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Thanks for the link kcat.

By Chuck Geiss write the author

June 16, 2005

Our plane touched down Friday evening, June 10, on the island of Aruba. As we approached the hotel where Natalee Holloway had stayed during her five-day vacation, yellow and white ribbons were evident everywhere. On June 5 the island had exhausted its supply of yellow ribbons, so white ribbons joined yellow ones on lampposts, street signs, and flagpoles. They were visible reminders of a tragic story that many island locals hoped would disappear.

Naked Birmingham

Since the day after she vanished, a group of closely knit friends had gathered with Natalee Holloway's family in Aruba. Initially, they came to provide emotional support, but soon found themselves acting as the lead detectives in an investigation to find the 18-year-old girl. Within hours of arriving on the island, they were troubled to learn that island police were tentative about beginning any investigation, since missing-person cases require a 24-hour waiting period. Police assured the family that Natalee would show up soon, exclaiming, "Things like this happen all the time, people love the island so much, and they just don't want to go home."

Friends of the family immediately took matters into their own hands; within hours they learned the identity of the three men last seen with Natalee at a local nightclub during the early hours of Monday, May 30. They conducted informal interviews at the home of 17-year-old Joran Van Der Sloot who, in the company of police officials, readily admitted to having been with Natalee on the previous evening before dropping her off at her hotel at 2:30 a.m. Later, it was learned that surveillance tapes from the hotel revealed no such activity. Moreover, friends who waited for Natalee in the lobby until 5 a.m. said she never even arrived at the hotel. Believing that Van Der Sloot was lying, the family and their friends pegged him as the leading suspect a mere 12 hours after Natalee's disappearance.

As flyers were posted around the island, the search for Natalee began in earnest. Efforts concentrated around the hotel and at the lighthouse on the north end of the island, where Van Der Sloot, 18-year old Satish Kalpoe, and his brother, 21-year old Deepak, said they had taken Natalee after leaving a local downtown nightclub. As an avalanche of leads and anonymous tips flowed in, friends of the family mobilized into an investigative task force armed with cell phones, two-way radios, and a fleet of rental cars. Psychics, prevalent on the island, began demanding the attention of the family. Each told family associates that "she is in a dark place, and near water." One claimed that Natalee's soul was sitting next to her. "Ask her what the name of her dog is," a family associate asked. "She is crying," she told him, "she is too upset to talk." During that early period of the family's investigation, attempts to get the police involved were unsuccessful. According to a friend of the family, the Police Commissioner actually suggested that they go to Carlos & Charlie's (the bar Natalee disappeared from) on Wednesday night. "It is Ladies Night," he said, "and I am sure she will be there."

As the search became more desperate and the tips became more bizarre, missions into the island's darkest barrios, including the red-light district and assorted crack houses, were orchestrated. The editor of the island newspaper informed the family that a group of drug dealers were holding Natalee for a $10,000 ransom (an odd amount considering that the posted reward was in excess of $50,000). A late-night rendezvous between the drug dealers and family friends was arranged, and after a wild series of events an American girl was rescued by the police, who called to report that "they are 98-percent sure they have Natalee." The family raced to the police station only to discover that the female in custody had dark hair, brown eyes, weighed about 130 pounds, and looked to be about 45 years old. Natalee had blonde hair, blue eyes, weighed 110 pounds, and was 18 years old. That was the first of many letdowns and false leads.

On Day 5, police arrested two security guards, leaving the family perplexed as to why the investigation had not yet led to the persons last seen with Natalee: Joran Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers. From all accounts, the three have bad reputations. Joran Van Der Sloot is a son of privilege; his father has been appointed to a judgeship on the island and rumors swirled that he was using his influence to impede the investigation. There were varying descriptions of Joran, ranging from model student athlete to casino playboy (he met Natalee in a casino). He is tall, handsome, and looks older than his age. His friends, Satish and Deepak, also sons of wealth and privilege, were described to me by a local islander "as bad men who mistreat women." One scenario has the trio involved in a seedy scam that involves meeting attractive female tourists, learning the date of their departure, and taking advantage of them on their final night in town.

The family was informed, however, that paying $1,000 to a certain official might make him work harder to find Natalee. Friends of the family concluded about that official that "no sum of money could make him smart enough to help us." Finally, a team of FBI agents arrived in Aruba. Island police arrested the three boys last seen with Natalee, but offered no information about their investigation. Despite their frustration, the family maintained a positive spin for the media, saying "they are pleased with the process." Behind the scenes, that was hardly the case.

The lobby of the Aruba Holiday Inn was a peculiar mix of scantily clad, well-sunscreened hotel guests, members of the media, and people engaged in the search for Holloway. Those involved in the search had established a war room in the hotel, but most of them hung out in the lobby in between search activities because the war room was too depressing. Eleven days after Natalee's disappearance, the flow of tips and leads had abated, mainly because family friends had become adept at screening them. Efforts were concentrated on getting scuba divers in the water, defining specific locations for organized searches, and staying visible to police and government officials. Natalee's mother, Beth, spent her days visiting schools and churches, speaking with children and handing out wrist bracelets made by friends in Birmingham.

"The only thing we have going for us is maintaining a high profile and letting these people know that we aren't leaving without Natalee," said one family friend, "otherwise it's just another missing girl." Indeed, it was clear that virtually everyone on the island wanted the family and friends to go home because they were jeopardizing the tourist economy, hindering the local drug trade, and drawing intense media scrutiny to local police and government officials who have no experience managing this kind of case.

Late Friday evening, June 10, rumors circulated that police had taken members of the family to the lighthouse to identify a body. On television, CNN reported that Natalee was dead, and both CNN and Fox News were reporting a confession "that something bad has happened to Natalee." Both stories were without merit. The next morning, CNN was still reporting that Natalee was dead, but Fox had retracted its story about a confession. At 10 a.m., Vivian Van Der Biezen, spokesperson for the Attorney General, held a press conference at the hotel to report "they are at a very critical point in the investigation and they will neither confirm nor deny information being reported from other sources." This was typical of the information being provided to the family, in that it had absolutely no substance.

On Saturday night, Geraldo Rivera conducted a live interview with Beth Holloway Twitty [Natalee's mother], George Twitty [her step-father], and Prime Minister Nelson Oduber. The interview went smoothly until the Prime Minister revealed a fact undisclosed to the Holloways—that the police found blood in one of the cars impounded during the investigation (a lab test later proved this to be false). Twitty took the opportunity to criticize Oduber. "This is typical of what we're going through. They have information that we know nothing about and this is the first time we're hearing it. You hear it before we do." Off camera, Oduber was having a total meltdown.

By Sunday morning, June 12, Natalee's parents were modifying their media strategy. Worried early on that any criticism of the investigation would jeopardize their relationship with the police department, they ultimately concluded that things couldn't get much worse. After 14 days with no answers, it seemed that the media was their only hope of getting any results. Government officials continued to defend the investigation's credibility to the media.

Two weeks after Natalee Holloway was reported missing, I left the island. Understandably, her family won't leave without her, and by now police and government officials on the island are keenly aware of that fact. My lasting impression of Aruba is the license tag on the rear of the car that brought me to the airport. The slogan at the top of the plate read "One Happy Island." &