NEW YORK (CBS) - The FBI is defending its failure to arrest murder suspect Joran van der Sloot on extortion charges in the Natalee Holloway case, saying they were getting closer to making a murder arrest in that case, and didn't want to blow the investigation.
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"According to the official, the FBI felt that for the first time in five years they were on the brink of finding Natalee Holloway's body. The FBI says it was receiving statements from van der Sloot about how and where he hid the body. Aruban officials, along with FBI agents, "were working this very intensely," including looking at blueprints, making plans to dig and bring in cadaver dogs.
"We were not trying to build a white collar extortion case. We were trying to solve the crime," the senior official told CBS News.
The official said there was no evidence van der Sloot, now 22, was a serial killer or about to commit another crime....."
Don’t miss post no.32 - response from the FBI, via CBS News.