Boy's father also arrested as suspect in Aruba case
BREAKING NEWS NBC News and news services
Updated: 6:08 p.m. ET June 23, 2005ORANJESTAD, Aruba - The mother of the Dutch teen being detained in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama high school graduate said Thursday that her son changed the story he initially gave police and now admits to being alone with Natalee Holloway on a beach. Anita van der Sloot made the disclosure hours after her husband also was arrested on "suspicion that he was involved in the disappearance" of Holloway, authorities said.
Joran van der Sloot, 17, and friends Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, were arrested 10 days after Holloway disappeared. They first told police that they dropped off Holloway at the Holiday Inn where she was staying.
But Joran's mother, Anita van der Sloot, told The Associated Press on Thursday that her son now says the story is not true, that he and Holloway, 18, were in fact alone together on the beach. But he insisted that he left her there and that she was OK when he left, van der Sloot said.
"He says, 'Mom, I dropped the girl at the beach. I walked with her. I left her there because she wanted to stay there. I left and I don't know what happened. There my statement ends.'"
Earlier Thursday, Joran's father, Paul van der Sloot, a Dutch attorney who was training to be a judge on the island, was taken into custody as a fifth suspect in the 3-week-old case, authorities said.
His wife called the AP to report the arrest as police picked him up at their home. "My husband was just picked up by police," Anita van der Sloot said. "I don't know what to think."
Anita van der Sloot insisted her husband had done nothing wrong and said Aruban authorities had arrested him because they were under pressure from the U.S. government and the news media to produce results.
"My husband is a man of integrity who has been working in the justice system 15 years and was taken without evidence," Anita van der Sloot said. "How can this happen? This is not about Natalee anymore. It's about enormous pressure from the states and the media."
Authorities did not immediately respond to van der Sloot's allegation.
Mariaine Croes, a police spokesperson, told MSNBC that Paul van der Sloot would be held for at least six hours while prosecutors question him about the case. After that time, Croes said, the chief prosecutor will decide whether to hold him for up to 48 hours, as is allowed in Aruba, which is a Dutch protectorate. No further details were available.
Paul van der Sloot had earlier been barred from seeing his son, Joran, because police fear it could harm the investigation. He was also interrogated by police for seven hours over Saturday and Sunday.
Son: ‘I don't know anything’
Earlier Thursday, the Dutch teen's mother told NBC News on Thursday that she's convinced her son is telling the truth when he says he knows nothing about her disappearance.
She said at that time that she believed her son was innocent and that he was receiving unfavorable treatment in jail.
"My son didn't do anything," she said. "I don't understand what is happening" with the case.
In an interview following her husband's arrest, Anita van der Sloot said her son has insisted to her that he and his friends dropped Holloway off at her hotel.
She quoted the 17-year-old him as saying, "Mom, we went to the beach with that girl and then dropped her off."
She also said Joran can't remember many of the details that police have been asking him.
She said she had spoken to her son several times in jail and that he was going through "mental torture." She said he is often interrogated for more than 10 hours a day, and she also accused authorities of turning up the air conditioning to high levels to increase the pressure on him.
"If there was anything he did wrong he would be broken by now," she said.
She said her son is well-grounded and had plans to study law in the United States. "Why would a boy who has friends, who has a normal life going on ... do something to a girl he just met?" Anita van der Sloot asked. "For me that's just unacceptable, it's unbelievable."
She said authorities sometimes denied her access to her son, including as recently as Wednesday.
"I feel like Joran is being treated differently than other people and I don't know why," she said. "And I feel a very heavy anger."
Holloway vanished on May 30. Police say Joran van der Sloot met Holloway at a casino two days earlier. They say the three young men originally testified that they took her from a popular restaurant to a beach, where the Dutch boy and Holloway were kissing in the back of the car, then dropped her at the Holiday Inn where she was staying around 2 a.m.
Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, has insisted that the three know what happened to her daughter and that police should press them harder to tell the truth. She has asked why the three were initially released after only a couple of hours of questioning, and arrested more than a week later.
At one point before the Dutch teen's arrest, Beth Holloway Twitty confronted him in front of his home and said the teen was arrogant, saying "What do you want me to do about it?"
Anita van der Sloot said he was "under pressure at that moment." He's tall and self-confident, she added, but "he doesn't have an arrogant attitude."
Anita van der Sloot told Fox News on Wednesday that her son has been interrogated for sometimes hours at a time, with authorities “calling him psychopath, murderer.”
Girl’s dad ‘optimistic’
Holloway’s father, meanwhile, said Wednesday he was confident that the investigation into her disappearance was close to being resolved. But dozens of searches by officials and volunteers have failed to turn up any trace.
His daughter disappeared on the last day of a five-day trip to celebrate her high school graduation with other students. Her passport and packed bags were found in her room.
“I’m optimistic,” Dave Holloway told Associated Press Television News. “The FBI indicated to me that the (Aruban) police are very adequate and doing a good job.”
Anita van der Sloot said she sympathized with the anguish of Holloway's family.
"The Holloway family needs all the help it can get," she said. "They are desperate and I understand that."
Dave Holloway said he also believed the three young men held the key to his daughter’s disappearance. “These three guys cannot commit a perfect crime,” he said.
A fourth man detained in the case, 26-year-old party boat disc jockey Steve Gregory Croes, said he knew one of the two Surinamese brothers arrested with Joran van der Sloot from an Internet cafe, his boss, Marcus Wiggins, has said. Wiggins’ boat, the Tattoo, docks near the Holiday Inn.
Anita van der Sloot said that the intense local and international coverage of the case has been trying for her family. She said the news media are "trying to trap us."
"We are not clever people," she said. "We are just normal people trying to live our lives. ... It's incredible what's happening in Aruba. This is not the Aruba I know or love."
Yes, your family has proved you aren't.
Aruba Police Arrest Father of Dutch Teen
By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Aruban police arrested the father of a young Dutch teen already in custody in connection with the disappearance of a young Alabama woman, and said Thursday that he was considered a suspect in the 3-week-old case.
The teen's mother, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that her son had changed his story, admitting to her that he was alone with 18-year-old Natalee Holloway on a beach the night she vanished _and that he left her there, not at a Holiday Inn as he earlier stated. But Joran van der Sloot, 17, insisted that he did not hurt her, Anita van der Sloot said.
Paul van der Sloot, 52, a justice official on this Dutch Caribbean island, was arrested Thursday shortly after he and his wife left the San Nicolas prison where Joran is being held, Anita van der Sloot told the AP.
Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said she was pleased with the development.
"We are very pleased that the investigation is progressing," she said. "We feel like this will lead to more information to give us the answers we need for finding Natalee."
But Anita van der Sloot insisted her husband had done nothing wrong and said Aruban authorities arrested him because they were under pressure.
"My husband is a man of integrity who has been working in the justice system 15 years and was taken without evidence," she said, describing him as "the most honest, beautiful man."
"How can this happen? This is not about Natalee anymore. It's about enormous pressure from the (United) States and the media," she said.
Authorities did not immediately respond to van der Sloot's allegation.
The elder van der Sloot "is a suspect in the disappearance" of Holloway, said Mariaine Croes, spokeswoman for the Aruban Attorney General's office.
Authorities have described all five men currently in custody as "suspects." But it was not clear if each was suspected in the woman's disappearance or if some were suspected only of a lesser crime in connection with the case, such as withholding evidence.
Contacted by the AP hours before his arrest, Paul van der Sloot declined to comment on the case.
While Anita van der Sloot had been allowed to visit her son occasionally at the San Nicolas prison, authorities denied similar access to Paul van der Sloot, saying they believed contact between the two could damage the investigation.
Anita van der Sloot said she and her husband received a call from neighbors saying police were waiting for them at their home in Noord, northwest of the capital, Oranjestad. She then called Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten, who asked them to come to the police station. When they arrived, authorities "took my husband into custody as a suspect," Anita van der Sloot said, adding, "I don't know what to think."
Repeated searches of the island have produced no trace of Holloway, who vanished in the early hours of May 30, the last day of a high school graduation trip with 124 other students. Her passport and packed suitcase were found in her hotel room.
Joran van der Sloot has been in custody since June 9, along with two Surinamese brothers, Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, in connection with Holloway's disappearance. Authorities also have arrested a 26-year-old party boat disc jockey, Steve Gregory Croes.
Police say Joran met Holloway at a casino two days before her disappearance. He and the Kalpoe brothers told authorities they took her from a popular restaurant to a beach, where Joran and Holloway were kissing in the back of the car, then dropped Natalee at the Holiday Inn about 2 a.m.
But Anita van der Sloot said Joran has since changed his story, telling her that he was alone with Natalee on a beach.
"He says, 'Mom, I dropped the girl at the beach. I walked with her. I left her there because she wanted to stay there. I left and I don't know what happened. There my statement ends,'" Anita van der Sloot said.
Anita van der Sloot didn't say which beach.
When asked if Joran had changed his initial story, she replied, "Joran changed his story only one time. I think he was scared because he sneaked out of the house that evening. I think he was scared and wanted to cover other people too. He changed his story once and added details."