Posted on 09/17/2005 9:57:14 AM PDT by freespirited
OCALA - After spending weeks in Aruba investigating the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a Marion County man says he knows exactly what treachery befell the Alabama teenager, and begins a call for American justice on a national platform today.
Arthur Wood, a retired Secret Service agent living in the SummerGlen community southwest of Ocala, has been on the front line of trying to solve the mystery surrounding Holloway's May 30 disappearance during her high school graduation trip to the tiny southwest Caribbean island.
Acting first as an unpaid consultant for two Aruban newspapers, Wood put 21 years of investigative skill to work in places where Aruban officials didn't - or wouldn't - look, and has related his findings to rapt millions watching network and cable news reports worldwide.
Now back in Marion County after what he calls a "crushing defeat" from alleged cover-ups leading to the release of the three primary suspects - Dutch teenager Joran Van Der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe - Wood plans to quickly write a book about his two-plus months in Aruba that will detail his theory on what happened to Holloway.
But first, he appears with Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, on the nationally-syndicated "Dr. Phil" show scheduled to be broadcast today, a taped spot that Wood hopes will be a "blockbuster" start toward focusing new interest on the case.
"He's going to call for a boycott of Aruba," said Wood of the Dr. Phil segment. "There are some very powerful people in the United States - U.S. senators and others - that want something done about this."
Wood felt the need to do something in June when, after watching news reports on Holloway's disappearance, he e-mailed the owner of the Diario and The Aruba Daily newspapers to offer his services to the publications' staff. As it turned out, the three sons of owner Jossy Mansur all graduated from the same college the former agent did, Wheeling Jesuit College in Wood's native Wheeling, W. Va.
The relationship blossomed as Wood investigated leads he said had been neglected by Aruban authorities. Wood is convinced he has the answers to the mysteries surrounding Holloway's disappearance, and why the guilty parties haven't been brought to justice.
He is certain that Holloway is dead - accidentally dying from a combination of alcohol and a date-rape drug given to her by her abductors - and that her assailants buried her first in a sand dune until the next day, when they dumped her into a deep part of the ocean about a mile off the Aruban shore.
"Finding the body is paramount," he said, adding that he was trying to organize a submarine excursion to the suspected area when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.
"It didn't make much sense to put so much effort into one girl when there were so many people affected by that terrible storm," he said.
Twitty says Wood has become a valued and trusted ally in the search for her daughter. The two met through Mansur and regularly compared notes.
"He has just been awesome," Twitty told the Star-Banner in a recent interview. "I depended on him hugely, and I will be forever grateful for the efforts he put forth this summer."
Neither Wood nor Twitty wanted to reveal many details of the Dr. Phil show. But Twitty is excited about its airing.
"I hope that it shows that new evidence has been presented and needs to be acted upon," she said.
Both agree that Aruban officials haven't conducted a proper investigation.
"The present political system failed Natalie," Twitty said. "I want to keep the focus not on the people of Aruba, but the government. They need to have some accountability for what is happening."
No charges have ever been filed against Van Der Sloot or the Kalpoe brothers, and police and government officials have repeatedly said they are doing all they can in the case.
Wood says he remembers the exact moment he knew he had developed a special relationship with Twitty. The mother, who also spent the better part of the summer in Aruba, had to return to her home in Birmingham to take care of some business.
"She asked me as she was leaving, 'Would you take care of Natalie for me?' " Wood recalled with misty eyes. "It broke my heart."
Wood thinks it is likely he will be asked to return to Aruba at some point. But if not, he will get his side of the story out as soon as he completes his book.
"It's all up here," he said, pointing to his head. "Now I've just to tell it."
Yet another 'Paid' consultant who 'Has it all up here' (In his head) and just can't wait to tell us all - $30.00 please.
I wouldn't shed a tear for them or for Big Daddy........
So, did the Dr. Phil show air on Friday?
If so, I missed it.
Wow, I missed that news. I'll continue to boycott Aruba... although I couldn't afford a trip there even if I wasn't!
Have you guys seen this?
Kinda sounds like we're getting a lot for free
Yes. It aired. There was a polygraph expert who tested the fellow who insists that he saw them burying the body at the landfill. Turns out the guy is a coke addict and the polygraph showed deception. They wrote off his story.
The expert also got Deepak to talk to him (not on the polygraph of course). What a lowlife. He trashed Natalee, then acknowledged that all three of them had sex with her.
Welcome to Aruba. Where we have very little crime because almost nothing is a crime.
The Kalpoe brothers and both Jr and Sr Vandersloot need an all expense paid midnight tour of the everglades where they can feed alligators.
I'm sorry I missed it. Thanks for your summary. I saw Beth on Greta's last night, and she related much of the same. The case was blown from the get go,--- although Beth had it right that first night: JVDS, the brothers and the VanderSloot father. What a monster he is.
You left out one vital word and a rearrangement of words--"where they can feed alligators"="where they can BE alligators feed". But I guess we read that intent into the message, anyway.
vaudine
I can see them wanting to do this, but it would not be the right thing to do.
Bingo!
At the very least, Deepak's admission that all 3 of them had sex with her (whether it was the truth, or only said to be hurftul) - they needed to be detained for that.
I think that, from the beginning, the Dutch government was determined to protect one or two of their favorite sons (Joran and his father), perhaps as a slap in the face to America. They never intended that any one of them would be prosecuted. They just stretched it out to make it seem as if they were doing something. To let 3 main suspects go, after they changed their stories 15 times, is ludicrous. It lets us know that the Dutch government wasn't serious after all.
Why do we have to wait for a book to come out? If he knows why doesn't he do what is right and get it out there? That's like the dem/libs saying they had a plan for Iraq but noone could find out what it was. Sorry, if he knows more and can prove it he should bring it forward and not wait for some book. I'm skeptical.
On the coast of North Carolina, we just invite people to go fishing on the deep blue sea! We like to have good bait!
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