Natalee Holloway

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Holloway 'Wall Of Hope' Comes Down

POSTED: 10:19 pm EDT October 2, 2005

MOUNTAIN BROOK, Ala. -- A "Wall of Hope" with messages for the 18-year-old Alabama student who went missing in Aruba has been taken down outside a Mountain Brook, Ala., church and placed in storage.

A note and yellow ribbon were left in its place at the entrance to the youth center at Mountain Brook Community Church.

The wall went up June 8, just over a week after Natalee Holloway disappeared on a trip to the Caribbean island with other recent graduates from Mountain Brook High School.

Holloway's aunt, Marcia Twitty, said watching the Wall of Hope come down does not mean this is over. She said it "just means we're in a new phase. We're just working on what the next steps are."

She said the wall was taken down to protect it from the weather, which is starting to fade and wash off some of the hundreds of notes and signatures. It was stored in a warehouse until it can be restored and preserved.

Holloway's family said it could go on exhibit sometime in the future, but no arrangements have been made.

Holloway hasn't been seen since May 30, the night before she and her classmates were to return home from Aruba.

She was last seen leaving a bar with two Surinamese brothers, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, and Dutch teen Joran van der Sloot.

The three had been held as suspects in an investigation into possible sexual assault and murder, but no charges were filed and they were released.

Van der Sloot is now attending college in Holland.

www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5048225/detail.html

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Aruba Authorities To Question Holloway's Classmates

POSTED: 3:47 pm EST November 6, 2005
UPDATED: 4:05 pm EST November 6, 2005

ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Natalee Holloway's mother said prosecutors in Aruba want to interview the Alabama teenager's former classmates about her disappearance.

Beth Holloway Twitty repeated her charge that Aruban officials ignored leads and botched the case.

Twitty said the reason they want to ask follow-up questions to students from Mountain Brook, Ala., is because of the holes in their original line of questioning and because of questions they forgot to ask the first time.

On Friday, Aruban prosecutors said in a statement they would conduct a new round of interviews in their investigation of Holloway's May 30 disappearance.

The statement said there are people living in the United States who have to be interviewed again. They said several aspects need more attention.

Holloway disappeared just hours before she was to end a vacation celebrating her high school graduation. She was last seen leaving a bar with Dutch national Joran van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

They were arrested June 9, but released after a court ruled there was not enough evidence to hold them. No one has been charged, and extensive searches for Holloway have failed to find any clues about her whereabouts.

www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5263563/detail.html

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April 17, 2006 — Joran van der Sloot, the Dutch teen long suspected of being involved in Natalee Holloway's disappearance, does not know the 19-year-old arrested over the weekend in the case, his lawyer says.

Over the weekend, Aruban authorities announced that they had made a new arrest in Holloway's disappearance.

Holloway has been missing since she disappeared on May 30, 2005, while on a class trip to Aruba. Authorities would not release the name of the person who was arrested and would not say whether he was considered a suspect. They only said that he was 19 years old and had the initials G.V.C. Sources told ABC News that the young man's name was Geoffrey von Cromvoirt.


On Sunday, some media reports said van der Sloot and von Cromvoirt were acquaintances. Joseph Tacopina, an attorney representing van der Sloot, who was arrested in Holloway's disappearance last year but released because of a lack of evidence, said those reports were wrong. His client, he said, knows nothing about von Cromvoirt.

"I am absolutely convinced he doesn't know him, doesn't hang out with, or socialize with him, did not know his name," Tacopina said. "This somehow brought Joran back into the picture. He knows nothing about him, has never spoken of him, and certainly did not discuss the case with him."


Connections to a Security Company

Von Cromvoirt worked for a private security company that patrols beaches outside Aruba's hotels. Holloway was last seen leaving an Aruba bar with van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, who were held for 25 days before being released. Van der Sloot has said he left Holloway on a beach near her hotel after they had kissed.

Von Cromvoirt's family runs the security company, according to Tacopina. The company provides security for the Aruban government and private companies, including the Holiday Inn, where Holloway was staying, he said. The company installed the security camera and patrols the beach. Von Cromvoirt was part of the team that patrolled the Holiday Inn's beach in the early hours of the morning, according to Tacopina.

"This is a positive step as far as we are concerned in this investigation because we have always maintained [van der Sloot] is innocent of harming in any way, shape or form," Tacopina said.

Van der Sloot has repeatedly denied being involved in Holloway's disappearance. He regretted one thing in his encounter with her.

"I think what I did wrong is leaving her there at the beach. I should have brought her back to her hotel or I should have made sure I left her with someone, one of her friends," van der Sloot told ABC's "Primetime."


Reenactment on TV

Last week, a Dutch TV show similar to "America's Most Wanted" reenacted the Holloway story in an episode that aired in Aruba last week. The show advertised a tip line.

"I understand they got approximately 60 tips," said Dave Holloway, Natalee's father. "And maybe this is one of them they're following up on."

Tacopina said that forensic evidence had been found on a T-shirt on the south side of the island, and that there were lots of leads that hadn't been explored yet.

"When we started getting our hands around the FBI reports and Aruban law enforcement documents, I got so agitated in seeing the other leads not followed up on simply because the name van der Sloot was not attached to it," Tacopina said. "I think they came into possession of this young boy's name within the last couple of weeks."

Under Aruban law, von Cromvoirt can be held for three days before facing a judge.

abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1849859

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Another arrest?

May 22, 2006 — Dutch police have detained a man on suspicion of helping to kidnap and kill Natalee Holloway in Aruba last year.

"My client is indicted of murder and manslaughter, and it is a serious indictment, of course," said Gerard Spong, the suspect's lawyer. "He was a witness in June last year after Natalee disappeared."

The suspect's identity has not been released, but his lawyer said he would fight extradition to Aruba. Spong said his client did not know Holloway.

"He has never met her. He claims that he never seen her and he claims that he is completely innocent," Spong said.

The suspect worked in a casino on the island of Aruba at the time of Holloway's disappearance. The man said that he did not know Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch teenager who was the last person known to see Holloway alive. Van der Sloot says he kissed Holloway on a beach and then left her there alone.


"Joran knew this individual casually both from the tennis club, and from seeing him out and about and casinos and certainly hasn't spoken to him in the last six months or so," said Joseph Tacopina, van der Sloot's lawyer.

Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said the family was trying not to become overly hopeful that this was the break they had been waiting for.

"With each arrest and question and release, we have been totally just been devastated numerous times during the investigation, so we really have to just stop, take a minute and see what happens," Twitty said.

Since Holloway disappeared during her high school graduation trip almost a year ago, authorities have arrested eight suspects in connection with her disappearance. All have been released because of a lack of evidence.

abcnews.go.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=1989251&page=1