Disappearance of Natalee Holloway

Natalee Ann Holloway was an American teenager whose disappearance made international news after she vanished on May 30, 2005, while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba in the Caribbean. Holloway lived in Mountain Brook, Alabama, and graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip. Her disappearance caused a media sensation in the United States, and the case remains unsolved. Holloway was scheduled to fly home from Aruba on May 30, 2005, but she failed to appear for her flight. She was last seen by her classmates outside of Carlos'n Charlie's, a restaurant and nightclub in Oranjestad. She was in a car with local residents Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers, Deepak and Satish. When the three men were questioned, they said that they 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 Kalpoes were each arrested three times. Due to lack of evidence, the three suspects were released each time without being charged with a crime. Holloway's parents have criticized Aruban police for the lack of progress in the investigation and interrogation of the three men who were last seen with their daughter. 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 and rescue 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 floor for Holloway's body. Her remains were not found. On December 18, 2007, Aruban prosecutors announced that the case would be closed without any charges made. The Aruban prosecutor's office reopened the case on February 1, 2008, after receiving video footage of Van der Sloot, under the influence of marijuana, saying that Holloway died on the morning of her disappearance, and that a friend had disposed of her body. Van der Sloot later denied that what he had said was true, and in an interview said that he had sold Holloway into sexual slavery. He later retracted his comments. In 2012, Van der Sloot was convicted of the May 30, 2010, murder of Stephany Flores Ramírez in Lima, Peru. On January 12, 2012, on the request of Natalee's father, Alabama judge Alan King declared Holloway legally dead in absentia. On August 16, 2017, Holloway's father announced that he and a private investigator had recently discovered human remains and that they were being DNA-tested to determine whether they belonged to his daughter. Background: Holloway was the first of two children born to Dave and Elizabeth "Beth" Holloway (1961–) in Clinton, Mississippi. Her parents divorced in 1993 and she and her younger brother Matthew were raised by their mother. In 2000, Beth married George "Jug" Twitty, a prominent Alabama businessman, and the family moved to Mountain Brook, Alabama. Holloway graduated with honors from Mountain Brook High School, located in a wealthy suburb of Birmingham. She was a member of the National Honor Society, the school dance squad, and was a participant in other extracurricular activities. Holloway was scheduled to attend the University of Alabama on a full scholarship, where she planned to pursue a pre-med track. At the time of his daughter's disappearance, Dave Holloway was an insurance agent for State Farm in Meridian, Mississippi, while Beth Twitty was employed by the Mountain Brook School System. Disappearance in Aruba: On Thursday, May 26, 2005, Holloway and 124 fellow graduates of Mountain Brook High School arrived in Aruba for a five-day, unofficial graduation trip. The teenagers were accompanied by seven chaperones. According to teacher and chaperone Bob Plummer, the chaperones met with the students each day to make sure everything was fine. Jodi Bearman, who organized the trip, stated, "the chaperones were not supposed to keep up with their every move." Police Commissioner Gerold Dompig, who headed the investigation from mid-2005 until 2006, stated that the Mountain Brook students engaged in "wild partying, a lot of drinking, lots of room switching every night. We know the Holiday Inn told them they weren't welcome next year. Natalee, we know, she drank all day every day. We have statements she started every morning with cocktails—so much drinking that Natalee didn't show up for breakfast two mornings." Two of Holloway's classmates, Liz Cain and Claire Fierman, "agreed that the drinking was kind of excessive." Holloway was last seen by her classmates around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, May 30 as she was leaving the Oranjestad bar and nightclub Carlos'n Charlie's. She left in a car with 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot—a Dutch honors student who was living in Aruba and attending the International School of Aruba— and his two Surinamese friends, 21-year-old Deepak Kalpoe (the owner of the car) and 18-year-old Satish Kalpoe. Holloway had been scheduled to fly home later that day, but did not appear for her return flight. Her packed luggage and passport were found in her Holiday Inn room. Aruban authorities initiated searches for Holloway throughout the island and surrounding waters, but did not find her. Investigation- Early investigation: Jug and Beth Twitty flew to Aruba with friends by private jet immediately following Holloway's missed flight. Within four hours of landing in Aruba, the Twittys presented the Aruban police with the name and address of Van der Sloot as the person with whom 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 supposedly recognized him on a videotape. The Twittys and their friends went to the Van der Sloot home with two Aruban policemen to look for Holloway. Van der Sloot initially denied knowing Holloway's name, but he then told the following story, which was corrorborated by Deepak Kalpoe, who was present in the house: Van der Sloot related 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 Kalpoe were driving away, Holloway was approached by a dark man in a black shirt similar to those worn by security guards. The search and rescue efforts for Holloway began immediately. Hundreds of volunteers from Aruba and the United States joined in the effort. During the first days of the search, the Aruban government gave thousands of civil servants the day off to participate in the rescue effort. Fifty Dutch marines conducted an extensive search of the shoreline. Aruban banks raised $20,000 and provided other support to aid volunteer search teams. Beth Twitty was provided with housing, initially at the Holiday Inn where she coincidentally stayed in the same room her daughter had occupied. She subsequently stayed at the nearby Wyndham Hotel's presidential suite. Reports indicated that Holloway did not appear on any nighttime surveillance camera footage of her hotel's 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 Holiday Inn were not functioning the night Holloway vanished. Twitty has made other statements indicating that they were working, and has 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. The search for physical evidence was extensive and subject to occasional false leads; for example, a possible blood sample taken from Deepak Kalpoe's car was tested but determined not to be blood. From the early days of the investigation, American law enforcement participated in wide-ranging involvement in the case. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated to reporters that the U.S. was in constant contact with Aruban authorities. Another State Department official indicated, "Substantial resources are being applied to this as they (Aruba officials) continue to ask for more." Declaration of legal presumption of death: In June 2011—six years after Natalee's disappearance—Dave Holloway filed a petition with the Alabama courts seeking to have his daughter declared legally dead. The papers were served on Beth Twitty, his former wife, who announced her intention to oppose the petition. A hearing was held on September 23, 2011, at which time Probate Judge Alan King ruled that Dave Holloway had met the requirements for a legal presumption of death. On January 12, 2012, a second hearing was held, after which Judge King signed the order declaring Natalee Holloway to be dead. Finding of human remains: In August 2017, Natalee's father, Dave Halloway, stepped to the media with news that the case has potentially been solved. In 2016 he hired a private investigator, T.J. Ward, to go through all evidence and information related to the disappearance once more. This led to an informant named Gabriel, who claims to have been a roommate of one of Van der Sloot's closest friends named John back in 2005. John was told what happened to Natalee. Gabriel gave an explicit and detailed description of what happened that night in an interview to the Oxygen television channel, which created a new documentary series on the Natalee's disappearance. The interview aired on Saturday, August 19, 2017. With Gabriel's information, the investigator managed to find remains that have proven to be human. Currently, DNA samples from the remains are being tested to verify if the remains indeed belong to Natalee's body. Criticism of the investigation: The Twittys and their supporters criticized a perceived lack of progress by Aruban police. The Twittys' own actions in Aruba were also criticized, and the Twittys were accused of actively stifling any evidence that might impugn Holloway's character by asking her fellow students to remain silent about the case and using their access to the media to push their own version of events. The Twittys denied this. Beth Twitty has alleged in televised interviews and a book that Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers know more about Holloway's disappearance than they have told authorities, and that at least one of them sexually assaulted or raped her daughter. On July 5, 2005, following the initial release of the Kalpoes, Twitty alleged, "Two suspects were released yesterday who were involved in a violent crime against my daughter," and referred to the Kalpoes as "criminals". A demonstration involving about two hundred Arubans took place that evening outside the courthouse in Oranjestad in anger over Twitty's remarks, with signs reading "Innocent until proven guilty" and "Respect our Dutch laws or go home." Satish Kalpoe's attorney threatened legal action over Twitty's allegations, which he described as "prejudicial, inflammatory, libelous, and totally outrageous." On July 8, 2005, Twitty read a statement that said her remarks were fuelled by "despair and frustration" and that she "apologized to the Aruban people and to the Aruban authorities if I or my family offended you in any way." In her 2007 book Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith, Beth Holloway wrote that, What we want is, we want justice. And you know—and we have to recognize the fact that, you know, this crime has been committed on the island of Aruba, and we know the perpetrators. We know it's these suspects, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe and Joran Van Der Sloot. And you know, we just have to, though, keep going, Nancy, because the only way we will get justice for Natalee is if we do keep going. I mean, if we give up, absolutely nothing will happen. Nothing. — Beth Holloway Following the airing of the De Vries programme on Dutch television, Beth Twitty adhered to the position that the tapes represented the way events transpired and told the New York Post that she believed her daughter might still be alive if Van der Sloot had called for help. She contended that Van der Sloot had dumped Holloway's body, possibly alive, into the Caribbean. Twitty also alleged that the person Van der Sloot supposedly called that evening was his father, Paulus, who, according to Holloway, "orchestrated what to do next." She and Dave Holloway alleged that Van der Sloot was receiving "special legal favors." After the court decision not to rearrest Van der Sloot was affirmed, Twitty stated, "I think that what I do take comfort in, his life is a living hell," later adding, "I'd be good with a Midnight Express prison anywhere for Joran." In response to her daughter's disappearance, Twitty founded the International Safe Travels Foundation, a non-profit organization designed "to inform and educate the public to help them travel more safely as they travel internationally." In May 2010, she announced that the Natalee Holloway Resource Center would open at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment. Located in Washington, D.C., the center opened on June 8 to aid families of missing persons. While Holloway's family initially discouraged a travel boycott of Aruba, this changed by September 2005. Twitty urged that persons not travel to Aruba and other Dutch territories because of what she stated were tourist safety issues. In a November 8, 2005, news conference, Governor Bob Riley and the Holloways urged Alabamians and others to boycott Aruba. Riley also wrote to other United States governors seeking their support—the governors of Georgia and Arkansas eventually joined in the call for boycott. Philadelphia's city council voted to ask the Pennsylvania Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell to call for a boycott. Rendell did not do so, and no federal support was given. The boycott was supported by some of Alabama's Congressional delegation, including both senators and Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who represents Mountain Brook. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) voiced his support for the boycott in a letter to the American Society of Travel Agents. Shelby stated, "For the safety, security and well-being of our citizens, I do not believe that we can trust that we will be protected while in Aruba." Prime Minister Oduber stated that Aruban investigators have done their best to solve the case, and responded to the call for boycott, "This is a preposterous and irresponsible act. We are not guerillas. We are not terrorists. We don't pose a threat to the United States, nor to Alabama." Members of the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association, the Aruba Tourism Authority, the Aruba Hospitality and Security Foundation, the Aruban Chamber of Commerce and government figures, including Public Relations Representative Ruben Trapenberg, formed an "Aruba Strategic Communications Task Force" to respond collectively to what they perceived to be unfounded and/or negative portrayals of the island. The group issued press releases and sent representatives to appear in news media. They joined the Aruban government in opposing the calls for a boycott of the island. Skeeters tape and Dr. Phil; lawsuits: On September 15, 2005, the Dr. Phil television show showed parts of a hidden camera interview with Deepak Kalpoe in which he seemingly affirmed a suggestion that Holloway had sex with all three men. The taping had been instigated by Jamie Skeeters, a private investigator. When the tape was broadcast, news reports indicated an expectation of a rearrest, which Dompig termed a "strong possibility" if the tapes were legitimate. Aruban police subsequently provided a fuller version of the relevant part of the tape in which Kalpoe's response differed from the Dr. Phil version, apparently due to editing that may have altered the meaning of what was said. An unofficial Aruban-affiliated spokesperson and commentator on the case said that the uncut videotape showed that Kalpoe had shaken his head and said "No, she didn't.", thereby denying that Holloway had sex with him and the other two men. According to an MSNBC report, the crucial words are inaudible, and presenter Rita Cosby questioned if it could be substantiated that Kalpoe had ever made the statements attributed to him in the Dr. Phil version of the recording. In December 2006, the Kalpoes filed a slander and libel suit against Skeeters (who died in January 2007) and Dr. Phil. in Los Angeles. Holloway's parents responded by filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Kalpoes in the same venue. The wrongful death suit was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction on June 1, 2007; the libel and slander case was initially set for trial on October 12, 2011 but was later set for April 2015. An earlier suit had been filed in New York City by the parents against Paulus and Joran van der Sloot and served on them on a visit to New York. The case had been dismissed in August 2006 as filed in an inconvenient forum. On November 10, 2005, Paulus van der Sloot won an unjust detention action against the Aruban government, clearing him as a suspect and allowing him to retain his government contract. The elder Van der Sloot then brought a second action, seeking monetary damages for himself and his family because of his false arrest. The action was initially successful, but the award of damages was reversed on appeal. Amigoe article: The Amigoe newspaper reported on interviews with Julia Renfro and Dompig in which they said that Aruban authorities had been systematically obstructed in their investigation by U.S. officials. They also said that within a day of Holloway's being reported missing, a medjet, unauthorized by Aruban authorities, had arrived on Aruba and had remained for several days for the purpose of covertly taking Holloway off the island without notifying local authorities. Renfro, an American-born editor of an English-language daily, Aruba Today, who at the time of Holloway's disappearance had become close friends with Beth Twitty, also said she and Twitty received a phone call from an unknown woman on June 2, 2005, asking for money in return for information about Holloway's location, and asserting that Holloway was unwilling to return to her mother. According to Renfro, she and another American went to a drug house where Holloway supposedly was, bringing money, but found that Jug Twitty had already been to the area, spreading "a lot of uproar and panic in the direct vicinity," and nothing could be accomplished. The Twittys disputed Renfro's accounts, Beth Twitty describing Renfro as "a witch." Film adaptation: On April 19, 2009, LMN aired Natalee Holloway, a television film based on Twitty's book Loving Natalee. Starring Tracy Pollan as Beth Twitty, Grant Show as Jug Twitty, Amy Gumenick as Natalee Holloway and Jacques Strydom as Van der Sloot, the film retells events leading up to the night of Holloway's disappearance in 2005, and the ensuing investigation in the aftermath. It was shot in South Africa. The movie stages re-creations of various scenarios, based on the testimony of key players and suspects, including Van der Sloot. The broadcast of the film attracted 3.2 million viewers, garnering the highest television ratings in the network's 11-year history. Although it set ratings records for Lifetime, the movie received mixed reviews from critics. Alec Harvey of The Birmingham News called the movie "sloppy and uneven, a forgettable look at the tragedy that consumed the nation's attention for months." However, Jake Meaney of PopMatters found the film to be surprisingly "calm and levelheaded", and praised Pollan's portrayal of Holloway's mother. A follow-up film, Justice for Natalee Holloway, aired in mid-2011 on LMN. This film picks up in 2010, on the five-year anniversary of Holloway's disappearance. It continues to center on the investigation and what exactly happened to Holloway. Media coverage: U.S. television networks devoted much air time to the search for Holloway, the investigation of her disappearance, and rumors surrounding the case. Greta Van Susteren, host of Fox News' On the Record, and Nancy Grace on her eponymous Headline News program were among the most prominent television personalities to devote time to the incident. Van Susteren's almost continuous coverage of the story caused On the Record to get its best ratings to date, while Grace's show became the cornerstone of the new "Headline Prime" block on Headline News, which ran two episodes (a live show and a repeat) every night during prime-time. As the case wore on, much of the attention was given to Beth Twitty and her statements. Aruban government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg stated, "The case is under a microscope, and the world is watching." The saturation of coverage triggered a backlash among some critics who argued that such extensive media attention validated the "missing white woman syndrome" theory, which argues that missing person cases involving white women and girls receive disproportionately more attention in the media compared with cases involving white males or people of color. CNN ran a segment criticizing the amount of coverage their competitors gave to the story despite what they characterized as a lack of new items to report, with CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper calling the coverage "downright ridiculous". Early in the case, political commentator and columnist Arianna Huffington wrote, "If you were to get your news only from television, you'd think the top issue facing our country right now is an 18-year-old girl named Natalee who went missing in Aruba. Every time one of these stories comes up, like, say, Michael Jackson, when it's finally over I think, what a relief, now we can get back to real news. But we never do." In March 2008, El Diario commented, "But if doubts persist about cases involving missing Latinos, there are reasons why. These cases rarely receive the attention and resources we see given to other missing persons. The English language media, for example, appear to be focused on the stories of missing white women, such as with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Cases of missing Latino and African-American women often remain faceless, if and when they are even covered." CBS senior journalist Danna Walker stated, "There is criticism that it is only a story because she is a pretty blonde—and white—and it is criticism that journalists are taking to heart and looking elsewhere for other stories. But it is a big story because it is an American girl who went off on an adventure and didn't come back. It is a huge mystery, it is something people can identify with." Good Morning America anchor Chris Cuomo was unapologetic of his program's extensive coverage of the Holloway case. "I don't believe it's my role to judge what people want to watch … If they say, 'I want to know what happened to this girl' … I want to help them find out." Holloway's family, however, took the opposite approach and criticized the lessening of coverage of her disappearance due to a shift in news priority when Hurricane Katrina struck on August 23, 2005. The saturation coverage of Holloway's disappearance was finally eclipsed by the hurricane. Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway alleged that Aruba took advantage of the extensive coverage of Hurricane Katrina to release the suspects, however the deadline for judicial review of Van der Sloot's detention was set long before Katrina. Dave Holloway lamented in his book: Hurricane Katrina had left the door open for the boys to be sent on their way with little publicity and few restrictions because it took the world's focus off of Natalee, but only for a brief time. The huge amount of publicity had waned and, during that time of quiet for us, Joran and the Kalpoe brothers were sent home ... All of the news shows that had followed our every move only a day before had now become fixated on the next big ratings grabber: the victims of Hurricane Katrina.