Aruba's Attorney General Karin Janssen speaks to the Associated Press in her office in Oranjestad, Aruba, Friday, July 1, 2005, regarding the case of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
Posted on 07/02/2005 7:18:33 PM PDT by Libloather
Dutch Sending Jets to Find Missing Teen
By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago
Aruba's Attorney General Karin Janssen speaks to the Associated Press in her office in Oranjestad, Aruba, Friday, July 1, 2005, regarding the case of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Holland will send three F-16 warplanes rigged with search equipment to find Natalee Holloway, Aruban authorities said Saturday, as U.S. lawmakers increased pressure on the Aruban government to do more to find the Alabama teenager nearly five weeks since she disappeared.
The three planes, equipped with infrared and sonar-scanning capacity, were expected to arrive Sunday afternoon, said Aruban government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg.
Trapenberg said the planes were being sent after Aruban Justice Minister Rudy Croes requested more help from Holland, the Caribbean island's former colonizer.
"Both the justice minister and the prime minister feel that Holland can help us reach a resolution with this," said Trapenberg.
This week both Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, wrote letters to Aruban Prime Minister Nelson Oduber urging the government to do more and let the FBI play a larger role in the investigation.
"With every passing day, I become increasingly concerned that the current investigation has reached a dead end," Shelby wrote in a letter dated July 1. "It's unfathomable that the Aruban government would not take advantage of the full spectrum of resources, personnel and expertise of the FBI."
Seven FBI agents have had an observatory role on the island since a few days after Holloway disappeared on May 30, but have repeatedly said they don't have jurisdiction to direct the searches or investigation.
Trapenberg said calls for an increased FBI presence don't make sense. "It's fine to have the FBI here, but if you send in more agents are you saying the ones here are not any good?" he said.
The teen's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said the U.S. pressure showed that family members aren't alone in their frustration with the pace of the investigation.
"It has become increasingly difficult to simply wait and see what happens," Holloway Twitty, a 44-year-old speech pathologist, said in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press.
The mother said the family was "graciously pleading" with the FBI and Holland to do more to find her daughter.
"It would be comforting for us if they were more active in this investigation," said Holloway Twitty. "We must demand and expect that Natalee be returned to her country."
Holloway, 18, from Mountain Brook, Ala., disappeared on the last of a five-day graduation trip with 124 classmates.
Island-wide searches — which have included Aruban police, the FBI, Dutch Marines, a rescue group from Texas and thousands of volunteers — have produced nothing.
Three young men have been detained in the disappearance: Dutch teenager Joran van der Sloot and his friends, Surinamese brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18.
Trapenberg said Friday that the three young men have not been formally charged but could be as soon as Monday. Trapenberg has not said what charges could be filed against the three. They were scheduled to go before a judge Monday to learn if their detentions would be extended another 60 days. Under Dutch law that governs Aruba, a protectorate of the Netherlands, detainees can be held 116 days before being charged by a judge.
Trapenberg said Friday that the three young men have not been formally charged but could be as soon as Monday.
The three were the last ones seen with Holloway the night she disappeared. They were arrested June 9 and on Monday were expected to go before a judge who would decide whether to extend their detention an additional 60 days while prosecutors prepare their case.
Maybe its a direct consequence of all that "LEGAL DRUGS" that they have available for all and sundry to buy off the streets.
And of course the MSM is really gonna lap it up saying just how great & technologically advanced these dutch really are!!
...beer...drink...read...SNORT...ouch.ouch.ouch...
Just imagine the earth and her body heat as a certain shade and hue of red, or green, and loose earth of NOT the same density, ergo, warmth - it will show up lighter.
A month old shallow grave is not "recently disturbed ground", and even if it was, they would be checking out every rabbit hole and garden on the island. This is a silly attempt to reassure American tourists that they mean business (no pun intended).
As I said before, a shallow grave will show up on IR for *months*, depending on the soil and amount of rainfall. Sandy soil is the best, IIRC.
DING! DING! DING! DING! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Like the F-18 did at Buckley Field in Denver this week? The only thing the pilot forgot was to use the door.
I worked for GD in the 80's too. I never heard the 16s called Vipers until the mid-90s.
What'll they call this, Operation Landshark?
Yes, and on an IR-heated tropical island to boot.
so basicly they will see the outline of the hole not the body... well that ought to be easy enough to spot with a computer false color image then
A number of bodies have been found in the Nevada desert because of IR. I'd say that's at least as hot as Aruba.
That's why it's rare to hear of someone dumping a body out in the desert there these days (among other reasons).
Actually, that makes sense. The less dense material will heat and cool at a different rate as the surrounding dense material as day and night passes. Add to that an unnatural pattern of loose and compacted soil, e.g. a grave, and you've got yerself a detection system.
Exactly so.
And cool at night (unlike the island). Ever heard the saying "Cool desert nights"? Very little temperature variation between night and day in the tropics. That's what you're relying on.
They're called Trylon Vipers and, apparently, have very big wheels. Is that an 8-track player?
Laughlin, NV.: High 111, low 76.
(Forecasts for today).
The MIA teams are still looking for, and finding, gravesites and crash sites in Vietnam with satellite based IR. I don't think they've gotten airborne IR to that sensitivity level yet, but it's getting close.
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