office had cancelled the annual "The Party Goes On Parade" of people dressed in costumes streaming through the streets in a kind of small scale Mardi Gras to attract vacationers in June, the low season for this tropical island in the Caribbean visited by about half a million Americans a year.
It has been a hard week in paradise.
And three weeks into the search for Holloway there are no clear signs the mystery of the missing teen, not seen since the early morning hours of May 30, is about to be solved — nor are Aruba's image woes.
In the past week authorities released the first two suspects arrested in the case, then arrested a fourth Friday. They staged a highly-publicized spectacle of a search of a beach where a local DJ claimed to have found a pair of women's underwear and condoms. They searched the island by helicopter using infrared technology.
On Saturday night — in a scene that seemed to sum up every bizarre aspect of the investigation and press frenzy — TV crews chased Paulus Van Der Sloot, a judge, and the father of one of four detained suspects in the case, Joran Van Der Sloot, 17.
The elder Van Der Sloot was coming out of the downtown Oranjestad police station, where he had been brought for questioning in connection with the case.
Seeing the camera crews, he broke into a sprint and a cameraman for CNN caught up to him as he frantically tried to unlock the door of his Mercedes and drive off.
"Mr. Van Der Sloot!" yelled a CNN cameraman. "Why are you running?"
Government spokesman Rueben Trappenberg said Sunday there are no signs the worldwide publicity, much of it bad, has hurt tourism on Aruba where automobile tags bear the slogan "One Happy Island." But he conceded the furor over Holloway's disappearance has dented Aruba's image as the safest island in the Caribbean.
"I can run you through the list of things we've been misportrayed of, fantastical things, from a high level government cover-up, to drug cartel, to prostitution and slavery," said Trappenberg." We are not Pirates of the Caribbean."
Through the weekend CNN and FOX — each with crews of about 10 — showed few signs of losing interest in the story that continues to spike ratings even though government officials and lawyers offer few comments or details of the investigation.
Camera crews sometime spend hours just waiting outside the courthouse to hoping to get a shot of a suspect leaving, and a what usually turns out to be a no-comment from lawyers and prosecutors.
On Monday, the latest suspect, tour boat disc jockey Steve Croes, 26, is expected to come before a judge who will rule whether prosecutors have enough information to hold him on suspicion of premeditated murder, murder, and kidnapping with fatal consequence.
Those are the same suspicions prosecutors have used to hold three suspects who have been in custody for eleven days: Joran Van Der Sloot, 17, and brother Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18.
The elder Van Der Sloot was called into police headquarters again Sunday for questioning and was released. His wife, Anita Van Der Sloot, said Friday her husband duty's as a lower level judge have been suspended during the the investigation; but that could not be confirmed Sunday through officials.
Island authorities said they are exerting every effort to crack the case, which is why the Oranjestad parade was cancelled Sunday. The parade gave the wrong impression Aruba officials still place promoting tourism as a top priority, said Trappenberg, and it would have put about 300 officers on streets to manage crowds and traffic.
"Those police should be searching or investigating the case instead," said the spokesman.
Resentment of the media's dogged pursuit of the Holloway investigation has angered some. Elvis Weert, a disc jockey on Aruba Radio Top 95, is one of the most vocal opponents of what he sees as disproportionate coverage of an aberrant incident.
He said the American media should scrutinize its own country as thoroughly as it has examined Aruba. "How many children have gone missing in the United States in the last month?" he said. "You don't hear anything about that."
Another radio host, Dick Miller, who, for 16 years has hosted an nightly music and talk program Canal 90 FM and, for a time, served as "Honorary goodwill ambassador to Aruba," said listeners have called saying they are distraught that Holloway is missing and distraught that it has happened in Aruba.
"This is a place of hospitality, not hostility," he said. "Nothing like this ever happens and people just don't know how to cope with it. They are extremely concerned about Natalee and her family, but everybody is affected. People can't sleep. It's terrible."
As FOX and CNN have pushed to scoop each they have both made missteps. At one point a week ago there were reports of a body found, a stain identified as blood in the automobile Natalee Holloway allegedly rode in, and a confession from one of the suspects.
None turned out to be true — but that hasn't slowed pursuit of the story. The tabloid TV show "A Current Affair" plans to air an entire program on Aruba on Monday. The National Enquirer had a reporter on the island all week researching a piece.
Authorities point to the island's crime statistics — one murder and six rapes were recorded on Aruba last year — as an evidence that Holloway's disappearance is out of character for an island renowned as one of the safest places on earth.
As much as the media obsession has distorted perceptions of the island, the authorities reluctance to release information has fueled speculation and disconnect. It's not clear how the latest suspect, Steve Croes, is involved.
The Associated Press reported that Croes might have known one of the suspects, Deepak Kalpoe, through meeting him at an internet café, but the spokeswoman for the prosecutor, Mariaine Croes declined to comment on that.
Croes ex-wife, Jeanet Gei, said Friday she sees no way her ex-husband could be involved in a violent crime. The father of her three-year old son, he doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink, and he is a gentle. "If he stepped on a lizard, he would cry," she said.
Jeffry Scott writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
If the report about her having spent the day snorkeling is true, I'm more inclined to think she was more than tipsy. But the thing about this case is that there is very little that we 'know' we know.
Well we know Croes was called. Did Daddy and Joran take her body to Croes, and then they all went up to the Natural Bridge (shark feeding area).
It is very possible that Croes may not have a car and that they had to pick him up. Croes may know the Natural Bridge area well and they needed his help. I mean if I was out to dump a body in shark feed area and if I wanted to make sure I was putting in the right spot. Maybe Croes was just simply called on the phone to get some information about the shark area.
On a small island like this Croes may be running into the law often and may have worked a deal out with the future judge in the event that Croes may have had to be in front of him in the future for some future run in with the law. Croes may be shady enough to help them out now for a future deal.
Also if they could not just throw over a cliff into the water by the shark area they may have needed Croes's water (and shark) experience as well as his connection to some type of boat.
On another note... she simply may have been dumped into a cistern or is buried under a bunch of stones and they just have not found her yet. I am still trying to figure out if they use cisterns on the island, chances are they do in rural locations on the island.
Just tuning in ...
Thanks for the new thread.
Any big news?
Brigette, I have a map of Aruba, and am looking at it trying to find the shark feeding area (Natural Bridge). Where in the island is it located?
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