Posted on 06/19/2005 10:35:43 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
Police Question Father of Dutch Teen Arrested in Case of Missing Teenager in Aruba
Published: Jun 19, 2005 ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) - Aruban police questioned the father of a Dutch teenager held in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, hoping the island justice official may know something to help solve the mystery of what happened to the Alabama honors student, officials said Sunday.
Paul van der Sloot was questioned Saturday night, said Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten.
"He was questioned as a witness, no more or no less," van der Straaten told The Associated Press. He declined to elaborate.
The attorney general's spokeswoman, Mariaine Croes, said witnesses are questioned when prosecutors believe they may be able to add something to the case.
"You may know something more or you may have seen something more, but you are not a suspect or thought to be part of any crime," Croes said.
Van der Sloot, a judge-in-training, is the father of 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot, one of the people last seen with Holloway the night she disappeared. Three other men have been detained, but no one has been charged.
On Saturday, a judge ordered Joran van der Sloot and his two friends, brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, to stay in jail for at least another week while the investigation continues.
A fourth detained man - a party boat disc jockey - was to appear before a judge Monday, Croes said. He was identified by his boss as Steve Gregory Croes, 26.
Steve Croes was arrested Friday after giving police a statement, said Marcus Wiggins, his boss on the boat Tattoo. Steve Croes is not related to Mariaine Croes.
It was not known how the disc jockey might be connected to the case. He told Wiggins that he knew one of the Kalpoe brothers because he went to the same Internet cafe, Wiggins said.
Under Dutch law, which Aruba follows as a Dutch protectorate, authorities can detain people for up to 116 days without charging them.
Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Ala., disappeared in the early hours of May 30, the last day of a five-day vacation with 124 students celebrating their high school graduation. Her U.S. passport and packed bags were found in her room.
Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers said they took Holloway to a northern beach but dropped her off at her Holiday Inn, where they claim she was approached by a security guard.
Searches by authorities, volunteer islanders and tourists have led nowhere. Investigators refuse to say whether they believe Holloway is dead. Her mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, has said she will continue to believe Natalee is alive until she has proof to the contrary.
Holloway Twitty, 44, sat in the front pew during a Saturday night Mass dedicated to her family at a Pentecostal church.
"We admire the strength and courage you've shown as a mother," pastor Gilbert Martes told Holloway, who listened to the sermon with her eyes closed.
Holloway Twitty has insisted that Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoes hold the key to the investigation and that authorities pressure the young men harder to tell the truth.
In Alabama, a Holloway family friend said Natalee's relatives identified and located Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers less than a day after Natalee vanished. But the three young men were not detained until 10 days later.
"It's just disappointing that they (authorities) weren't able to move faster," Jody Bearman, who organized the graduation trip, told AP.
On Friday, a judge ruled on petitions from Paul van der Sloot to visit his son and from the Kalpoes' attorneys requesting to see any evidence prosecutors may have gathered, Croes said. The rulings were not disclosed.
On Wednesday, investigators searched the van der Sloot home outside the capital, Oranjestad, carrying out garbage bags of items and towing away two vehicles. Authorities have not discussed the results.
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Associated Press reporter Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala., contributed to this report.
AP-ES-06-19-05 1256EDT
The Aruban police seem to be out of their depth on this case. The combination of a potential murder, a media horde, and intense political pressure must be pretty overwhelming.
I could be wrong, but let's see how it all plays out and in the meantime, the Holloway family is left twisting in the wind.
Can't you just hear this:
Dad, I think I killed this stupid tourist.
Son, don't worry about it. I'll make a few calls and instruct you on what to do.
But Dad ... she's, ah DEAD!!
Son, it'll be alright. Just let me make a few calls.
Son, What you need to do is this, put her body here and come home immediately. I'll have someone pick her up and dispose of her. Shhh, I'm not done. We'll talk about this later. Now, do as I say.
"IMHO all the officials are doing is an "official stall" until they can find someone to pin this on besides the "judge-in-training" son."
I agree.
It just didn't work with the black security guards.
They need to find another expendable patsy.
" Holloway family friend said Natalee's relatives identified and located Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers less than a day after Natalee vanished. But the three young men were not detained until 10 days later."
Makes you suspect that pressure from higher-up may have impeded the investigation - without the family insisting to the media that these boys were involved, the investigation may have been reluctant to bring in the "son of a high-ranking official."
yea, I gaurentee they are stalling in order to figure out how to get the Dutch brat off the hook and throw the other jerks under the bus . The same old story, the old man is a big shot so he gets off. He'll get immunity to rat out the others..I'll bet my next paycheck onit .
The Aruban police seem to be out of their depth on this case. The combination of a potential murder, a media horde, and intense political pressure must be pretty overwhelming.
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People keep saying this, but I see no basis for it.
They have a missing person. They clearly don't have a body and probably not even a confession.
Without the body what do they have? Maybe they can narrow it down to the Dutch kid if his friends credibly say they drop him and the girl off to walk on the beach.
What happened to her? Did the Dutch kid kill her and put her out to sea? Did she get mad at him and run into the sea? Did they part company and she walked into the water a bit and drowned accidently? Who knows.
This to me seems much like the Hacking [sp?] case in Utah. It is hard to make a case until or unless you find a body. Maybe as in the Hacking case a relative, in this case the father, will get a confession? Barring that the Hacking case might still be lingering on.
Still it could be that something else happened to her and none of Dutch/Surinami kids know. And that means that this is dragging on is not the police authorities fault.
This charade they are pulling down there will only put the final nail in the coffin for their tourist industry. They keep talking about their low crime rate, yet a kid was found beheaded, his mother worked for Marriott. The Dutch kid is between a rock and a hard place right now, afraid of the drug cartel and a confession.
I wonder if the kid owns a boat and had a cinder block handy.
I bet the networks are clamoring to get this movie out by sweeps week.
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Despite what some say here, I bet the Arubian authorities would love to pin it on the Dutch kid. That means it was not a native Arubian but someone else visiting the Island. Also that would mean there was no racial component to it.
They let the kid's car go unexamined for forensic evidence for many days, even though they knew she had been with him and his friends in it. That says to me that they're either not up to this kind of case, or pressure from the political system is making them handle it differently than it otherwise would be. Either way, I'm glad they've got some US FBI agents down there helping out.
The kid and his family are residents of Aruba, which is part of the Dutch Antilles.
They let the kid's car go unexamined for forensic evidence for many days,
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Exactly how quickly would you like the police to search your car if someone you met went missing? Whose car were they in that night? Has anyone said yet? Perhaps the police could just round up every car on the Island looking for evidence?
The kid and his family are residents of Aruba, which is part of the Dutch Antilles.
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The kid is a European. He is not an Aruban whether or not the family is there long enough to have residency. They are visitors. They are European visitors. I assure you that Aruba would prefer that if this girl was done in that it be by a European rather than say a black Aruban.
How come they went to an internet cafe, when it appeared they had computers at home?
If you want to call somebody who's working to become a judge on the island a "visitor," then that's putting quite a strain on the term, but it's not worth arguing about any further.
If you want to call somebody who's working to become a judge on the island a "visitor," then that's putting quite a strain on the term, but it's not worth arguing about any further.
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I thought the son not the father was the suspect? You think the Judge killed her?
Many many many years ago, my father was in the US military. We lived in various places in the US and around the world. I assure you that we, the family, were nothing more than visitors be it Alaska or the UK. I promise you that if you move to Puerto Rico with a family member who has some official status, you will be a visitor while you are there.
I believe the family was there temporarily with plans to go back. That would make the planning to stay there temporarily. That would make them visitors in the plain meaning of the word. Just as I was in Alaska and the UK when I had no plans to stay permanently. But don't let the plain meaning of the word nor the probability that I am right and the Aruban officials would prefer it to be a white European if they girl was murdered bother you.
"I wonder if the kid owns a boat and had a cinder block handy."
Remember that the fourth detained man IS a party boat DJ - does make you wonder . . . .
No, but he probably knows more than he has told so far. Especially if his son is guilty of "something bad".
I'm telling you , the Dutch kid did it and they are stalling untill the old man can work out a deal for him..Bet my pay check on it!~
Oh - I believe the Dutch kid is involved but the DJ would provide a means of disposing of the body.
Here's another thread.
That's pretty close to my guess.
As I said, it's not worth arguing about any further. Bye.
Nobody knows better how to game the system than insiders. The girl's family can only hope that the truth can be discovered without any help from the father or the son.
the Aruban government claims to want to solve this case as fast as possible but at the same time declines anymore help from the FBI
three weeks and no closer to solving the case..seven more days to keep quiet and the boys can walk
maybe we should accept this nice young man into one of our colleges...
V
You would think so but maybe not. Yesterday on FNC, I think, they were interviewing a fresh group of U.S. high school kids who had just arrived on Aruba. They were amazingly ignorant of the entire Holloway case. I guess it was not covered on MTV.
I also saw an interview with the editor of a paper in Aruba who was following a lead about the drug dealers the girls had met on the beach the first day there. The dealers had approached the girls and the girls had told them to kiss off. There were some words exchanged and one of the chaperons intervened. This newspaper guy was talking about the possibility of the girls being kidnapped and taken to Columbia by way of Venezuela. For what purpose he could only surmise. Revenge? White slavery? I haven't heard anymore about that angle since.
As I said, it's not worth arguing about any further. Bye.
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Great I'll take this as admission you were wrong.
"I believe the family was there temporarily with plans to go back."
Uh, your source for this.....beyond the "I believe" part I mean
Further, I will buy the "visitor" for when you were living in the UK. But having lived in Alaska for 30 years I feel an obligation to educate you. As far as the military goes, many take their discharge in Alaska and remain...as I did. It is pretty much how Alaska grew from statehood on up. Oh wait, I am not native and my ancestors came from Europe, guess that made me a visitor after all. I moved to Arizona last year....But I guess I am just a visitor here as well.
This is beginning to just sound ludicrous...
Very good points. How many "missing persons" do we have in the US that are NEVER solved? A lot. So, this is not that unusual. I think we are so used to TV drama where CSI closes the case on the forensics and the Law & Order crew wrap it up in the last half hour. Get real. Why is everyone so critical of Aruba when we have hundreds of murders and missing persons every year?
My money is on the father. It was the last night she was on the Island, so maybe the kid took her back to his apt and she got to meet dad who put the moves on her and then, oh well.
Without a body the police interrogators can't intelligently question the van der Sloot kid. They really have nothing, and the kid is probably smart enough to know it.
Now I heard on the news that Natalie has done this disappearing act on another Island before.
Don't tell me this will be another "runaway-bride" pretend that she is missing setup to make money on book deals etc.
The press should not make these people celebrities. They are making Beth, the mother a celebrity. This is ridiculous.
IF and thats a big IF its true that this girl has truly been a victim of a crime than let the aurhorities handle it all and deal with it.
We were planning a vacation to Aruba way before this happened but now we cant even get hotel rooms there in Aruba so trust me its not hurting the Aruban econonmy at all. With all the publicity all the press that has gone there its almost impossible to get a hotel room.
Every day and night all you see are interviews with the mother and anyone else they can get to appear on TV,plus the same pictures of her day after day after day, does this help the missing person? Absolutely not, it just makes for a better book deal and movie etc.
Sound cynical? Well after all of the past performances by these "celebrities" and multi-million dollar book deals because of the celebrity status that the power of the press has produced when a possible tragedy happens the only one not benefitting is the VICTIM.
And please dont post platitudes to me about "what if it were your child wouldnt you do everything possible to get her back" of course I would but not daily interviews so that I could get the best book deal I could. I would be working to find her not try to be a TV star for goodness sake.
Missing person, tragedy, murders, fatigued!
Hopefully its true that Natalie has taken off again and is not a victim of a crime.
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