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No signs that case of missing Alabama teen is closer to being solved

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.