Natalee Holloway
Natalee Ann Holloway (born October 21, 1986; died May 30, 2005 in Oranjestad, Aruba) was a Mountain Brook teenager who was murdered during a group vacation in in Aruba. Her disappearance, and later the investigation itself, caused a media sensation in the United States.
Disappearance and death
Holloway and 124 fellow graduates of Mountain Brook High School visited Aruba on an unofficial five-day graduation trip, staying at the Holiday Inn Resort Aruba near the northern end of the island. Natalee was seen leaving Carlos’n Charlie’s, a popular tourist nightspot in Oranjestad, at about 1:30 a.m. on Monday, May 30 with three men: Joran van der Sloot (17), Satish Kalpoe (18), and Deepak Kalpoe (21). They left in in Deepak's car.
In his 2023 confession, Joran van der Sloot related that after Holloway asked to be returned to her hotel, he had Deepak drop them off near the Fisherman's Huts, about three quarters of a mile north of the Holiday Inn Resort so that he might have more opportunity to seduce her. He lay down with her on the beach north of the Aruba Marriott Resort. They kissed, but she protested when he began to "feel her up". He persisted and she kneed him in the crotch. Angered, he rose and kicked her "extremely hard in the face," which left her unresponsive. He then took note of a concrete block lying near by and crushed her face with it. After killing her, he carried her body into the surf and walked home alone.
Natalee's disappearance was reported the next morning when she did not arrive for her return flight. Her passport, packed luggage, and mobile phone were found in her hotel room. She did not appear in security camera footage from the hotel lobby in the course of the night. Holloway's parents, Jug and Beth Twitty flew immediately to Aruba on a jet loaned by McWane Inc. and began canvassing neighbors and questioning people who had seen their daughter. Searches of the island and surrounding waters began immediately, but were fruitless.
Natalee's behavior on the night of her disappearance, and the behavior of the group as a whole during the trip, gained attention, notably in a January 2006 Vanity Fair feature.
Investigation
Physical search
An extensive and far-reaching search began immediately. Family and friends of Holloway printed posters and distributed them all over the island, asking anyone they met for leads. The reward for information leading to Natalee's safe return, pledged by her family, private donors, the Aruban government, and Carlos 'n Charlie's Restaurant, reached $1,000,000. A $250,000 reward was also offered for information about her whereabouts, alive or dead.
On July 4, the Netherlands dispatched three F-16 fighters equipped with infrared sensors to scan the surrounding waters, but to no avail. Between July 27-30 a pond near the Aruba Racquet Club was drained on a tip from a gardener who said he saw the three main suspects sitting in a parked car nearby between 2:30 and 3:00 AM.
A landfill was searched several times between July and October based on the report of a jogger who claimed to have seen Joran and Deepak burying a nude, blonde-haired woman there with help from Joran's father, Paulus van der Sloot, who worked as an official in the Aruban courts.
Between January and April 2006 the sand dunes on the northwest coast of the island were searched extensively.
Interviews with suspects
Shortly after their arrival, the Twittys discovered that Joran Van der Sloot was the last person seen with their daughter, and took that information to the Aruban police. As searches and canvassing of the island proceeded, the police, led by investigator Jan van der Straaten, interviewed Van der Sloot and his friends at his home.
Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers initially told investigators that they had gone with Holloway to the "California Lighthouse" area of Arashi Beach for a short while, and then returned her to her hotel. They said that she fell to the ground after getting out of the car, but refused help. They also said she was approached by two men wearing dark-colored security guard uniforms as they drove away. Suspicion fell on two former security guards at a nearby hotel, Antonius "Mickey" John (30) and Abraham Jones (28). The two suspects were taken into custody on June 5, but were found not to have been involved and were released on June 13.
Arrests
On June 9, Joran van der Sloot and Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were arrested as suspects based on inconsistencies in their stories. According to statements by Mickey John after his release, Deepak apologized to him in jail for lying about the security guards.
On June 17 a fourth suspect, Steve Gregory Croes (26), a party boat disc jockey, was taken into custody. On June 22 Paulus van der Sloot was also detained for questioning and then arrested. He waived his right not to testify against his son and was released on June 26. Croes was released the next day. The Kalpoes were released on July 4, but re-arrested on August 26, along with another friend of Joran's, Freddy Arambatzis.
The story that emerged from interviewing that group of suspects was that the Kalpoes left Holloway and Van der Sloot alone at a beach near the Marriott Hotel at 1:40 A.M. Joran said that he told Holloway that he needed to return home because he had classes the next morning, but she did not want to leave the beach. He says he called Satish for a ride and was taken home around 3:00 A.M. Interviewed separately, Satish denied having picked Joran up from the beach. Joran's statements depicted Natalee as drinking heavily and acting promiscuously at the bar before the group left.
On September 3 all four suspects were released from custody but required to remain in Aruba and available for further questioning. These restrictions were lifted on September 14 by a Court of Appeals. Paulus van der Sloot filed a successful complaint for unjust detention and was legally removed from the case as a suspect, with an opportunity to seek damages. Joran began attending college in the Netherlands.
On April 15, 2006 a new suspect, Geoffrey van Cromvoirt, a reputed drug dealer, was taken into custody. He was released on April 24, following the arrest of another individual, identified as "A.B." who was picked up, questioned, and released on April 22.
Controversies
Since the first weeks of the criminal investigation the Twittys charged that the Aruban police had been ineffective. The family's involvement, particularly Beth's, in pursuing an independent investigation and criticizing the government caused friction with Aruban authorities.
Based on a videotaped interview, the authenticity of which has been questioned, and documents, which have not been made public, Twitty said she had no doubt that Joran, Deepak and Satish all participated in raping Natalee at the Van der Sloot's home. Aruban police have denied that any such statements were made by the suspects.
Later statements by critics of the Aruban investigation alleged a cover-up to protect the Van der Sloots. Counter-criticisms of interference have been levelled against the Twittys for supposedly suppressing testimony from Natalee's classmates, especially anything that would call Natalee's behavior into question. Beth Twitty was a frequent guest on television news and talk shows and used those platforms to express her opinions of the case.
Boycott
In an attempt to pressure the government of Aruba to solve the case, the Twittys and their supporters called for a tourist boycott of the island. Aruban officials responded that much of the criticism comes from ignorance of the criminal justice procedure used in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
These calls received support from many media commentators and judicial advocacy organizations. On November 8, Governor Bob Riley went on record supporting the boycott, and wrote other governors to join him. The City Council of Philadelphia did pass a boycott resolution. The U.S. State Department expressly denied supporting any official boycott of Aruba.
Meanwhile various organizations representing Aruba's tourism industry, by far the leading segment of the island's economy, formed a group called the "Strategic Communications Task Force" to coordinate their response and provide what they considered a fairer portrayal of Aruba. Their weblog, "Aruba Truth", issued press releases in response to developments in the case.
After Van der Straaten's retirement, Police Commissioner Gerold Dompig took over as the leader of the investigation. In March 2006, he suggested that Holloway had probably died from alcohol and/or drug poisoning rather than by murder, and that someone later hid her body. In April 2006 he was replaced by Adolpho (Dolfi) Richardson.
Media coverage
U.S. television networks devoted much air time to the search for Natalee, the investigation of her disappearance, and rumors surrounding the case; Greta Van Susteren, host of FOX News' On the Record, perhaps most prominently. The extensive daily coverage was only eclipsed by reporting on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in September 2005.
Locally, the Aruban Press published extensively on the disappearance and search. The story generated only mild interest in the Netherlands.
The saturation of coverage in the U.S. triggered a backlash among some critics who alluded to the media's supposed "missing white woman syndrome". CNN ran a segment criticizing the amount of coverage their competitors had been giving to the story.
Several television drama series aired episodes based to some extent on the Natalee Holloway case:
- CSI Miami: "Prey" (October 3, 2005)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent: "In the Wee Small Hours". (November 6, 2005)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: "Gone" (February 28, 2006)
In 2007 HarperOne published an account of the case penned by Natalee's mother, Beth. The Lifetime cable network produced a 2009 TV movie, entitled Natalee Holloway based on Holloway-Twitty's book, starring Amy Gumenick as Natalee and Tracy Pollan as Beth.
Later developments
Joran van der Sloot contacted Holloway-Twitty's attorney John Q. Kelly by email on March 29, 2010 and offered to provide information leading to Natalee's remains in exchange for $250,000. A written contract was drawn up, and Holloway-Twitty paid him $25,000 initially, including $10,000 in cash and $15,100 in wire transfers to his account at SNS Bank in the Netherlands. In return, Van der Sloot brought Kelly to a home where he claimed that his father, Paulus, had concealed Natalee in or below the foundation. Public records and aerial photographs showed that the house had not been constructed until 2010 and in an email sent on May 27, 2010 Van der Sloot admitted to having fabricated the story.
Three days later, Van der Sloot murdered Stephany Flores Ramírez in a guest room registered in his name at the Hotel TAC in Lima, Peru. Her body was found on June 2. He was arrested shortly after crossing the border into Chile on June 3. On January 11, 2012 he pleaded guilty to killing Flores, claiming temporary insanity provoked when she learned of his alleged involvement in the Holloway case. He was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Meanwhile, in Birmingham in June 2010, a federal grand jury meeting at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama indicted Van der Sloot for extortion related to the fraudulent offer to Holloway-Twitty. An order was issued for his arrest on the same day he was captured as a suspect in Flores' death. On January 10, the day before he was sentenced for that crime, Natalee Holloway was declared legally dead by Jefferson County judge Alan King ruling on her parents' joint petition.
While in prison Van der Sloot was married to Leidy Figueroa Uceda, a vendor who sold goods to prisoners. In September, shortly before she gave birth to their daughter, Dushy, he threatened to kill the director of the Establecimiento Penal Piedras Gordas in Ancón and was transferred to the more isolated Penal de Challapalca in Tacna. He later was moved to the Establecimiento Penal de Juliaca.
In early 2023 Van der Sloot was convicted of participating in a scheme to smuggle cocaine into the prison. He was sentenced to serve an additional 18 years in prison and was transferred back to Challapalca.
Plea and confession
In May of that year, Peru granted temporary extradition so that Van der Sloot could face the federal extortion charges in District Court in Birmingham. He was held at the Shelby County Jail during the proceedings. He pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing on June 9 and then pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud at a plea hearing on October 18. As part of his plea, Van der Sloot was required to account for his role in Holloway's death and disappearance. He was interviewed by his public defender, Kevin Butler, while being monitored by a polygraph technician. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for each count, to serve concurrently with each other and with his sentences in Peru, where he is currently set to be released in 2045.
Van der Sloot expressed a desire during the hearing to apologize to Natalee's family, and to proclaim that he was a changed man and had given his heart to Jesus Christ.
References
- AL.com coverage of Holloway's disappearance
- Burrough, Bryan (January 2006) "Missing White Female" Vanity Fair
- Holloway, Beth (2007) Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith. New York: HarperOne ISBN 0061452270
- "Natalee Holloway declared dead by judge six years after disappearance." (January 12, 2012) The Guardian
- Robinson, Carol (May 11, 2023) "Why Joran van der Sloot faces charges in Alabama: Inside the alleged extortion of Natalee Holloway’s mother." AL.com
- Robinson, Carol & Ivana Hrynkiw (June 9, 2023) "Natalee Holloway’s mother sees Joran van der Sloot in court: ‘Wheels of justice have finally begun’." AL.com
- Robinson, Carol (October 16, 2023) "Joran van der Sloot will reveal how Natalee Holloway died as part of plea deal, lawyer says." AL.com
- Robinson, Carol (October 18, 2023) "Joran van der Sloot smashed in Natalee Holloway’s head, threw her in ocean for refusing sexual advances." AL.com
- Robinson, Carol; Ivana Hrynkiw & William Thornton (October 18, 2023) "Beth Holloway: Joran van der Sloot confessing to killing Natalee ‘the end of our never ending nightmare’." AL.com