Casefile True Crime - Case 141: Natalee Holloway

Episode Date: April 11, 2020

18-year-old Natalee Holloway had been looking forward to her senior class trip to Aruba all year. The tropical vacation was a rite of passage for students at Mountain Brook High School, who celebrated their newfound freedom with five days of sightseeing, swimming and bottomless booze in the idyllic Caribbean location.  --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Elsha McGill Creative Director: Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-141-natalee-holloway

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Thursday, May 26, 2005 was an exciting day for 124 of the 300 senior students from Mountain Brook High School. Having graduated two days earlier, the classmates left their hometown of Birmingham, Alabama to spend five days holidaying in Aruba, a tropical island in the Southern Caribbean Sea.

The senior class trip had become somewhat of a rite of passage for fresh graduates from Mountain Brook High, providing one final bonding experience before they parted ways for college and other endeavours. Aruba was the ideal destination for the students to unwind after a year of intense study. With 18 miles north of Venezuela, Aruba is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and along with other nearby islands like Bonn Air and Curaçao, it makes up part of the Dutch Caribbean. As the island lies below the Atlantic Hurricane Belt, it boasts warm, sunny weather all year

round, ensuring the students could make the most of the Golden Sand beaches, turquoise waters, and thriving nightlife. Not only was the destination easily reached via a short flight from the United States, but given that Americans accounted for 72% of visitors to the island, the students could also expect all the comforts of home, including familiar fast food restaurants and international hotel chains. Aruba was also relatively easy to navigate, spanning just 20 miles long and 6 miles wide, with a population of approximately 100,000 inhabitants.

Although most Arubians spoke Dutch or Papiamento, a Creole language that blends Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and several West African dialects, many also spoke English to cater to American visitors. The 124 students and their seven chaperones arrived at the Arubian capital of Aranya Start in the island's northwest. It was only a 15 minute drive from the airport to Palm Beach to check in to the Holiday Inn Resort. Located directly on the ocean front, it was one of the many major hotels that lined the Palm Fringe Beach, in addition to the more opulent Marriott, Radisson and Wyndham.

The beach was studded with sun lounges and tiki bars, and also housed a small collection of concrete fisherman huts where locals could store their equipment. Downtown Aranya Start was just a 10 minute drive away, providing easy access to the city's lively bars and nightclubs, and was a stop off port for visiting cruise ships. The Mountain Brook High Trip was all-inclusive, meaning all food and alcohol was already paid for. Unlike the United States where the legal drinking age was 21, the loosely enforced minimum drinking age in Aruba was 18.

For many of the visiting students, it was their first experience with liquor and their first time overseas. The job of the chaperones was merely to conduct a roll call once a day and to be available if any issues arose, leaving the students free to enjoy their time, however they pleased. 18-year-old Natalie Holloway had been looking forward to the senior trip for months. Her divorced parents initially had conflicting views on whether she should attend, but they eventually agreed that she had earned it. Natalie had always been responsible, trustworthy and dependable.

She was a dedicated student who graduated with honours in maths and Spanish and participated in several extracurricular activities, including the Bible Club and Dance Team. She volunteered for several charity organisations, including Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society and the American Cancer Society. Her efforts had earned her a full eight-year scholarship to the University of Alabama's School of Medicine, where she intended to become a doctor. Natalie's stepbrother had taken the senior trip to Aruba years prior and remembered it fondly, and two of her step cousins were also attending with the Class of 2005.

Although this comforted her mother, Beth Twitty, she warned her daughter to be extra cautious during her time on the island and to never let her guard down. Natalie was slim with long blonde hair and blue eyes, and Beth felt she might be taken advantage of. Natalie reassured her mother that she was aware of the potential dangers and promised to be careful, saying she would always be surrounded by her large group of friends. In Aruba, Natalie was assigned to a ground floor hotel room with three of her close friends, Ruth, Lee and Catherine.

The girls spent the first days of their trip alternating their time between the hotel pool and the beach, while taking advantage of the free drinks. Natalie had never been much of a drinker, but she embraced her newfound freedom. Her drink of choice was a combination of Diet Coke and Bacardi 151, a Puerto Rican rum with an alcohol content of 75%. In the evenings, the Mountain Brook students typically went out for dinner and then partied at the local bars and nightclubs until the early hours of the morning. On Saturday, May 29, Natalie joined a group on a snorkeling venture to see the Antilla

Shipwreck, the largest shipwreck site in the Caribbean. That evening, she went bar hopping with her classmates and had a little too much to drink. At 5'4 and weighing 110 pounds, Natalie's tolerance for alcohol wasn't as strong as some of the others, and one of her friends had to walk her back to the hotel. The next day of Sunday, May 30, was the final day of the trip. Natalie woke up early and had her first cocktail almost right away, prompting one of her classmates to warn her to take it easy so she didn't have a repeat of the night before. She and her friends spent most of the day on the beach, returning to their hotel room

around 6pm to get ready for their last night out. After dinner, Natalie and her group went to the Excelsior Casino, located on the second floor of the Holiday Inn. They sat at the blackjack table, where Natalie's friend Ruth struck up a conversation with a young Caucasian man who introduced himself as Yoran. He was approximately 6'4 tall with an athletic build and short, sandy-colored hair. He spoke English with a Dutch accent and said he was a 19-year-old student on vacation from Holland.

Ruth had lost the sum of money gambling at the casino over the past few days and asked Yoran to give her some pointers to help her win some back. They played for a while, with Natalie and the others watching on, until Ruth was up $100 and decided to quit while she was ahead. Around 9.45pm, Yoran joined the Americans while they ordered drinks from the poolside bar. He had to leave five minutes later, but the Mountain Brook girls told him to meet them later at Carlos and Charlie's, a franchise restaurant and bar chain aimed at young American

party-goers. By day, the venue served American and Mexican Caribbean cuisine in a relaxed ambience, but by night it became a popular hotspot for drinking and dancing. It had become a fast favorite with the Alabama students and a group of around 60 of them had arranged to meet there for one last hurrah. The Dutchman hesitated, telling them the venue would likely be quiet given it was a Sunday night, but he eventually agreed to do his best to catch up with them later on. Just after 10pm, Natalie and her roommates attempted to board a bus into Oronja Start's

main hub, but they had drinks with them and the driver refused to let them on. They called a taxi instead, arriving in town ten minutes later, where they headed into Carlos and Charlie's to meet up with the rest of their classmates. The Mountain Brook high students accounted for a majority of Carlos and Charlie's clientele that night and crowded onto the dance floor. At around midnight, Uran arrived, this time accompanied by two friends. He eventually started dancing with Natalie and the two drank together at the bar. Carlos and Charlie's closed at 1am.

To appease his American crowd, the DJ ended the night with the song Sweet Home Alabama by US rock band Linnard Skinnerd. Natalie was nowhere to be seen, so her best friend Lee walked to another popular bar nearby called Chooser Name, assuming she might have gone there with some of their other friends. There were between 70 and 100 Mountain Brook students milling about on the streets, but Lee couldn't see Natalie among them. She returned to the Holiday Inn and sat up in the lobby until around 3am before retiring to bed, expecting Natalie to make her way back with the others.

At 8am on Monday, May 30, Lee and Ruth woke up and realised that Natalie wasn't in their hotel room. Her bed was still fully made and had obviously not been slept in. Many of the students had swapped rooms during the trip, so the girls assumed she must have slept in another room. They inquired with some of their classmates, but no one knew where Natalie was. The last time anyone had seen her was outside of Carlos and Charlie's shortly after closing time.

Natalie had told several classmates that she was going for a ride with Yoran and his two friends and would meet them back at the Holiday Inn later on. Some others had seen her get into a silver Honda Civic with the three men, but as not all cabs were clearly marked in a rubour, they assumed the car was a taxi. At one point, the Honda Civic had pulled up alongside a group of Natalie's friends and she had leaned out of the rear window and enthusiastically yelled out, a rubour. The chaperones had rounded up the students from Chuzaname at around 2am, but their roller supervisors didn't require them to keep tabs on each individual.

A majority of the students had been drinking heavily by this point and no one was monitoring one another's activity. One student had been sitting outside by the Holiday Inn pool until around 5am and said she saw several classmates return in the early morning hours, but Natalie hadn't been among them. Her passport and belongings were untouched in her hotel room, as was her mobile phone, which she had intentionally left behind as it didn't get coverage on the island. The students were scheduled to fly home to Alabama at 3pm, but as the hours passed, there

was still no sign of Natalie. When the time came to depart for the airport, she still hadn't shown up. Unsure of what to do, one of the chaperones decided to stay behind until Natalie was located. Another was tasked with calling Natalie's parents in Alabama to deliver the news that their daughter was missing. Her mother, Beth Twitty, was returning from a weekend away when she received the call and immediately turned her car around and drove to the Birmingham airport. She was pulled over for speeding along the way, but when she explained the reason why

she was driving so fast to the officer, he gave her the number for one of his contacts in the FBI and let her off without a ticket. While Natalie's family frantically put plans in place to travel to Aruba, a chaperone went to one of the four police stations on the island to report Natalie's disappearance. They informed the officer on duty that she had last been seen driving away from Carlos and Charlie's around midnight in the company of a Dutch tourist named Joran. The Aruba police advised that they couldn't launch an official missing person investigation unless Natalie was missing for 24 hours, but reassured she was likely off having fun and

would resurface again soon. It was common for young Americans visiting the island to extend their stay at the last minute or to lose track of time, so the police weren't overly concerned. Given the Dutch Caribbean's proximity to Venezuela, a Aruba was often used to transport narcotics between South America and the United States, which meant the island was no stranger to criminal activity. An agent for the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, who was stationed in the nearby Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, was in Aruba for the weekend and heard about Natalie Holloway's

disappearance from one of the chaperones. He agreed to help with the search and used his contacts to notify the FBI on behalf of her family. Beth Twitty was able to charter a private jet and arrived in Aruba at 10pm along with her husband George Jug Twitty, a prominent Alabama businessman and several of their friends. Pre-arranged escorts helped them to get through customs quickly and provided them with a van and driver. The group checked in to the Holiday Inn, where the mountain brook high chaperone told them

that Natalie had alas been seen in the company of a Dutch tourist named Joran. Beth asked the hotel's night manager if there were any guests checked in by that name, and the manager immediately knew who she was talking about. However, Joran wasn't a guest at the hotel, nor was he a tourist. He lived in Aruba, having emigrated with his family from the Netherlands as a child, and was known to frequent the casinos and poker rooms on the island, where he liked to gamble and hit on foreign women. Beth and Jug went to the Excelsior Casino and requested to see the surveillance footage

taken from the Blackjack table where the girls and Joran had met. Once they spotted the Dutchman, they took note of his physical characteristics and with the help of their escorts, walked around Palm Beach offering money to anyone who knew the young man. A local teenager accepted $100 to give them Joran's full name and address. He was Joran van der Sloot, and he wasn't 19 like he had told the girls, but a 17-year-old high school student. Beth and her entourage went to the police station with this information, but the officers

remained hesitant about checking out the lead. They were used to young Americans partying too hard on the island, and were sure Natalie was likely sleeping off a hangover somewhere, had taken drugs, or had decided to extend her holiday. Beth insisted this wasn't possible, saying her daughter wasn't a big drinker and would never touch narcotics. Natalie was also traveling with a limited amount of cash and had left her credit card in the United States, so she didn't have the funds to travel onwards.

The police suggested she might have intentionally run away and didn't want to be found, a possibility that Beth strongly rejected. At 2am, the police reluctantly agreed to accompany Beth and her crew to the van der Sloot residence to check whether Natalie was there. Joran lived in a detached apartment at the rear of his family home. His two younger brothers, aged 10 and 14, resided in the main house, along with their schoolteacher mother Anita, and their father, Paulus van der Sloot, a lawyer for the Aruban government who was in training to become a judge.

Paulus was the only adult home at the time, as his wife was in Holland visiting relatives, and Joran was out with friends. They insisted he hadn't seen a blonde American girl on their property, but called his son's mobile phone and insisted he return home immediately. Joran arrived shortly after. He was joined by his friend, 21-year-old Deepak Kalpo, a Surinamese national who had been with him at Carlos and Charlie's the previous evening. Friends were running higher for Beth and her group, and they became aggressive when confronting

the two young men. Joran denied knowing Natalie, but eventually admitted that the two had been flirting at Carlos and Charlie's the night prior, and had later kissed. He said Natalie wanted to see sharks before she departed the following day, so he and his friends had driven her to the California lighthouse on Arashi Beach, a popular snorkeling spot on the northwestern tip of the island. At around 2am, they dropped her off at the Holiday Inn, and hadn't seen her since. Deepak confirmed this story, and he and Joran agreed to accompany the group to the hotel

to show them where they had dropped Natalie off. Joran pointed to a spot outside the lobby, and said that when they arrived, Natalie was so intoxicated that she fell over and hit her head while getting out of the car. A security guard dressed in black had come over to help her. Deepak backed up this version of events, adding that the security guard was carrying a walkie-talkie. Beth was convinced the young men were lying. Natalie's friend Lee had waited in the hotel lobby until around 3am that night, and didn't see Natalie during that time.

Additionally, the hotel employees wore green pants with grey shirts, and none had reported seeing anyone drop off an intoxicated woman to the lobby in the early hours. The police told Beth that a detective would be sent out to visit her the following morning. That night, she and Jug stayed in Natalie's hotel room, leaving the lamp on in the hopes she would return. Beth later stated, That's what parents do. You leave your light on, and wait until your child comes home.

The following morning of Tuesday, May 31, Yoran Vandersloot was taken to the police station to provide an official statement. He said that on the afternoon of Sunday, May 29, he had been participating in a poker tournament with his father at the Excelsior Casino. Although Yoran was underage, his father allowed him to play in the tournaments that didn't require a financial buy-in. Carlos had to leave the tournament early to take care of Yoran's two younger brothers, but agreed to return to pick Yoran up whenever he was ready to go.

After the tournament, Yoran decided to stick around for a while longer. He sat down to play around with Blackjack when an American girl asked him for gaming advice. She later invited him to join her friends that night. He was hesitant at first because he had exams at school the following day, but eventually agreed, knowing he could get away with a late night with his mother out of town. He left the casino to get something to eat from a nearby McDonald's and then called his father to come and get him.

At home, he called several friends to see if anyone wanted to join him to meet up with the American girls. Yoran called the client, but Deepak Kalpo agreed. He later picked Yoran up in his silver Honda Civic along with his brother, 18-year-old Satish Kalpo. The trio arrived at Carlos and Charlie's at around 12.30am, where Natalie immediately pulled Yoran over to the bar. Afterwards, they drank what he described as a yard of whiskey cola together.

Yoran said he didn't take drugs and didn't think Natalie did either. When Carlos and Charlie's closed, Natalie asked if she could go with Yoran and his friends. They got into Deepak's Honda Civic and she requested that they drive past her friends so she could wave at them. Yoran and Natalie then started making out in the backseat. He told her they couldn't go back to his place, so she asked if they could go to the coast to see the sharks.

Yoran told Natalie there were no sharks, but she insisted. Deepak drove towards the California lighthouse, which was approximately 20 minutes away from a Ronja Stutt, but Natalie changed her mind on the way and told them to take her back to the hotel instead. The boys claimed that Natalie was highly intoxicated and allegedly made several racist remarks, including that her mother was related to a Dolph Hitler. They arrived at the Holiday Inn around 2am, where Natalie drunkenly fell out of the car and was helped up by the security guard who was dressed in black.

Deepak and Satish Kalpo provided statements that backed Yoran's version of events entirely. Deepak said that when Natalie entered his car, he told her to get out. She was drunk and he didn't want any trouble, but Natalie insisted on going for a ride to the lighthouse. After she and Yoran kissed for a while, Natalie fell asleep on the drive and they had to wake her up to ask her which hotel she was staying at. When they arrived at the Holiday Inn, a dark-skinned man with a walkie-talkie approached Natalie once she entered the lobby.

After providing their statements, Yoran, Deepak and Satish were all free to go. The Aruba police distributed missing person posters to the local media, telling Natalie's family that many young people on the island took hard drugs and Natalie could be off partying with them. Although this seemed implausible, Jug Twitty and his friends located known drug houses in the area and went searching for Natalie. Disatisfied with the hesitancy of local police to launch an official investigation, Natalie's family recruited American experts to assist in finding her.

Beth distributed posters that appealed to Natalie directly. Using her daughter's nickname, she wrote, Please call me Hoody, I miss you and love you, Mum is here on Aruba and I really want to talk to you, please call me on my local cell. To some locals, this poster implied that Natalie had run away and didn't want to be found. It was quickly replaced with an attention-grabbing poster featuring two smiling images of Natalie, headlined with the word kidnapped in bold red text. On Wednesday June 1, Natalie's disappearance made the front page of local newspaper Aruba

today. The paper's editor, Julia Renfrow, helped organize a search of the island and encouraged locals to assist, with a series of radio announcements also calling for volunteers. Under some complications regarding flights, Natalie's father, Dave Holloway, his wife Robin and other family members arrived on the island to help. They hired a car and headed straight to the closest police station, eventually visiting all four police stations on the island. According to Dave's book, Aruba, the tragic untold story of Natalie Holloway and corruption

in Paradise, two of the four stations were unaware of Natalie's disappearance. When he told one detective who he was and why he was there, the detective allegedly responded by asking how much money Dave had. He told the distressed father not to worry because like so many other young visitors to Aruba, Natalie was likely just swept up in a holiday romance. Dave and his family went to Carlos and Charlie's and saw for themselves just how lax the security was, with teenagers drinking openly at the bar. Within a space of two hours, they were accosted multiple times by local drug dealers.

The Holloways asked around and were told there was a strict rule against drug peddlers committing crimes against foreigners, as the island relied so heavily on tourism and they couldn't risk negatively impacting the industry. In the meantime, a Reuben police retrieved and viewed the surveillance footage from the Holiday Inn. Deepak Kalpo's Honda Civic was not captured pulling up to the establishment at any time, nor was Natalie seen entering the lobby. The footage confirmed Yoran, Deepak and Satish were lying.

Police had also noticed a few other discrepancies in the trio's statements. In addition to them incorrectly describing the hotel staff as being dressed in black, all three had specified a slightly different location where they had supposedly dropped Natalie off. A security guard at the California Lighthouse, where the boys allegedly took Natalie prior to the hotel, was also questioned. He said that the night of Natalie's disappearance was extremely quiet. Throughout the night, he had seen less than 10 cars in the area, none of which had been

a grey Honda Civic. Yoran, Deepak and Satish officially became suspects in Natalie's disappearance, but the police didn't feel there was enough evidence to warrant an arrest. Instead, they requested access to the trio's mobile phone records and sought permission to place listening devices on their phones. By Thursday June 2, the story was making headlines across the United States, intensifying the pressure for a Reuben law enforcement to arrest the suspects. Natalie's family continued searching the island on foot and by car with the help of

locals and started handing out money in exchange for any information regarding her whereabouts. This prompted many unfounded leads, with one local coming forward to claim that Natalie had been kidnapped by a couple who operated a local drug house. Dave Holloway launched a ground search of the area surrounding the California Lighthouse, which angered a Reuben officials. The lighthouse was a major tourist attraction and they felt that Dave's actions would generate negative media attention and deter visitors. The search went ahead regardless, but the efforts were hindered by the harsh landscape

that consisted of cacti and jagged rock formations. Beth focused on conducting interviews with local and foreign media while also visiting schools. A $20,000 reward for information was announced by the Reuben government and tourism boards. Additional contributions from Natalie's family and several Reuben businesses and individuals quickly boosted the reward to $50,000. On Friday June 3, staff at the Reuben Today newspaper received a tip-off that a blonde American woman matching Natalie's description had been witnessed at an ATM in a Ronja Stub

before taking off in a Kia sedan. Several car loads of newspaper staff and volunteers drove around town searching for the vehicle. The Kia was eventually sighted and followed to a house not far from the Reuben Today headquarters. A member of the search party approached the car and found two women and a man inside smoking cannabis with a baby in the back seat. The blonde woman was American but had a slightly heavier build to Natalie Holloway. The Kia drove off and the crew trailed it to another house where the occupants remained in the car for 40 minutes.

The driver then got out and started swinging a baseball bat. The police were called and they took the driver and the blonde female passenger into custody. An officer announced over the police radio that she was 98% sure the woman was Natalie Holloway. Beth and Jug were summoned to the station but their hopes were immediately crushed when they realised the woman was a stranger. According to the book The Holloway Files, secrets from the police archives by Wim Bandapol

and Vincent Vervet, a Reuben law enforcement were working diligently on the case, though were barred from speaking to the media about their efforts in any capacity. This gave the impression that they were doing little to find Natalie. It is viewed Yuran, Deepak and Satish as obvious suspects but were also trying to avoid focusing exclusively on them. They remained open to all possibilities, including that Natalie may have accidentally drowned or had run away. Supporting this theory was an entry in her high school yearbook in which Natalie had

quoted the lyrics of a linnard skinnard song titled Free Bird that went, If I leave here tomorrow would you still remember me for I must be travelling on now cause there's too many places I've got to see. The police spoke to locals who said there were several vagrants referred to as quote beach bums who frequented the Palm Beach area surrounding the Holiday Inn. Some were known to sleep on the hotel sun lounges overnight. Police questioned a known beach bum and thief named Marlon Sallaire who said he had been on the beach near the Holiday Inn on the night of Natalie's disappearance.

He had crossed paths with a dark skinned security guard he knew only as Marty who worked at the neighbouring Allegro Hotel. Marty had been wearing black clothing and carrying a walkie-talkie, as described by Yoran, Deepak and Satish. Marlon Sallaire said he watched Marty walk into the Holiday Inn and approach a group of American women who were gathered by the pool. A friend of Marty soon joined them and started chatting with a blonde Caucasian woman. Marlon knew this man only as Marker, another dark-spinned security guard from the Allegro

Hotel. Marlon's statement was backed by a Holiday Inn employee who had also seen two security guards from the Allegro Hotel milling about the pool area on the night of Sunday, May 29. He told police that one of the security guards often frequented their establishment to hit on female tourists. Another staff member told police that he had seen a dark-spinned man wearing black talking to a blonde woman who resembled Natalie Holloway.

The two had embraced and then walked towards the entrance to the Excelsior Casino. A Holiday Inn security guard said that in the early morning hours he had heard dogs barking on the beach and when he went down to investigate, he saw two dark-skinned men dressed in black. The Allegro Hotel security guards whom Marlon Sallaire knew was Marty and Marker were identified as Abraham Jones, whose nickname was Marger, and Antonius Mickey John. Police checked their work records and confirmed that neither of the men had been working on the night of May 29. In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 5, Abraham and Antonius were placed under

arrest and questioned in relation to Marlon Sallaire's assertions. Antonius told police that he had gone to the Holiday Inn alone. The blonde woman he was witnessed speaking to wasn't Natalie, but an American woman from Boston named Joan. The two had met the previous year and had organized to meet at the hotel pool that night. Antonius had to work early the following morning, so he left the Holiday Inn at around 11.30 pm. He denied ever meeting Natalie Holloway and said he would never do anything to harm a

tourist, as he had lived on a rube for a decade and understood how important the tourism industry was to the island. He suggested that Marlon Sallaire may be trying to implicate him and should be the one viewed with suspicion. Abraham Jones denied going to the Holiday Inn at all on the night of May 29, but admitted that Antonius John frequented the hotel to flirt with tourists. The pair's work uniform consisted of a pair of navy pants with a white t-shirt and dark coloured windbreakers of their choice.

Antonius said there were two other dark-skinned security guards working at the Allegro Hotel on the night of Natalie's disappearance, who wore dark clothing and carried walkie-talkies. These security guards were questioned and told police they had run into Marlon Sallaire and another white man on the beach on the night in question and had warned the Holiday Inn security guards of their presence. As a constituent of the Netherlands, a rube operates under Dutch law, which specifies that suspects can be held in custody for up to 116 days while the investigation continues. During this time, a judge must grant permission for the suspects to remain in custody at certain

intervals. Although the police interviews hadn't generated anything incriminating against Abraham Jones or Antonius John, a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold both men in custody while the police continued pursuing other leads. Monday June 6 marked one week since Natalie had disappeared. 4,000 officials and 700 volunteers from both the Ruba and the United States were now involved in the search. They were assisted by a helicopter, sniffer dogs, police divers and Dutch marines who

used their F-16 aircraft to scan the island with infrared cameras. A blood-soaked mattress was found in a shack on the beach, but testing of the blood revealed it to be canine. Like in Birmingham, Alabama, a sermon was held at a Jewish temple where several of Natalie's friends were members. Rabbi Jonathan Miller told his congregation, �We have learned that when things become the darkest, that is when we are called upon to envision the light.

We have learned that when everything has gone wrong, that is when we have to believe that things can be made right again. That is the message of hope. We must never abandon hope. We must never let darkness extinguish the light.� The Holloway and Twitty families organized the public prayer service, while Beth continued to take advantage of every opportunity to keep the story in the news. Media crews from 22 countries had descended on the island, while the FBI launched a hotline

for anyone who had any information relating to the case. Nelson Odebair, the prime minister of Aruba, met with Natalie's family and reassured them he would do everything in his power to help find their daughter. Although local law enforcement resisted handing the case over to the FBI, they were unprepared and ill-equipped for an investigation of this size. The Aruba police chief later stated, �We wanted to investigate all the possibilities with an open mind. Yet, a growing portion of the public viewed Joran Vandersloot and the Kalpo brothers as

the obvious suspects.� At one point, Natalie's missing person posters were edited to read �Kidnapped by Joran Vandersloot.� This led to the Vandersloot family receiving an onslaught of negative media attention, and the posters were changed to �Read Missing� instead of �Kidnapped.� Behind the scenes, the Aruba police were honing in on Joran, Deepak and Satish. Investigators checked the trio's phone and internet records and confirmed there had been ongoing communication between Joran and Deepak throughout Monday, May 30, the day after Natalie disappeared.

They were also suspicious of the fact the two had met up that evening, despite being out late the night before. Joran had attended school and went to the Aruba Racket Club in the afternoon before going gambling at the Wyndham Casino with a friend. He and Deepak spoke on the phone on three separate occasions throughout the night, around 6, 11 and 11.30. Deepak then drove to meet Joran at the Radisson Hotel around midnight. Satish had been unable to join them as he had overslept that day and missed school completely

angering his parents. Witnesses said Joran and Deepak seemed agitated and were both drinking. They were at the casino when they received a 2am phone call from Joran's father, Powless, who explained that Natalie Holloway's family had arrived at their house with the police. Investigators theorized whether the purpose of Joran and Deepak's meeting that night was so they could get their story straight or perhaps destroy evidence. Early on the morning of Thursday June 9, Joran, Deepak and Satish were taken in for questioning under suspicion of murder or manslaughter and unlawful detention.

Prior to being taken into custody, Joran's father told the young men that if there was no body, weapon or other physical evidence, investigators would be unable to hold a case against them. Deepak maintained his original lie about dropping Natalie at the Holiday Inn, adding that a customer at the internet cafe where he worked had witnessed this incident and could confirm his story. His brother Satish refused to provide a second statement and instead chose to remain silent. Joran also stuck by his original statement, but added several new details, including that

Natalie allegedly asked him if Deepak and Satish were his slaves. Joran stated, quote, to her, black people are slaves. Joran was transferred to a different police station, while the Kaapo brothers were detained in the same centre as Allegro Hotel security guard Antonius John, who was also being held in relation to Natalie's disappearance. Deepak allegedly told Antonius that the trio had lied about dropping Natalie at her hotel, and that the brothers had really dropped her at the beach with Joran. Antonius immediately relayed this information to the prison guards, who took it with a grain

of salt. Joran was questioned multiple times over the course of the day, during which the police encouraged him to talk by threatening the possibility of a life in prison. They also reiterated that the Kaapo brothers would likely remain loyal to one another, which could have dire consequences for Joran. The Aruban justice system forbade the offering of plea deals, meaning investigators couldn't offer any of the suspects immunity or a less severe criminal charge in exchange for information. One detective resorted to lying to Joran, saying that the brothers had made incriminating

statements against him. It was enough to scare Joran into requesting a lawyer, and admitting that he hadn't been truthful. On Friday June 10, Joran made another official statement, this time telling detectives that he had not been with Deepak and Satish when they dropped Natalie at the Holiday Inn. He said the brothers had dropped him home first at around 1.40am. Prior to his departure, he and Natalie exchanged email addresses and shared one last kiss. At 3am, he called Deepak on his mobile phone, who told him they had dropped Natalie off

at her hotel. The following night, when they received word that Natalie's family were looking for her, Deepak told Joran it would be best if he said he was with him and his brother when they dropped Natalie at the hotel. He also suggested they add the false detail about her falling over and hitting her head. Joran told investigators that Deepak typically kept his car in a warehouse at the airport, and that if anything had happened to Natalie, it was likely the brothers had taken her there. Satish chose to break his silence and provide a second statement, in which he revealed that

it was his job to wash his brother's car weekly, which was kept at a warehouse in the airport. The last time he had washed it was on May 29, before Natalie entered the vehicle. When asked if he would make incriminating statements against his brother, Satish responded, I would do everything for my brother, even if it costs me my freedom. Investigators told the Kalpo brothers that Joran had provided a new statement incriminating them in Natalie's disappearance, which prompted a revised statement from Deepak. He said that when they reached the lighthouse, Joran and Natalie were busy making out, so he kept driving. They reached LG Smith Boulevard near the Marriott Hotel at around

1.45am, and Joran asked to be let out, saying he would walk Natalie back to the Holiday Inn via the beach, and then find his own way home. Both hotels were on the same beach front, approximately 0.6 miles apart, and the walk between the two only took around 10-15 minutes. Sometime between 2.45am and 3.15am, Joran called Deepak to let him know he was on his way home. This was something the friends always did to make sure everyone was safe. Joran said he and Natalie had gone for a swim, but she then fell asleep on the beach, so he decided to leave her there and walk home alone. He had left his sneakers on the beach and was annoyed because he was barefoot. After they ended their phone call, Joran sent Deepak a text message to say

he would go online to chat as soon as he got home. A little while later, Deepak received an online message from Joran thanking him for waiting up, and the two agreed to meet again the following evening. Deepak said he had the text message to prove Joran was lying about the brothers dropping him home before taking Natalie to the hotel. He also retracted his previous statement about Natalie being highly intoxicated and said she seemed, quote, reasonably with it. He denied that Natalie had made any racist comments to the brothers, but that Joran had told them of her alleged remarks days later. Deepak said he thought Joran had lied to detract attention from himself and cover up the fact that he had raped Natalie.

Satish also made a new statement, in which he backed Deepak's updated version of events, including that Natalie hadn't seemed very drunk when they dropped her and Joran at the beach. There was only one discrepancy between the brothers' statements. Deepak said that at one point he had pulled over to urinate on the side of the road near Arashie Beach, while Satish had no recollection of this ever happening. The police questioned Joran's best friend and neighbour, Freddy Zaddan. He said that on Monday, May 30, the day after Natalie disappeared, Joran told him that he had picked up an American woman and taken her to the lighthouse before dropping her back at the holiday in. This was of significance to the police, as Natalie's disappearance wasn't known at this

time, so Joran had no valid reason to lie to his friend, unless he was already attempting to cover his tracks. The following day of Tuesday, May 31, Joran told Freddy that Natalie was missing and admitted the story about dropping her at the hotel was a lie. He said that he and the Kalpo brothers had taken her to a beach near the Marriott Hotel, but she had been so drunk that she fell asleep. They decided to leave her there because they didn't know what else to do. Joran also mentioned that he had left a pair of sneakers on the beach that he would need to replace. Joran had purchased the trendy Case Whispering pair of blue and white shoes from the United States, and they were coveted amongst teenagers in Aruba. If he had

simply left them on the sand near the Marriott Hotel, it would have been an easy task for him to retrieve them. He should have been motivated to do so, as the walk home would take him 45 minutes across rough terrain. He also lied to police about his shoe size, saying the sneakers were a size 14 when he actually wore a size 10. This led some to theorize that Joran had disposed of his shoes because they were stained with Natalie's blood, and then fabricated the story about forgetting them on the beach to explain why they were no longer in his possession. It would also come in handy if matching shoe prints were later found in an incriminating location. However, the story also worked against him. If he hadn't mentioned leaving his shoes on the beach, the police would

never have known that a pair of his sneakers were missing. By interviewing several of Joran's other friends and former girlfriends, the police learned that he had a history of treating females poorly. They were told that Joran derived pleasure from using girls for sex and to them boasting about what he had done. After having sex with one girlfriend, he allegedly gave her change for the bus and then chased her out of his home. At the time of Natalie's disappearance, he had a girlfriend, as well as another girl he was seeing, whom one friend said he treated like a doormat. He also had violent tendencies and was easily aggravated, often getting into physical fights, especially when he was under the influence of alcohol. Over the past few years, he had gotten

into trouble at school and home and was constantly lying to and stealing from his parents. They had become so concerned that they sent him to see a psychologist, though it did little to curb his behavior. On Monday, June 13, the Allegro Hotel Security Guards Abraham Jones and Antonius John were released from custody after their alibis checked out. Fearing that the Calpo brothers were incriminating him further, Joran Vandersloot elaborated on his previous statement. He admitted that the Calpo brothers had dropped him and Natalie at the beach and that his intention was to have sex with her along the walk back to the Holiday Inn. His shoes had sand in them, so he took them off near the Marriott Hotel. He and Natalie then laid down near the fisherman's heart a 10-minute walk

from the Holiday Inn and started making out. Joran didn't have a condom, so Natalie refused to have sex with him. They engaged in other sexual activity and at around 3am, Joran told Natalie it was time to go home, but she wanted to stay on the beach. When she refused to leave, he tried to carry her. She wouldn't let him and eventually fell asleep on the sand. Joran then called the Deepak to come and pick him up and he arrived shortly after with two dogs in tow. When he saw that Natalie was asleep, Deepak allegedly said, Don't fuck with that bitch and told Joran that someone would take care of her the next day. Joran told the police he believed that after Deepak dropped him home, he must have returned to rape Natalie and had probably buried her body

next to the fisherman's heart. Up until this point, only Deepak and Satish had spoken of Natalie falling asleep on the beach. Now that Joran had repeated the same story, this possibility gained credibility. However, no other witnesses had reported seeing Deepak with two dogs on the beach, nor did Deepak ever mention this detail. In addition, the police had already thoroughly searched that area, including draining a nearby mangrove swamp and found nothing. These factors indicated Joran still wasn't telling the whole truth. Deepak continued to insist that he and Satish went straight home after dropping Joran and Natalie at the beach. As his car was fitted with a dual exhaust, he said the loud noise would have no

doubt woken his mother, who could vouch for their return home. The cowpo's mother was questioned, but said she was a heavy sleeper and hadn't stirred at any point throughout the evening that Natalie went missing. Mobile phone records confirmed that at 2.26 am on the night of Natalie's disappearance, Joran had placed an 8 minute phone call to Deepak. Shortly after, Deepak sent Joran a text message which read, I'll wait until you get home, and then I'll go to sleep. Give me a missed call when you arrive, okay? Deepak's computer records confirmed he logged into an online chat room around this time. At 3.13 am, Joran messaged Deepak to say, Hey thanks mate, trust all is well, I'm home.

The location the suspects were in when this phone activity occurred was unable to be determined, but the records corroborated Deepak's version of events and further proved that Joran was lying. He had claimed Deepak had come to pick him up after Natalie fell asleep on the beach. If that were true, it didn't make sense why he would then send Deepak a text message to say he was home safe. When confronted with this discrepancy, Joran was unable to provide an explanation. The next day, he said he had made a mistake and it was Satish who had picked him up, not Deepak. The last confirmed presiding of Natalie occurred around 1.15 am. Phone and computer records proved Joran was home by 3.15. Regardless of who was telling the truth,

that only left a two hour window where the trio could have harmed Natalie and erased all evidence of a crime. Given this was such a short time frame, the police considered the possibility that more people were involved in Natalie's disappearance. One such person was Steve Crows, a DJ who worked on a party boat called the Tattoo. The boat was moored at the Holiday Inn and took young tourists out to sea at Sunset where they could drink and dance until the early hours. Steve was a regular customer at the Internet Cafe where Deepak worked. Early in the investigation, he had voluntarily gone to the police station and validated the trio's claims, telling the police he had seen a great vehicle drop a blonde intoxicated

woman at the Holiday Inn in the early hours of May 30. When police asked if someone had coerced him to make this statement, Steve insisted it was the truth. Given police already knew this story was a lie, there was no valid reason why Steve would make such a claim unless he was helping Joran and the Kelpo brothers create a false alibi. Four other witnesses had also placed Steve Crows in Carlos and Charlie's at the same time Natalie and other Mountain Brook High students were there celebrating their final night on the island. He therefore became a person of interest and was taken into police custody for further questioning. On Saturday June 18, Steve Crows admitted he had lied about witnessing the Holiday Inn incident for no reason other than he had overheard Deepak's

story at the Internet Cafe and believed it was true. He said he didn't even know Deepak's name and had never met Joran or Satish before. He denied having anything to do with Natalie's disappearance and claimed to have been at work on the night she went missing. This was disproved by his employer who told police the tattoo party boat didn't operate on Sunday nights. Two days later Steve provided another statement calling his boss a liar. He said he had picked his friend Jeremy up at 11.30pm on Sunday May 29 and the two had taken a motorised fiberglass dingy out to the tattoo to check on things. The two men had only stayed on the boat for 10 minutes before returning to shore and spending the next few hours bar hopping but he couldn't

recall if they went to Carlos and Charlie's. After the bars closed at 1am he and Jeremy went back onto the tattoo and stayed there until 4.30am. The staff at Carlos and Charlie's who knew Steve from his work as a DJ told police he had arrived at the bar alone at around 10.30pm not after 11.30pm with Jeremy as he recalled. Additionally neither he nor Jeremy could be accounted for between the hours of 1 and 4.30am. This left a three and a half hour window where Steve claimed they were out on the tattoo party boat which wasn't in operation at the time. This led police to theorise that Steve either alone or with the help of his friend had met Natalie on the beach and used the dingy to take her out to the tattoo where they could have killed

her and thrown her body into the sea. Forensic investigators searched the dingy and the tattoo but nothing of interest was uncovered. Steve was held in custody for 10 days before the magistrate deemed there wasn't enough evidence to hold him any longer. He was released and subsequently fired from the tattoo which went out of business shortly after. Yoran's father, Paulus Vandersloot was also considered a person of interest. Natalie's family had been suspicious of him from the start knowing that his position as a lawyer and judge in training meant he had expert knowledge of the Aruba legal system. He was also well connected with authorities and could use these relationships to his advantage.

Furthermore, when Natalie's mother Beth arrived in Aruba 24 hours after her daughter vanished, she visited the Vandersloot residence to question Yoran. Paulus answered the door and allegedly told her that he had picked Natalie and Yoran up from McDonald's the night before and dropped her safely to her hotel. Later on, once Paulus' wife Anita had returned from her trip to Holland, Beth had sat down with the couple to ask them more questions. She noted Paulus had sweated profusely despite the room being quite cool at the time. She had given him a hope for Natalie Bracelet which were being worn in support of her daughter and saw that his hands were shaking

as he accepted it. When police initially began surveilling Yoran's phone calls, they recorded a conversation on June 6 in which Paulus encouraged his son to stick with the story about dropping Natalie off at the Holiday Inn and quote, nothing more. Prior to the arrest of his son and the Calpo brothers, Paulus had explained to them exactly how criminal investigations work and had provided a level of legal advice that went beyond the role of parental counsel. This led to the opinion that he had likely played a part in helping the trio create their false statements and had therefore interfered with the investigation. Paulus admitted to the police that Yoran was a bad liar,

but that it was out of character for his son to leave a young girl alone on the beach. He also denied ever telling Natalie's family that he had dropped her at the Holiday Inn, clarifying that his comment related to when he picked Yoran up from McDonald's earlier in the evening. The police agreed this may have been a misunderstanding. On Wednesday, June 15, the Vandersloh's home was searched and two vehicles belonging to Yoran's parents were confiscated and processed for forensic evidence. Nothing was found, but by this point it had been six days since their son's arrest and two weeks since Natalie went missing. On Thursday, June 23, Paulus Vandersloh was arrested on suspicion of complicity in murder,

manslaughter and kidnapping resulting in death. Chief Prosecutor Karen Jansen described his actions as disturbing and obstructive. His wife Anita held a press conference in the Vandersloh's backyard, calling her husband's arrest ridiculous. She accused the American media of hijacking the Aruban justice system, saying, This is not about Natalie anymore. It's about enormous pressure from the states and the media. I believe in my husband. I believe in my son. Paulus was released from custody two days later due to a lack of evidence justifying

holding him any longer. He released the statement calling his arrest utterly ridiculous and absurd, but many continued to view him with suspicion. Three fishermen came forward to confirm they had been on Palm Beach in the early morning hours of Monday, May 30. They didn't notice a gray Honda Civic in the area, nor had they seen Natalie, Yoran, the Kalpo Brothers or anyone else on the beach. The only vehicle they witnessed all night was a Suzuki Jeep, which pulled in around 1.45am and stayed for approximately 45 minutes. The fishermen heard the voices of a male and female coming from the Jeep, both of whom spoke with English accents, but neither sounded like

they were in trouble or distress of any kind. The beachfront was narrow and it had been a calm, quiet night with good visibility. The fishermen had remained there until 4.30am and stated it would have been impossible for them not to see Natalie and Yoran if the pair had been on the shore. One stated, if someone says that he came there with the girl, he's telling lies. All three fishermen recalled that the weather was still, contradicting Yoran's statement that it had been difficult to hear Deepak on the phone because it had been a windy night. Yoran also hadn't mentioned seeing a Suzuki Jeep in the area at any point. On Thursday June 30, Yoran, Deepak and Satish were transferred between police stations together

in the same vehicle, granting them contact for the first time since their arrests almost three weeks earlier. A covert audio device recorded their conversation, during which Yoran confronted Deepak with several questions, including, why are you saying that we drove to the lighthouse while we absolutely did not do that? Deepak responded that they did go to the lighthouse. Yoran also brought up an instance in which Deepak had allegedly told him that he wanted to rape a girl. Deepak responded, who's going to believe you now? You lie so much. Investigators remained convinced that the trio were covering up something,

but on Monday July 4, 2005, the Kalpo brothers were released after a magistrate determined there were no serious justifications to hold them any longer. Yoran was ordered to be held for an additional 60 days. No travel restrictions were given to the Kalpo brothers, prompting Natalie's mother, Beth, to tell the media. My greatest fear is that they will leave Aruba. These criminals are now free to walk among the tourists of Aruba, while I have not seen my beautiful daughter in 36 days. I am asking all nations not to offer them a safe haven. She openly criticized the decision to release Deepak and Satish, remarking, two suspects were released yesterday who were involved in a violent crime against my daughter.

As the brothers hadn't been charged with any crime, and there was no conclusive proof that they were involved in Natalie's disappearance, Beth's comments spurred backlash against her family. Arubans accused her of disrespecting local laws, while Satish's lawyer called her remarks prejudicial, inflammatory, libelous, and totally outrageous, and threatened to take legal action on behalf of his client. While local support had been strong in the early stages of Natalie's disappearance, things were starting to turn. On Tuesday, July 5, over 200 locals gathered outside the courthouse in support of the Aruban judiciary system, with some holding signs saying, innocent until proven guilty, and respect our laws or go home.

An angry businessman later told a journalist for Vanity Fair magazine, This is just a concerted attack on Aruba, a terrorist attack. Why blame the whole island, a whole country, for something that is out of our control? Beth Twitty attacks our justice system. What about yours? John Benet, was that ever solved? Michael Jackson, he gets off. OJ, that's American justice. And the woman is criticizing us. Three days later, Beth released a statement apologizing for her comments, saying, I would like to apologize to the Aruban people and to the Aruban authorities if I or my family offended you in any way. I realized that the Aruban legal system abides by the presumption

of innocence, and I want to reassure everyone that I do respect the Aruban legal system. In mid-July, a park ranger searching on the northeast coast of Aruba came across a piece of duct tape with several blonde hairs attached. The tape was sent to the Netherlands for forensic testing, but it was determined the hairs didn't belong to Natalie. Then, on Monday, July 18, divers found a barrel in the ocean near the Marriott Hotel. Speculation arose that it could contain Natalie's body, but it turned out to be full of concrete. A homeless man came forward, claiming he had been at the dump three days after Natalie went missing and had witnessed someone bury an object that looked like a human body. He was able to describe the exact location

the item had been buried, but as several weeks had passed by the time he made his report, a significant amount of garbage had been piled on the alleged site. Police officers, cadaver dogs, FBI agents, and a volunteer search team combed the landfill using backhoes and machinery. The cadaver dogs reacted to several specific areas, but they had only identified medical waste. After a week of searching in unpleasant conditions, the search was called off, with no trace of Natalie found. A fisherman also came forward to report that on the night of Natalie's disappearance, the fisherman's hearts had been robbed and a knife and a lobster cage had been stolen.

He didn't think to report the theft at the time, but now wondered whether it could be linked to the Holloway investigation, as the cage was large enough to fit a human body. According to Dave Holloway's book, he received an anonymous email claiming that Natalie's body had been put in the cage and dumped two miles offshore. Investigators ultimately ruled out the lead, as other witness statements had failed to place Natalie or Yuran on the beach near the fisherman's hearts in the first place. On Friday, July 22, a handyman and gardener named Carlos Panata came forward to police to provide a statement. In the early hours of Monday, May 30, Carlos was unable to sleep as it was hot and his apartment didn't have air conditioning.

He decided to drive to his boss's house where it was cooler, and sometime between 2.30 and 3.00 a.m., he took a shortcut down a dirt road near the Marriott Hotel, and came across a grey Honda Civic with a large pile of dirt nearby. His headlights lit up the car, and he saw the faces of Yuran Vendisload and Deepak Calpo in the front seat and Satish Calpo in the back. Carlos refused to sign his statement, saying he wanted nothing more to do with the case, and then left a rubour to go on a sailing holiday. Upon his return to the island in early August, Carlos Panata spoke to the police again, explaining that he hadn't come forward sooner with his information as he was nervous.

He was aware of the two innocent security guards who had been taken into custody in relation to the investigation, and was hesitant to draw any attention to himself. His employer had also advised him to wait before speaking with authorities due to the amount of media attention the case was getting when it initially broke. Based on Carlos' assertions, a large-scale search of the area surrounding the Marriott Hotel was carried out. Infrared technology detected a heat source in a pond near the ocean, but it turned out to be a decomposing shellfish. On Monday, August 8, Beth Tweedy confronted Deepak Calpo in the internet cafe where he worked.

She was accompanied by a film crew from American cable channel MSNBC. She stood over him silently for several minutes before asking him a string of questions, including whether he was involved in Natalie's disappearance, or if he had tried to help her. Beth offered him a choice between the reward money or life in prison. Deepak responded that his lawyer had advised him to remain silent. Police suspected that Yoran's best friend and neighbour, Freddy Zaddan, knew more than he was letting on. It had been brought to their attention that Freddy had allegedly taken explicit photographs of an underage teenager, which he had then posted

to his website where he referred to himself as the Loco Man Pimp. On Friday, August 26, police arrested Freddy on suspicion of committing a crime. Freddy denied knowing any further details, and his lawyer argued the images on his website were nothing more than a teenager wearing a bikini. Freddy's charges were dropped, and he was released the same day. Also on August 26, the police took a risk by re-arresting Deepak and Satish Kalpo. Yoran had claimed that Natalie had passed out several times while he was touching her, an act that could be considered sex without consent. The police tried to scare the Kalpo brothers into talking by threatening that they could

be considered accessories to this crime by virtue of being in the same car. But neither of them revealed any new information and were free to go. On Saturday, September 3, a magistrate determined there wasn't enough evidence to hold Yoran van der Sloot for a further 30 days, and he was released. Two days later, he left a rubour and relocated to his hometown of Arnhem in the Netherlands, where he moved in with a relative and enrolled in college to study international business management. His gambling habit increased, and to support his addiction, he accepted payment from various media outlets to speak about the Holloway case. When reflecting on his involvement to Dutch television news program A Current Affairs, Yoran stated,

I should have just stayed home and this wouldn't have happened to me. I just tried to look at it that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe even with the wrong people, and I just hope that the truth comes out, that there comes some clarity in the case. By September 2005, Natalie Holloway had been missing for three months, and not a single piece of physical evidence had emerged to indicate her whereabouts. Had her body been dumped at sea, it would have likely washed up on shore by now, or been discovered during one of the various searches. Even if her remains had been destroyed by marine life, some items or scraps of clothing would have likely surfaced. Despite investigators holding great fears for the missing 18-year-old,

there still wasn't a shred of evidence to indicate that a crime had occurred. The reward for information was increased to $1 million, with a separate reward of $100,000 available for the recovery of Natalie's remains. The American media continued to follow Natalie's case, making it the most reported news event in the United States in 2005. An article in Vanity Fair titled, Missing White Female, claimed Natalie's disappearance received the same amount of media coverage as the Iraq War. It was also critical of the attention, as it detracted from other missing person cases, especially those with less public appeal. The article stated, quote,

Natalie's story has all the elements the justice shows adore, an innocent victim missing or murdered, avenging loved ones, and a handsome white male suspect. Throw in a gaggle of luckless cops and colorful minor characters, set it all in an island paradise, and you have the kind of real-life mystery that keeps Americans glued to their seats. Dave Holloway later said in his book, Though some might view Natalie as just another blonde, white American girl to whom the media tends to pay more attention than minorities, people of every race and religion have come forward to extend to us compassion and understanding. The media allowed her into everyone's home and everyone's hearts. This tragedy could have happened to anyone's child, black, white, rich,

poor, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever. There are no lines to be drawn when it comes to a parent losing a child. Hopefully, the media has brought that home to the world. After four months in a rubah searching for her daughter, Beth Twitty returned to the United States. She told reporters it was idealistic to expect that Americans would receive the same kind of justice overseas that they did at home, stating, When Americans leave the United States, we should be prepared to leave behind all of those expectations. In early October, Beth received a voicemail on her phone from a private number. The message contained a female voice saying, Mum, help me. The FBI analyzed the voicemail against genuine

recordings of Natalie's voice and ultimately ruled it out as a hoax. Accusations that the Rubin police force was purposely thwarting the investigation as part of some kind of cover-up ran rife in the US. In response, a Rubin official accused Natalie's family of hindering their efforts, claiming the pressure they put upon law enforcement to prematurely arrest Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpo brothers ruined their chances of gathering the evidence required to find their daughter. A Rubin deputy police chief, Geralt Dompic, told the media, They brought out their big guns on the very first day and they started shooting. They didn't understand the way things are done in our system. They didn't want to understand.

They act like they came from a world where you can just crush people. It was very harmful to our investigation. Feeling let down by a Rubin law enforcement and the locals who no longer supported her, Beth called for Americans to boycott the island. She believed it would encourage anyone who had information but was too scared to speak to come forward. Beth appeared on various major television networks to promote the boycott, alleging that a Rubin police weren't doing their jobs and that they refused to hand over a single piece of information regarding the case to the FBI. A spokesperson for the FBI disputed this claim, telling television news channels CNN that the a Rubin police had supplied them with all relevant information

and the prime minister had fully supported American authorities participation in the investigation. Beth's husband to Jug Twitty was well connected with the American Republican Party and they used his connections to get various politicians involved. Beth told Vanity Fair that she intended to strike against a Rubin and on Tuesday, November 8, the governor of Alabama Bob Riley held a press conference to urge all Americans to boycott a Rubin and called for all other states to follow his lead. Quote, until their lack of law enforcement practices can be evaluated and until they offer some resolution in Natalie's case, tourists are not safe in a Ruba or any Dutch territories. A Rubin prime minister, Nelson Odebair, called the boycott preposterous and irresponsible,

telling the media, a Rubin investigators have done their best to solve the mystery and the entire island doesn't deserve to be punished. We are not guerrillas, we are not terrorists. A few other American states, including Georgia and Arkansas, called for a boycott, but they received no support from the federal government. In response, members of a Rubin's tourism, hospitality and public relations industries formed a task force to speak out against the negative portrayals of the island. Natalie's father, Dave, was against the boycott. Although he was disappointed with many elements of the investigation, he didn't want the actions of a small group of officials to negatively impact the whole island. Yet, local support for Natalie's

family in a Ruba had since dwindled, exacerbated by reports that the Mountain Brook High students were poorly behaved throughout their visit in May. As a result, the Holiday Inn had told the school that their senior class was not welcome to return the following year. An a Rubin businessman who had previously been an ally for Natalie's family told Vanity Fair, they're killing a Ruba. That girl, Natalie, I wish she'd stayed home. I hope she's found alive there. The kid is just not worth all this trouble, this heartache. Is Natalie worth it? Is she? American psychologist turned television host Dr. Phil McGraw had been outspoken in his support of Natalie Holloway's family, having sent his own investigative team to search a Ruba and speak to

witnesses. He advocated for the boycott of the island, and on Wednesday, November 2, appeared on American Late Night Talk Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he stated he had reason to believe Natalie was still alive and being held as a sex slave. After the segment aired, Dave Holloway received a phone call from a woman who claimed she had been across the street from the Holiday Inn on the night Natalie went missing. She saw two men whom she believed to be some kind of royalty trying to coerce a young blonde-haired woman to join them. The witness didn't think anything of it at the time and left a Ruba the following morning. She then put the dots together after seeing Dr. Phil's late night interview. A Saudi prince was on the island

the night Natalie disappeared, but nothing further came from the lead. A private investigator and polygraph expert named Jamie Skeeters was hired by Dr. Phil to travel to a Ruba. Using a hidden camera, he interviewed Deepak Cowpo, who called Natalie a slut based on the way she dressed, spoke, and because she chose to go driving with three strange men, quote, and her mother claiming her to be the goody two shoes, enough with this BS already. Portions of the hidden camera interview were aired on the Dr. Phil show, with the footage showing Deepak respond to the question as to whether Natalie had sex with your aunt Satish and himself by saying, she did. You'd be surprised how simple it was.

He was also shown saying, if I knew where the body is, I would tell them a long time ago. Let them start the trial and get this over with. I don't care. After the snippets of the interview aired, a Rubin officials accused the Dr. Phil's producers of editing the footage to fit their agenda. In support of this claim, they released an uncut version of the tape, which showed Deepak shaking his head and saying no when asked if Natalie had sex with your aunt Satish and himself. The answer Deepak gave, saying you'd be surprised how simple it was, was actually in response to another question. In December 2005, the Cowpo brothers sued the Dr. Phil show for defamation, with the lawsuit alleging that the interview resulted to

create false statements incriminating them in Natalie's disappearance. Lawyers for Dr. Phil and CBS, the television network that aired the show, disputed the allegations. The case was ultimately dismissed after a long legal battle. Also in December of 2005, an American woman named Tracy Allen contacted Natalie's family as she had been holidaying in a ruba in May 2005. Nine days before Natalie went missing, Tracy took a morning stroll at 6.30 along a quiet stretch of beach near the Marriott Hotel. As she approached the fisherman huts, a man who was naked from the waist down ran out and launched an attack. He threatened Tracy with a stone, grabbed her by the arm, and attempted to pull her into his vehicle, which was waiting nearby with the engine running.

Tracy resisted and yelled out for help, attracting the attention of some local fishermen and prompting the attacker to flee. She had reported the incident to a Ruben police at the time, but nothing further came of it. She now wondered whether the same person who attacked her could have something to do with Natalie's disappearance. Tracy provided an official statement to the FBI and worked with a police sketch artist to create a composite image of her attacker. She described him as being around 25 years old with a dark complexion, round head, almond-shaped eyes, dark hair, a mustache, and wearing octagonal metal-framed glasses. The suspect sketch was circulated throughout a rubour, but no identifications were made.

A few weeks later, the FBI presented Tracy with a photographic lineup. She identified her assailant immediately, saying she was 100% positive it was the right man. In a bizarre coincidence, at the time Tracy identified him, the suspect was already being held in custody in a rubour for an expired visa. The police who were holding him were unaware of his alleged involvement in the attack on Tracy Allen and that he was a potential person of interest in the Natalie Holloway investigation. Before US authorities could question him, the suspect was released and he immediately fled to Columbia. The theory that Natalie had been sold into the sex trade was a popular one, with many suspecting Yoran and the Kalpo Brothers, or an unidentified kidnapper,

had facilitated the transaction. There were stories of similar-looking women who had been drugged in a rubour and sold to traffickers who transported them to Columbia, Venezuela, and surrounding Caribbean islands to work in brothels. This theory was bolstered by a report released by the US Department of State that claimed a rubour was commonly used to traffic women and children for sexual exploitation. According to the report, approximately 500 foreign women, some of whom had been unwillingly trafficked, were currently engaged in sex work in a rubour and the nearby island of Curacao. An Aruban woman reported she was talking on the phone one night when her line became crossed with a conversation between two men. One of the men allegedly

told the other he had seen a woman resembling Natalie Holloway at a brothel in the Colombian capital city of Bogota. He wanted to report the sighting to the FBI, but couldn't out of fear his family would find out he had visited a brothel. The call itself could not be verified. Another theory was that Natalie had been recruited or trafficked into the pornography industry. Investigators cast their suspicion on Paul B, an American expat who operated a sex tourism business in a rubour under the pseudonym Mr Pink. Paul B offered erotic tours in which he would take foreign visitors to the red light district to find a woman who fit their personal preferences. His website touted, prostitution is 100% legal in a rubour and from personal

experience I can tell you that you will find the safest and most passionate women in the world here. We ensure that you will get unbelievable sex. Paul B also ran a photography studio in a rubour and had been seeking models to pose for him by running ads asking women to quote, join the party. It was also discovered that he had returned to the United States shortly after Natalie Holloway's disappearance. Paul B's erubian businesses were registered to a post office box in Florida so the FBI obtained his phone records and kept a close eye on him. With no new leads or breakthroughs Natalie Holloway slowly faded from the headlines and her case eventually went cold. A year later in December of 2006 Beth and Jug Twitty filed for

divorce after six years of marriage resulting in Natalie's untouched bedroom being packed up and cleared out. Decorated in shades of purple and green the room was adorned with photos of Natalie and her friends, certificates of her achievements and a collection of memorabilia from her favorite movie The Wizard of Oz. Her graduation robe and several new outfits she had bought to take to college still hung in the closet. As Beth described in her book loving Natalie a mother's testament of hope and faith. Natalie loved it in here it was her place to work and her place of solace it's where she giggled with friends and studied for tests it's where she dressed for the prom it's Natalie's own space and everything in it represents her she was a hard working young lady

full of life smart gutsy determined and very dependable she had always been that way in 2007 Dutch investigators reopened the case and forensic analysts examined computers that had been confiscated from Joran, Deepak and Satish following their initial arrest on June 9, 2005. Advances in forensic technology now allow investigators to recover their online chat history revealing some disturbing habits amongst the suspects and their circle of friends. The group appeared to have an obsession with picking up girls and taking them back to hotel rooms to photograph or video them engaging in sexual acts. In their online interactions the young men encouraged each other to commit ludax while referring to themselves as pimps and their group

as the Pimpology crew. A rumour had also circulated around Joran's high school that he had spiked Natalie's drink and she had died of an accidental overdose. Based on this new information investigators believed that the three suspects did not take Natalie to the beach as they alleged if they intended to film their encounter with the young woman for the Pimpology crew the beach wouldn't have provided adequate privacy or lighting it seemed much more likely that Natalie had been taken back to Joran's detached apartment at the rear of his family's home as his parents sometimes allowed him to have girls over. Computer analysis also revealed that when Joran returned home on the night of Natalie's disappearance he had visited various pornographic websites that specialized in

women having sex with men in the back seats of cars and buses. He had also downloaded two pornographic films from a website called nastydollars.com which was owned by an American production company called Reality Kings. Reality Kings was registered to an office in Florida near the post office box belonging to sex tourism operator Paul B aka Mr Pink. Investigators considered the possibility that Paul B had been supplying videos to Reality Kings some of which may have featured Natalie but there was no evidence to support this theory. Paul B was ultimately ruled out as a suspect he was later interviewed by Dutch investigators for the book The Holloway Files during which he explained that while he aimed to be a content producer he had never actually produced

a single pornography video he blamed his sudden departure from a ruba on the negative impact the Holloway case had on tourism. The pornography link was ultimately ruled out but based on their online chat history it still seemed plausible that Joran and the Calpo brothers had intended to capture footage of Natalie. She may have been killed by accident or died from a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol. On Wednesday November 21, 2007 Joran was re-arrested in the Netherlands and transported to a ruba this time on suspicion of manslaughter and causing serious bodily harm. Deepak and Satish Calpo were also arrested for the same offences. Prosecutors put forward that the

provided new evidence against the trio but lawyers for the accused argued there was nothing amongst them to confirm that Natalie Holloway had died or that their clients were involved. An attorney for the Calpo brothers said it's like trying to say the Loch Ness monster exists. A judge agreed there wasn't enough evidence to hold the suspects in custody. Deepak and Satish were released on November 30 while Joran was held for an additional week before he was let go on December 7. Almost three years after Natalie disappeared her case hit headlines once again when Dutch crime reporter Peter De Vries claimed he had a video of Joran van der Sloot confessing to her

murder and would soon be broadcasting it on Dutch television. A preview for the segment showed Dutch prosecutors reading a transcript of the alleged confession and remarking, This is very impressive. We have thought to ourselves that this was a very probable chain of events but until now we lacked sufficient evidence. Clearly it's the first time that he's confessed to somebody. This is his coming out. The footage aired on Sunday February 3, 2008. Seven million Dutch citizens, almost half the population, tuned in to watch.

It featured a sting that had been orchestrated by De Vries and a friend of Joran's named Patrick van der Rijn. Patrick had contacted the reporter months earlier to say he didn't believe Joran's story about what happened to Natalie and agreed to take part in a sting operation in exchange for $35,000. De Vries installed three hidden cameras in Patrick's car and captured 20 hours of footage over a five-day period as he and Joran drove around chatting and smoking cannabis. The conversation eventually turned to the subject of Natalie Holloway. Joran confessed that he and Natalie had been having sex on the beach when she suddenly had a seizure and died. He had used a pay phone to call a friend named Dory who had a boat and helped him

take Natalie's body out to sea. Afterwards, he walked home alone. Joran told Patrick, She's dead, of course. I think I'll never get caught for this. I had absolutely no bad feelings about it. I have not lost one night of sleep over it. I think that I am incredibly lucky that she has never been found because if she had been found, I would be in deep shit. After the footage aired, Joran told Dutch reporters that he had been lying to Patrick in a bid to impress him. Patrick was a former criminal turned successful businessman who had served time in prison for dealing drugs and Joran claimed he thought the story was what Patrick wanted to hear. Joran did have a friend named Dory who was tracked down but he denied having

anything to do with Natalie's death, telling investigators he wasn't even in a rube at the time. A Rube and prosecutors attempted to use the video confession to have Joran re-arrested but the request was denied by a judge on account of Joran alleging he'd made the whole story up. Regardless, Natalie's mother who had since reverted to her first married name of Beth Holloway was of the opinion that the alleged confession was likely true. She believed the person who had helped dispose of her daughter's body was not Dory but Joran's father, Paulus van der Sloot. Beth also stated that if the story was true, Natalie might have still been alive if Joran had sought help. Once again, Joran was facing intense public scrutiny.

He told his parents he needed a fresh start when nobody knew his name so he flew to Australia. According to the book Portrait of a Monster by Lisa Pulitzer and Carl Thompson, he was refused entry and decided to meet a friend in Thailand instead. He enrolled in a university roughly 20 miles north of the bustling capital of Bangkok. In November of 2008, Joran reached out to American journalist Greta Van Susteren who had covered Natalie's case extensively over the years for her Fox News current affairs show On the Record. Joran said that for the price of $25,000 he was ready to confess the truth and had evidence to prove his claims. Greta and her production crew were dubious but they paid him

an instalment and travelled to Bangkok to conduct an interview. When the cameras were rolling, Joran stated that he sold Natalie Holloway into sex slavery and had finally decided to come clean because there was a chance she could still be alive. According to Joran, he was in a Reuben casino in February 2005 when a man aged in his 30s offered him $10,000 to supply him a blonde woman. The man didn't specify what he wanted the woman for and Joran didn't give it much more thought until three months later when he met Natalie. He told the man he had found a suitable girl and was ordered to bring her to the beach outside the Marriott Hotel later that night and to call him once they arrived. Joran claimed that he did not intend to go through with the

plan until Natalie started hitting on him at Carlos and Charlie's. At 1am in front of Natalie, he called the buyer and spoke in Dutch to tell him to meet them on the beach in one hour. Joran told Natalie they were going to the beach so he could take her out for a boat ride. When the boat arrived it wasn't until she was on board that she realised he wouldn't be joining her and began to panic. The boat sped away with Natalie on it and Joran then called the Deepak to come and pick him up. Deepak was busy chatting with his girlfriend online so he sent Satish instead. Joran then gave each of the Calpo brothers $1,000 for their assistance. Joran claimed his father later found doubt about the sale and said that Natalie had been shipped to Venezuela.

He insisted that he had a wire transfer receipt proving the $10,000 transaction took place in addition to a second identical payment which the buyer wired to him to encourage his silence. He also had three audio tapes implicating his father and two were Reuben police officers in the cover-up. He provided these items to the production team who passed them on to relevant experts but their authenticity was unable to be verified. Soon after the on-the-record team returned to the United States Joran sent Greta van Sastren a text message saying that everything he had told her was a lie. He had fabricated the entire story for the money and to get back at her for relentlessly pursuing him during the 2005

investigation. Regardless the interview was aired four months later garnering high ratings. Joran's American attorney Joe Takapina appeared on the show and accused the journalist of exploiting his client for her own gains. Quote, if you offered Joran $10,000 tomorrow and asked him to tell a fifth story he would do it. Clearly he's a sick kid. No one expects anyone to believe anything this kid has to say anymore. Quite frankly he's on the verge of sociopath. Dutch crime reporter Peter De Vries received reports that the real reason Joran had moved to Thailand was that a friend had told him there was the potential to earn lots of money by trafficking Thai women to the Netherlands to work in the sex trade. According to news website

The Daily Beast, Joran spent his evenings posing as a modelling agent named Murphy Jenkins who was looking for exotic dancers to work in high-end strip clubs in Holland going so far as having a fake business card created. In reality upon their arrival to Europe the unsuspecting women would be forced into sex work. After his first few weeks in Bangkok Joran allegedly emailed friends back home and bragged that he had already recruited a dozen women earning him a finder's fee of $13,000 for each one. He invested his money in a local coffee shop that became a popular hangout for students providing an easy hunting ground for him to find new recruits. Peter De Vries and his team travelled to Bangkok and set up a hidden camera inside a hotel room

capturing Joran telling a group of underage women they could earn $15,000 a day in the Netherlands to quote shake your ass. The women handed over 1,000 euros to secure the required travel documentation. In November 2008 De Vries aired the footage but this time the journalist was accused of hiring the women featured to pose as potential recruits to set up Joran and the footage was deemed as tabloidism. It has been reported that Dutch authorities launched an investigation into Joran for human trafficking but did not uncover enough evidence to place any charges. In 2009 Joran continued to spend his time travelling throughout Asia to compete in various poker tournaments. Struggling for money he agreed to an interview with the YARP Amaz, a Dutch reality TV star turned host of the

shock value television show Terra YARP. He agreed to undergo a polygraph test during which he claimed to have taken Natalie to a friend's house where they snorted cocaine. She had fallen to her death from a balcony and Joran then disposed of her body in a swamp. The polygraph test indicated he was lying, prompting Joran to storm dramatically off the stage. In February 2010 Joran's father Paulus Bandesload was playing tennis when he suffered a fatal heart attack and died. Joran sold his Bangkok cafe and returned to a ruba to support his mother. A month later, in March 2010, Beth Holloway's lawyer John Kelly received an email from the now 22-year-old Joran Bandesload, claiming his family had run into financial difficulty following

his father's death and he was ready to come clean about what happened to Natalie. For $250,000, Joran said he would disclose the location of Natalie's remains and provide specific details about how she died. He requested an initial payment of $25,000 with the remainder to be paid after he had provided the information. Recognizing it as an opportunity to have Joran arrested for wire fraud and extortion, Kelly contacted the FBI who helped set up a sting. On Monday May 10, an undercover agent arranged to meet Joran in a ruba where a hidden video camera captured him handing over $10,000 in cash. The remaining $15,000 was wired to a bank account in Joran's name. With the payment in his possession, Joran took Kelly to a single-story

house approximately five miles from the Mariette Hotel. He claimed the house had been under construction in May 2005 and his father had buried Natalie underneath the foundations. This information lacked any credibility as the house Joran was referencing was just a vacant block of land in May 2005. Joran sent Kelly another email, admitting everything he had said was a lie. He later told Dutch newspaper The Telegraph, I wanted to get back at Natalie's family. Her parents have been making my life tough for five years. When they offered to pay for the girl's location, I thought, why not? Four days later, while the FBI prepared to charge Joran with extortion, he used the $25,000 extortion money

to flee the country. He left his mother a note, saying he had been invited to participate in a poker tournament in Peru. On Sunday May 31, 2010, 58-year-old Ricardo Flores awoke in his home in Chacarilla, an affluent neighborhood in the Cerco district of Lima, Peru. As a prominent businessman, race car driver and former president of the Peruvian Automobile Club, Ricardo's family enjoyed a comfortable upper-class lifestyle in a country where much of the population was impacted by poverty. He had been able to put all five of his children through private school, take them on overseas vacations, and provide them with money and anything else they needed. As reported in the book Portrait of a Monster, Ricardo's 21-year-old daughter, Stephanie Flores, had recently asked

for $1,000 to buy a new laptop, which she needed for the business administration degree she was studying at the University of Lima. Ricardo had obliged, even though he had growing concerns that Stephanie was developing a problematic gambling habit and would use the money at the casino. The Flores family had always enjoyed playing poker against one another, but Stephanie had started frequenting various casinos throughout Lima and expressing a desire to become a professional poker player. Although she was incredibly smart and excelled at most things, Ricardo believed gambling was dangerous as his daughter had a very competitive side and couldn't stand to lose. Stephanie had spent the previous night out with new friends from college,

and when Ricardo looked into her bedroom, he was shocked to see she wasn't there. He called her mobile phone several times, but it went straight to voicemail. By mid-morning, he and his wife Maria Helena were panic-stricken and called everyone they knew, but no one had seen their daughter. By the afternoon, they reported Stephanie to be missing. As they didn't know many of her friends, they were unable to ascertain who she had spent the night with or her last known whereabouts. Stephanie was close with her family and lived a happy life, making it unlikely that she had run away. Kidnapping for ransom was common in Peru, with tourists and affluent families often targeted.

At 1pm on Monday afternoon, a police officer located Stephanie's black jeep in a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood. The only obvious thing missing was a Nintendo Wii video game console that Stephanie had with her when she left her house on Saturday, but there were no signs of foul play. Stephanie's phone provider, Nextel, was unable to provide GPS activity from her phone, but they were able to provide a list of the most recent outgoing calls. Ricardo Flores called these numbers and got hold of Stephanie's friend, Carola, who confirmed she had spent the day and night of Saturday with Stephanie. The two had lunch at a restaurant, visited a carnival, played video games,

and then went out to a bar with another female friend from college. Stephanie had dropped each of the women home at around 2am, sending Carola a text message around an hour later to let her know she had arrived home safely. Carola said that Stephanie had been in possession of a large sum of money, which she claimed to have won at the casino days prior. Stephanie was known to frequent the Atlantic Casino in Mira Flores, an upscale casino owned by a friend of the Flores family. The casino's surveillance tapes were reviewed, revealing she hadn't actually returned home after her night out with friends,

but instead headed straight to the poker table. The footage captured her in the presence of a tall Caucasian man whom she appeared to be somewhat familiar with. At 5.15am on the morning of Sunday, May 31, surveillance cameras in the parking lot captured the pair driving off together in Stephanie's jeep. Casino staff confirmed the young man seen with Stephanie had won a small prize in a raffle draw and had entered his name and passport number on the winning ticket. They retrieved the receipt, revealing him to be 22-year-old Joran Vandersload. The immediate concerns of local authorities were that Joran had been kidnapped along with Stephanie

and was also a missing person. The Natalie Holloway case had never made headlines in Peru, and as he had never been charged for any crime, authorities and customs officials were unaware of his history. But when Peruvian investigators googled Joran's name, they were shocked to discover he was linked to the disappearance of another young woman, whom he had also met in a casino. What's more, the day he was last seen with Stephanie marked the five-year anniversary of Natalie's disappearance. A hunt commenced to find Joran and the police prepared to release his image to the media. Meanwhile, a call came in from the hotel TAC, a budget hotel on the outskirts of Miraflores.

A receptionist hadn't seen the occupant of room 309 in several days, and his bill was two days overdue. She remembered Joran Vandersload clearly as his fair complexion and tall statue stood out amongst the other Peruvian travellers. Using a spare key, she entered his room and was hit with a foul stench. The room was in disarray with items scattered throughout and the TV blaring. A tennis racket was tangled amongst the bedsheets which were bundled up on the floor. To the right of the bed, lay the blood-soaked and badly decomposed body of Stephanie Flores. Her wallet sat beside her, empty of its credit cards and cash. News of Stephanie's murder hit the media and an international manhunt for Joran Vandersload

ensued. Immigration documents were checked and it was soon revealed that Joran had crossed over the border into Chile, along with two Peruvian nationals. The Peruvians were tracked down and they claimed Joran had offered them 500 US dollars to drive him from Ica, a Peruvian town 150 miles south of Lima, to Areca, a small Chilean town just across the border. The drive took approximately 15 hours. Once they had crossed into Chile, Joran claimed the ATMs wouldn't accept his international debit card and only provided his drivers with a portion of the promised payment. To compensate, he handed his escorts several personal items, including his watch, cell phone, digital camera, a bottle of cologne, a polo shirt and foot powder.

Joran's image was distributed by the Chilean media and citizens were told to be on high alert. On Thursday, June 3, 2010, a toll booth attendant outside of the Zapata tunnel west of the city of Curacave saw a tall Caucasian man attempting to look inconspicuous in the backseat of a taxi. Although he had slightly different hair than the image of Joran circulating in the press, the attendant recognized the Dutchman and notified the police. Within minutes, several police cars descended on the highway and placed him under arrest without incident. He had since shaped his head and dyed his remaining hair orange. Joran was taken to a police station in downtown Santiago where he made no comment and looked

calm as he was ushered into the station as gathering hordes of press yelled his name. Joran initially told the police that two armed men posing as policemen had broken into his hotel room demanding cash. Fearing for his life, he had escaped, leaving Stephanie behind. He drove her car away from the scene, dumped it a few blocks away from the hotel, and then fled the country. He claimed he only learned about Stephanie's death upon his arrival in Chile when he saw an article about it in the news. He soon admitted that he had met Stephanie at the Atlantic Casino a few days before her death after she won close to $10,000 in a poker tournament. On May 30, she told Joran she wasn't interested in men but asked him to help hone

her poker skills. Joran was intoxicated, having consumed approximately 10 alcoholic beverages and smoked cannabis when he and Stephanie decided to go back to his hotel room to play online poker. While Stephanie was playing on Joran's computer, a Facebook message popped up that read, I'm going to kill you, you little mongoloid. Joran explained the threat was in relation to the disappearance of Natalie Holloway. Stephanie googled Natalie Holloway and then panicked and started lashing out at Joran, allegedly punching him on the left side of his head. Joran retaliated, telling the police, I did not want to do it. The girl intruded in my private life. She had no right. She was frightened, we argued, and she wanted to get away. I grabbed her by the neck and hit her.

Joran said he struck Stephanie in the face with his right elbow, rendering her semi-unconscious. There was blood everywhere which caused him to panic and lose control. He grabbed Stephanie by the neck and started strangling her before removing his blood-soaked t-shirt and using it to supplicate her until she stopped breathing. Joran, quote, I lost control of my actions. I remember what I was doing, but not the motive. It was an impulsive act after receiving a blow to the head. After I responded with hitting her, I feared that she would go to the police. I think I wanted to kill her because I wasn't thinking. Following the murder, Joran left the hotel room to purchase coffee and cake. He returned to his

room where he ate his meal while Stephanie's lifeless body lay on the floor. Afterwards, he took his laptop and some cash and fled to Chile. Joran tried to barter a deal with investigators, offering to speak truthfully about the Natalie Holloway case in exchange for being extradited back to Aruba. An autopsy of Stephanie's body revealed that much of Joran's confession was a lie. A coroner found her injuries were consistent with having been beaten to death, while a toxicology report confirmed that Joran had not taken any drugs at the time of the vicious attack. He's claimed that he was high on cannabis, was viewed as strategic, as perpetrators of serious crimes in Peru are given leniency if they committed the act while under the influence of drugs.

Joran Vandersloot was held in Lima's Miguel Castro prison to await trial. On Friday, November 12, 2010, an American couple vacationing in Aruba were walking along the beach near the Phoenix Hotel, approximately one mile south from the Holiday Inn, when they found what appeared to be a human jaw bone with a single tooth attached. The bone was determined to have originated from a young female. It was sent to the Netherlands for further analysis, where the attached tooth was identified as a wisdom tooth. Natalie Holloway's dental records confirmed she had already had all of her wisdom teeth removed, ruling out the possibility that the jaw bone belonged to her. It was checked against Aruba's other missing person records,

but exposure to harsh elements made it impossible to determine the owner's identity. Given that an intense hurricane season had stirred up the surrounding oceans, it was speculated that the bone could have washed up from Curacao or Venezuela. In June 2011, Dave Holloway filed a petition to have his daughter declared legally dead in order to settle her estate. Dave told the judge he believed Natalie was no longer alive and wanted to stop payments on her medical insurance and use her $2,000 college fund to help her younger brother. Beth Holloway initially opposed the petition, citing a lack of evidence to indicate Natalie was deceased, but changed her mind once she understood Dave's intent.

A probate judge signed the order, officially declaring Natalie Holloway legally dead. Beth released a statement explaining that Dave wanted to see the order through, but she would, quote, always hope and pray for Natalie's safe return. Dave told reporters, hopefully this meeting today will provide some closure. We've still got a long way to go to get justice. In mid-September 2011, Beth Holloway and Dutch journalist Peter De Vries flew to Peru to visit Uran van der Sloot in prison. It was the first time Beth and Uran had met face-to-face since the day after Natalie's disappearance, but he remained tight-lipped, saying that any

requests for a meeting must go through his lawyer. Beth and De Vries were accused of trying to film the interaction for television, which Beth's lawyer John Kelly denied, explaining, I just think she wanted him to know she wasn't going away. This had nothing to do with the case. There was a mother trying to bring her daughter home. The president of Peru, Alan Garcia Perez, stated that Uran would have to stand trial in Peru before any requests for extradition would be considered. In an attempt to delay legal proceedings, Uran tried to enter a plea of temporary insanity, but on January 11, 2012, he eventually pleaded guilty to Stephanie Flores's murder.

His lawyer requested a lenient sentence on the grounds that his client had been under a significant amount of stress on the day the murder occurred, as it marked the five-year anniversary of Natalie Holloway's disappearance. Quote, He was pointed at and persecuted. The world had been against him for five years. Two days later, on Friday, January 13, Uran van der Sloot was sentenced to serve 28 years in a maximum security prison north of Lima and ordered to pay approximately $74,000 to the Flores family. A lawyer for the family, who had chosen not to speak to the media throughout their ordeal, told the press. This individual is a psychopath and a psychopath cannot be freed.

Peruvian authorities agreed to extradite Uran to the United States to face charges for extortion and wire fraud, but not until his 28-year sentence was complete. Prior to his conviction, Uran's mother Anita van der Sloot told Dutch reporters, I believe in karma. I believe that if you do things that you shouldn't do, that a lot of shit happens to you. He didn't want to listen to his parents. He didn't listen to me this last time. I tried to do my best. I don't think I could have done more. While in prison, Uran van der Sloot began a relationship with 24-year-old trainee accountant Lady Figaroa, whom he met while she was visiting an incarcerated relative. In July 2014, the two were married and Lady soon gave birth to their first child.

When he allegedly threatened to kill the prison warden, Uran was transferred to the notoriously rough and unsanitary Chalapalka prison, high in the Andes. Lady Figaroa spoke to the Daily Mail newspaper about the conditions he was forced to endure, adding that Uran had since found God and was seeking forgiveness for the evil he had committed in the past. In 2016, Dave Holloway hired a private investigator named T.J. Ward to go over all the evidence relating to his daughter's disappearance, during which a new lead emerged. A man named Gabriel told Ward that his former roommate, an American named John Ludwick, had been a close friend of Uran's in 2005 and claimed to know what happened to Natalie.

Gabriel agreed to participate in hidden camera conversations with Ludwick, capturing him confessing to helping dispose of Natalie's body. Ludwick was then interviewed by Ward, during which he claimed that on the night of Natalie's disappearance, Uran laced her drink with GHB, a dangerous party drug that produces feelings of euphoria and relaxation, as well as increased social and sexual urges. According to Ludwick, Natalie had subsequently overdosed and choked to death on her own vomit. Uran had called his father, who helped him bury Natalie's body behind a house near the Holiday Inn. Ludwick claimed that in 2010, Uran feared that investigators were closing in on him and offered him $1,500 to move the body.

He and Uran dug up Natalie's remains and attempted to crush her bones to the point that they would be unrecognizable. They also set her skull on fire in a bid to destroy any hair fibers. Ludwick then combined her remains with those of a deceased dog and took them to a crematorium, where he told the worker they belonged to his beloved pet and offered $200 to let him cremate the body. Afterwards, he and Uran borrowed a boat and headed out to sea, where they scattered the ashes. In collaboration with Dave Holloway and TJ Ward, a production company decided to document the saga for a six-part mini-series titled The Disappearance of Natalie Holloway. An excavation of the alleged burial site was commissioned, during which four bone fragments were recovered. The bones were

sent for forensic analysis, with Beth agreeing to provide a saliva sample to a single person. The series aired on the Oxygen channel on Friday, August 19, 2016. Forensic scientist Dr Jason Kalowski appeared on the show to present his findings, concluding that only one of the four bone samples tested positive for human mitochondrial DNA, meaning it was the only one that was human. Yet, it wasn't a match for Natalie. Dr Kalowski explained, we don't know how old that person is, we don't know how long that person has been dead. It was later revealed that John Ludwick had knowingly obtained all four bones from the remains of a wild boar. The bone that tested positive for human mitochondrial DNA had likely

done so because it had been handled by Ludwick. The producers of the show allegedly knew the bones weren't human before the segment was filmed, but never relayed the truth to Beth Holloway. In February of 2018, Beth filed a federal lawsuit against the producers of the show, alleging that the disappearance of Natalie Holloway was a fake, scripted documentary that subjected her to weeks of agony and uncertainty as she waited for the results of the bone testing. She alleged the show was a, quote, pre-planned farce calculated to give the impression of real-time events and that many of its participants, including John Ludwick, were paid for their involvement. She sought $20 million in compensatory damages

and $30 million in punitive damages for their actions, which the lawsuit claimed completely and utterly destroyed her. The case is scheduled for trial in September 2020. One month after Beth's lawsuit was filed, John Ludwick attempted to kidnap a female former roommate for whom he had unreciprocated romantic feelings. 23-year-old Emily was getting out of her car just before 7 a.m. when Ludwick appeared, held a knife to her throat, and ordered her into her vehicle. A struggle ensued, and Emily managed to grab the knife and stab Ludwick. Several times in self-defense. Bleeding profusely, he fled the scene on foot, but later died from his wounds. A spokesperson for the North Point Police Department said Emily

wouldn't face any charges, explaining she was a victim in this case. This gentleman had some ill intentions. She wasn't going quietly, and it ended very bad for him. On Monday, April 16, Emily appeared on The Doctor Phil Show, claiming that Ludwick had previously told her that Nutterly Holloway died on the beach after having a seizure, and that Powless Vandersloat had helped his son, your aunt, dispose of her body. Ludwick claimed he later retrieved and burned Nutterly's remains so her body could never be found. As far as the Reuben Public Prosecutor's Office is concerned, the Nutterly Holloway case has never been closed, and will continue to be reinvestigated any time new information surfaces.

Prosecutor Hans Klabber told ABC News that the cases against Joran Vandersloat and the Kalpo Brothers have been dismissed, and that, quote, only new facts and circumstances unknown at the moment of the dismissal can lead to reopening their cases. To this day, Nutterly's unsolved disappearance maintains an ongoing level of public interest. Her story has been covered in several books and movies, with both of her parents releasing their own accounts of the experience. In Dave Holloway's book, he writes, I cannot tell you how much it hurts to lose a child. There are no words to describe the feelings that choke a parent who outlives a daughter. It is never supposed to happen this way.

It is never supposed to happen this way. I was never prepared for this kind of pain, this type of emptiness. My heart has an insurmountable void that used to be filled with Nutterly's presence. Over the years, Beth Holloway has helped fund several non-profit organizations, including the Nutterly Holloway Resource Center, which provides support for the families of missing persons, and the Safe Travels Foundation, which provides education services for young travelers. Her 2007 book, Loving Nutterly, a mother's testament of hope and faith, made it to the New York Times bestseller list and provided the inspiration for two subsequent films on the Lifetime movie network. Beth's ongoing commitment to exposing the truth

about what happened to her daughter, in addition to her advocacy for other missing persons, earned her a position as the host of a Lifetime show called Vanished with Beth Holloway, which focused on empathetically telling the true stories of abductions, disappearances, and other crimes. The show ran for one season and covered Nutterly's story, as well as others previously covered by Casefire, including Case 59 Amy Lynn Bradley, and Case 3 Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman. In Loving Nutterly, Beth wrote that the main question people ask her is how she manages to keep going on her journey to find her daughter. She explained,

My answer is always hope. At one time or another, we've all experienced hope. That inexplicable empowerment that enables us to move successfully from challenge to resolution with courage. The guarantee that there's light at the end of whatever tunnel we're trying to find our way through. It's more than just a feeling, more than wishful thinking. But let me tell you, it's easy to lose faith when you're faced with bitter tragedy. It's easy to give in to pain and let go of hope. I learned this firsthand when Nutterly disappeared. I've learned a lot of things about hope since then.