[whitedog57]

I still think that Natalee is no where on the island.

1. Joran gambles for big $$$ and loses big. He owes somebody alot of money.
2. He agrees to deliver a blonde teenager to the beach in exchange for canceling the debt. [Note: Joran paid no attention to Natalee at the casino, but only later did he suddenly become interested]
3. Natalee is drugged or intoxicated and goes to the beach with Joran and the Kalpoes.
4. Someone is waiting for her and she is whisked off to a boat to Venezuela, the Middle East or somewhere else as a sex slave.


.

[daybreakcoming]

Your scenario is plausible. Drug kingpins. I have my doubts about her being on the island any longer also. That is why I want the whole place dug up....to prove she is not there But there is still the sea. Laci was dropped into a bay - much more likely to wash up than from the sea.
If the blonde hairs on the duct tape were hers - that could possibly say that she was alive at the point the duct tape was applied. The tape had to have been applied to her mouth around her head in order for those strands to be on the tape.

[wreckedangle]

I still think that Natalee is no where on the island.

1. Joran gambles for big $$$ and loses big. He owes somebody alot of money.
2. He agrees to deliver a blonde teenager to the beach in exchange for canceling the debt. [Note: Joran paid no attention to Natalee at the casino, but only later did he suddenly become interested]
3. Natalee is drugged or intoxicated and goes to the beach with Joran and the Kalpoes.
4. Someone is waiting for her and she is whisked off to a boat to Venezuela, the Middle East or somewhere else as a sex slave.
....

You've been reading too many Grisham novels.

There's no way a 17 year old gets involved with the mob and the international sex trade. He's a poser that gambles, gets drunk, and gets high with daddy's money. He's the guy in locker room that is all talk about his "conquests". He looks the the typical suburban teenager trying to act tough. He's all show and no go.

Having said that, Natalee is probably dead and he probably knows why.