Posted on 06/05/2005 5:22:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
SAN NICOLAS, Aruba - Authorities detained two men Sunday in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, who went missing nearly a week ago in Aruba while on a high school trip, the attorney general said. ADVERTISEMENT
Caren Janssen called the men "suspects" in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, 18, but declined to provide further details. The men were not among the three described earlier by police as "persons of interest."
Police officers and three FBI agents, who are playing a supportive role in the investigation, took the two men into custody at two different houses in the southeastern town of San Nicolas, according to an AP photographer at the scene.
Police knocked on the door of one house, put the suspect on the floor and handcuffed him. Officers later detained a second man. They both were led to an unmarked police car and taken away.
Neighbors described the men as security guards who worked at a hotel closed down for renovation near where the 18-year-old blonde was staying at the Holiday Inn. Police and FBI agents searched the hotel Saturday.
I doubt that.
Most of the time, I find it helpful to learn a little bit of the language when traveling to a foreign country. People do tend to be more pleasant if you at least make an attempt to speak their language.
But I had an engineer friend who was assigned to Paris for several months by her company on a project. She said even though she tried to speak the language and be as polite as possible, she still encountered a lot of rudeness and hostility toward her because, she assumed, she was an American. She did say, however, that at some point she traveled to some place outside of Paris -- more of a rural area -- and she said the people were much more friendly. She didn't encounter the same hostility.
I think wherever you go the country is always nicer than the city. I've heard similar about the countryside in France.
If you show complete cluelessness about a place that many people have been to, and then refuse to concede the point, then yes. But if you listen to what people have to say, then no.
Looks like the first encounter on the beach with the three locals was consentual. But the second encounter by her hotel was not.
It looks like she was attacked by the two security guards who drug her into the abandoned hotel before she made it back to her hotel.
Reasons I think your assessment isn't necessarily correct. This girl was on a large senior trip. Aruba is a popular vacation destination where Americans are not typically victims of violent crimes. Natalie's family are evidently educated and possibly well connected enough to pull the right strings to get fast action from authorities. I'm sure the Alabama media helped drive the story as well.
I know if it were my child, I'd move heaven and earth to make my government act. Black, Asian, Hispanic and other minority families can get media and government attention if they go about it the right way.
The one pleasant surprise I had was in Barcelona. Some years ago, I was there as part of a Mediterranean cruise I had taken with my mother. When I heard Barcelona was on the itinerary, I cringed. I had it in my head that Spain was like Mexico, and because of the negative things I had heard about Mexico, I really didn't want to go to Barcelona. Boy, was I wrong. Very lovely city. It had hosted the Olympics about a year or so earlier, and so it had a lot of new structures, the streets had been repaved, and the old buildings had been shined up for the occasion. The place had not fallen into seediness yet. The people were friendly, even when I mangled my Spanish. I haven't been back, but one of these days, I hope to return.
I've got a bad feeling about this one. Clearly she is either dead or in someones possession. I hope that we dont soon get a videotape.
I've got a bad feeling about this one.
***
I do too. You don't like to give up hope, and I suppose a reasonably good outcome is still possible, but it doesn't sound good right now.
*Wink*.... That's a good one and accurate!
I'm sure she told the 3 guys not to drop her off in front of her hotel so her friends wouldn't ridicule her for what she did on the beach with them.
The videotape I'm referring to is the kind that Al Qaeda is fond of making. They are known to be operating in South America now and Aruba is very close to the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia.It is not a stretch to believe that they would go after a " soft target " like this girl.
More likely she's been smuggled to the mainland (So. America) and is being forced into the white slave trade/pornography underworld.
Just on the wire....
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Two men were charged Sunday in connection with the disappearance last week of an Alabama teenager who was visiting the island with classmates to celebrate their high school graduation, Aruba's attorney general said.
Authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island also requested a special diving team from the FBI, said Attorney General Caren Janssen.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=716
The sad reality is, when a beautiful white blond young woman, such as Natalee, is missing or endangered, there is FAR more publicity.
My assessment is probably correct.
I don't care if she's 81. You don't leave your party with 3 total strangers in a strange land. And Aruba isn't the U.S. I'm not saying that the U.S. is exactly crime-free, but it's all about a thing called "common sense".
Of course the 3 men will say it was 'consentual'. That is a typical defense tactic.
Natalee's uncle did say she went to church, and didn't date much, and had a childlike nature. I don't buy it.
FOX News just reports charges against the 2 security guards.
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