I believe it would be beneficial to relook at some interviews Beth, Dave, and others did, just to refresh our memories.
I am going to attempt to post an interview each day, as time permits.
Todays interview is
6-29-2005 Abrams Report
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8416795/
ABRAMS: Hi everyone. First up on the docket tonight, she has the answers to the question everyone has been asking about the case of that missing Alabama teen, Natalee Holloway in Aruba. What evidence do they actually have against the various suspects? Are they even convinced a crime has been committed?
Well, only moments ago, Caren Janssen, chief prosecutor in the case sat down with our own Martin Savidge for her first interview. It‘s another exclusive. He joins us now with what Janssen revealed—Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Dan. There was a lot of information that was revealed. One of the things we should tell you is that Caren Janssen has been a prosecutor for 12 years. For a year and a half, she‘s been the chief prosecutor on the island of Aruba.
The moment you see her, you understand she is a no-nonsense individual. She had some ground rules and she told us quite clearly, we either follow them or we‘d be out of her office never to return again. The ground rules were fairly simple.
We got 15 minutes—that was it—and she had a statement to make initially. After that we could ask questions. Here was the end result.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAREN JANSSEN, CHIEF PROSECUTOR IN ARUBA: We are basing our investigation on that possibility. So I can‘t answer your question positively because we have not found any traces of a crime. We are investigating that possibility.
SAVIDGE: And again, you seem to allude to it. You are working under the belief that she is dead, but you have not received anything to confirm that she is dead. Is that right?
JANSSEN: No. No, we can‘t confirm that because otherwise, we would have told the family first. But there are no traces, no facts, no circumstances that we can base the opinion that we are sure that Natalee is not alive anymore.
SAVIDGE: And you have not been told anything by the people in custody that...
SAVIDGE: ... she is dead?
JANSSEN: No. No. That‘s true. They didn‘t tell us that.
SAVIDGE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I guess there was a feeling—there is a feeling...
JANSSEN: Yes.
SAVIDGE: ... that with the release of Mr. Van Der Sloot, Paul, with the release of Steven Croes, that the investigation has reached an impasse. I know you‘ve spoken about that...
JANSSEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SAVIDGE: ... but you seem to imply that actually no, things are moving along very well.
JANSSEN: Yes, I don‘t have that feeling that we are in the middle of an impasse or that we are at the end of a tunnel. I think positively because we have many questions, we have a lot of things we have to search for, and I think we are in a phase—an important phase in the investigation, a crucial phase, perhaps, by getting those technical information so we can make a timeline because it‘s not only the night of Sunday to Monday what is important but also the days after.
SAVIDGE: And these communications you speak of...
JANSSEN: Yes.
SAVIDGE: ... the messaging, the chatting...
SAVIDGE: ... this is what occurred between the three suspects?
JANSSEN: Also and others.
SAVIDGE: After Natalee vanished?
JANSSEN: Yes. Yes.
SAVIDGE: Have you actually been able to read or do you only understand that they communicated...
JANSSEN: No...
SAVIDGE: Do you know what they were saying?
JANSSEN: We have much more information than only that. I can‘t tell you the details about that. I only can say there‘s telephone, e-mail, chat sessions, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) messages and that‘s the sort of communication that we are investigating now. And it gives us a clear picture of where they were and how they communicate and what they said to each other.
SAVIDGE: One of the criticisms that has come from America is why did it take so long before the three young men, the last man...
JANSSEN: Yes.
SAVIDGE: ... to be with Natalee...
JANSSEN: Yes.
SAVIDGE: ... were taken into custody.
JANSSEN: Well that‘s an important question. I‘m glad you asked me that. Because everyone in my business knows that if you have a crime, and you do an investigation, and you have a certain moment that a person is coming to be a suspect, it‘s the worse thing you can do is run and arrest him because in one hour you don‘t have anything to speak about. Your—through your subjects what you can discuss, you have to investigate around him, have some information and then when you have a good solid base, you can go talk with somebody as a suspect.
SAVIDGE: Did you survey them? Did you follow them? Did you listen to their conversations? Clearly you were able to gather information.
JANSSEN: Yes. I can‘t tell you what we did in that time. But we spent it on building up the investigation, step by step.
SAVIDGE: The concern is that perhaps evidence was lost. That there was time for the suspects to dispose of what could have been evidence.
JANSSEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) That‘s not my opinion. No.
SAVIDGE: OK. The father—let me see if you understood this correctly. You mentioned that there was harm done to the investigation from Mr. Van Der Sloot, Paul Van Der Sloot...
JANSSEN: Yes.
SAVIDGE: ... and you said the family. Are you referring to the Holloway family when they—could you just clarify what you said...
JANSSEN: Yes. OK. I said that the investigation was—I think you called it...
JANSSEN: ... harm or obstructed, by the fact that the father of the suspect, the minor, who has always been arrested but released...
SAVIDGE: What did the father do?
JANSSEN: Well, the father has spoken with those three suspects and he said he gave them some legal advice but I think the advices were going further than that. They spoke about the situation that when there is no body, you don‘t have a case, and that was already in the first day after the disappearance. And secondly, the father and the mother have asked a friend of Joran, the suspect—the minor suspect, to come to their home to tell them what he has explained to the police. And that is, well, I can say was an obstruction of the investigation.
SAVIDGE: So both the Holloway family and the father in some way has...
JANSSEN: I‘m not talking about the Holloway family.
SAVIDGE: OK...
JANSSEN: No...
SAVIDGE: ... that‘s what I want to make sure...
JANSSEN: No, I‘m not talking about the Holloway family. I‘m talking about the family of the minor suspect, the suspect who is 17.
SAVIDGE: OK. The father spoke to the three young men prior to them being taken into custody and offered them some sort of legal advice...
JANSSEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SAVIDGE: ... including specifically saying if there is no body, how it would impact the investigation.
JANSSEN: They talked about that and he confirmed that...
JANSSEN: ... and they talked about that.
SAVIDGE: Seems a very damning thing to say...
JANSSEN: Well, you can take your own conclusion of that, but I can say that the investigation has shown and he confirms that, that is spoken to them. That was the conversation only a couple of days after the disappearance.
SAVIDGE: Do you consider the father a suspect or is it this obstruction or interference that you arrested him for?
JANSSEN: No, we did not arrest him for that interference situation. He was a suspect and the judge made his decision that there were insufficient grounds to make him a suspect.
SAVIDGE: And how did you feel when you heard that from the judge?
JANSSEN: Well, as always, a disappointment when you are running an investigation and one of your suspects is released, but it‘s not the end of the investigation and we are going, we are going further to solve this case and find the truth.
SAVIDGE: Do you think you will solve it?
JANSSEN: I hope it. I can‘t give you guarantees, but we are still determined and working all right.
SAVIDGE: The point that the father brought up in the conversation to the boys, if there is no body—and we have been searching all over this island for so long...
JANSSEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SAVIDGE: ... and searching in the water—what happens if there isn‘t a body? What happens if she is never found? Can you pursue this case?
JANSSEN: Well we are now in the middle of an investigation. Everybody is watching, the suspects also. So it wouldn‘t be wise to say anything about that possibility. We are focusing on the investigation. We are getting some information. We are doing it step by step. It takes not days, perhaps weeks, but we are concentrating on that.
SAVIDGE: But you know Dutch law. I mean you must know what is required as far as evidence and proof.
JANSSEN: Well, Dutch law is not so many different about—than the American system. Maybe when you go to court. In America, you have a jury trial and in the Dutch law, it is the judge who makes decision if somebody is guilty or not guilty. But to build up the evidence, I think it‘s not so different as in the states.
SAVIDGE: With the evidence you have today, would you feel confident going before a judge?
JANSSEN: We have a long way to go. We have still a long way to go.
SAVIDGE: That implies you may not have a lot.
JANSSEN: You must give me a chance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: And a chance is what she says she needs at this particular point. She said the reason she talked to us was she wanted Americans to see her face, to see her personality, to understand how committed she is to this particular case. There are 20 investigators from Aruba alone working on it in conjunction with the FBI and top investigators here from the Netherlands. She says that is the least that is due to the family of Natalee Holloway and to the American public to understand—Dan.
ABRAMS: All right, Martin, great job getting that interview. We‘re going to play more of Martin‘s interview coming up in our next block, more information coming from the chief prosecutor. But let me just summarize because we just heard a lot, a lot more than I would have expected this chief prosecutor would have said.
First of all no confession—none of the suspects, she says, have actually confessed to killing Natalee Holloway, number one. Number two:
That the three suspects, and others were e-mailing and texting each other and they now have those e-mails and text messages and they‘ve now obtained those e-mails and text messages. That‘s number two.
Number three: That the father of Joran Van Der Sloot, who was arrested and then released offered the three suspects legal advice and she said, but it was more than that. She had said to them—that he said to them when there‘s no body you don‘t have a case. But she also added that he was arrested not just for that, as we knew, but that he was arrested because he was a suspect in this case.
snip
ABRAMS: We‘re back with more of the exclusive interview with the top prosecutor in Aruba certainly making news. She‘s in charge of the Natalee Holloway investigation, the missing Alabama teen. Prosecutor Caren Janssen sat down with Martin Savidge. Martin is back with us—Martin.
SAVIDGE: Yes, one of the things that we talked about in this interview was you know the charges. And as you know the law, the setup here is a little bit different than it is in the United States. You are charged under suspicion or suspicion of a crime and they didn‘t want to talk specifically in the first week of the investigation as to what the charges were that they were contemplating. There was a reason for that and that‘s what Caren Janssen is talking about right now here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANSSEN: The prosecution did not express the charges, the public during the first week of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, more out of respect also for the family. We did not want to speak about murder and homicide because we did not want to hurt the feelings of that family unnecessarily and because in the early stage, they only want to find their girl alive.
At this stage of the investigation, we cannot exclude that something terrible maybe happened to Natalee. We are determined to find the truth, to find Natalee and in case somebody harmed her to find those who are responsible. The investigation has been hampered by the fact that the father had been instructing the three suspects with elementary aspects and the parents together, has been interviewing friends of their son about what he told to the police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: One of the other things that the prosecutor wanted to express and expressed very clearly was that we started talking about the frustration of the Holloway family, they‘ve been very vocal, especially in the past couple of days about how they feel this investigation is not going in a positive direction. And Caren Janssen said that she understood that frustration, that she could sympathize with their anger and she knew where it was coming from and that said quite frankly if the shoe were on the other foot, if she was in that predicament, she would feel the same frustrations.
But she has also met with them and again, one of the reasons she
granted this interview was to express not just to the Holloway family, but
to the American public that she personally is doing everything she can to -
· one—find Natalee Holloway, find those who are responsible and understand exactly what happened—Dan.
ABRAMS: All right. Martin Savidge, once again thank you very much for that exclusive interview out of Aruba.
snip
ABRAMS: Mr. Lejuez, have you been able to hear this interview with the prosecutor?
CHRIS LEJUEZ, ABRAHAM JONES‘ ATTORNEY: Most of it. Not all of it though.
ABRAMS: What do you make of this? Let me ask you as a legal matter in Aruba. It sounds like what the prosecutor is saying is, because the father spoke to the three suspects a couple days after Natalee disappeared, gave them advice, said to them where there‘s no body, there‘s no case and then they say that he and his wife interviewed the friend of their son to find out what their son had said to police. Is any of that illegal in Aruba?
LEJUEZ: It‘s not illegal, sir, but I would rather not comment regarding the ongoing investigation. There is one thing I will say something about. There is the fact that I heard the prosecutor say that she has no proof yet that a crime has been committed. This is something that I‘ve been saying all along right from the start.
We don‘t know yet if there has been a crime—if a crime has been committed. What we do have are suspicions that possibly a crime has been committed and based on these suspicions these people are being held apparently, sir.
ABRAMS: But does it sound to you—again and I‘m not asking about what you know about the case. I‘m asking you sort of just as someone who knows Aruban law. Are you allowed, as a lawyer in Aruba—I mean, here you‘re allowed to say to someone hey look, if there‘s no body, there‘s no crime, to give that advice. You‘re allowed to go and ask people questions about what someone said to the police, et cetera. It sounds like what the prosecutor is saying is that‘s an obstruction of justice.
LEJUEZ: I can tell you this sir, I heard (UNINTELLIGIBLE) last night on TV, on the Dutch television, where he mentioned that he did speak to the boys and he explained to them the criminal procedure in Aruba. That‘s the word he used. He explained to them the procedure.
ABRAMS: And based on what you‘ve heard the prosecutor say, does it sound to you like that‘s all he did?
LEJUEZ: I believe that the prosecutor is a serious person, would have reasons to state what she has stated. I cannot confirm it though.
ABRAMS: Yes. What about your client? What about the fact—your client and his friend, are they still possibly going to be called as witnesses?
LEJUEZ: The case against—they have been released but that doesn‘t mean that the case against them has been dropped as yet, so it‘s possible that they would want to hear them again either as witnesses or a suspect. Until the case is dropped, they‘re really in the clear in this case, sir.
snip
ABRAMS: Mr. Lejuez, what do you think of our analysis on this?LEJUEZ: I‘m sorry; did you speak to me sir?
ABRAMS: Yes, I was asking you what you thought of the analysis that we have just been going through about the father‘s role?
LEJUEZ: It‘s quite accurate. In Aruba you do have the right not to testify against your son or your father or mother or your grandchildren or your spouse. He waived that right apparently. It doesn‘t mean that you have the right to lie though. Once you waive the right, you have to tell the truth. And according to his own interview, he has been telling them about the procedures in Aruba. There‘s nothing wrong with that. Any father would do that. But I don‘t know if he has given them more specifics regarding the case itself. According to Mrs. Janssen, apparently he did...
ABRAMS: Yes...
LEJUEZ: I can‘t confirm that.
ABRAMS: All right, here‘s the sound again just so we‘re clear on exactly what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANSSEN: The father has spoken with those three suspects and he said he gave them some legal advice, but I think the advices was going further than that. They spoke about the situation that when there is no body, you don‘t have a case and that was already in the first day after the disappearance. And secondly, the father and the mother have asked a friend of Joran, the suspect, the minor suspect, to come to their home to tell them what he has explained to the police. That is, well, I can say, was an obstruction of the investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8416795/
I believe it would be beneficial to relook at some interviews Beth, Dave, and others did, just to refresh our memories.
I am going to attempt to post an interview each day, as time permits.
Todays interview is
10-03-05 Nancy Grace
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0510/03/ng.01.html
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, after an Aruban judge let all three suspects walk free in the Natalee Holloway case, including a fellow judge`s son, the chief suspect, Joran Van Der Sloot, court watchers thought the case was over. But tonight, Natalee`s parents say, no way.
snip
Tonight, a summer of incredible pain and frustration to the point of pure exhaustion for the parents of missing 18-year-old Alabama girl Natalee Holloway. Natalee went missing off her senior trip to Aruba. And tonight, her family back in the U.S. in our HEADLINE NEWS studio.
Now even though they`re here, the battle to find out what happened to Natalee still rages. The Kalpoe brothers and chief suspect, judge`s son Joran Van Der Sloot, walked free.
snip
GRACE: You know what? The Aruban government may have released all three suspects in the disappearance of 18-year-old American Natalee Holloway, but the case is not over. Joran Van Der Sloot, the judge`s son from Aruba, is free to leave the island and go study in the Netherlands. He gave an interview off the cuff. We have that sound for you. Also with us tonight, two very special guests. Natalee`s mother, Beth Twitty, is with us. Her stepdad, Jug Twitty. You`ve seen them night after night leading the battle to find their girl. Very quickly to "A Current Affair" correspondent Harris Faulkner.
Harris, any updates?
HARRIS FAULKNER, "A CURRENT AFFAIR" CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, after catching up with Joran Van Der Sloot in Holland and getting that interview, that exclusive interview with him, Nancy, Holland news-gathering organizations are now asking "A Current Affair" if they can have a copy of the tape. They want to see it there. They are hearings reports that we`ve said, and I think you`ve said on your show that Beth and her husband plan to go to Holland now and plaster the area with missing posters of Natalee.
I think journalists there, citizens there are more curious than ever about the new person they have in their midst her. Of course, Joran Van Der Sloot, moving with his family, to an area of Holland where Joran is enrolled as a college student.
When you talk about that interview, one of the most and interesting things about that interview, I think, Nancy, is the fact that he begins to paint Natalee Holloway as the aggressor in every way that he talks about her. She came up to him. She held him by the hand. She wanted to drink. She wanted to party.
And getting Beth`s response to that, I think, was really key.
GRACE: You know, I read in a tabloid last week, Beth, where some young girl had spent the evening or had a date with Joran Van Der Sloot and she was photographed. And whether the tab is true or not, I just thought about another young girl going out with Joran Van Der Sloot. It`s as if he`s starting all over in another country.
BETH TWITTY, MOTHER OF NATALLE HOLLOWAY: Exactly, Nancy. And he will. And he will not stop until something is done about this.
GRACE: I have so many questions for you. But what is your immediate reaction to this interview of sorts that he gave while at school?
B. TWITTY: You know, just outrage. When I hear how he`s placing all the blame on either myself for tourism being low, if that`s the case, how everything is Natalee`s fault. It was her fault that she was drunk. It was her fault that she wanted to go with him. She initiated coming to his home. That is simply not true. None of that is true.
GRACE: Every time he speaks, his story is different.
B. TWITTY: You know, and one reporter said it beautifully. He said, when Joran tells one lie, more evolve. And that`s how this entire summer has been with Joran.
< BR>GRACE: With us here in the HEADLINE NEWS studios, Natalee`s mother, Beth, her stepfather, Jug.
We`ll all be right back.
GRACE: In all the weeks that we have helped search for Natalee Holloway, this beauty from Alabama set for a full scholarship at University of Alabama, it`s almost as if she became our girl, our sister, our next door neighbor, and the fact that the Aruban government has apparently dropped the investigation into her whereabouts is a very bitter pill to swallow.
Here in the studio with me, Natalee`s mother and her stepfather. They have not given up th e search even though the Aruban government has released all three of the major suspects.
I want to talk a moment about Natalee, before I get into the ins and outs of the investigation. At this moment, when you think of her, what is your most vivid memory of Natalee?
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, NATALEE`S MOTHER: It`s going to have to go to her dance. I mean, that was her life, Nancy. I mean, she just -- she loved it, she excelled at it, she worked so hard. I mean, every year she spent the entire year just preparing for one try out to be on that dance team for the upcoming year. And she just was so dedicated.
Yet Natalee had a fun side too, where she loved her friends. I mean, she loved being with her friends. That was her next most favorite, if you even had to say it was her next. I mean, it was ranked right up there with her dance and her friends.
GRACE: I know my parents felt like that with me doing cheerleading all by myself in the living room over and ove r and over to practice for the tryouts. You know, it just never ended. I am imaging the same thing with her.
What about it, most vivid memory if you`re thinking about her right now, what comes to your mind?
JUG TWITTY, NATALEE`S STEPFATHER: I would say the same thing. Beth and I have been married now five years, but we dated about eight years, moving from Mississippi.
GRACE: Didn`t want to rush into anything, eight years.
J. TWITTY: And when we got married and they moved from Mississippi to Mountain Brook, I thought it was going to be a real culture shock, and I remember Natalee making that dance team, which is so hard. It`s hard for people to understand how hard it is to make this, especially for girls that have been trying to make this forever. And she came right in and made that dance team, and I`m sitting there, and I know my daughter has gone out for a couple of sports events and not made it, and I know how it breaks your heart, but I remember wh en she made it. That was quite an experience.
GRACE: When she was growing up there in the home with you, what was she like? What was her favorite thing to do? What was her favorite TV? Did she like breakfast more than dinner? What was Natalee all about?
B. TWITTY: You know, Nancy, Natalee was so independent and Natalee was so in charge of who she wanted to be and what she wanted to be, that, you know, to pin down the specifics as far as that goes, that`s just really not Natalee.
I mean, she was fun. But she was so independent and just fully in charge of her life and what she was going to do.
GRACE: When you first got to Aruba, you had received a phone call first here in the states, correct? What happened?
B. TWITTY: I received a phone call that Natalee had not shown up for the group in time to -- they were departing for the airport.
GRACE: And you --
B. TWITTY: Oh, I knew immediately. I mean, Natalee would never be late for anything , never. She would never not be on time or --
GRACE: Where were you when you got that call?
B. TWITTY: I was returning from a trip --
GRACE: You were in the car, right?
B. TWITTY: Yes, I was in the car.
GRACE: What did you do?
B. TWITTY: I immediately dialed 911. I don`t even know what that was going to accomplish, but I knew that --
GRACE: What did you say to local 911?
B. TWITTY: I can`t remember. I know it was something like, my daughter has been kidnapped in Aruba. Or -- there was something so serious that I knew this was more than just a young girl not showing up for her departure, to leave the trip.
GRACE: You knew immediately.
B. TWITTY: I knew immediately, immediately with Natalee. Something was wrong, very wrong.
GRACE: And when did you leave to go?
B. TWITTY: We left that same day. We let probably by 6:00 or 7:00 p.m., that evening, or maybe even a little bit sooner.
GRACE: So you got that phone call at one time?
B. TWITTY: I got the phone call at 12:00 p.m.
GRACE: And by 6:00 you`re on a plane to Aruba?
B. TWITTY: Oh, yes, absolutely.
GRACE: Who went with you?
B. TWITTY: Jug and several other friends that flew down.
GRACE: So you all went down. Now, the first -- I can`t imagine touching down on non-U.S. soil and trying to find someone. What was the first thing you did?
B. TWITTY: Luckily we were met at the airport by three Aruban citizens who were very helpful for us that night, and we went to the Holiday Inn.
GRACE: Where she had been. And what happened?
B. TWITTY: Well, we were met by the DEA Eric Williams (ph) and Paul Lilly (ph).
GRACE: DEA?
B. TWITTY: Yes, there was a DEA on island, Eric Williams (ph) -- that`s another story, Nancy. But, anyway, they met us there at the Holiday Inn lobby because Paul Lilly (ph) had had such a horrific time on that Monday, the 30th, just tryi ng to get help. He had been speaking with the beach patrol, visibility team, no one seemed to know -- talk about the right hand and left hand -- no one knew how to guide him or help him begin.
GRACE: Who is Eric Lilly (ph)?
B. TWITTY: Paul Lilly (ph). He`s the chaperone for the --
GRACE: All right. So he`s frantically trying to find Natalee and get help and nobody can even say this is the first thing to do.
B. TWITTY: Yes, yes. He was working -- he was trying so desperately to find someone to help him.
GRACE: So what time did you get to the Holiday Inn?
B. TWITTY: Probably about 11:00 p.m. on the 30th.
GRACE: And what happened when you got there?
B. TWITTY: You know, we acted with such a sense of urgency. The first thing that I wanted to do with Eric Williams (ph), the DEA, was establish Natalee`s character, so they would see that this is not a missing girl, this is not someone who has just decided not to show up or is having an extended stay on her senior trip.
And, you know, I felt the best thing I could do was establish Natalee`s character, so that they could see a sense of urgency had to be --
GRACE: When was it you talked to the player in this case? I thought it was that night.
B. TWITTY: It was that night, but it took us a while to find them. We had to -- there are several things that went on, Nancy.
We reviewed video footage from the Excelsior Casino, where Joran had been playing with Jug`s nephew, Thomas Twitty (ph), at a Texas Hold `Em table, so we could lay eyes on him and see him.
GRACE: That was before Natalee went missing, that night, that`s when the video came from.
B. TWITTY: Yes.
GRACE: OK. So you saw what he looked like, and then what happened?
B. TWITTY: From there, Jug might have a better .
GRACE: What happened next?
J. TWITTY: We were watching the video and during that period of time, we split up into two or thr ee different groups and some of the chaperones in the other group that was with us, some of my friends, had gone around to different hotels looking for Joran. We didn`t know his name. We knew he liked playing card games.
GRACE: You knew what he looked like.
J. TWITTY: We didn`t know what he looked like.
GRACE: I thought you saw him in the video.
J. TWITTY: They didn`t know what he looked like. We knew what he looked like because we were sitting there -- you can see how small a video screen is.
But anyway, they`re asking questions and also when we went to Carlos and Charlie`s, we asked questions in there, when we first got here, and one of the guys that was with us obviously asked somebody where we could find him, and they drove to the beach and they went down there and started asking some kids about him, and he ended up paying one of the kids $100 to tell him where Joran lived.
All of this time, Beth and I are up looking at videotape in t he Holiday Inn. So at about 3:00 in the morning, everybody came back to the Holiday Inn --
GRACE: Let me get this straight. This is 3:00 a.m. and Natalee was last seen about 25, 26 hours before that?
J. TWITTY: Exactly.
And so one of the guys that helped us, with Universal Air, came running in and saying we`ve found him, we found the house, we found the car and everything, and Beth and I were just coming down. So we go and get two uniformed officers. We stopped at the police station.
We go in and sit there and wait about 15 minutes out in the parking lot. Finally the police officers come out. We go to his house, which is maybe a mile away from the police station. The police pull up to his house, turn the lights on, you know, shine the spotlight, and about 15 minutes later here comes a gentleman walking out to the fence.
Beth goes, "There he is." I said, "Beth, that`s not him, that`s a 45- year-old man."
GRACE: When we get back, we`re goin g to pick up right where we left off, where Jug and Beth meet for the first time Joran Van Der Sloot and his father, the judge, in Aruba.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, SUSPECT: I would have just stayed home that night. I wouldn`t have even gone out. It was Natalee who asked me to go out with her. It was her that asked me to come to the club. It was her that was yelling at me to go dance with her, and I said -- and I went to go drink something with my friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you that irresistible? I mean, is that what - -
VAN DER SLOOT: No, I don`t know. That`s not -- that`s absolutely not what it is about. I don`t know. When her parents showed up at my door with her picture, I didn`t even know who Natalee Holloway was. I didn`t even know her name.
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GRACE: Well, it`s all Natalee`s fault, I guess, that she went missing off the island of Aruba after last being se en with him, Joran Van Der Sloot, the judge`s son, the chief suspect, changes his story every time he speaks, and yet Aruban authorities have released him.
Here in the studio with me, Natalee`s mother and her stepfather.
Let`s go straight back to where you first saw Joran Van Der Sloot, the first time. He was just describing the night you showed up at his house, as if that is the crime.
J. TWITTY: We showed up at his house, as I said, at about 3:00 in the morning. His father walks out, OK, and then his father gets on his cell phone after the police talk to him for about maybe 10 minutes. Next thing I know, the police are walking back and they`re saying, "We`re going to the Wyndham Hotel. He says Joran is at the Wyndham, gambling."
This is about 3:30 in the morning, so we`re going OK, great. So we all get in cars, a big entourage, go to the Wyndham. We all go in -- she is frantic. She runs in there and he`s not there.
And then we`re searching the beach and all this kind of stuff, and we come back, his father is on the cell phone again, with the two policemen standing next to him -- he rode in the car with the policemen over there -- and he goes, well -- he calls his son. His son says, "Well, I`m back at home."
He said, "I thought you said you were at Wyndham?"
He said, "Well, you said the police were here, so I`m back at home."
GRACE: So you go back --
J. TWITTY: We go back there. It takes about eight minutes or so. We get there, pull up there --
GRACE: When you get there, what happened?
J. TWITTY: Deepak and Joran are standing there.
GRACE: So they were together the next night as well?
J. TWITTY: Oh, yeah. And they talk four different languages down there. So first of all, there is one gentleman who, if somebody would go back and get Charles Cruse (ph), who was with us that night and who spoke to them away from us for about 10 minutes with the uniformed officers, b efore he came over and translated what Joran said to us -- and Joran speaks all the languages too. But Charles Cruse (ph), in my mind, holds a lot of keys to what happened that night, or what Joran said.
GRACE: What was the first thing Van Der Sloot said to you?
J. TWITTY: First he looked at the picture and I said, "Don`t say you don`t know her, because we have eye witnesses who saw you get in this car with her," and he goes, "Yeah, yeah, I know who she is."
And he walks over to us and starts talking, and he says things that -- you know, he danced with her at the Holiday Inn or whatever -- I mean at the Carlos and Charlie`s. But after we talked a little bit, we asked him where she is, he says, "I don`t know, I dropped her off." Then he says, "Is anybody here with the family?"
And I said, "Yes, I`m her stepfather."
He said, "Do you mind stepping away for a minute?"
So I stepped away, went back to the van, Beth was still in the van this who le time, watching, because we had --
GRACE: Who asked you to step away?
J. TWITTY: Joran did. So he could tell my friends and he could tell the uniformed officers and all the people there what he did with Natalee that night, as far as taking her and his sexual stuff with her. In the car.
GRACE: So you know for a fact that that night he admitted to having sex with Natalee?
J. TWITTY: Yes, and we`ve got --
GRACE: Because we`ve got so many different stories.
J. TWITTY: I`ll tell you, Nancy, the thing that really upset me, and I found this out when Beth read some statements down there, is that the two uniformed officers that were there, that were standing as close as we are here, listening to him say this, they gave their statements, and they were very graphic in detail of everything that happened that night, except for one thing. Guess what they left out? The part about him saying what he did sexually to her in that car.
And I went ball istic, because I wasn`t there, and I told Beth, I said this thing is a set up. I`m telling you right now. Why would they leave that out of there?
GRACE: The most significant portion of what he admitted to.
J. TWITTY: Right, right, so --
GRACE: You know what is interesting to me -- that night -- so you finally go home with no resolution.
J. TWITTY: That`s right.
GRACE: But you know Van Der Sloot was with her that night, had sex with her that night, according to him. Is that the night he came up with the idea to blame the two black security guards?
J. TWITTY: That came like a day later, or whatever.
One of the problems I had was, the next morning -- we stayed up all night. Beth stayed up all night. And the police officer in charge came and got us the next morning and took us to his office. And it was so frustrating, because Beth is frantic. She knows something is wrong. She says, here, let me tell you my statement -- he says, wait, I haven`t had my Frosted Flakes and I haven`t shaved yet.
GRACE: Who said this?
J. TWITTY: The chief of police or whatever --
GRACE: "I haven`t had my Frosted Flakes?" Did I just hear that?
J. TWITTY: Yes.
GRACE: Hold on, hold on, let me just check this earpiece for a minute.
The mother of a missing girl says, "I need to speak to you right now," and the chief of police says, "I`ve got to have my Frosted Flakes."
J. TWITTY: That`s just one small thing that he said that was very disturbing to me because, you know, I sat back there with Beth when he was talking to her, and some of the things were so sickening to me that he was talking about, and I`ll just say it, because I had to explain -- he was talking about putas and things, and I had to explain to her what that meant.
GRACE: You mean he said the word bitch? The chief of police did? Is that who we`re still talking about?
J. TWITTY: They were just using language like th is when we were sitting in there and she was trying to give her statements and stuff, and joking about it and everything. The whole thing was like it was a joke, like she`s going to show up. She`s drunk, she`ll come in -- you know, don`t worry about it.
GRACE: Is that the way you remember it, Beth?
B. TWITTY: Oh, yeah, Nancy.
GRACE: Did you understand, I know they were speaking a different language partially at that time -- did you understand what they were saying?
B. TWITTY: I understood everything they were saying, Nancy.
GRACE: Who exactly is the bitch in this scenario?
J. TWITTY: He was using language like that, you know, just graphic language like that, jokingly, and, you know, like what goes on in Aruba, this happens and this happens, and, you know, just some of the words he was using, to me, it was sickening to me to have to sit here.
GRACE: When your girl is missing.
J. TWITTY: Right.
GRACE: You`re at their m ercy.
J. TWITTY: We were at their mercy, and I am sitting there saying, these guys are on our side. I have to sit here and listen to this to try to get an answer.
GRACE: With me right now, the managing director of "El Diario" magazine, a newspaper there in Aruba, Jossy Mansur.
Jossy, thank you for being with us, friend. I am glad to see that you are well.
My question is, tell me the truth, is the investigation still ongoing in Aruba? Or is it all over now that the three suspects have been released?
JOSSY MANSUR, "EL DIARIO": No, it`s still ongoing. The police are doing their work. They`re intensely continuing with their investigation.
GRACE: Like what?
MANSUR: I mean, they`re putting the whole thing together. Remember that they went back form Murder One to Sexual Assault. They had to review about 1,000 and something pages.
GRACE: A thousand pages, that should take maybe two days.
MANSUR: Maybe, but they are still in tensely following the case, and so is the prosecution. They`re fine-tuning whatever case they`re going to bring up against these three suspects. The case is going on.
GRACE: Are they continuing the dive efforts?
MANSUR: They are continuing to do every single effort that they can. The police of Aruba and the prosecution.
GRACE: Are they diving? Are they diving?
MANSUR: Yes, they are diving, because they have been searching to the north in an undersea cave, to the north of the lighthouse. They`ve been searching, as I speak now, they`ve been searching.
GRACE: Beth, when you hear that they are still searching, do you believe it?
B. TWITTY: I just hope that they are searching in the proper areas. I mean, I don`t -- I think what we would like to know is, you know, what is warranting their searches in those areas. What information was coming.
GRACE: Do you believe that the statement that you gave was changed?
B. TWITTY: Absolutely it was.
GRACE: What was taken out or put in?
B. TWITTY: A lot of key elements. And, you know, just what Jug was describing a while ago. When I had the two uniformed officers` statements translated for me in English, they left off the key elements of the sexual assaults that Joran committed against Natalee.
GRACE: Here in the studio with me, Natalee`s mother and stepfather, with very disturbing revelations about the so-called investigation into their daughter`s disappearance.
Stay with us.
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GRACE: 18-year-old Natalee Holloway went away for her high school senior trip in Aruba, never seen again. The disappearance unsolved. Is that the way the Aruban authorities want to keep it?
Here in the studio with me, Natalee`s mother, Beth, and her stepfather, Jug.
You know what is amazing to me, Beth, is that the morning after your conversation with Joran Van Der Sloot, instead of him and his father, the judge, coming to help you look for Natalee the next day, they had a big powwow at the judge`s house, outside the pool, with them, their lawyers, the Kalpoe family, correct? Why weren`t they out helping you? Why were they already lawyering up?
B. TWITTY: You know, not only that, Nancy. Deepak gives a detailed statement on Paulus Van Der Sloot`s role in this, how Paulus hired the lawyers, arranged for the lawyers, called them over to his home, instructed the boys not to use their cell phone, they could be bugged. Also told them how to get their stories straight and then use their email, then begin emailing the story and use your hard drive to nail an alibi.
What was the need for all of that?
GRACE: The judge told them --
B. TWITTY: Yes.
GRACE: Was Paulus, the judge, Van Der Sloots` home ever searched? I understand that Joran Van Der Sloot`s apartment, where he says he had consensual sex with Natalee, is attached to the home?
B. TWITTY: I want to make it perf ectly clear: the Van Der Sloot primary residence was never searched. Forensics were not conducted at the primary residence of the Van Der Sloots.
GRACE: What do you think at this juncture is your alternative?
B. TWITTY: You know, Nancy, we don`t know what our alternative is. I mean, we have worked so hard. The whole family, every one that has watched this with us and remained supportive with us. Everyone has worked so hard, and now look at what`s happened.
GRACE: Do you ever even have time to miss her? Or are you still so intent on finding her?
B. TWITTY: I miss her every day, but, you know, not to have to deal with anything yet, because there are still so many answers that are right there glaring at us, and nobody can get them. It`s just outrageous.
GRACE: Thank you to all of my guests, but all of us have the biggest thank you to you for being with us, letting us into your home and keeping Natalee`s case alive.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0510/03/ng.01.html
