In 2005, during a high school senior graduation trip to Aruba, Natalee Holloway vanished without a trace. Natalee was only 18 years old and was about to head to med school – her whole life was ahead of her, but suddenly she was gone. Instantly, the news of her disappearance was front page news. For years, the police struggled to uncover the truth and one too many dead ends and broken leads later, the investigation was at a standstill. Her parents were distraught, her friends were at a loss, but the person(s) responsible for her disappearance were still walking around, scot-free. A decade has since passed since Natalee disappeared and new evidence has finally materialized, will the story of Natalee Holloway finally have an ending?
A Decade Passes: The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway
Who Was Natalee Holloway?
David and Beth Holloway are the parents of Natalee Holloway, born October 21, 1986. However David and Beth divorced in 1993, therefore Natalee and her younger brother, Matt, lived with their mom. By 2000, Beth remarried to George Twitty, a prominent Alabama businessman, and as a result the family then moved to Mountain Brook, Alabama.
Who Was Natalee Holloway?
The Future
As far as gifted students go, Natalee was exceptional: a honors graduate and a member of the National Honor Society, moreover she participated in dance team and numerous other extracurricular activities. To top it all off, Natalee was offered a full scholarship to the University of Alabama, where she enrolled as a pre-med major.
The Future
Senior Class Trip
The whole trip to Aruba was organized as a senior class trip – as Natalee was a star student and devoted daughter, her parents had no reservations when she asked to go. Plus there were also four chaperones accompanying the group for their five day trip. Around 100 students set off on the trip of a lifetime on May 26, 2005.
Senior Class Trip
Good Times
Everyone paired up and stayed at the Aruba Holiday Inn. Of course the days were typical for a recently graduated high school group – snorkeling, swimming, and heading to hot-spots in the evenings.
Good Times
The Place
When their final night approached, it was a Saturday, and everyone wanted one last, big night out. So after dinner, almost everyone headed out to Carlos’n Charlie’s, the local beach bar. In attendance was of course Natalee.
The Place
Initial Meeting
Carlos’n Charlie’s is where Natalee met Joran, who was then 17 years old. Many of her classmates thought he came across as an average, nice guy. Later on that night, Natalee was spotted in the back of a car with Joran and the Kalpoe brothers, his two friends. Deepak Kalpoe (21 years old) and Satish Kalpoe (18 years). Sadly, this would be the last time any of Natalee’s classmates would see her alive.
Initial Meeting
Missed Flight
It’s now the following morning of the gang’s last night out, and everyone is on route to the airport. As everyone starts to board, they take notice that Natalee is nowhere to be found. Of course everyone innocently thought that maybe she overslept or was taking one final walk on the beach – in any case, they alert the chaperones.
Missed Flight
Worry Sets In
Doesn’t take long for the senior class to learn that the chaperones aren’t able to locate Natalee. Following a hotel search, the surrounding areas, and the beach, everything turns out empty. That’s when everyone starts to worry, and it doesn’t get easier – especially after Natalee’s hotel room is searched. Her packed luggage and passport are still in the room, but no Natalee.
Worry Sets In
Parents Arrival
When Natalee’s mom is informed by the chaperones that not only did Natalee miss her flight but that they couldn’t locate her, Beth doesn’t hesitate. She and her husband were on the next flight out to Aruba.
Parents Arrival
Search Is On
While her parents are in-transit to Aruba, the search for Natalee Holloway is heavily underway. Hundreds of volunteers are helping in the search – the Aruban government also gave workers the day off so they could aide in the search. Moreover around 50 Dutch marines were also sent to search for Natalee.
Search Is On
Story Is Viral
Two days after Natalee Holloway vanished, the media gets wind of the story and kicks off a media frenzy. Fox News Channel even features a one-minute summary, “Tonight, a frantic search is underway for a missing Alabama girl,” Greta Van Susteren says. Natalee’s story makes headlines everywhere and there’s not a single person who doesn’t know about the missing Alabama girl.
Story Is Viral
Who is Joran Van der Sloot?
August 6, 1987 is when Joran van der Sloot was born to Paul, a lawyer, and Anita, an art teacher. Three years after his birth, the family moved to Aruba from the Netherlands. As far as Joran is concerned, he is an honor student at the International School of Aruba and is also a star tennis and soccer player. Moreover Joran hoped that he would play soccer at the Saint Leo University near Tampa, Florida. However we should note that Joran’s mother commented that he had quite the problem with lying.
Who Is Joran Van Der Sloot?
Van Der Sloot Is Questioned
First Joran told police that he dropped Natalee off at her hotel at about 2am – moreover he adds that he didn’t see her again. Joran goes on to say that Natalee was approached by an unknown man in a black shirt when she walked into the hotel. Van der Sloot said that the man was dressed like a hotel security guard and Natalee looked fine, so he and his friends left.
Van Der Sloot Is Questioned
First Arrest
June 5, 2005 brings the first arrest in the Natalee Holloway disappearance. Two former security guards, Nick John (pictured below) and Abraham Jones, are under suspicion as both had worked at a nearby hotel, Allegro. As the prime suspects, they are both arrested on suspicion of murder and kidnapping but no evidence is ever found, so a week later, they’re released.
First Arrest
Charges Dropped
Five days later on June 9, 2005, police arrest Joran Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers, on the suspicion of kidnapping and murder. Police obtained a search warrant for Joran’s house but didn’t find anything. Only on September 14 of that year do the Combined Appeals Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba remove all of the restrictions against the three suspects. Which does include a travel restriction – but now that all charges are dropped, Joran returns to the Netherlands in order to attend university.
Charges Dropped
New Arrest
Shortly after Joran and his friends are arrested, two more suspects are brought into custody, Steve Gregory Croes (a disc jockey) and Joran’s father, Paulus. Croes was a suspect from the beginning as Joran had mentioned him during his original statement. However both suspects had alibis and were released subsequently just days later.
New Arrest
Royal Netherlands Air Force
July 4 is when the Royal Netherlands Air Force deploys three F-16 aircraft, equipped with infrared sensors to search for Natalee. Alas the results are not fruitful. Shortly after and the satellite photos are compared to more recent photographs taken (possibly from F-16s) to search for unexpected shifts in the ground that could very well be Natalee’s grave. Again though, nothing is confirmed.
Royal Netherlands Air Force
The Gardener
Following Jug Twitty, “the gardener”, and his testimony, a small pond near the Aruba Racquet Club is partly drained. Twitty says that on May 30, between 2:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., he saw Joran van der Sloot trying to conceal his face while driving into the Racquet Club with the Kalpoe brothers. Nancy Grace described the gardener as “the man whose testimony cracks the case wide open”.
The Gardener
New Story
It’s now a year later since Natalee Holloway disappeared and the police have no leads. Meanwhile Joran has been on a media tour discussing his innocence, but on March 1, 2006, during an interview with, “On the Record,” his story changes. Joran says he was with Natalee at the beach on the night she disappeared but that he left the beach alone while she stayed behind. Meaning that he and the Kalpoe brothers never did drop her off at the hotel that night.
New Story
The Jogger
Shortly after “the gardener”, a person known as “the jogger” also steps forward. This person claims to have witnessed, on the afternoon of May 30, a group of men burying a blonde-haired woman in a landfill. So the police set out to search the landfill with cadaver dogs but they find nothing.
The Jogger
In The Details
Just before Police Commissioner Gerold Dompig leaves the Natalee Holloway case, he is interviewed by Troy Roberts, a CBS correspondent. In this interview, Dompig believes that Holloway most likely died from alcohol or drug poisoning, and was not murdered. That someone found her body later on and hid it. Dompig also goes on to say that Aruba spent about $3 million on the investigation, some 40% of the police operational budget. Then he indicates there is evidence of Natalee using drugs and that it’s a drug related case – Natalee’s family denies all the allegations.
In The Details
Dad’s Story
David, Natalee’s father, publishes a tell-all book in April 2006, titled Aruba: The Tragic Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise. In the book, he opens up about his search for Natalee and the police investigation – one he is not happy with.
Dad’s Story
Joran’s Story
The following year is when Joran van der Sloot publishes his own book, titled “De zaak Natalee Holloway” (The Case of Natalee Holloway). Throughout he discusses Natalee’s disappearance, tells stories about his time in jail, and firmly maintains his innocence on every page almost.
Joran’s Story
House Searched
Two years later on May 12, 2007, the Kalpoe family residence is now the home subject of an “inspection”. For an hour, the brothers are detailed while the police and the Dutch investigators search the home. Kock said the brothers objected to the search because the officials hadn’t show an order to justify the intrusion. Still no one knows just what the officials were looking for but nothing was taken from the Kalpoe home.
House Searched
The Brothers
In November 21, 2007, Joran and the Kalpoe brothers are re-arrested due to an internet chat log where Joran writes Natalee died the day she disappeared. Once again though, the police fail to find any hard evidence in order to charge the three suspects, so of course they release. By mid-December 2007, the Aruban police have no further leads and declare the case closed.
The Brothers
The Persistence
Dave Holloway announces in November 2007 that a new search for his daughter has begun. Essentially they probed the sea past the original 330-foot (100 m) depth that earlier searches had undergone. With the vessel known as the Persistence, they searched but sadly abandoned when lack of funds became a big problem. By the end of February 2008, nothing significance had ever been discovered.
The Persistence
More New Stories
It’s still February 2008 and Peter de Vries, an undercover Dutch journalist, has something big…a tape. On the tape he has Joran, on record, confessing to disposing of Natalee’s body. Joran claims that Natalee was really drunk, had a seizure while they were on the beach, and then died in his arms. Moreover, he says a friend helped him dispose of her body in the ocean. Unfortunately the video was not legally obtained so it actually could not be used as evidence – while police tried to arrest Joran, a judge denied their request. But the story only gets worse from there.
More New Stories
Played
We’re still in February when the Dutch media is reporting Joran van der Sloot confessed. Later that day, Van der Sloot is on record to say that he only told that person what they wanted to hear and that he had nothing to do with Natalee’s disappearance. Simultaneously that same day, the Aruba prosecutor’s office has announced they have reopened the case.
Played
More Lies
We’re now to November 25, 2008, when Joran changes his story again, this time with the journalist Greta Van Susteren on her show, “On the Record.” Joran claims that he sold Natalee into slavery for $10,000. Moreover he claim that he put her on the boat himself and watched it take sail – later on, he admits that was also a false story.
More Lies
The Film
On April 2009, the Lifetime Movie Network airs its TV film adaption of the story, called Natalee Holloway. The film is an adaptation from Beth Holloway’s book “Loving Natalee.” Around 3.2 million people watched the film play out a scenario of what could have happened.
The Film
Money Trail
First of all, note that it’s now March 2010 and Joran contacts Beth Holloway – he’s ready to tell her the truth about where Natalee is buried. There is just one condition, however, she has to pay him $250,000 dollars. Beth goes ahead and wires Joran $15,000, and then an additional $10,000 in hand is given to him by an undercover cop in Aruba. Unfortunately, Joran provided a false location and is charged with extortion. But get this…Joran escapes to Peru before he can even get arrested for the extortion. Unbelievable.
Money Trail
Second Murder
Two months after Joran had extorted Beth for money, it’s now May 30, 2010 – the five year anniversary of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance. Picture this: on this same day, just five years later, the body of 21 year old college student Stephany Flores is found in Peru. In fact her mutilated body is found in Joran’s own hotel room, so he flees to Chile.
Second Murder
Next for Jorah
As a result, the Peruvian police are able to extradite him back to the country and he is facing murder charges for Stephany Flores. However this does mean that his extortion charges back in the United States now cannot happen.
Next For Jorah
28 Years
It takes Joran two years, out of a 28 year sentence, in a Peruvian jail to confess to the murder of Stephany Flores. Then his lawyer goes on the record to tell media that Joran had murdered Flores while under “extreme psychological trauma.” This trauma he’s speaking of is the accusation that he killed Natalee Holloway.
28 Years
Legally Dead
The day before Joran is sentenced to 28 years in a Peruvian prison, Dave Holloway has Natalee Holloway pronounced legally dead. Alan King, an Alabama judge, said that Dave met all of the legal requirements in order to make the declaration. However Natalee’s mother, Beth, is completely against the idea.
Legally Dead
Joran’s Wife
Nope, you read that right, Joran got married. On July 4, 2014 Joran married Leidy Figueroa, a Peruvian woman. Their wedding took place in the prison where Joran is currently a prisoner. Moreover, Leidy gave birth to Joran’s daughter, Dushy, later that same year. The couple met while Laidy was visiting a relative in the same prison.
Joran’s Wife
Hidden Camera
Reporters from ‘RadarOnline’ went to speak with Joran at the Peruvian Prison in March 2016 – and they brought with them a hidden camera. On the video, Joran clearly said that, “I always lied to the police, I never told the truth. I made up so many stories against the police… Also when I was younger, I never told everything. The police just never knew what they had to ask me.” However there is one reporter who pressed further.
Hidden Camera
Revelation
It’s this reporter who asks Joran if he is talking about Natalee Holloway to which Joran replies, “Yes, this is also where I am guilty and I accept everything that I have done.” However, he did not actually nor directly admit to killing Natalee. Furthermore he adds that he murdered Stephany Flores because of cocaine consumption and not the “extreme psychological trauma” his lawyer had spoke of.
Revelation
Publicity Stunt
Unfortunately the law states in Aruba states that a confession can only be liable if it is hand-written and signed. Therefore the hidden camera does nothing. Both of Natalee’s parents think that Joran was just working with the tabloids so that he could earn some cash.
Publicity Stunt
Hope Remains
Dave and Beth also hope that Joran will remain behind bars for the rest of his life. To this day, they still hope that they will find Natalee, whatever the circumstance may be.
Hope Remains