Replies

CitizenM, thanks so much for your very thoughtful post. It is all so well put.

I could say the same as you: In the beginning I was very, very ready to jump on all of them. I got on the bandwagon about their lifestyle, Joran's behavior, etc. I might have been too hasty.

In fact, I believe I was the first person to make the Robert Chambers (yuppie murderer) analogy with Joran van der Sloot. I even posted photos of Robert Chambers next to photos of Joran vdS here on FR.

Soon after that, however, I started to think along the lines of what you said so well here: Many have attested that he is not the typical troublemaker, sleezeball, bad student, sports jock, or girl chaser that we originally thought he was. Are his bad qualities too different than many boys at that age? I am not so sure. Did he cross the line, go wild and commit some horrible act? I am not sure of that either.

This especially was brought home to me when I started thinking about one of my own sons, who is very like Joran van der Sloot in many ways: He's tall, smart, a babe-magnet, very "outgoing" (as Joran's mother describes him), clowns around with his friends in photos posted on websites, and likes to stay out late --yet manages to do very very well in a very demanding school.

I also have a pretty, smart, blond, accomplished daughter who won a scholarship to college, and is close to Natalee's age.

So I can easily picture myself in both parents' shoes, and am not attacking one set of parents and defending the other.

But I'm really appalled at the vicious, almost pack-mentality I see here, with posters jumping to conclusions with somehow undeniable "facts," as purveyed by the media we all know we can trust ( /s ) -- and jumping on other posters who dare to disagree.

I wonder if it's occurred to anyone that the investigation might be "STALLED," as someone posted this morning, because the suspects in custody just might, MIGHT, be innocent and know nothing of what ultimately happened to Natalee? And that many of those "facts" accepted as gospel truth here aren't REALLY facts we know to be facts, for sure.

If that scenario is true, then there's very little we can expect to get out of them except perhaps a false confession under pressure. And that wouldn't help anyone, would it.

And you're right that there's very little we here can do to help in this situation, except to pray that Natalee be found safe. And, failing that, that justice be done. To the right person, or persons.

Good posts from both of you..thanks..I too have been changing my initial view of the suspects..here's another scenario..something happened..some level of sexual contact..maybe she was a tad inebriated, maybe they drugged her...she panicked, became hysterical..they drove off in a panic..leaving her there...she became despondent..went into the ocean..under this scenario, the three suspects ironically are at a big disadvantage because of the absence of forensic evidence..and their failure to tell come forward...

BTW, I wouldn't put too much stock onto how they all appear on TV..it's a media circus...I'd look and sound awful if I were under a lot of stress, worrying about my kid, and I had hundreds of people following me around all day and sticking cameras and mikes in my facve..

Everything you said is true and fair, except that these young men lied right off the bat, saying they'd dropped her off at the hotel, that a uniformed security guard was approaching her. They lied from the start. Why? Why not just say, oh, she was a little drunk, but okay, wanted to walk on the beach, so we left her there and went home. The fact that they lied, and that they'd clearly gotten together and planned to say exactly the same story is pretty damning. As for the fact that they haven't caved in at this point, probably more than one lawyer has told them to clam up.