Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mountain Brook girl disappears during senior trip to Aruba
AP via AL.com ^ | 6/1/2005 | AP

Posted on 06/02/2005 8:02:49 AM PDT by SamFromLivingston

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — FBI and Aruban officials said Wednesday that they had flew clues to the whereabouts of a Mountain Brook High School graduate who disappeared during a senior trip to the island.

FBI officials in the Caribbean were coordinating with Aruban police and Dutch authorities, who oversee Aruba, to search for Natalee Holloway, 18, The Birmingham News reported.

Holloway joined about 125 graduating seniors and adults on the five-day trip, which is an annual tradition not sponsored by the school. Other students said she never showed up for the group's return flight Monday.

"We went to check in for our airplane, and she wasn't there, and she's been missing since then," said Jay Weinacker, a member of Holloway's graduating class.

Holloway's parents, David Holloway, of Meridian, Miss., and Beth Holloway Twitty of Mountain Brook, and several family members traveled to Aruba to aid the search, said Robin Holloway, the girl's stepmother.

"It is torture," Robin Holloway said. "It is just agony."

Aruban police said Wednesday that they had questioned and released three local men who said they dropped the teenager off at her hotel late Sunday night. Officials said the girl's parents were unable to spot her on a hotel surveillance tape.

Officials said there were few leads on Natalee's whereabouts.

After hearing of her disappearance, Robin Holloway said her husband felt compelled to search for his daughter.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing," she said. "We don't know if she is still in Aruba ... or she's been kidnapped. We just don't know anything."

Officials at Mountain Brook Community Church said more than 150 people participated Tuesday in a prayer service for Holloway.

"Word just kind of got out, and parents and students just really wanted to get together and have a little prayer service for the whole situation," said Troy Gambrell, an associate in the youth ministry.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Alabama
KEYWORDS: aruba; casaloma; missing; nataleeholloway
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 181-200201-220221-240241-247 next last
To: 2banana
Your experience seems different than 99.99% of those visiting there...

maybe you don't get to see other countries, that much, or just look for the bad parts...

I have walked the streets, paved, and dirt, visited with many of the people, and have eaten in their homes...

I just think it's waaaaaay tooooooo hot!

201 posted on 06/03/2005 6:52:47 AM PDT by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: Quilla; Tax-chick

I suspect that Natalee, despondent thanks to years of teasing over the trendy and no doubt intentional misspelling of her given name, was so depressed that she forgot she could now legally correct it, and took her own life.


202 posted on 06/03/2005 7:06:23 AM PDT by Xenalyte (It's a Zen thing, you know, like how many babies fit in a tire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 157 | View Replies]

To: all4one

138 teens and 7 chaperones? That's one adult for every 19 kids. Totally unacceptable.


203 posted on 06/03/2005 7:09:33 AM PDT by Xenalyte (It's a Zen thing, you know, like how many babies fit in a tire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 199 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte

:-). Not a bad point.

Life for affluent suburban teens can be pretty deadening. Maybe she decided to try something different, and will turn up sadder but wiser, OR phone her family and tell them she's not coming back.


204 posted on 06/03/2005 7:16:30 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Wielder of the Dread Words of Power, "Bless your heart, honey!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 202 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte

I hadn't done the math on that, but it supports my point from yesterday, that it was understood by all that the kids were going to be running wild, if they chose.


205 posted on 06/03/2005 7:18:47 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Wielder of the Dread Words of Power, "Bless your heart, honey!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 203 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick
...it was understood by all that the kids were going to be running wild, if they chose.

Yep. And she's either still running...or she ran into serious trouble already.

206 posted on 06/03/2005 7:26:02 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 205 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte
I would think that the chaperones would at least do a head count each night to make sure that all of the students had returned to the hotel.

What about the friends she was staying with....didn't they at least have the sense to stay together in pairs! Back in college we always made sure that we always went out together....and came HOME with everyone together....we never let any of our friends leave with someone they didn't know by themselves. Just a matter of friendship and common sense.

If this girl was not drinking, there could be the possiblity that someone spiked her drink with some type of drug.

207 posted on 06/03/2005 7:51:41 AM PDT by all4one (www.missingkids.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 203 | View Replies]

To: all4one

I was just about to post what you mentioned.

Someone could have put GHB in her drink at that club.

It happens in the US, it could happen anywhere. Poor kid.


208 posted on 06/03/2005 7:58:29 AM PDT by texasbluebell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 207 | View Replies]

To: Hilltop

"It's just a matter of zeros."

I like that. Consider it stolen.


209 posted on 06/03/2005 8:07:35 AM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 177 | View Replies]

To: texasbluebell

From msnbc:

One of the 3 men in question was befriended by Natalee earlier, he is Dutch, his father is a lawyer who is representing the 3.


210 posted on 06/03/2005 8:11:21 AM PDT by texasbluebell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 208 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte
Here's what MSNBC says about the demographics: 124 seniors and 40 chaperones from Mountain Brook High School

One adult for every three students. Do you find that as unlikely as I do? And if those 40 adults really were in Aruba, what were they doing while the teenagers were at nightclubs until 1 a.m.?

211 posted on 06/03/2005 8:27:35 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Wielder of the Dread Words of Power, "Bless your heart, honey!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 203 | View Replies]

To: Broker

I travelled in Europe alone a couple of times when young. Good thing to know the language(s). I was followed twice. Also good to always look at crosswalks. Someone saved my life that way.


212 posted on 06/03/2005 9:19:39 AM PDT by combat_boots (Dug in and not budging an inch. NOT to be schiavoed, greered, or felosed as a patient)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 139 | View Replies]

To: all4one
If this girl was not drinking ...

Does not seem likely to me. This from a Miami Herald article:

Holloway, dressed in the same blue and green striped low-cut blouse and jean miniskirt that she wore at the beach earlier in the day, spent the evening partying ...

She left 10 minutes before the place closed at 1 a.m., said the restaurant's master of ceremonies Jose Hernandez, 38.

The duty manager at the Holiday Inn spoke to Holloway's friends the day she disappeared. They said she was "a nice, friendly girl, who likes to party, and who has a very good relationship with her very loving family," said Brenda James, 42.

Could just be me, but when somebody says to me that someone they know likes to party, I immediately assume that means significant amounts of alcohol and/or drugs are involved.

213 posted on 06/03/2005 9:20:02 AM PDT by KevinB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 207 | View Replies]

To: Bogey78O
I'm glad someone else noticed how utterly odd that seems - did no one know she was out w/ three local guys???? Obviously there is something a bit shady right there....
214 posted on 06/03/2005 9:23:05 AM PDT by Rushgrrl (~brought to you from the illegal-rich state of California~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Paved Paradise

I chaperoned a couple of student trips. Once in Mexico, I had to go yank a pretty young blonde out of a disco at 1:30. I was pissed.

Then in Europe, this idiot 18 year old sandy brown haired girl goes wandering off after saying she wouldn't, and ended up getting stuck at the end of the subways by herself on the 1st day in one of the capitals at 1:30 am. (This must be a witching hour internationally.) Some kind soul stuck her in a taxi, paid for the fare, and sent her back to the hotel, thank God. She was told in no uncertain terms that if she tried anything else, she'd be going home on the next plane. We had no more problems with her.


215 posted on 06/03/2005 9:26:31 AM PDT by combat_boots (Dug in and not budging an inch. NOT to be schiavoed, greered, or felosed as a patient)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 130 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

last time I looked they weren't going there for a PARTY either...yeesh


216 posted on 06/03/2005 9:27:50 AM PDT by Rushgrrl (~brought to you from the illegal-rich state of California~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: combat_boots

And no, before anyone suggests, these were not my daughters.


217 posted on 06/03/2005 9:28:36 AM PDT by combat_boots (Dug in and not budging an inch. NOT to be schiavoed, greered, or felosed as a patient)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 215 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick
The trip has been by taken by Mountain Brook students and chaperones for the last three years. About 138 seniors and seven chaperones took the trip this year.

This from NBC in Birmingham. A bit of a discrepancy in the number of chaperones in these two accounts.

218 posted on 06/03/2005 9:43:00 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 211 | View Replies]

To: PBRSTREETGANG

Yes, I saw that. I find the local station's numbers more believable.


219 posted on 06/03/2005 9:46:16 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Wielder of the Dread Words of Power, "Bless your heart, honey!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 218 | View Replies]

To: PBRSTREETGANG; Tax-chick

Sadly..she's dead...and on an island..it ain't hard to make a body disappear.. There is only ONE way to find out who did this...because some locals do know..but incredible pressure on the whole island by boycotting tourism totally..no American goes there anymore..until the killers are arrested..


220 posted on 06/03/2005 10:00:12 AM PDT by ken5050
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 218 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 181-200201-220221-240241-247 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson