Cassie Tarpley
Star Staff Writer
SHELBY — The flight attendant’s bracelet — “Faith, hope and prayer for Natalee” — caught her eye as Kelly Jones and her family headed to a tropical vacation in Aruba.
“I asked him where he got it and he said Beth was in the front of the plane — go ask her,” Mrs. Jones said.
That was how she, her husband, Stephen, and his daughters, Natalie and Caroline, met Beth Holloway Twitty, mother of missing teen Natalee Holloway, who disappeared from the tiny island tourist spot on May 30.
The Shelby family flew to Aruba on Wednesday, Aug. 3, the same day Ms. Twitty and a close friend returned to the island from a respite at home in Birmingham, Ala.
“We had been following the story,” Mrs. Jones said. “She was open to talk and responsive to our support. I asked for a bracelet and she gave us four. I asked if there was anything we could do to help and she said, ‘Yes, you can put up posters.’”
Ms. Twitty said she needed more coverage in what she called the “seedier” areas of the island, away from the usual tourist sites.
Ms. Twitty, pursued by a CNN camera crew when she got off the plane, later waited at customs for the family, then agreed to meet them at their hotel, the Holiday Inn.
Meeting Natalie Jones, Ms. Twitty made a point of her name spelling, they said, asking, “Are you an ‘lee’ or an ‘lie?’”
Ms. Twitty’s brother, Paul, Natalee’s uncle, who was also staying at the Holiday Inn, provided a supply of posters, which needed updating with higher reward amounts.
“They were just a very normal family, just like you see her on TV,” Mrs. Jones said.
“She probably didn’t share anything with us that you haven’t seen on the news,” she said, adding, “Things like this probably happen more often, but this mother has gotten in there and gotten the media’s attention.”
The search for Natalee Holloway started May 30, at the end of her high school senior trip to Aruba, an island in the West Indies just a short boat ride off the Venezuelan coast.
In her hotel room, Natalee’s bags were packed for the trip home but she was nowhere to be found.
The story made headlines and continues to get attention in papers and on television screens across the world.
But not in Aruba, Mrs. Jones said.
“I looked at the paper there every day and not a thing in it,” she said, “and any local people were very protective of their turf.”
“Some people didn’t want the posters up,” Natalie said. “They, like, brushed us off.”
Mrs. Jones said they got friendly service at a small store where they bought tape for the posters. Then they asked to put one up. The clerk asked what it was for, and when they said, “Natalee,” the mood changed.
“You people need to give it up. She’s back in the States,” they were told.
With three scuba divers, the Jones clan likes tropical vacations, Mrs. Jones said. They chose Aruba this year because none of them had been there and because of low airfares.
Those fares might have been affected by the publicity about Natalee, she said.
After the negative response about Natalee’s disappearance from island residents, she said, “I did have a little bit of guilt being there — then seeing this family and what they were going through — thinking that we were assisting in (Aruba’s) economy.
“I rationalized the guilt by saying we may have done one little, tiny thing to be helpful.”
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I don't know when this picture of Beth was taken, but it is heartbreaking to see. Here's a link.
http://img207.echo.cx/img207/7963/capt06042315arubamissinggirl2t.jpg
"VAN SUSTEREN: Charles, take me back to May 30th, which is several hours after Natalee missed her flight. How did you first get wind of the fact that Beth Holloway Twitty (search) was looking for her daughter?
CHARLES CROES, TALKED TO DUTCH SUSPECT: A major friend of mine called me up. He was working with Natalee's mom to help them find Natalee.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why would he call you? What is your occupation that would be a reason he would call you?
C. CROES: Well, I have a sail rental company. And there was apparently a phone call made. And he was calling me betting or hoping that the phone call was made from one of our phones, and so that's why he called me.
VAN SUSTEREN: About what time did he call you?
C. CROES: He called me at 11:30.
VAN SUSTEREN: What did he say to you?
C. CROES: He told me that he needed my help. And I asked him what it was about. And he told me that it had to do something with a cell phone. And I didn't relate it to anything but work at that point.And then he said, "There is a possibility that a phone call was made using one of our phones." And I said, "OK." And he said, "It's very, very important." I said, "Fine," and I asked him to go into further details, and he did. And then I made arrangements to go see him."
Am I the only one who sees a connection between CC saying: "There is a possibility that a phone call was made using one of our phones." and the cell phone call by Natalee to Beth at 3AM Aruba time?
Was the cell phone call to Beth traced to to a cell phone in CC business, that business being a sail rental company?.
This is the second time a Sail rental business comes up in a disappearance on Aruba: "Willard 'Bud' Larson, Last Known Location: June 9, 1999 Windsurf Village board shop, ARUBA. He was on Aruba to windsurf. He went missing after a public fight with the rental office where he was to get the windsurfing equipment. They did not have the equipment he had reserved so he got into an altercation with them and left. He disappeared somewhere between the rental office and his hotel..."
Could this be the same sail rental business is both disappearances?
Does anyone know if CC owns the Windsurf Village board shop?
Could there be someone (not CC) working for a sail rental business connected to both disappearances, or am I imagining this?
“You people need to give it up. She’s back in the States,” they were told.
this is why we should boycott aruba and so what if it financially harms someone who has this attitude...
After the negative response about Natalee’s disappearance from island residents, she said, “I did have a little bit of guilt being there — then seeing this family and what they were going through — thinking that we were assisting in (Aruba’s) economy.
No time like now to start the dollar squeeze.
How do you spell "obsession"?
