Replies

The following was posted by Alana's (Dash's mother) on the Aruba Bulletin site on June 4th.

Re: HELP - POLICE?! how to contact?!

About the questions and comments about the roommates... I didn't realize my daughter had some specific information. One of the roommates was in fact with my daughter and several others sitting outside by the pool ALL NIGHT, or rather, after 1:30 a.m. They finally went up to bed around 5 a.m. My daughter returned to an empty room -- none of her own 3 roommates had gotten back, either. So it really wouldn't have been thought at all odd that Natalee wasn't in her room.

That roommate is now in such a terrible state... Well you can imagine. She's one of the girls in the hugging photo being published.

I didn't know this because every time I talk about this to my daughter, she winces. I can tell the situation causes her physical pain. She has not wanted to discuss it -- just has been so terribly depressed.

Another thing... I had just mentioned to my daughter about search of the water. And about the theory I'd read on the boards that she might have gone out on the pier by the hotel -- maybe relishing the scenery on their last night, you know -- and, having been drinking, might have fallen in. Or gone for a last swim. Neither of us had thought about that possibility before. The thought is so painful.

And then she mentioned to me that as they were all sitting by the pool, one of them noticed one of their other friends swimming in the ocean alone with a Dutch boy she'd been talking with earlier. A boy she couldn't have known very well, obviously. And they hollered at her to come back in -- bantered back and forth, half-kidding, half-not, until the girl came back to the hotel. She laughed with them about it the next day. That was about 2:00 a.m. This girl, btw, is also a conservative honor student, and this was extremely out of character for her, too.

So that, sadly, kind of does give some validity to the idea that Natalee might have done similarly.

On the other hand, if she was in the ocean within sight of the pool, this same group of kids would have seen or heard something.

Arbeej