MSNBC Video - DNA Testing for Aruba suspects
'Scarborough Country' for July 19
SCARBOROUGH: Hey, welcome back to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY.
Again, you are looking at exclusive NBC News video. You have got one of the Kalpoe brothers going into the hospital, being forced to surrender, forced to surrender their DNA by the district attorney of Aruba in a further investigation on this case.
Now, for more for this latest development, let‘s go live to Aruba and get the very latest on the case from NBC‘s Michelle Kosinski.
Michelle, what is the very latest?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Well, NBC News has learned, for the first time in this investigation that has spanned seven weeks now, prosecutors have ordered that the three suspects submit a blood sample for DNA testing to be used in some way in this case.
Prosecutors haven‘t said why, but we expect to find that out soon. They will release their reason for why they want this testing done and why now in this case. So, we see Joran Van Der Sloot once again taken out of jail, led this time not to the beach where he says he left Natalee Holloway the morning she disappeared, but to the hospital to take that blood test.
We also saw the Kalpoe brothers. You are looking at video of Deepak - that‘s who we caught on tape—going to the hospital themselves and submitting of their own will. Remember, they are out of jail at this point, but they are still considered under suspicion. These are the young men who say they dropped off Natalee and Joran that morning on that beach.
We talked to Natalee Holloway‘s mother tonight, and she told us a couple things about this. Remember, at the same time this is going on, there are more FBI agents that flew to the island today. They met with her this afternoon. And FBI agents, as well as Dutch authorities, are now testing a piece of duct tape with hair attached to it. It was found in a remote area of a national park.
So, things are going on in this case, but Beth Holloway tells us it‘s so difficult for her to get her hopes up about any new findings or new developments because her hopes have been dashed so many times in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, MOTHER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: I think back to—we have been doing this, you know, for seven weeks now, and we have had so many—of course, everyone knows—but so many finds and things that we had to rule out or possibly, possibly, you know, sightings of Natalee.
And we just—of course, it‘s always giving you the encouragement that you are that much closer to, all of a sudden, the phone is going to ring and you are going to have the answer. You are going to know who is involved. You‘re going to locate Natalee. I feel like the answer will come—it could come just as quickly as it—as I got that phone call May 30 at 12:00 p.m. that she wasn‘t showing up for her flight. I mean, I feel like it could happen that quickly. And—but I just try to remain, you know, neutral.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSINSKI: Now, so many things seem to be happening at once right now at this moment, but are they connected? That, we will have to wait and see.
Again, we should know very soon, possibly tomorrow, what prosecutors‘ exact legal reason was for having these suspects submit their blood to be tested for DNA—Joe, back to you.
SCARBOROUGH: Do you have a sense—you sat down, obviously—we looked at that tape of Beth Holloway Twitty. Do you get a sense at this point that she believes, that the family believes that the tragedy has occurred, that Natalee has passed away, and now all they want to do is find her body, have closure on this case? Is that really what it‘s come down to now?
KOSINSKI: Well, they do talk about it in those terms, that they think something has happened. They feel, as do investigators, that a crime has been committed.
And they say, you know, when they see searchers looking at the bottoms of lakes and quarries, looking in caves, obviously, they know what those searchers are looking for. But they also say they do hold out some hope that she might be alive somewhere, just because, in all of this time that has passed, there has been no trace of any evidence anywhere on this island that could be positively identified as being connected to Natalee.
So, when we found this duct tape with the hairs on it, we are hearing all about this, yes, that looks like it might be something, but, once again, just because it‘s being tested doesn‘t mean that it will be connected. And it could as well end in frustration for this family.
SCARBOROUGH: All right, Michelle Kosinski, as always, thanks a lot for bringing us your report from Aruba tonight. We really do appreciate it.
Now let‘s bring in a member of Natalee‘s family, her aunt, Marcia Twitty.
You know, Marcia, this has been going on so long. Obviously, I remember the first name talking to you on a cell phone that was breaking up. It just seems like it goes on and on. I will ask you the same question.
I mean, we have got a quickening of evidence streaming in here, obviously, the boys being taken to the hospital, forced to deliver their DNA over to Aruban authorities, yesterday, blonde strands found on duct tape. Is the family now to a point where they believe that the tragedy has occurred, and they just want to find out what happened, and they just want closure on this case?
MARCIA TWITTY, AUNT OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: You know, Joe, we want the truth. We so desperately want the truth, to find out what happened to Natalee.
And I will tell you, you know, our minds will kind of run the gamut. You know, you see all this stuff, but, at the same time, there is no concrete evidence that any of this belongs to Natalee. I mean, we don‘t have a sandal. We don‘t have a bracelet. We don‘t have anything, you know, that points toward Natalee.
So, all of these things just keep getting thrown at us, but yet we really don‘t have the answers.
SCARBOROUGH: What is the family‘s—what is Beth‘s—how are—how is Beth doing? How is Jug doing? I understand, of course, that Natalee‘s father spoke with Joran Van Der Sloot‘s father over the weekend. What is their state of mind right now?
M. TWITTY: You know, they are frustrated. You know, you can only imagine what Jug and Beth and Dave Holloway have been through consistently for seven weeks.
It‘s almost—even as close as I can get to it, it‘s almost unimaginable to what they are going through. You know, they are tired, they are frustrated. They want answers. You know, we just—we have just got to help find some truth for her. We really do.
SCARBOROUGH: No doubt about it.
Final question tonight.
M. TWITTY: Yes.
SCARBOROUGH: And I always ask this of you. What can we do to help?
M. TWITTY: You know, it‘s always keeping Jug and Beth and Dave and the family in everybody‘s thoughts and prayers.
And, again, you know, I keep saying it. And I have said it to you a lot of times. I think it‘s very important that we continue to put pressure on the government in Holland, the Dutch government, to intervene, and to be a part of that—that—what‘s going on in Aruba. We need—they need help down there.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: No doubt. They need to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
M. TWITTY: Yes. Yes.
SCARBOROUGH: And, Marcia, so many of us—now, you all have been so diplomatic about this, but so many of us understand that the Dutch government has been the problem and not the solution, and that‘s why this tragedy has just played out as long as it has.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: So, hey, Marcia, thanks a lot for being with us, a busy night for us, but we greatly appreciate you taking time to come out and tell us how the family is handling this tonight.