An investigative judge said Sunday that sufficient reason exists to reopen the inquiry against Joran van der Sloot, a suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway from the island of Aruba.
The announcement came shortly after Dutch television aired a program in which Van der Sloot told a man he considered to be his friend that he was with the 18-year-old on a beach near her hotel when she died, and that he arranged for a friend to take her body to sea and dump it.
"He went out to sea and then he threw her out, like an old rag," he told Aruban businessman Patrick van der Eem on January 16.
Van der Eem recorded their conversations on hidden cameras installed in the Range Rover he was driving, according to the report that aired Sunday night.
Van der Sloot has acknowledged making the remarks, but told an interviewer last week that he was lying.
Aruba's chief prosecutor, Hans Mos, described the account that aired Sunday night as "very impressive," and announced that he was reopening the investigation. Watch CNN's Frederik Pleitgen report on the new video »
But the judge denied a prosecution request that van der Sloot, the son of a lawyer and judge in training, be detained in the Netherlands, where he is a student.
In a written statement, the Office of the Public Prosecutor said Sunday that it will appeal the judge's decision barring van der Sloot's arrest, but cautioned that the report does not necessarily solve the case.
The announcement came shortly after Dutch television aired a program in which Van der Sloot told a man he considered to be his friend that he was with the 18-year-old on a beach near her hotel when she died, and that he arranged for a friend to take her body to sea and dump it.
"He went out to sea and then he threw her out, like an old rag," he told Aruban businessman Patrick van der Eem on January 16.
Van der Eem recorded their conversations on hidden cameras installed in the Range Rover he was driving, according to the report that aired Sunday night.
Van der Sloot has acknowledged making the remarks, but told an interviewer last week that he was lying.
Aruba's chief prosecutor, Hans Mos, described the account that aired Sunday night as "very impressive," and announced that he was reopening the investigation. Watch CNN's Frederik Pleitgen report on the new video »
But the judge denied a prosecution request that van der Sloot, the son of a lawyer and judge in training, be detained in the Netherlands, where he is a student.
In a written statement, the Office of the Public Prosecutor said Sunday that it will appeal the judge's decision barring van der Sloot's arrest, but cautioned that the report does not necessarily solve the case.
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"There is a big difference between the reality of a courtroom and the reality of a television screen," it said.
On the program, van der Sloot tells the informant that Holloway and her friends had begged him to go out with them the night of May 29, 2005. So the Dutch student said he and two friends -- brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe -- met the women at a bar in Oranjestad. When they arrived, he said, the women appeared to have been drinking heavily and some of them were taking cocaine.
Holloway was on the island with about 100 classmates celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.
After declining an invitation from Holloway to dance on stage with her, he accepted an invitation from her to drink a shot of liquor from her navel as she lay on the bar, he said.
About 1 a.m. on May 30, he said, she agreed to leave the bar with him and the Kalpoe brothers, telling her friends that she would meet them back at the Marriott Hotel prior to their planned return flight the next day to the United States, he said.
She never arrived.
The three men had previously told authorities that they then drove to the beach with Holloway, leaving her there when she told them she wanted to stay.
But Van der Sloot gave a different account in the hidden-camera footage. He said he wanted to have sex with Holloway, but she told him she did not want to go to her hotel. Instead, she said, she wanted to see sharks, he told the informant.
The two brothers then used their car to drive Van der Sloot and Holloway to the beach by the hotel and left them, Van der Sloot said.
He and Holloway then had sex, he said. But as they were caressing each other, she started shaking, then said nothing, he said.
"All of a sudden, what she did was like in a movie," he said. "She was shaking, it was awful ... I prodded her, there was nothing."
He said he panicked and, when she did not appear to be alive, shook her but was unable to resuscitate her. He said he carried her body to a stand of trees, walked to a pay phone near the pool of the hotel and, instead of using his cell phone, called a friend who owned a boat that was tied up at a nearby dock.
Upon the friend's arrival, the two men carried Holloway's body to the boat, and the friend told Van der Sloot to go home, he said. The student then walked back to his house, where his father was asleep when he arrived about 15 minutes later, he recounted. He estimated the time at 2:30 a.m. or 3 a.m.
Van der Sloot said his friend showed up at his house later in the morning and told him he had carried the body out less than a mile from land and dumped it overboard.
He added that the incident with Holloway, whom he knew for only about two hours, has not bothered him.
"I didn't lose a minute of sleep over it," he said.
Last week, Van der Sloot called the Dutch television program Pauw & Witteman and acknowledged having made the comments, but said they were lies.
"That is what he wanted to hear, so I told him what he wanted to hear," Van der Sloot said. He said he held no ill will toward the reporter, Peter R. de Vries, who worked with the informant to record his conversations.
"He is just doing his job," he said.
On the program, van der Sloot tells the informant that Holloway and her friends had begged him to go out with them the night of May 29, 2005. So the Dutch student said he and two friends -- brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe -- met the women at a bar in Oranjestad. When they arrived, he said, the women appeared to have been drinking heavily and some of them were taking cocaine.
Holloway was on the island with about 100 classmates celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.
After declining an invitation from Holloway to dance on stage with her, he accepted an invitation from her to drink a shot of liquor from her navel as she lay on the bar, he said.
About 1 a.m. on May 30, he said, she agreed to leave the bar with him and the Kalpoe brothers, telling her friends that she would meet them back at the Marriott Hotel prior to their planned return flight the next day to the United States, he said.
She never arrived.
The three men had previously told authorities that they then drove to the beach with Holloway, leaving her there when she told them she wanted to stay.
But Van der Sloot gave a different account in the hidden-camera footage. He said he wanted to have sex with Holloway, but she told him she did not want to go to her hotel. Instead, she said, she wanted to see sharks, he told the informant.
The two brothers then used their car to drive Van der Sloot and Holloway to the beach by the hotel and left them, Van der Sloot said.
He and Holloway then had sex, he said. But as they were caressing each other, she started shaking, then said nothing, he said.
"All of a sudden, what she did was like in a movie," he said. "She was shaking, it was awful ... I prodded her, there was nothing."
He said he panicked and, when she did not appear to be alive, shook her but was unable to resuscitate her. He said he carried her body to a stand of trees, walked to a pay phone near the pool of the hotel and, instead of using his cell phone, called a friend who owned a boat that was tied up at a nearby dock.
Upon the friend's arrival, the two men carried Holloway's body to the boat, and the friend told Van der Sloot to go home, he said. The student then walked back to his house, where his father was asleep when he arrived about 15 minutes later, he recounted. He estimated the time at 2:30 a.m. or 3 a.m.
Van der Sloot said his friend showed up at his house later in the morning and told him he had carried the body out less than a mile from land and dumped it overboard.
He added that the incident with Holloway, whom he knew for only about two hours, has not bothered him.
"I didn't lose a minute of sleep over it," he said.
Last week, Van der Sloot called the Dutch television program Pauw & Witteman and acknowledged having made the comments, but said they were lies.
"That is what he wanted to hear, so I told him what he wanted to hear," Van der Sloot said. He said he held no ill will toward the reporter, Peter R. de Vries, who worked with the informant to record his conversations.
"He is just doing his job," he said.
I hope this bastard ends up with his balls chopped off, his nails pulled out one by one, a new bone broken daily and any other inhumane people can think of to punish him for what he did to Natalee Holloway. God Bless her and her family and I hope him and his family burn in hell after a lifetime of slow and methodical torture.
If the Dutch want a killer running around their country, they are entitled to that. Maybe they think there are too many Dutch in the world and they want Joran van der Sloot to get rid of some of them. Who knows. Just keep him away from the United States.
ReplyDeletei know for a fact one of his cohorts lives in georgia so dont bank on him staying put in the netherlands, his is psychopath and a sociopath and he needs to be sent to one of our "military bases" and treated like an enemy combatant!
ReplyDeleteI Agree.. Who cares..
ReplyDeleteProbably drank herself to death at the bar.. 18 to drink in Aruba.. 21in Alabama.. Probably went nuts .. a little cocaine and lots of drink
If she was Black.. Nobody would care..
I cannot believe these comments...insensitive people...
ReplyDeleteI just watched the 20/20 special and I still don't think joran is telling the whole truth. He says how natalee wanted it , she wanted it, that is the talk of a rapist. And then when he talks about daury dumping her in the ocean, I don't buy it, a girl dies and you "trust" that its taken care of, I don't buy it. I think joran dumped her in the ocean with the help of gottenbos who two weeks after the whole thing started up and moved to georgia. To me there's no doubt joran raped and murdered this girl. I also don't buy that the parents didn't help cover it up. What a family of disgrace. And those of you that defend him or blame natalee are both idiots and disgusting.
ReplyDeleteThe guy is clearly a sociopath and a compulsive liar. We'll never know exactly what happened.
ReplyDelete#1 - American girls are not all sluts.
ReplyDelete#2 - Yeah, she was drunk, but Joran obviously gave her 151 proof rum to make her drunker. He could have just told the truth but he is clearly a sociopath who doesn't loose any sleep after he watches someone die (or killed them).
#3 - If something like this ever happens to someone in your family you won't be so quick to say who cares.
It is common for american girls to be sluts. More so here then in other countries.
ReplyDeleteHe could have very well gave her 151 or some other narcotic.
I will admit he is a fukin pshychopath and there is no excuse for his actions. The fact that he lost no sleep over it is absolutely sickening. And I never said who cares.
Why would you say so emphatically that your parents didn't help you cover up and dispose of the body when no one even brought it up. Why would you say she wanted it, she wanted it? If you have followed this case, joran tells bits of truth in his sea of lives. In this case, papa sloot helped dispose of body and yes he did rape natalee. Joran needs to be removed from society as do the parents. I hope he gets what he deserves. I do think he slipped something in her drink. He knew he was fucked for rape and knew that date rape drugs would be found in her system. When joran says look up, look down, when he says look left look right. Very possible she is still on aruba buried somewhere. Search the chicago tapes. If you've been a casual observor, there is a lot more to this case, then some drunk american slut as some of you sickos say.
ReplyDelete