Natalee Holloway update..

[Steff]

A little bit of new news.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159006,00.html

 

PM: 'We Will Not Stop Until We Have Answers'

Thursday, June 09, 2005

 

ORANJESTAD, Aruba — Finding 18-year-old Natalee Holloway (search) is currently Aruba's "No. 1 goal," the country's prime minister said Thursday after three more suspects were arrested in connection with the American tourist's disappearance.

 

"We stand behind the family of Natalee Holloway in full support," Prime Minister Nelson Orlando Oduber said. "This investigation must move along swiftly … we will not stop until we have answers. We are shocked and completely distraught."

 

Holloway was on a five-day graduation vacation with 124 classmates and seven chaperones when she disappeared without a trace. The Alabaman was last seen at a local bar about 1:30 a.m. Memorial Day (search), getting into a car with three islanders she'd apparently befriended.

 

Those three islanders were questioned and released last week but were arrested again on Thursday. Two other men are also in custody and being questioned.

 

The Aruba police and other international authorities "are doing everything in their power to find Natalee," Oduber said, adding that he's been in touch with U.S. officials like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

 

"The government of Aruba has always made the safety ... of our community and our visitors a top priority," the prime minister said during a press conference that Holloway's mother also attended. "Aruba has very strong ties to the United States. We will not tolerate any activities that harm our American friends or any of our international visitors, or part of our community at large."

 

 

Officials said earlier Thursday that the three men arrested gave the Alabama teen a ride back to her hotel the night she disappeared.

 

The trio — two Surinamese and a native of the Netherlands — told police they dropped off Holloway at her hotel around 2 a.m. on May 30. Holiday Inn employees, however, say that security cameras did not record her return.

 

The Dutch suspect, Joran Andreas Petrus Van Der Sloot, a student at Aruba International School, came out of his upper-class home in Oranjestad on Thursday with his head covered in a blue and green towel.

 

The Surinamese brothers in custody are Satish Kalpoe, born July 30, 1986, and Deepak Kalpoe, born Oct. 6, 1983. They are the sons of a local Aruban business man.

 

Van Der Sloot's father is a prominent official in the Aruban justice system. The younger Van Der Sloot, born Aug. 6, 1987, may have been romantically involved with the 18-year-old Holloway the night she disappeared. He met Holloway at a hotel casino two days before she was last seen, Aruban Police Commander Jahn van der Straaten told reporters.

 

The three, described by authorities earlier as witnesses and "persons of interest," had been released last week after being questioned about Holloway.

 

Aruba Attorney General Caren Janssen (search) said the three were arrested at 6 a.m. Thursday. She refused to say whether they were connected to the two men already being detained in the disappearance.

 

"It is likely it may have been a police strategy to let these three men go to gather more information," Ruben Trapenberg, spokesman for the Aruba government, told FOX News Thursday morning.

 

"The three witnesses gave information about the two guys [already in custody] and that is why they were held. If one of those two has an alibi, then the story [given by the three witnesses] doesn't fit and therefore the two may then be released depending on the proof."

 

Police also impounded a gray Honda car. Holloway's friends reported seeing her leave a bar in a silver car the night she disappeared.

 

Local police and the FBI said a lack of any solid leads was hindering progress in their search for Holloway. Local officials have asked the FBI to bring in dogs trained to search.

 

Police and volunteer land searches continued Wednesday with no results, while water searches, also unsuccessful, had been suspended "at this time," police spokesman Edwin Comenencia said.

 

"There is no physical evidence whatsoever and there are no statements given by any person that would indicate Natalee Holloway is not alive," Chris Lejuez, a court-appointed defense attorney for one of the two men previously arrested in the case, told FOX News Thursday morning.

 

Suspects: Holloway Was Drunk When We Dropped Her Off

 

Lejuez told FOX News that he and his colleague Noriana Pietersz had been given witness statements from only the two Surinamese citizens.

 

"I'm very happy that they're expanding the investigation," Lejuez told FOX News on Thursday morning. "It shows they are not focusing anymore on my client and the other person in custody. It shows the police finally realize they're not going to get anywhere with these two people."

 

The Kalpoe brothers told police that Van Der Sloot became intimate with Holloway at the California Lighthouse beach before they dropped her off at her hotel. They told police Holloway had been drinking heavily and was drunk, and then when she got out of their car in front of the Holiday Inn, she stumbled and fell to the ground.

 

When one tried to help her up, she pushed him away and said, "I can stand on my own!"

 

They say she then headed towards the lobby, and a black man in black pants and a black t-shirt escorted her inside.

 

The tape from the Holiday Inn lobby camera was reportedly checked by police but no images of Holloway were found, and the attorney says the security guard on duty from midnight on told authorities he never saw the teenager enter the hotel that night.

 

On Wednesday, a judge ruled that authorities had enough evidence to hold two former security guards arrested Sunday in connection with Holloway's disappearance.

 

At least one of the suspects, 28-year-old Abraham Jones, appeared in court in Aruba Wednesday morning. The other was identified as 30-year-old Mickey John.

 

Neither man has been charged with a crime, but both were being held on suspicion of first- and second-degree murder and capital kidnapping, the latter of which is invoked when a kidnapping victim is killed, according to their lawyers. According to Aruba law, only strong suspicion — not evidence — is necessary to continue holding a suspect.

 

"There is no reason to believe he's not telling the truth," Lejuez told FOX News Thursday morning, referring to his client, Jones. He added that Jones has repeated the same story to several people — that he was at a beach festival the night Holloway disappeared, then went home with his wife, where he slept until 7 a.m. the next day.

 

Lejuez dropped John as a client per a request from the prosecutor, who said it's not ethical for him to represent both clients. Whereas normally he would oppose such a move, Lejuez said, "in this case, considering the grave consequences it would have for the island of Aruba, I have ... deviated from what I normally do and honored their request to do so."

 

Pietersz, John's lawyer, said she spoke to her client in jail Thursday.

 

"I have decided not to demand the immediate release of my client," she said. "We prefer to let the prosecution investigate, confident that my client will be released by Wednesday" when a judge will decide whether to extend his detention.

 

Authorities may hold John and Jones without filing formal charges for up to 116 days, lawyers said. The two are Aruban citizens, though one is originally from Grenada. Family members insist the two men are innocent.

 

Judge J.S. Kuiperdal will review the case June 15 and every eight days after that if needed, officials said. Prosecutors asked that the defendants be kept in jail at least until June 15, when they hope to conclude their investigation.

 

Investigators must come up with some evidence to hold the suspects beyond that date.

 

Attorney general spokeswoman Vivian Van Der Biezan said she would check into whether Dutch law allows a charge of murder if no body is found.

 

Authorities have not said Holloway was a victim of foul play and have not ruled out any possibilities, including that she may have drowned.

 

Holloway spent her last night at a beach concert and then eating and dancing at Carlos 'n Charlie's bar and restaurant, which has donated $5,000 of a reward for information on her. She is described as a straight-A student who had a full scholarship to a premedical program at the University of Alabama.

 

The search for the Mountain Brook, Ala., teen began shortly after she failed to show up for her flight home the next morning. Police found her passport in her hotel room with her packed bags.

 

The Aruba government and local tourism organizations have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to her rescue. Family and benefactors in Alabama have offered $30,000.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

How is this even a national news story? Oh wait, I know..."Poor poor Southern white girl gets lost in nation full of dark skinned people."

 

If the girl is dumb enough to get into a car by herself with 3 people she doesn't know then she deserves what happened. Boo hoo, we probably lost a moron.

 

Harsh? Yes. Crass? Yes. True? Yes.

 

There is a little thing in our heads called a brain, people. f***ing use it. "Hmm, should I get into a car by myself with 3 people I barely know at all in another country where I don't know where anything is at? Why yes, that seems like an excellent idea!"

 

I've had it up to here with the constant news coverage of this idiot who got lost because she is a moron.

[Steff]

There is speculation that she was drugged, but that's besides the point.

 

 

Harsh? Yes. Crass? Yes. True? Yes.

 

 

Ignorant? Yes. Assanine? Yes. Karma... ? Probably.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

There is speculation that she was drugged, but that's besides the point.

Harsh? Yes. Crass? Yes. True? Yes.

Ignorant? Yes. Assanine? Yes. Karma... ? Probably.

 

Taking quotes from the story that "The Alabaman was last seen at a local bar about 1:30 a.m. Memorial Day (search), getting into a car with three islanders she'd apparently befriended."

 

Now this means either 1 of 2 things: a. her friends/chaperones left her alone with people she didn't know at all or b. the girl decided to go off by herself to a bar with people she didn't know. Toddlers knows "Stranger = Danger" so why can't 18 year olds figure it out?

[Steff]

Taking quotes from the story that "The Alabaman was last seen at a local bar about 1:30 a.m. Memorial Day (search), getting into a car with three islanders she'd apparently befriended."

 

Now this means either 1 of 2 things:  a. her friends/chaperones left her alone with people she didn't know at all or b. the girl decided to go off by herself to a bar with people she didn't know.  Toddlers knows "Stranger = Danger" so why can't 18 year olds figure it out?

 

 

 

Beats me LCR... I'm not defending her actions, but I sure as hell am not going to s*** on a girl that was possibly raped and murdered. People are in the wrong place at the wrong time all the time. Family members beat, rape and kill eachother. Parents, Priests, friends and strangers molest and kill children, etc, etc..

 

It's a pretty effed up world out there.

 

Guess I'm in the minority in thinking it's better not to kick someone when they are down.

[Balta1701]

I used to work for a sales business that had 2 shops in the NW Indiana area. During my last year there, the guy who owned the other office in the area was shot and killed outside of his office. It later seemed to turn out that his teenage kids had repeatedly tried to put out a hit on him. Btw, he was a millionaire. His wife had also been cheating on him. The person who they actually think pulled the trigger was a person the kids knew from school. He has since disappeared. One kid was arrested, but because of shoddy police work, he was never charged. The wife later ran off to Michigan with another guy from that office and blew most of the guy's money on drugs.

 

If just 1/20th of the amount of coverage that CNN et al. have wasted on discussing missing white women was given to that case, I bet you it would be enough to find the killer. I bet you it would spur the local police to get their act together. I bet you it wouldn't be that hard to find the guy if his face was out there (last I heard he was cited in one of the Carolinas.)

 

But alas, all we get is missing white women. No wonder I no longer watch cable news.

[Queen Prawn]

I don't watch any televised news coverage. I go to the internet for it so I can sift through the stories.

[Steff]

But alas, all we get is missing white women.  No wonder I no longer watch cable news.

 

 

 

So is that all the "white woman's" fault...?? That gives the green light to talk s*** about her..?

 

 

And I'm not at all saying YOU are doing that.. just a curious question.

[Soxy]

I do really feel for the Holloway family and for Natalee herself. What they suffered/are suffering is completely unimaginable to me. And, obviously, they're in my thoughts and prayers.

 

But I do think that the news coverage could be better spent: genocide in Africa, the AIDS crisis in developing nations, corruption in pretty much every facet of our government, the sex trade that occurs even in this country; there is so much more newsworthy stuff than one pretty eighteen year old that goes missing, or one rich bride pulls a runner, or friggin' Michael Jackson. The news industry is a joke, and their priority of the worst tragedy of the day pales in comparisons to the horrible, s***ty and painful things that go on everyday behind closed doors (or hell, in whole countries).

[SnB]

I do really feel for the Holloway family and for Natalee herself. What they suffered/are suffering is completely unimaginable to me. And, obviously, they're in my thoughts and prayers.

 

But I do think that the news coverage could be better spent: genocide in Africa, the AIDS crisis in developing nations, corruption in pretty much every facet of our government, the sex trade that occurs even in this country; there is so much more newsworthy stuff than one pretty eighteen year old that goes missing, or one rich bride pulls a runner, or friggin' Michael Jackson. The news industry is a joke, and their priority of the worst tragedy of the day pales in comparisons to the horrible, s***ty and painful things that go on everyday behind closed doors (or hell, in whole countries).

 

I swear to god, if i see another nightly news preview that says, "a new study says (insert food/drink here) can be good for you, find out more at 9"

Every god damn day it's something like that.

[southsider2k5]

I swear to god, if i see another nightly news preview that says, "a new study says (insert food/drink here) can be good for you, find out more at 9"

Every god damn day it's something like that.

 

I read a story that said posting on Soxtalk is good for your health...

[Balta1701]

So is that all the "white woman's" fault...?? That gives the green light to talk s*** about her..?

And I'm not at all saying YOU are doing that.. just a curious question.

 

I'm not talking sh*t about her. I just don't care about her, and I don't think that she's national news.

 

The only reason she's national news is that she's a white American female.

 

Here's a quote from a former Dole Press Secretary on the subject. There are also links there to missing African American females who are simply ignored by the news media. Ditto Children.

 

Former Bob Dole press secretary Douglas MacKinnon's message to the news media: "Your continual focus on, and reporting of, missing, young, attractive white women not only demeans your profession but is a televised slap in the face to minority mothers and parents the nation over who search for their own missing children with little or no assistance or notice from anyone."

[Steff]

I'm not talking sh*t about her. 

 

 

What part of "And I am not saying YOU are doing it" did you not comprehend..???

[Balta1701]

Here's a WaPo piece from today on the same topic.

 

Someday historians will look back at America in the decade bracketing the turn of the 21st century and identify the era's major themes: Religious fundamentalism. Terrorism. War in Iraq. Economic dislocation. Bioengineering. Information technology. Nuclear proliferation. Globalization. The rise of superpower China.

 

And, of course, Damsels in Distress.

 

 

This is undated family photo released by Marcia Twitty shows Natalee Holloway of Mountain Brook, Ala. Holloway has been missing since May 30, when she vanished in Aruba while on a trip with classmates celebrating their high school graduation. The search for Holloway continued on Tuesday, June 7, 2005. (AP Photo/Family photo)

This is undated family photo released by Marcia Twitty shows Natalee Holloway of Mountain Brook, Ala. Holloway has been missing since May 30, when she vanished in Aruba while on a trip with classmates celebrating their high school graduation. The search for Holloway continued on Tuesday, June 7, 2005. (AP Photo/Family photo) (Natalee Holloway Family Photo Via Associated Press)

 

Every few weeks, this stressed-out nation with more problems to worry about than hours in the day finds time to become obsessed with the saga -- it's always a "saga," never just a story -- of a damsel in distress. Natalee Holloway, the student who disappeared while on a class trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba, is the latest in what seems an endless series.

 

Holloway assumed the mantle from her predecessor, the Runaway Bride, who turned out not to have been in distress at all -- not physical distress, at least, though it's obvious that the prospect of her impending 600-guest wedding caused Jennifer Wilbanks an understandable measure of mental trauma.

 

Before the Runaway Bride, there were too many damsels to provide a full list, but surely you remember the damsel elite: Laci Peterson. Elizabeth Smart. Lori Hacking. Chandra Levy. JonBenet Ramsey. We even found, or created, a damsel amid the chaos of war in Iraq: Jessica Lynch.

 

The specifics of the story line vary from damsel to damsel. In some cases, the saga begins with the discovery of a corpse. In other cases, the damsel simply vanishes into thin air. Often, there is a suspect from the beginning -- an intruder, a husband, a father, a congressman, a stranger glimpsed lurking nearby.

 

Sometimes the tale ends well, or well enough, as in the cases of Smart and Lynch. Let's hope it ends well for Holloway. But more often, it ends badly. Once in a great while, a case like Runaway Bride comes along to provide comic relief.

 

But of course the damsels have much in common besides being female. You probably have some idea of where I'm headed here.

 

A damsel must be white. This requirement is nonnegotiable. It helps if her frame is of dimensions that breathless cable television reporters can credibly describe as "petite," and it also helps if she's the kind of woman who wouldn't really mind being called "petite," a woman with a good deal of princess in her personality. She must be attractive -- also nonnegotiable. Her economic status should be middle class or higher, but an exception can be made in the case of wartime (see: Lynch).

 

Put all this together, and you get 24-7 coverage. The disappearance of a man, or of a woman of color, can generate a brief flurry, but never the full damsel treatment. Since the Holloway story broke we've had more news reports from Aruba this past week, I'd wager, than in the preceding 10 years.

 

I have no idea whether the late French philosopher Jacques Derrida hung on every twist and turn of the Chandra Levy case; somehow, I doubt he did. But I suspect the apostle of "deconstructionism" would have analyzed the damsel-in-distress phenomenon by explaining that our society is imposing its own subconsciously chosen narrative on all these cases.

 

It's the meta-narrative of something seen as precious and delicate being snatched away, defiled, destroyed by evil forces that lurk in the shadows, just outside the bedroom window. It's whiteness under siege. It's innocence and optimism crushed by cruel reality. It's a flower smashed by a rock.

 

Or maybe (since Derrida believed in multiple readings of a single text) the damsel thing is just a guaranteed cure for a slow news day. The cable news channels, after all, have lots of airtime to fill.

 

This is not to mock any one of these cases (except Runaway Bride) or to diminish the genuine tragedy experienced by family and friends. I can imagine the helplessness I'd feel if a child of mine disappeared from a remote beach in the Caribbean. But I can also be fairly confident that neither of my sons would provoke so many headlines.

 

Whatever our ultimate reason for singling out these few unfortunate victims, among the thousands of Americans who are murdered or who vanish each year, the pattern of choosing only young, white, middle-class women for the full damsel treatment says a lot about a nation that likes to believe it has consigned race and class to irrelevance.

 

What it says is that we haven't. What it says is that those stubborn issues are still very much alive and that they remain at the heart of the nation's deepest fears.

[Balta1701]

What part of "And I am not saying YOU are doing it" did you not comprehend..???

 

The part of it that didn't stick in my head. My apologies...I kind of lost that statement when I was replying. Entirely my fault.

 

Aside from that, I think my last 2 posts still effort the same point. It's not the "white woman's fault", but the media is going crazy for these "missing young white women", and it's really not a good thing.

[Steff]

The part of it that didn't stick in my head.  My apologies...I kind of lost that statement when I was replying.  Entirely my fault.

 

Aside from that, I think my last 2 posts still effort the same point.  It's not the "white woman's fault", but the media is going crazy for these "missing young white women", and it's really not a good thing.

 

 

 

No harm, no foul.

 

I agree it's the media.. which is why I don't agree with slamming her for her actions. That's all I was trying to get at.

[JDsDirtySox]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/10/border.chainsaw/index.html

 

 

[Heads22]

It makes me wonder why the mentally disabled girl here in Iowa that was molested and then killed recieves little then no coverage when other child abductions are...

[Heads22]

I'm sorry, but wow....

 

 

[Heads22]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/10/missing.teen/index.html#BG

[nitetrain8601]

1)She's stupid as hell. Don't go hang out with strangers from another country by yourself and get drunk with them.

 

2)What about all the other people getting abducted and killed? Is it because they are not beautiful white women from the south who have full rides for a premed degree at University of Alabama?? I mean if she's that smart, she should've known what not to do and what to do.

 

3)The white guy looks like a creep. The others look like friends of a creep.

 

4)Condolences go out to her family. I still like the girl and hope she's alive, but people don't make stupid decisions and take care of yourselves.

[nitetrain8601]

oh yeah,

 

5)What ever happened to taking trips in the US? Shooooooot, my high school didn't even have an official senior trip. One of my friends had to set up a trip to Cedar Point for two days. And they're from Alabama and get to go overseas?? Injustice!!!

[LosMediasBlancas]

I love how everyone pretends they don't know what happened and why.

This story reminds me of a song from that Spike Lee movie:

She's got jungle fever

She had jungle fever

She's got jungle fever yeah yeah yeah

 

.......and if that didn't piss ya off, how about this for speculating and generalizing: She's from Alabama right? She probably figured that was her only opportunity to get some 'chocolate in her milk' without someone getting lynched and the other person getting disowned by her family.

Flame away.

[YASNY]

I didn't realize southern white women were so hated.

[Steff]

I didn't realize southern white women were so hated.

 

 

Me neither.. I also didn't realize there were no "chocolate" men in Alabama..