| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 07/28/2005 8:08:53 AM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Locked for new thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1452328/posts?page=1 |
Posted on 07/25/2005 7:17:04 AM PDT by TexKat
Natalee Holloway and friends in Aruba 5/30/05
Other hiding places like covered pools or hot tubs?
19 Montana is the VDS address.
Oh! We must never jump to conclusions. </sarcasm>
Here's a reminder:
A myriad of other things could have occurred. A number of other people could have been involved. Or none, and Natalee could be somewhere she wants to be. But in the more likely case that she was abducted, all the focus on a few suspects just might have given the real “perp/s” the opportunity to escape with Natalee somewhere far from the eye of the police and public.
Or, worse yet, all the focus on this might have caused a worse ending to Natalee if abducted, than might have happened if the constant media spotlight and circus of anger had been less focused on just one target. It just might have made her “too hot” to keep hidden or even delivered to another location where she might have had the chance to escape or be seen by others, or just have made it easier for another to leave with her undetected.
Yes, I am an advocate of media enlightenment and attention in such cases. It is through their efforts and The Amber Alert system (the best tool that has been introduced in ages) that many have been found. But, there also comes a point when, if the media is focusing in only one direction, that it gives opportunities for other things to occur, out of that spotlight.
We should never be so narrowly focused. We should never be led by suppositions and “gut feelings” of a few, even family members who have been so devastated and are suffering beyond the average person’s comprehension. The media should, as they have often done so well before, remain objective and question outside the arena of attention and “popular” theory.
589 posted on 07/08/2005 6:17:14 AM EDT by CitizenM ("An excuse is worse than an lie, because an excuse is a lie hidden." Pope John Paul, II)
[ Post
thank you palladin - my guess is the poster is catching up and they will see that the address has been posted since this whole thing was brought up today.
I have to leave for a little while but I will be back later in and out to check up on thread posts.
Yup! But they're gone from there now. Anyone know their new location?
Personally, I think PVDS should have a permanent address at the Big Prison on the island.
See you later. Keep up the good work, and the reports.
PVDS' name, address and telephone number are listed in the Aruba "white pages" link at the beginning of the first few Discussion Threads.
Rumor is the VDS's are staying with the Warden of the Aruba Prison. Now off I go...
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Breaking news tonight from Aruba.
Right now, investigators are draining a lake in the area where Natalee went missing eight weeks ago. You are looking at a shot right now. This is an area that has been of great interest, great intrigue, not only to investigators down there, but to the FBI and all officials involved in the case tonight.
Of course, night has fallen in Aruba, on that tiny island off the Venezuelan coast, but, tonight, they are draining a lake of interest, and we are going to get you up to date with all the latest and what‘s going on down there and why.
Again, you are looking at authorities in Aruba right now furiously investigating a new lead tonight. Could it be the break in the Holloway case that changes everything? We are going to be having live reports throughout the hour.
Plus, an MSNBC exclusive, the private investigator who has made a cold case turn very hot. What did his witness see that night that Natalee disappeared?
SCARBOROUGH: Good evening. We have got breaking news out of Aruba.
We are there live.
Also, a SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY exclusive, a shocking photo that was taken by a passenger on the same cruise as the missing American newlywed George Smith IV. Look at this picture. Many believe it could break this case wide open. We are going to take you inside the investigation and talk to somebody who is a family member who actually took that shot.
But first, as we say, major news tonight, breaking news tonight out of Aruba, a new witness who says he saw the suspects at 3:00 a.m. on the night Natalee Holloway disappeared also leads private investigators to a flooded marsh near the hotel where she was last seen with Joran van der Sloot. Now, we are going to have an exclusive interview with him.
And for the latest on all the activity unfolding tonight in Aruba as we speak, let‘s go live down to Aruba and NBC‘s Michelle Kosinski.
Michelle, this investigation keeps heating up by the day. Tell us what‘s going on behind you tonight.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the most activity we have seen in a long time on this island.
We saw this develop all of a sudden earlier this afternoon. Here it is still going on. Fire crews and investigators are out here draining this field, not far from the Marriott Hotel, where the Kalpoe brothers say they dropped Natalee Holloway and Joran van der Sloot off the morning she disappeared. You saw that drainage area. That‘s where they are pumping the water to.
This is a place where water has collected after the last storm blew through here. Why are they draining this field? Well, it‘s all based on that new witness‘ statement. He claims early the morning that Natalee vanished, he was out here cutting through this desolate field on a dirt road to get to a friend‘s house. He said he spots the Kalpoe brothers and Joran van der Sloot parked in a car on the same dirt road.
This would be after the time the Kalpoe brothers said they had already returned home that night. We saw fire crews installing these enormous pumps. They started early today, and they are expecting this to take them well into tomorrow afternoon, if not evening.
SCARBOROUGH: Michelle, this is remarkable information, developing information. I know everybody tonight that‘s watching your report down there in Aruba have to be asking the same question. If this gardener saw these—these three young men in this area near where Natalee disappeared, why is it that it‘s taken eight weeks to come forward to authorities and tell them this side of the story?
KOSINSKI: That‘s a good question. But it‘s interesting. This new witness did not come forward on his own. There are two private investigators now on this island who have been hired by the local newspaper. They have been working the streets on this island for the past five to six weeks.
They located this witness, a gardener. They say he was afraid to come forward. He was afraid to talk to anyone. He wasn‘t looking for any kind of reward. They convinced him to tell them his story and to go to police and then tell police his story. And, obviously out here, police have been taking this very seriously.
Remember, this is the same witness statement that sparked that reenactment we saw yesterday involving the FBI and Aruban police. They actually brought the Kalpoe brothers‘ car back out here to this same field yesterday. And, tonight, obviously, they want to get this water out of here. The investigators also told us it took them a month to track down this witness.
SCARBOROUGH: And, of course, tonight, Michelle, also, obviously, this investigation, the draining of this area comes soon after, again, the three new witnesses come forward. You have the DNA evidence last week, where the—the three suspects are forced to go surrender their DNA evidence. You have got the Aruban prime minister coming out, saying that he wants the FBI to be more involved. It seems like there‘s a quickening of this investigation, plus the $1 million reward.
Why do you sense that things have picked up so quickly over the past week? What are people saying on the island? How are authorities reacting? How are—how are the family members reacting, reacting, again, to the quickening of the pace of this investigation?
KOSINSKI: I was able to talk to Natalee‘s mother tonight. She was very excited about these developments. They seemed all to come at the same time, having nothing, we are told, to do with the reward. These witnesses came forward or didn‘t come forward, the case may be, just because of timing, and the way the investigators were able to identify them.
Also, that—that DNA evidence that is being examined, that was hair found on a piece of duct tape that was found apparently by chance, washed up along a cove. So, a number of these things have come together quickly. Also, there‘s a new top investigator on this case. So, some speculate that he is also quickening the pace of things, as far as how extensively we are able to search.
We should also mention that this area has been searched before by dogs and people on foot. But, obviously, they have found reason in this witness‘ statement to search it all over again.
SCARBOROUGH: All right, Michelle, thanks a lot. Stay with us. We are going to be back with you tonight, obviously, keeping everybody up to date with what‘s going on, also having your exclusive interview with that investigator.
But right now, let‘s bring in former FBI agent Danny Coulson.
Danny, I want to show you photos, again, of what‘s going on right now in Aruba. Obviously, they are draining this area. They are draining this lake. I guess what a lot of Americans are saying tonight, as they see these photos, as they hear these latest developments, why did it take eight weeks for them to investigate this area? And is this already a cold case? Is there any way for them to find what they are looking for eight weeks into the investigation?
DANNY COULSON, FORMER FBI AGENT: Sure, there is, Joe.
As a matter of fact, a lot of people don‘t come forward when you think they would or when you hope they would.
SCARBOROUGH: So, this is nothing—I mean, so, you are not shocked tonight, Danny.
COULSON: No.
SCARBOROUGH: You are not shocked tonight that this guy saw these three boys parked in this remote part of the island, and this gardener comes by eight weeks later and says, by the way, I have got information that could break this case wide open?
COULSON: Not really.
SCARBOROUGH: Not surprising to you?
COULSON: Joe, there—there—there is a—there is a tendency among some people want not to want to get involved. And that may be the case here.
He may be a very simple man that doesn‘t want notoriety. He may be frightened. There could be a lot of reasons. But a couple of things come to mind, if I might just point them out to you. The FBI and the local police just did a reenactment. And I am wondering why they didn‘t do the reenactment at night.
The witness saw these subjects in the nighttime. They do a daytime reenactment. It seemed like, if they are going to test his credibility, they would have reenacted in the evening time to see if he‘s that credible. Could he have seen what he said he saw? And his credibility is the most important thing we are dealing with here.
SCARBOROUGH: Now, this new witness comes forward. Obviously, if he is to be believed—and if you look at all the activity going on in Aruba tonight, obviously, authorities are taking him fairly seriously. I guess the question is, if they—if they trust him, if they believe that these brothers may have been out at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, that obviously proves once again they are lying to police.
Is that enough to haul the Kalpoe brothers back into jail?
COULSON: It could be. You have to understand that we may be dealing with charges other than murder or kidnapping. You also have charges that involve obstruction of justice.
If they gave false statements to local authorities that now we know to be false, that they could very well be charged with a variety of violations. One could be lying to a police officer or giving false information, obstructing justice. So, there‘s—there could be grounds to bring them back, sure, put them back in custody now, and let‘s do some more interviews.
SCARBOROUGH: Danny, let‘s get personal. What—what is going on in this case? I mean, it seems to me like we hit a dead end, two, three, four weeks ago. Now there‘s a flurry of activity. You know, the cynic in me says, of course, this is the Aruban authorities that are trying to cover up for past mistakes. You had the Alabama legislature come out last week, and they passed a resolution saying nobody should travel to Aruba.
Are they trying to cover their tracks? Or, again, sometimes, in investigations, all of a sudden, a light switch comes on and you have frantic activity that eventually leads to a case being solved?
COULSON: Well, I think that the government in Aruba now is very embarrassed. Whether or not the police agencies are embarrassed or not remains to be seen.
But all the pressure really has come from the higher-ups in the government that are now forcing the Aruban authorities to now cooperate with the FBI, give the FBI all the transcripts of all the interviews, which they should have given them contemporaneously. They shouldn‘t be doing it now, two months later.
There‘s been no sense of urgency, Joe, in this case. I have worked kidnapping cases a good part of my life, and you get on those things, and you go 100 miles an hour initially, because that‘s the most important part of the case. We even know that the family were the first people to identify and interview the subjects. How did that happen? What—what were the police doing? How did—how did it work out that the family gets way out in front of the police?
So, either they didn‘t take it seriously.
SCARBOROUGH: Yes.
COULSON: And then they got bogged down, and then they refused to help
· I‘m sorry—to take help that the FBI could have provided to them very early—very early on.
SCARBOROUGH: Very early on in the case. And, like you said, that‘s a critical time. You got the mother the first night going down there, says to authorities, I have talked to these people. Their stories don‘t add up. You need to go talk to them. You need to investigate.
COULSON: Absolutely.
SCARBOROUGH: Instead, 10, 11 days later...
COULSON: Absolutely.
SCARBOROUGH: ... that‘s when they haul them in. So much evidence probably destroyed.
Danny, thanks a lot for being with us.
Stay with us, because, obviously...
COULSON: Thank you, Joe. It‘s good to see you.
SCARBOROUGH: Yes. Well, we want you to stick around and talk about another shocking photo. We will be back with you in a little bit.
But, first, let‘s go back to Aruba and NBC‘s Michelle Kosinski, who had an exclusive interview with the man who found this new witness that is causing such a ruckus tonight.
Michelle, tell us all about it.
KOSINSKI: Well, he‘s a former Secret Service agent. And he said that this witness is extremely credible. His story does not change. He seems very certain about details. Here‘s some of what he told us earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ART WOOD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Maybe four weeks ago, I heard that there was—had been a domino game at the prison, where one of the Kalpoe brothers had been told that someone saw him behind the racket club the night that Natalee disappeared, and that he became ashen and white and turned the dominoes over and left the game.
We spent four weeks trying to track the lead down. Eventually, last Friday, we located a gardener, who was working at a residence not far from the racket club. He lives in that area, but he has no air conditioning. About 2:30, between 2:30 and 3:00 in the morning on the night that Natalee disappeared, he left his residence and went across a dirt road to go to a residence where there‘s air conditioning.
He—when he went around the one turn on this dirt road, there was a car blocking his way. He had to slow down to almost a stop to go over a little hill to get past them. When he got to that car, he noticed that Joran van der Sloot was driving, and Joran tried to cover his face. The other passenger in the front seat was one of the Kalpoe brothers, who also put his hands up like this. And the back seat passenger ducked down.
This witness is a simple man that was just trying to get to an air-conditioned apartment at the time. He didn‘t come forward to claim a reward or anything like that. His story doesn‘t change. He is steadfast in what he saw, who he saw, the car he saw and where it happened. We believe that all three, the Kalpoe brothers and Joran van der Sloot, are involved in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
And this witness destroys the timeline of their alibi. There‘s no way they could have been home at—and in bed by 3:00 a.m. if they were in that field behind the racket club at quarter to 3:00.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSINSKI: These private investigators also confirm to us that there is a second witness out there who claims that he saw something happen at the landfill here in Aruba, and that he knows where Natalee Holloway‘s body is placed.
We don‘t know the extent of his credibility, as it‘s perceived by authorities at this point. But we do know EquuSearch volunteers are coming back to the island as soon as possible. They want to use ground-penetrating radar, not only on this area, but they also want to gain access to that landfill.
So, we are going to see extensive searching here in various locations within the next few days—Joe.
SCARBOROUGH: And, obviously, going on now, obviously going to be going on through the night.
Michelle Kosinski, thanks a lot. We greatly appreciate it.
Michelle is going to be standing by for any more developments tonight throughout the hour, as we monitor the search in Aruba.
And, also, we are going to be getting reaction from Natalee‘s aunt live from Aruba.
And also, coming up, we‘ve been on top of this new story since it broke. Tonight, a bombshell, a stunning photo sent to us from a family member whose cabin was close to the missing honeymooner. What does it mean to this case? We are going to have the very latest on that.
And, also, a shark story, an amazing story you are going to have to see to believe. The men who reeled this one in are here to talk about it tonight with new photos.
Stay with us, a big night in SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY. And we‘re just getting started.
SCARBOROUGH: More developments in Aruba coming up next, plus, frightening moments in Florida tonight. Take a look at what happened to a Red Sox pitcher. We are going to have the latest on his condition. It‘s not good. It certainly wasn‘t good there. Hopefully, he is recovering.
And we will get you the very latest in a minute.
SCARBOROUGH: Authorities in Aruba tonight pumping water from a flooded area near a hotel, where Natalee was last seen with Joran, all based on the story of a witness who was there.
You are looking at photos of that video, shots of that right now, a search that‘s been going on this evening. It‘s going to continue through tomorrow. They are going to drain the entire area, again, based on reports of a witness who was there that night, who claims he saw the three young men in this secluded area at 3:00 a.m., which, of course, is much later than when the young men said they dropped her off and went to bed.
Let‘s get the family‘s reaction to tonight‘s latest developments and also more from Natalee‘s aunt, Linda Allison.
Linda, thank you so much for being with us tonight.
Here, we—we are seeing this investigation going on. And, of course, also, we hear now another witness comes forward and says, these boys are lying again. They can‘t get their stories straight. What‘s your reaction? What‘s the family‘s reaction?
LINDA ALLISON, AUNT OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: Well, obviously after I had spoken with two of my media contacts, actually, an NBC cameraperson that I spoke with this evening, just to verify the credibility of this witness.
And he assured me that this is a very credible witness that has come forward, that this person is very sincere in what he has to say. And so, I am taking this very serious, that this witness did actually see these three boys in this area that we are talking about. They were very—he was very specific, the witness was, about explaining about being on this dirt road and how he had to veer off to the left away from their car to try to get around the car.
And, actually, the car almost got stuck on the sand dune. And so, he actually, it sounds like, almost had to stop to try to get his car off the sand dune to get around their vehicle. So, it wasn‘t like he was passing by so quickly that he would not be able to identify these three, but apparently drove very close to the car and very slowly to see these three. So, I am hoping that this is, again, going to be another piece of information that we have that‘s going to put more of a timetable together, and, again, show that these three suspects are lying again.
SCARBOROUGH: Lying once again. They have been caught in so many lies, despite the fact Aruban authorities, of course, as we all know, gave them 10 days to be out of jail after Natalee disappeared to get their stories straight, been caught in three, four, five, six different lies. Now a new witness comes forward.
And the amount of detail that you are telling me right now that this witness gave to authorities really is remarkable. And it sounds like it could break the case wide open.
But you are doing something to try to help break the case wide open, too. You have set up a Web site, and you are focusing on Joran van der Sloot‘s past behavior, the possibility of being very aggressive with young women in Aruba. Tell us about that. Tell us what you are doing. And where did you get the idea?
ALLISON: Well, for the five or six weeks that I was there in Aruba, I actually heard on several different occasions that this Joran van der Sloot has been very aggressive with women. Especially, he likes to prey on—on American teens, young women that come to the island.
He seems to be approaching them when he finds out it‘s their last evening that they are there on the island. And what I want to do with this Web site, which is Hope For Natalee, Hope_For_Natalee@Yahoo.com, is to ask any young lady that is out here that hears this tonight that is either from Aruba or from any other country that has visited Aruba and has some type of encounter, whether Joran van der Sloot threatened them in some way or possibly drugged their drink, or even if it was possible rape.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, you just hit on something, Linda, that, of course, we have all been hearing about for some time. You have been down in Aruba, obviously, about as close to this investigation as you can be, as a family member.
Have you heard of reports, that Joran van der Sloot, as we have been hearing, has a possible history of approaching American women, putting drugs in their drink, and then taking them away from the bar?
ALLISON: I have heard that. And I heard several different instances where that‘s happened. And, of course, someone out there may have information that they have been too embarrassed to even discuss in the past, that maybe they would step forward and respond to that e-mail address or possibly even, if they wanted to call one of those numbers that‘s on that reward poster, just to give their story, anything that would help us to kind of give a pattern.
If Joran van der Sloot is capable of doing this with other girls, maybe this is something that he did the night that Natalee disappeared.
SCARBOROUGH: And again, we just have to say this. We are just saying maybe, again. There‘s been talk of this from almost the very beginning, but no hard evidence yet. That‘s why you are setting up the Web site, to see if there is evidence out there of young women going down to Aruba, being drugged, as you said, on the very last night.
Can you tell us, Linda, very quickly about Natalee‘s last night? Because we have heard conflicting evidence about what went on that night in the bar. We have heard from one source that, actually, Natalee was approached several times by Joran van der Sloot, and actually pushed him away twice earlier in the evening, before she disappeared. Can you either confirm or deny that tonight?
ALLISON: Actually, I haven‘t spoken to any of the other Birmingham teens. I did speak with Beth and Jug and also with one of my contacts in Birmingham.
And Natalee was introduced to Joran at a casino at the Holiday Inn that evening just in passing and did not have any type of long conversation with him. And then he showed up at Carlos ‘n Charlie‘s later that night.
And one of the concerns that I have is that he possibly could have put a drug in her drink. We also speculate that, as they were leaving this area, that she may have been under the impression that she was sharing a taxicab with him.
SCARBOROUGH: Yes.
ALLISON: That there was some speculation that he was just a visiting a visitor there on the island also and may have posed as someone that was also staying at the Holiday Inn. So, how innocent would it be to think that she is sharing a taxicab with someone and not really know that she is getting in a car where Deepak possibly was the driver?
SCARBOROUGH: Yes, obviously a lot of questions still up in the air.
Linda, thanks for being with us.
ALLISON: Thank you.
They're really gone from that house?
For sure?
Maybe afraid Greta will come a knockin'
again? LOL
Oops... At the Warden's home as a Guest. (you know what I meant)
Interesting -- 12 or 13 houses. I wonder if that corresponds to the 13 bank accts that PvdS is said to have, which have "staggering" amounts of $$ in them.
Maybe it's set up that way to make book-keeping easier on the rental properties.
Good way to launder drug money?
yep, the time if off. But I think we are all assuming those calls were from Nat, may not have been.
Maybe they got tired of the monkey (on their back)?
LOL!
You never know. Something's fishy though.
Did anyone just hear on msnbc about the male DNA found on N's toothbrush in her hotel room?
First I had heard.
I wouldn't be surprised if his wife's family had money, she looks more like Ms Dikeland than Ms Aruba...jmho
Yes, but if all else fails, the REALLY BIG DEALS are yet to be cut. I lived on Aruba for a time 30+ yrs. ago and I was hesitant to say anything about how their laws work for "insiders" because I thought they had perhaps changed since then. (At least some of them have changed because they apparently no longer have one set of laws for Arubans, and another set for residents of European descent.) Anyway, someone on FR posted this link to a blog that a blogger wrote who has done some investigation of present Aruban law. Go to this link and scroll down to 2nd article titled "Dutch Law for Dummies" dated 7/2/05. This describes what I remember of the Aruban practice of Dutch law - who do you know and how much you have to pay to make it go away. I think PVDS will try everything first, but if Joran is charged, this will be the ULTIMATE DEAL in the case.
http://www.misfitting.com/archives/cat_natalee_holloway.html
Fluffy Monkey posted
OMG
MSNBC reporter just said the reason for the DNA from the three guys is that they found male DNA on Natalee's tooth brush !!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.