Natalee Holloway
She disappeared from Aruba on May 30, 2005. The prime suspect Joran van der Sloot has made conflicting statements, but in 2023 made a major statement...
Holloway had visited Aruba with classmates following her high school graduation and was scheduled to fly home on May 30 but failed to appear for her flight.
She was last seen outside Carlos'n Charlie's, a restaurant and nightclub in Oranjestad, entering a car with local residents van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.
When the three men were questioned they claimed they had dropped off Holloway at her hotel and denied knowing what had become of her.
Upon further investigation by authorities, van der Sloot was arrested twice on suspicion of involvement in her disappearance and the Kalpoe brothers were each arrested three times.
Due to lack of evidence they were released each time without being charged with a crime. Holloway's parents criticized Aruban police for the lack of progress in the investigation. The family also called for a boycott of Aruba, which gained Alabama Governor Bob Riley's support but failed to gain widespread backing.
With the assistance of hundreds of volunteers Aruban investigators conducted an extensive search operation. American special agents from the FBI, fifty Dutch soldiers, and three specially equipped Dutch Air Force F-16 aircraft participated in the search. In addition to the ground search divers searched the ocean for Holloway's body. She was never found.
Early investigation
Immediately following Holloway's missed flight her mother and stepfather flew with friends to Aruba by private jet.
Within 4 hours of landing on the island the Twittys presented Aruban police with the name and address of van der Sloot, who was the person Holloway left the nightclub.
Beth stated that van der Sloot's full name was given to her by the night manager at the Holiday Inn who recognized him on a video.
The Twittys and their friends went to the van der Sloot residence with two Aruban policemen to look for Holloway.
Van der Sloot initially denied knowing Holloway's name, but then told a story corroborated by Deepak Kalpoe, who was also there. Van der Sloot stated that they drove Holloway to the California Lighthouse area of Arashi Beach because she wanted to see sharks.
They later dropped Holloway off at her hotel at around 2:00 a.m. According to van der Sloot Holloway fell down as she exited the car but refused his help. He stated that as he and Deepak were driving away, Holloway was approached by a dark man in a black shirt similar to those worn by security guards.
Reports indicated that Holloway did not appear on any nighttime security camera footage of the Holiday Inn lobby.
However Twitty has made varying statements as to whether the cameras were operational that night. According to an April 19, 2006, statement made by Twitty the video cameras at the hotel were not functioning the night Holloway vanished.
WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS SEEM TO HAPPEN??
Twitty has made other statements indicating that they were working and stated so in her book. Police Commissioner Jan van der Straaten — the initial head of the investigation until his 2005 retirement — said that Holloway did not have to go through the lobby to return to her room.
2005 arrests of multiple suspects
On June 5 Aruban police detained Nick John and Abraham Jones former security guards from the nearby Allegro Hotel (which was closed for renovation) on suspicion of murder and kidnapping.
Authorities have never officially disclosed the reason for their arrests but according to news accounts, statements made by van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers may have been a factor in their arrests.
Reports also indicated that the two former guards were known for cruising hotels to pick up women, and at least one of them had a prior incident with law enforcement. John and Jones were released on June 13 without being charged.
On June 9 van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers were arrested on suspicion of the kidnapping and murder of Holloway.
Aruban law allows for investigators to make an arrest based on serious suspicion.
According to Dompig the focus of the investigation centered on these three suspects from the "get-go".
He stated that close observation of the three men began three days after Holloway was reported missing and the investigation included surveillance, telephone wiretaps and even monitoring of their e-mail.
Dompig indicated that pressure from Holloway's family caused police to prematurely stop their surveillance and detain the three suspects.
As the investigation continued David Cruz — spokesman for the Aruban Minister of Justice — falsely indicated on June 11 that Holloway was dead and that authorities knew the location of her body.
Cruz later retracted the statement saying he was a victim of a "misinformation campaign".
That evening Dompig alleged to the Associated Press that one of the detained young men admitted "something bad happened" to Holloway after the suspects took her to the beach and that the suspect was leading police to the scene.
The next morning, prosecution spokeswoman Vivian van der Biezen said the investigation was at a "very crucial very important moment".
On June 17 a sixth person later identified as disc jockey Steve Gregory Croes was also arrested. Van der Straaten told the media that "Croes was detained based on information from one of the other three detainees."
On June 22 Aruban police detained van der Sloot's father, Paulus van der Sloot, for questioning.
Both Paulus and Croes were ordered to be released on June 26.
The Kalpoe brothers were rearrested on August 26 along with another new suspect, 21-year-old Freddy Arambatzis.
Arambatzis' lawyer said that his client was suspected of taking photographs of an underage girl and having inappropriate physical contact with the girl.
This incident allegedly occurred before the Holloway disappearance. Arambatzis' friends van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers were supposedly involved in the incident.
Van der Sloot's mother, Anita van der Sloot, stated, "It's a desperate attempt to get the boys to talk. But there is nothing to talk about."
On September 3 the four detained suspects were released by a judge despite the attempts of the prosecution to keep them in custody. The suspects were released on the condition that they remain available to police.
On September 14 all restrictions on the suspects were removed.
In the months following his release van der Sloot gave several interviews that explained his version of events. The most notable interview was broadcast on Fox News over three nights in March 2006.
During the interview, van der Sloot indicated that Holloway wanted to have sex with him, but he did not because he did not have a condom.
He stated that Holloway wanted them to stay on the beach, but that he had to go to school in the morning. According to van der Sloot he was picked up by Satish at about 3:00 a.m. and left Holloway sitting on the beach.
In August 2005, David Kock stated that his client had gone to sleep and had not returned to drive van der Sloot home.
Van der Sloot stated that he was somewhat ashamed to have left a young woman alone on the beach and admitted that he was not truthful at first because he was convinced that Holloway would soon turn up.
In January 2006 the FBI and Aruban authorities interviewed—or in some cases, re-interviewed—several of Holloway's classmates in Alabama.
On January 17 Aruban police searched for Holloway's body in sand dunes on the northwest coast of Aruba, as well as areas close by the Marriott Hotel beach.
Additional searches took place in March and April 2006.
Shortly before leaving the case, Dompig gave an interview to CBS News in which he stated that he believed Holloway was not murdered but probably died from alcohol and/or drug poisoning, and that someone later hid her body.
He also stated that Aruba had spent about $3 million on the investigation, which was about 40% of the police operational budget. Dompig indicated that there was evidence that pointed to possession of illicit drugs by Holloway. Members of Holloway's family denied that she used drugs.
2006 Arrests - Dutch investigation takeover
On April 15, 2006 Geoffrey van Cromvoirt was arrested by Aruban authorities on suspicion of criminal offenses related to dealing in narcotics which might have been related to the disappearance of Holloway.
On May 17, Guido Wever, the son of a former Aruban politician, was detained in the Netherlands on suspicion of assisting in the abducting, battering and killing of Holloway. Wever was questioned for six days in Utrecht. Aruban prosecutors initially sought his transfer to the island but he was instead released by agreement between the prosecutor and Wever's attorney.
At Aruba's request the Netherlands took over the investigation.
A book by van der Sloot and reporter Zvezdana Vukojevic, De zaak Natalee Holloway (The Case of Natalee Holloway) was published in Dutch in April 2007.
In the book van der Sloot gives his perspective of the night Holloway disappeared and the media frenzy that followed. He admits to and apologizes for his initial lies but maintains his innocence.
2007
Citing what was described as newly discovered evidence, Aruban investigators rearrested van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers on November 21, 2007, on suspicion of involvement in "manslaughter and causing serious bodily harm that resulted in the death of Holloway."
Van der Sloot was detained by Dutch authorities in the Netherlands while the Kalpoe brothers were detained in Aruba. Van der Sloot was returned to Aruba where he was incarcerated.
Soon after this Dave Holloway announced a new search for his daughter that searched the sea beyond the original 330-foot depths in which earlier searches had taken place.
On November 30 a judge ordered the release of the Kalpoe brothers. Despite attempts by the prosecution to extend their detention, the brothers were released on the following day.
The prosecution appealed their release, which was denied on December 5, with the court writing, "Notwithstanding expensive and lengthy investigations on her disappearance and on people who could be involved, the file against the suspect does not contain direct indications that Natalee passed away due to a violent crime."
Van der Sloot was released without charge on December 7 due to lack of evidence implicating him as well as a lack of evidence that Holloway died as the result of a violent crime. The prosecution indicated it would not appeal.
Van der Sloot
On May 30, 2010 — five years to the day after Holloway's disappearance — Stephany Flores Ramírez, a 21-year-old business student, was reported missing in Lima, Peru.
She was found dead three days later in a hotel room registered in van der Sloot's name.
On June 3 van der Sloot was arrested in Chile on a murder charge and extradited to Peru the next day. On June 7 Peruvian authorities said that van der Sloot confessed to killing Flores after he lost his temper because she accessed his laptop without permission and found information linking him to Holloway.
Police chief César Guardia said that van der Sloot told Peruvian police that he knew where Holloway's body was and offered to help Aruban authorities find it.
However Guardia stated that the interrogation was limited to their case in Peru, and that questions about Holloway's disappearance were avoided.
On June 11 van der Sloot was charged in Lima Superior Court with first-degree murder and robbery.
On June 15 Aruban and Peruvian authorities announced an agreement to cooperate and allow investigators from Aruba to interview van der Sloot in Peru. In a September 2010 interview from the prison, van der Sloot reportedly admitted to the extortion plot, stating: "I wanted to get back at Natalee's family—her parents have been making my life tough for five years."
On January 11, 2012 van der Sloot pleaded guilty to murdering Flores and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
On June 8, 2023 Joran van der Sloot was officially extradited from Peru where he was serving his 28-year sentence for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores Ramírez, to the United States.
After arriving in Birmingham he was taken into U.S. custody and transported to the Hoover City Jail. On June 9 he was arraigned in the federal court in Birmingham on one count of extortion and one count of wire fraud against Beth Holloway, Natalee Holloway's mother. He pleaded not guilty to each charge.
On October 18, 2023 van der Sloot confessed in a proffer letter to killing Holloway. He wrote that he kicked and bludgeoned her with a cinder block after she refused his sexual advances, and disposed of her body in the ocean.
Van der Sloot said Holloway kneed him in the crotch after he tried “feeling her up,” and he responded by kicking her in the face.
What a disgusting human being. Rest In Peace to Natalee.