While not beyond some remote possibility, this theory is the stuff of black and white 1940's "Shanghai" movies starring Alan Ladd.
I think we now know enough to say very generally that she and the Dutch boy were on that beach late at night and something bad happened. And probably others, perhaps Father Paulus, had a hand in disposing of the body.
While I hope the slave trade story is correct, I personally find it to be a hook that many loving people are hanging on to in the hopes Natalee is still alive. And no rational person would purposely deny any one the emotion of hope.
However, in reality, while Aruba may be a transport center for the drug trade, I've never heard about any numbers of female tourists being snatched there on the spur of the moment to be sold in a slave trade industry flourishing and operating out of this tiny island.
Leni
Friday, June 03, 2005
Shortly after the mother of a high school senior missing in Aruba pleaded for more help from the U.S. government, the State Department issued confirmation that it was involved in the search, FOX News has learned.
Though bound by the Privacy Act from commenting too much on the case of missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, spokesman Sean McCormack said State Department officials learned of her disappearance in the Caribbean resort island on June 1 and is doing what it can to assist the family, FOX has learned.
"Natalie's family have arrived in Aruba. And a consular officer from Curacao is in Aruba at this time and is in contact with the family," McCormack said in a statement. "We are making sure that we provide all possible assistance to the family and local authorities."
He added that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also in Aruba "cooperating with local authorities in the search effort."
Earlier Friday, Natalee Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, called for more help from the United States in the massive search under way in Aruba.
Police and volunteers there combed beaches and scrubland for a fifth consecutive day Friday on the Dutch Caribbean island.
An excellent anaysis of the situation.
I do believe you've nailed it!
But OTOH, I think it's hard to say for those of us who have little knowledge of the seamier side of life in the Caribbean. Wasn't there another girl who disappeared from a cruise ship docking in Aruba a couple of years ago? Seems to me there were theories abounding that that was what had happened to her.
Anybody else see Greta van Susteren come on Shepard Smith's show at around 3:30pm today (Friday 6/25)?
Greta just voiced the theory that I've had for a couple of weeks now.
She proposed a scenario where Joran vdS and Natalee had been alone on the beach --not the remote one, but the one near the hotels-- and that Joran left her there to walk back to her hotel, which according to Greta is only 300-500 yards away.
She said that Natalee would have to have passed "hundreds of people" on that beach to get back to the hotel. (What time frame Greta was talking about, I don't know. But presumably she knows what she's talking about and knows there could be hundreds of people on that beach at whatever hour.)
Greta seems to think there's a good possibility someone else on the beach kidnapped Natalee after Joran left.
Greta continued to emphasize that "they should focus hard on Joran --BUT I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket. It could have been someone else and they should follow ALL leads." [paraphrased]
(Greta also didn't seem very focused on whatever implications might be drawn from Mr. van der Sloot's arrest. I got the impression she thinks that may be just a pressure tactic.)
The inevitable question of course is "If Joran didn't kill her, why then did he lie about dropping her off at the hotel?"
I don't know, but I do know teenagers lie about relatively small things when they're scared (so do many adults). Maybe he knew he'd done a wrong thing in abandoning her in a drunk state and was afraid of being in trouble for that.
Supporting that theory would be the report that one Surinamese boys told the security guard (one of the two who'd also been arrested) that they lied because they thought Natalee would show up unharmed in a day or two.
Anyway, I don't claim any special insight into who dunnit (nor if anyone done anything for that matter); am just relaying what Greta van Susteren now seems to think is a plausible scenario. And still praying that the girl is found alive.