Thursday, June 16, 2005
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In “'The Factor' Investigation" segment tonight, we're trying to get eyewitness reports on the Natalee Holloway case for you, talk to people who were actually involved in that trip. That's proven to be very, very hard to do, because there's pressure on the 130 students who went on the trip and their seven chaperons not to talk. But our persistence paid off.
Joining us now from Birmingham, Alabama, is 18-year-old Edward Kissel, who was at the bar where Natalee was last seen, and 18-year-old Alana Jordan, who was also at Carlos and whatever it was, and was one of the last to see Natalee.
Alana, we'll begin with you. You saw Natalee where, what time and in what condition?
ALAN JORDAN, FRIEND OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: The last time I saw Natalee, we were leaving the club, and a friend of mine went back to the club because we were going to make sure that no one got left because we were leaving at closing. And we ran into her and asked her if she was OK. And she said yes and indicated that she was going back to the hotel with some other Mountain Brook students.
O'REILLY: So you saw her when the club was closing. Was she intoxicated?
JORDAN: She looked OK to me. I asked her if she was all right, and she said she was fine.
O'REILLY: Was there any...
JORDAN: And obviously, if I didn't believe her, then I wouldn't have let her go.
O'REILLY: All right. So she looked OK to you. She didn't look like she was weaving or sick or anything like that? She looked fine?
JORDAN: No.
O'REILLY: Was she with this Van Der Sloot guy?
JORDAN: Yes, she was.
O'REILLY: Did you know this guy, Van Der Sloot? How did she hook up with him?
JORDAN: I never met him before, and that night he didn't talk. He was just walking next to her. But I assumed that it was him. It was a tall guy with dark hair. I never knew his name, though.
O'REILLY: Had you seen her with this guy before, before this night?
JORDAN: No, but he was in our casino a lot.
O'REILLY: All right. So -- but you knew him? You knew his face? You had seen him around?
JORDAN: Yes. Well, I didn't recognize him that night because it was dark, but we had seen him, yes.
O'REILLY: Now, in this bar, everybody was drinking, right? Seventeen, 18-year-old, the whole crew was drinking, right?
JORDAN: Eighteen-year-olds were, because that's the legal drinking age.
O'REILLY: All right. So...
JORDAN: I don't think anyone 17 could get into the club.
O'REILLY: So the last time you saw her was after the club closed you walked out. She was standing there. This Van Der Sloot guy was with her. You asked her if she was OK. She said she was and she'd get home on her own. She'd get back to the hotel on her own. Do I have it?
JORDAN: Well, we just assumed that she was going with -- there was two groups of students, and we assumed that she was going with a group that was in front of us. And we turned the corner to go to another club, me and a couple of my friends, to make sure that no one got left in that club, because we weren't sure if anyone had gone there.
O'REILLY: Were you...
JORDAN: Make sure that no one got left there.
O'REILLY: Were you a close friend of Natalee?
JORDAN: She's pretty much the reason I passed calculus. Yes.
O'REILLY: All right, so you know her very well?
JORDAN: Yes.
O'REILLY: Would you be surprised to hear that she went off with some guy? Would that shock you?
JORDAN: Yes. She's not -- there's been a lot of allegations that she was a less than respectable girl, and that is completely false. That's really why I wanted to come on this show, to just clarify that she's a really good girl, a really smart girl, and that's why this is such a shock to us.
O'REILLY: OK. So she -- that wouldn't ordinarily be her modus operandi, to go in a car with three guys? That wouldn't have happened in your experience?
JORDAN: NO.
O'REILLY: And you know her very well?
JORDAN: I would say so, yes.
O'REILLY: All right. Now, Ed, when was the last time you saw Natalee?
ED KISSEL, FRIEND OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: I think I saw her a little later that night. I had stayed in Carlos 'n Charlie's pretty long, and I saw her dancing with Van Der Sloot later that night.
O'REILLY: Now, did you know Van Der Sloot? Did -- how did you know who he was?
KISSEL: I didn't know him, but I had seen -- he had been around the hotel and the casino with her and with her friends, her closer friends, just hanging out around the hotel for the last few days, two or three days.
O'REILLY: All right. So Natalee obviously knew him, then, was familiar with him. And when you saw him dancing with her, that didn't set off any bells. Was Natalee intoxicated, in your opinion?
KISSEL: I wouldn't say so. We were all having a good time. I'd go so far as to say that, but I wouldn't say intoxicated.
O'REILLY: She was drinking?
KISSEL: Drinking responsibly is what I would say.
O'REILLY: All right.
KISSEL: Along with the rest of us.
O'REILLY: Now, did you see her get into a car with Van Der Sloot and these two other guys?
KISSEL: I did not see her getting in the car. I saw her leaving, looked like with Van Der Sloot. I didn't see her getting in the car. You couldn't really see the road from inside the bar, so that is what I saw.
O'REILLY: But nothing set off any alarm bells for you, Ed? You didn't -- you weren't concerned or anything like that?
KISSEL: No. I wasn't personally concerned about anything. From what I've heard, I heard people talk about him and he sounded like a nice guy. So I didn't think any big deal.
I personally had ridden in the car over there. I made friends with one of the waiters. I'm fluent in Spanish, and you know, I was friends with somebody. And so I was thinking, you know, I rode in a car with somebody, she rides in the car with somebody, no big deal. I didn't think about it.
O'REILLY: OK. Now Alana, this was just one big party down there for the 130 Alabama students, right? It was just like a casual party. But there was no supervision. I mean, you guys could do pretty much what you wanted, right?
JORDAN: There actually was supervision. It wasn't -- they knew that this trip was for -- the chaperons, that is. And they weren't breathing down our necks, but they were looking after us very well. And there's -- that's another thing I wanted to address. A lot of people have said that the chaperons weren't doing their job, but by all means, they definitely were.
O'REILLY: But how could they be if you had -- how could they be, Alana, with all due respect, if Natalee Holloway's disappearance wasn't discovered until the next morning? I mean, Natalee, nobody knew where she was or where she went. I mean, that's not supervision, is it?
JORDAN: Well, the thing is, you have to keep in mind there are 130 of us. Natalee is a pretty popular girl. She's friends with a lot of us. So if she wasn't with one group of friends, it wasn't that no one was looking out for her. It was that everyone was looking out for her, and we all thought she was with another group of friends.
We were all out really late. There was no way the chaperons could have kept up with all of us. I was sitting by the pool until about 5 a.m. And our plane left three hours later.
So I don't blame the chaperons in any way at all. They definitely did their job.
O'REILLY: All right. Well, I appreciate you guys coming in and talking about what is a very painful experience. And good luck in college and thanks again. If there's ever anything else you want to tell us, let us know. OK?
JORDAN: Thank you.
Also - I got the impression at some point hearing her mother speak that when she (the mother) got to Aruba they had talked to kids that were there and knew it was Joran.. tho' maybe I misunderstood.
I think too that the kids are giving conflicting stories... BUT let's face it - they were drinking. Their memory is probably a little foggy..
JMO, I take what these two say with a grain of salt.
I don't know much about the guy, but when Dash is asked if she's a close friend she comes up with her pat answer, "She's pretty much the reason I passed calculus. Yes."
Translation: Not a close friend.
Did she go to Mountain Brook?