What I read was that a DEA agent met with the chaperone who had stayed in Aruba with Nat's stuff when she did not arrive for the plane the morning they left. When the DEA agent talked with her, he found out the beach patrol who had been notified had not filed a report. This was later afternoon, somehow the time 8 pm sticks with me, before the Holloways got there. Then he told the chaperone who to contact. The Holloways arrived later, around 10, and did their own sleuthing. During the day, the chaperone had called the kids back in Atlanta to find out what they knew.
My guess is the beach patrol just sort of took the report, thought everyone was overreacting and sat on it. I suspect they get reports alot. This is a gambling island, people miss planes. In fact in the US if you file a report like this, the cops do nothing for a couple of days even if a kid is 14,,assume it is a runaway.
I would think a runaway is exactly when the cops should be doing something. Especially a minor. I was thinking yesterday that they rally need to re-evaluate who they deal with thes types of cases, because valuable time is lost, when they could have been looking for an abductor, or a murderer, etc.
Better to err on the side of caution. Investigate, if its nothing fine, if its something, get cracking. I wonder how many people have lost their lives because of delayed investigation and how many cases are unsolved because of lost evidence?
foxnews.com has an article posted this morning about Natalie's parents hiring their own investigative firm to search the island. In addition, they've hired an Aruba attorney and are going to court to sue for all the "evidence" that the police have.