Resolution of Natalee Holloway Disappearance Now Seems Slim
Posted: Monday, June 28, 2010
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Joran van der Sloot, now in prison for the murder of Stephany Flores Martinez in Lima Peru, remains the only suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Birmingham's Natalee Holloway. Holloway disappeared while on a vacation trip with several classmates after their graduation from high school.
Van der Sloot was the last person to see her alive and has given several differing accounts to police and reporters, some confessing to being with her at her death and disposing of the body. His rambling and differing statements kept the waters muddy, especially when he retracted several of his statements. Police were never able to gain evidence to substantiate his stories.
Since his arrest in Lima for the murder of Martinez, he has offered to disclose the location of the remains of Holloway, but only to Aruban authorities. It has been reported that an Aruban prosecutor and a police investigator may visit him in August to ask him questions.
The problem has become so that the veracity of any statements he now makes is highly skeptical. Not only was his imaginary yarns concerning the Holloway disappearance, but once again, his explanations of the occurrences surrounding the Flores-Martinez murder case have varied equally as bad as those of the Holloway case.
When van der Sloot was arrested in Chile, he told police that robbers had slipped into the hotel and waited for him to return and it was one of them who killed Stephany. Then when he was confronted with video recordings of his entering the hotel with her, entering his room with her, and some 4 hours later, his departure without her, he changed the story completely. It is unlikely the police have the correct explanation as yet.
He confessed to the killing but now, under the influence of an attorney, he has recanted and has filed a complaint against the police for coercion. It is obvious that he plans his statements to try and relieve himself of any responsibility, and if it still has implications, he changes it.
One prosecutor in Lima has ventured that he believes van der Sloot killed Stephany and robbed her of winnings she gained that day at the casino.
The Holloway family in Birmingham, Alabama have filed extortion charges against van der Sloot who had asked for $250,000 to disclose the location of Natalee Holloway's remains. Through an unnamed party they wired him $15,000 to a bank in the Netherlands for an initial payment. They then filed the charge for attempted extortion of $250,000 which carries a penalty of 20 years in prison, plus a wire fraud charge for the $15,000 which carries a 30 year prison sentence.
His present incarceration facing the trial for murder, can mean 15 to a maximum of 35 years in prison which is less than the charges in the U.S. which could bring a total of 50 years. In addition to this, if he could and does, reveal the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway's remains, he could again face murder charges there or at least some charge of hiding a corpse.
His current efforts to disclose where Holloway's remains are, could be an attempt to try and have that case supercede his present predicament and get him returned to his homeland of the Netherlands or Aruba. So far, the Peruvian authorities have indicated that they are unwilling to hear of such and they say their case has the priority. If that scenario becomes solid, then there will be no advantage in his revealing anything concerning Holloway.
He has admitted being fearful for his life in the Peruvian prisons and it appears that his most outstanding desire now, is to be returned to his home, even if it means imprisonment.
Perhaps, the only other people alive who may have knowledge of the Holloway death and disappearance are the two Kalpoe brothers, Deepak and Satish, who were reportedly with van der Sloot on that fateful night in Aruba. They were arrested as suspects on two occasions but released for lack of evidence. Aruban police now say they are no longer under suspicion. That being the case, it is very unlikely they will ever admit to anything whatsoever which might once again, implicate them.
Adding all these factors together, it becomes extremely doubtful that the Holloway case will ever be resolved. There seems to be no advantage in it for either of the people who may have the facts. The only other known person to have probably been involved was van der Sloot's father, Paul. He died of a heart attack in February, 2010. With his death, probably went the secret of her death and the location of her body.
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