The Holloway Files - transcript English version
00'03 Voice-Over:
It's been 8 years since Alabama teen Natalee Holloway disappeared on Aruba.
She was never found and no one was ever prosecuted in the case. Not even the
main suspect, Joran van der Sloot.
00'15 Voice-Over:
Tonight, we're showing new suspects and fresh evidence. Based on this book
The Holloway Files, which just came out and was written by two renowned crime
reporters.
00'30 Voice-Over:
The authors obtained the complete police files and were granted unprecedented
access inside the Holloway case. They wrote one of the most extraordinary
stories about the vanishing of Natalee Holloway ever written.
00'46 Voice-Over:
This documentary shows their most important new findings.
01'23 Voice-Over:
It's party time again on Aruba. American tourists enjoying themselves like
nothing ever happened. Eight years into the disappearance of Alabama teen
Natalee Holloway.
01'37 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
Tourism on Aruba is excellent actually. We had a pretty hard dip in 2005 and 2006
and then slowly it started to rise again.
01'40 Voice-Over:
Julia Renfro is an insider. Born in the USA, she's been living on Aruba for more
than 20 years. As the editor-in-chief of the local newspaper she's been following
the case of Natalee very closely.
01'49 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
"Natalee Holloway was here on Aruba on a school class trip. She had just
graduated from high school and all of her friends were down and they were just
having a good time. On the 29th of May, they went to the casino at the Holiday
Inn, where they were staying. They had an all-inclusive package which included
alcohol and all they could eat. And after a while they had heard that the place to
be was Carlos 'n Charlies, where it's a lot of fun. Prior to going to Carlos 'n
Charlies they had met Joran van der Sloot in the casino, at the casino table and
had invited him to come along."
02'40 Bert de Rooij / Joran's lawyer:
Joran was invited to go there and that's what he did. Together with the Kalpoebrothers.
They stayed there until closing time and then they went cruising in the
car. Natalee invited herself and came along.
02'58 Julia Renfro/local journalist:
She got in the car, according to witnesses, she yelled ‘yoo-hoo Aruba', got in the
car and they drove off. And this is where they came. Right to this exact spot
where we're sitting right now.
03'08 Voice-Over:
The question is: did Joran indeed leave Natalee on the beach? The police found
evidence implying other locations and even other suspects. In this documentary,
we'll present three scenario's, investigated by the police, of what may have
happened on the night that Natalee disappeared.
03'38 Voice-Over:
Joran was arrested twice in the Natalee Holloway case. This second arrest came
after a case review by Dutch police. It was never made public why Joran was
taken into custody again, but in the police files we find the answers. New
evidence about what happened that night. First, there were three fishermen on
the beach, on the exact same spot that Joran said he left Natalee. And the
fishermen didn't see the two there that night, they told the police.
04'05 Voice of Fisherman (actor):
We arrived just after midnight at the Fishermen's Hut and stayed there until 4:30.
If someone says that he came there with the girl, he's telling lies. It would have
been impossible that they were there, without us having seen them. Unless all
three of us were blind and deaf.
04'21 Reporter:
The fishermen were saying, Joran and Natalee were definitively not here unless
we were deaf and blind. What do you think about that?
04'27 Julia Renfro / local journalist
That's a very strong statement, that they were not here. I know that the police
also belief that there is a great possibility that they were never actually here on
this beach."
Voice-Over:
04'39 Another witness says he saw the car with Joran and the Kalpoe brothers,
not on the beach, but on a different part of the island around 2:30 AM. The Cold
Case team of the Dutch police comes to the following conclusion:
Voice of Ron van Vught / policeman (actor):
04'54 Our new investigation indicates that Joran's statement, that he left Natalee
on the beach near the Fishermen's Huts, is another concocted story by the
suspects.
05'05 Voice-Over:
But if Joran was not on the beach, where did he go? In one of his many police
interrogations, he gave a clue. He suddenly stated that he took Natalee to his
apartment.
05'18 Voice of Joran van der Sloot (actor):
Deepak, Satish, Natalee and I drove to my house. When we arrived there around
1:40 AM, I asked Natalee if she wanted to come with me to my apartment. I wanted
to have a sexual relation with her and afterwards call a taxi, to bring her back to
her hotel.
05'38 Voice-Over:
Several friends of Joran, tell the police that it was Joran's modus operandi to pick
up girls in Carlos 'n Charlies, then to have sex with them in a hotel or his
apartment. This is what his best friend Freddy told the police:
05'51 Voice of Freddy Zedan (actor):
We're going to Carlos 'n Charlies for the music and to pick up girls. We call each
other 'pimps'. Usually, Joran gets the American girls, because he speaks English
fluently. After he's made love to her, he finds another girl and starts over again.
06'06 Voice-Over:
We go back to March 2005, two months prior to Natalee's disappearance. Joran
then books a room in this hotel for three nights, with five friends. They share the
costs. Their purpose is to pick up girls from Carlos 'n Charlies and take them to
the room. The plan works. On March 26 2005, two female American tourists and a
Colombian girl are taken to the hotel room. Joran's friend Freddy tells the police:
06'36 Voice of Freddy Zedan (actor):
Joran, Deepak and I went to the Mill Hotel with three girls. I made love to an
American girl, Deepak to the Colombian girl. At the same time, the other
American girl gave Joran a blow-job on the balcony.
06'50 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent:
I think there was probably an organized way of going about this. There was an
organized way of identifying victims, of picking them up. Of finding out of what
they like to go back and do in terms of party.
07'03 Voice-Over:
Says Clint van Zandt, an ex-FBI agent who has been investigating the case on
Aruba since the first month after Natalee's disappearance.
07'11 Quote Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent:
"I was an FBI agent for 25 years. I ran the FBI hostage negotiation program as
well as I was a criminal profiler."
07'19 Question of reporter:
"There was a wild party, the boys were having sex with the girls. These events
two months prior, what do they say about the Natalee Holloway case?"
07'28 Quote Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent:
I think when we look at the events two months prior, it does gives us somewhat
of a MO, a modus operandi, how they would operate. They would pickup girls,
they might be intoxicated, they would take them back for a party, for sex,
something like this and then drop them off."
07'45 Voice-Over:
A girl named Karen, tells the police that Joran mentioned the sex party in the
hotel to her. Joran also told her that the events were filmed.
07'54 Voice of Karen (actress):
Joran told me, that when he stayed in the Mill Hotel, he filmed a fourteen year old
girl. She was under influence of alcohol. It was all taped.
08'06 Voice-Over:
We're calling the mother of the girl who was allegedly filmed.
08'08 Reporter:
"Good day, I'm looking for Karen."
08'12 Mother:
"Karen. I'm her mother. We're not interested in TV programs. I know what this is
about."
08'22 Reporter:
"Why are you not interested?"
08'24 Mother:
"We don't want anything to do with Joran. Good luck with it."
08'30 Reporter:
"What do you think of the fact that Joran was said to have filmed these events?"
08'35 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent:
I think it's highly likely with the technology that we have, through cameras, video
cameras, to various things, I think it's highly likely that these individuals, Joran
and the Kalpoe brothers, perhaps others they were partying with, filmed this. I
think it's consistent with the type of behavior that we see people in that age
group engage in.
08'59 Voice-Over:
The Cold Case team of the police has also found chat messages in Joran's PC,
relating to pictures and video of girls. This is what they wrote in their report:
09'12 Voice of Ron van Vught / policeman (actor):
The chats that we found, have just a few subjects: fucking, alcohol, chicks and
hiring hotel rooms. In order to have sex there with girls, taking pictures and
filming them.
09'24 Bert de Rooij / Joran's lawyer:
I remember that they investigated all sorts of computer chats. From which you
could draw the conclusion that Joran was a quite a profligate. That he was
drugging girls, lured them to the beach and sexually abused them. However, I
remember it was never Joran himself who took part in those chats, but other
people talking about him.
09'54 Voice-Over:
But that's only partially true. Because the police did find a chat conversation with
Joran as participant, talking about sex with girls while taking photos and videos.
10'06 Voice of Satish Kalpoe (actor):
What are you doing today?
10'09 Voice of Joran van der Sloot (actor):
I'm taking my chick to the beach, for a quick fuck. Do you still have that photo,
which you took of us last time?
10'17 Voice of Satish Kalpoe (actor):
I'll send it again, but this time we're going to film it.
10'21 Reporter:
What do you think of that particular chat conversation?
10'25 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
For me, I find that extremely scary, it sounds planned. And there's a possibility
that they could have been planning to do something like that with Natalee.
10'33 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent:
I think there's always the possibility that Joran, being the ever present
entrepreneur, saw ‘girls gone wild' videos that he could make, perhaps with
himself as the star.
10'51 Voice-Over
The question remains, what happened to all the footage that was taken of girls,
because it was not found on Joran's PC or on his friends computers. Were the
pictures and videos erased, or were they given to someone else? Someone who
knew to make money with Joran's amateur porn flicks?
11'16 Voice-Over:
To answer that question, the FBI appears to have been investigating a man from
Miami.
11'28 Voice-Over:
This Paul B. lived and worked on Aruba in 2005, operating under the alias 'Mister
Pink'.
11'35 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
Mr. Pink was a business owner, here on Aruba. He had opened a water sports
company actually. And unbeknown to most of us on the island, he was luring
girls, not just from Aruba but from other places, to come down to Aruba, to be in
films. Kind of promising them to be models. The reason why his name was
brought into the investigation was that his website was very explicit, it showed a
lot of pictures of various different girls, it seemed to be mostly American girls, on
locations that you could see right here at the Fishermen's Huts, on the beach and
in different resorts here on Aruba.
12'22 Voice-over:
There appears to be another link to the porn business. On the night that Natalee
vanished, Joran has downloaded two x-rated movies, from his home PC. These
films were produced by Reality Kings, a company from Miami. Why did Joran visit
their website in the early morning? And what is the link to Mr. Pink? According to
the police files, the FBI has checked Mr. Pink's phone records to find out just
that.
12'54 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent:
What they were doing was looking for linkage analysis, they were trying to say: if
this guy is a pimp, or was making sex tapes, if we can't show he had direct
telephonic contact with the tree suspects in the case, maybe there was an inbetween
person. So they would be looking for the linkage. From Mr. Pink to
somebody else, to somebody else, to Joran or one of the Kalpoe brothers.
13'22 Voice-over:
We're going to Florida to investigate the possible link between the two porn
businesses. Mister Pink's company appears to be nothing more than a letterbox
on Brickell Avenue in Miami. And Reality Kings is also registered on Brickell
Avenue. Only a few hundred yards away.
13'50 Reporter:
I'm here to see the firm Reality Kings. Which floor are they?
13'59 Security-man:
Do you have a phone number?
14'05 Reporter:
Four-four-four Brickel Avenue, Suite 1001
14'10 Security-man:
The first floor, down there
14'20 Security-man:
That company is not in this building anymore
14'25 Reporter:
What did you say?
14'29 Security-man:
That company doesn't seem to be in this building anymore
14'30 Reporter:
Do you know a new address?
14'32 Security-man:
I don't know the new address, I don't have any information. This floor is closed.
14'38 Voice-over:
Apparently, porn industry executives know how to hide themselves. We're trying
on yet another address in Miami Beach. For safety reasons, we use a hidden
camera. And then we're finally met by a Reality Kings employee.
14'52 Reporter:
We're from Dutch television and we'd like to speak to Mr. Robert *** regarding this
man. Do you know him?
15'01 Reality Kings-employee:
No
15'02 Reporter:
He was operating under the name of Mr. Pink. Pink Productions. There's one
more thing that I need to add. In the night that Natalee Holloway disappeared,
Joran van der Sloot, you know him? He was the main suspect, he downloaded
two movies from your company.
15'22 Reality Kings-employee:
From our company? Then this definitely has to go through legal. I'll give them all
the information and they should be giving you a call, okay?
15'29 Voice-over:
A day later, we receive a written statement by the lawyer of Reality Kings.
15'34 Voice of A.Star Frazer / lawyer for Reality Kings (actor):
My client has investigated this matter and at no time has anyone named Paul B.
been employed by Reality Kings, nor has Reality Kings ever purchased any
content from Paul B.
15'45 Voice-over:
When we find Mr. Pink, he has the following to say
15'48 Voice of Paul B. / Mr. Pink:
The only thing is, at that time I put up a website. I was gonna go into making adult
movies, you know, x-rated movies. I never made a movie in my life, but I wanted
to. I'm gonna admit to you, I was going to. But it was all legal, in the USA. They're
saying I was friends with Van der Sloot and stuff, I never met the kid. The whole
time I was on the island, I never ran into him or talked to him. And people said I
was interviewed by the police. No one interviewed me.
16'18 Reporter:
So you were never interviewed by the FBI?
16'21 Voice of Paul B. / Mr. Pink:
No, no, no. I was never. Never was.
16'26 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
I think that it's quite a coincidence but at the same time, I know that the police did
investigate it. They were able to find the owner, who Mr. Pink was, they tapped his
phone records and did what they could do to put a relationship together. But I do
not believe that they were able to build any kind of a case regarding Joran filming
girls and reproducing them or selling them.
16'59 Voice-over:
Detectives couldn't find the connection between Joran and the porn industry. But
the question remains how thorough their search was, because Mr. Pink was not
even interrogated. The instructional judge on Aruba thought there was too little
evidence against Joran and released him. He was never arrested again.
17'20 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
There are stories that they rented hotel rooms. But you can't say they did the
same, that night with Natalee unless you have proof for it.
17'31 Bert de Rooij / Joran's lawyer:
I think Joran was detained for 10 days. Not longer, because there were no new
facts and circumstances. It was more a different view on the case.
17'43 Voice-over:
That 'different view on the case', resulted in a Pimp-theory which appears not to
have been investigated very deeply. And that counts for other theories in the
Holloway case.
18'11 Voice-over:
There's a completely different theory in the police files, about what may have
happened to Natalee. It focuses on this man, Steve. In 2005, he worked under the
artist name 'DJ Diablo' on a party boat called 'The Tattoo'.
18'38 Voice-over:
A week after Natalee's disappearance, Steve stepped forward as a voluntary
witness. He stated to the police that he had seen, how Natalee was brought back
to the Holiday Inn by Joran and the Kalpoe brothers. He said he saw her being
dropped off at the hotel lobby. But Steve lied: surveillance footage of the hotel
revealed Natalee never came back.
19'09 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
The statement that I read about what Steve said, what he was doing there, it just
seems very, very strange. During the hours that Natalee went missing, he claims
to have slept on the boat where he works, in addition to that he claims that he had
been working that evening. But the owner of the boat said that Steve had not
been working that evening.
19'30 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent:
Let's say for example, he assisted them somehow. Let's say he provided the boat
that night, that was used to take her body out to sea. If he could get law
enforcement not to center in on the three suspects, then they wouldn't be looking
at him perhaps, because they wouldn't be able to make that connection. I think
he, like the other three suspects in this case, everything we hear from them is
tremendously self-serving. Trying to exclude themselves.
20'00 Voice-over:
Steve was arrested for given a false statement. He was now officially a suspect
and interrogated several times. In the police files we discover that he told more
lies. When asked about his whereabouts that night, he told detectives:
20'15 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo (actor):
I picked my friend Jeremy up with the car around 11:30 PM. We went to a bar
called 'Choose a Name'. I don't remember going to Carlos 'n Charlies.
20'24 Voice-over:
But the staff at Carlos 'n Charlies have a better memory. They state that Steve
was definitely in their bar that night. And not at 11:30, but earlier at 10PM.
20'35 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
So his statement is just a complete, chaotic mess. It doesn't make any sense
whatsoever.
20'41 Voice-over:
Steve says he partied until 4:30 AM and then went to sleep on the Tattoo boat.
But the bars he visited all close at 2:00 AM. So where was Steve between 2:00 and
4:30? Exactly the hours when Natalee disappeared.
20'59 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
Steve like other suspects in this case, as an investigator: if you lie about the little
things, you lie about the big things. He had no reason to lie, except if he was
trying to cover up for people, or if he was trying to cover up for himself. We know
he had access to a boat. We know that to dispose of Natalee's body, the easiest
way would have been to put her body, wrapped up in something, take her out to
sea a mile or two, drop her in the water, the next stop would be the Panama canal
for that body.
21'45 Voice-over
Back in 2005, Steve was released after a couple of weeks, without having been
confronted with the inconsistencies in his statements. He went back to work in
clubs on Aruba. We trace him in a dance club with the suitable name 'Confession
Club'.
22'07 Reporter:
Steve was released after giving this very vague statement. Why wasn't he
questioned more thoroughly by the Aruban police?
22'15 Julia Renfro / local journalist:
I believe that the Aruban police had already made a decision of what had
happened to Natalee Holloway. They were a little bit blind sighted in one
direction. And Steve, because of his crazy statements and possible alcohol or
drug use, his statements seem to be just useless.
22'40 Bert de Rooij / Joran's lawyer:
I have to say, I've raised my eyebrows more often when I read statements.
Because even with normal witnesses, I thought: why not ask this question when
he says that. But it didn't happen.
22'55 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
Many times in police investigations, people tell weird stories. Is that a reason to
treat them as suspects? No. Is it a reason to investigate them more thoroughly?
Yes. And apparently there was no thorough investigation into Steve and no
thorough interrogation either.
23'20 Reporter:
Hello? Good morning. Do you speak Dutch? I'm looking for Steve, the DJ.
23'37 Steve's Aunt:
Steve doesn't live here anymore. I think he lives in Sabano Blanco. I have his
phone number. Do you have a phone? You can call him. He can give you
directions.
23'55 Reporter:
Okay, thank you. Bye.
24'00 Reporter
Hello Steve, this is Vincent Verweij. I'm making a TV-program about the Natalee
Holloway case. And I would like to talk to you.
24'13 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo:
Sorry, I couldn't hear you. The line is bad. What did you say?
24'20 Reporter
We're making a TV-program about Natalee Holloway and would like to speak to
you.
24'26 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo:
About what?
24'28 Reporter
About your statement to the police in the Holloway case.
24'36 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo:
Ehm, no. I don't want to get involved with that. Not anymore.
24'44 Reporter
Because we read your statement and it's very unclear. Your whereabouts that
night.
24'50 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo:
Okay
24'52 Reporter
Because you say, you went out and then slept on the boat.
24'59 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo:
Yes
25'02 Reporter
But where were you between 2:00 AM and 4:30 AM?
25'11 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo:
That's..ehm.. I gave my statement to the police, so I don't have to talk to anyone
else if I don't want to.
25'20 Reporter
I understand that, but it's so unclear what you stated to the police....
25'26 Voice of Steve C. / DJ Diablo:
That's my problem and nobody else's. I don't want to discuss it. Sorry, thank you.
25'36 Voice-over:
Steve is no longer a suspect in the case. Every Sunday, he can be found
performing on the beach next to the Holiday Inn, as if nothing ever happened. The
Public prosecutor refused to answer why Steve was never confronted with the
inconsistencies in his statements.
26'07 Voice-over:
Not only were some aspects of the case badly investigated, also outright
missteps were made, making it difficult to ever solve the missing of Natalee
Holloway. We discover the trail of a new suspect. This story starts in Denver
Colorado, where we meet Tracey Allen. She was on Aruba in may 2005, one week
before Natalee was there.
26'30 Tracey Allan / witness
My family and I were there on vacation. We stayed at the Marriott. Just after
sunrise, I got up early, I started walking the beach looking for shells. I was
walking past the Fishermen's Huts. And as I walked by, looking at the ocean, I
looked back, I there was a man sitting down in one of those little picknick areas.
And when I turned around and headed back, the man that was sitting in the
picknick area, had pulled his car around, left it running and left the doors open
and ran up to me and blocked my way. So I could not get back to my hotel.
27'05 Reporter:
He didn't have trousers?
27'07 Tracey Allan / witness
He had no trousers, no underwear
27'09 Reporter:
So for you it was immediately clear what his intention was?
27'12 Tracey Allan / witness
Yes, he was absolutely trying to get me to his car. And to rape me or take me and
rape me.
27'23 Voice-over:
Tracey resists and draws the attention of some people further down the beach.
27'28 Tracey Allan / witness
He finally threatened me, told me he would come back to kill me if I moved and
fled to his car. Now Natalee Holloway, when she disappeared, it was all over the
news media that she had disappeared right by the Fishermen's Huts.
27'41 Reporter:
That was only nine days after.
27'44 Tracey Allan / witness
Yes, nine days after. My incident was on May 20th, hers was on May 29th.
27'45 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
It's interesting that it happened on that same spot. That man should be
interrogated extensively.
27'57 TV-presenter:
All witness statements stop here.
27'59 Voice-Over:
The police try to find the man. In a special broadcast of the Dutch 'crimestoppers'
TV-show, the case of Tracey Allen is discussed.
28'06 TV-presenter / ‘Crimestoppers':
Aruban police would like to know some things about an incident on that same
spot.
28'13 Dolf Richardson / Chief of Police Aruba
On May 21st, 2005 nine days before the disappearance of Natalee, a woman was
harassed here on the beach near the Fishermen's Huts by an unknown man. At
this moment, we don't have any indications that there's a link with the case of
Natalee, but
we can't exclude that either.
28'32 Tracey Allan / witness
If Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers did leave her at the Fishermen's
Huts, there's a very good possibility that the man who assaulted me, would have
taken Natalee Holloway. That was his spot of choice. He had planned it out. That
was where he was waiting for a woman by herself to take.
28'54 Dolf Richardson / Chief of Police Aruba
A composite sketch was made of the man.
28'59 TV-presenter / ‘Crimestoppers':
This man. He has a dark skin. He's approximately 25 years old. Five foot six tall.
He has a round face. Almond-shaped eyes. Short, black hair. He wore glasses
with octagonal lenses in a metal frame.
29'13 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
The idea behind a composite sketch is to ask the general public who knows this
man? And you hope to get many tips, of people who look alike. So you can
investigate those further.
29.31 Voice-over
Several viewers mentioned possible names. The FBI then approached Tracy Allen
with a number of pictures.
29'40 Tracey Allan / witness
And he was there, 100% positive, his photo was on that sheet. I picked him out of
the line-up, they had me circle it. I circled it and they said they would be
contacting me.
29'53 Reporter:
How sure were you that you picked the right man?
29'56 Tracey Allan / witness
One hundred percent. I would not have circled it if I was even 95% sure.
30'00 Reporter:
Because he looked like the sketch, or did he look like your memory?
30'03 Tracey Allan / witness
No, he was the person who assaulted me. I was looking him in the eye, in a
heightened sense of awareness, for three to four minutes. There's no question in
my mind that that was him.
30'17 Voice-over:
According to Tracey, a man was then taken into custody, but a few weeks later,
she got an unexpected call from an Aruban detective.
30'25 Tracey Allan / witness
A police officer got on the phone, and told me that the suspect in my case in my
case was no longer in custody and that they believed that he had fled to
Colombia.
30'35 Reporter:
What was your reaction when you heard that?
30'39 Tracey Allan / witness
I was devastated. And I asked how he got out. They wouldn't answer.
30'43 Voice-over:
How can a man, who was possibly involved in the disappearance of Natalee
Holloway and the attempted rape of Tracey Allen, have been set free and allowed
to flee to Colombia? We try to ask that question to former police commissioner
Gerald Dompig, but he refuses to talk to us.
31'05 Voice of Secretary for Mr. Dompig:
I'm calling on behalf of Mr. Dompig. Mr. Dompig doesn't want to give an interview
regarding Natalee Holloway. No interview about Natalee Holloway? Yes, that's
what I need to tell you.
31'23 Voice-over:
The Public Prosecutor on Aruba confirms the course of events to us. The suspect
was initially detained because his visa had expired. At the same moment, the
composite sketch was shown on TV. But police didn't realize that the man was
already in custody for a different reason. A judge ordered his release and when
police later wanted to arrest him for the Tracey Allen case, he had already fled the
country.
31'52 Voice of Peter Blanken / Public Prosecutor Aruba
He was in custody when the police was looking for him. When the composite
sketch was released they were looking for him. Later, when they wanted to arrest
him,
he was already gone.
32'04 Reporter:
Did he leave to Colombia?
32'07 Voice of Peter Blanken / Public Prosecutor Aruba
He went to Colombia, Venezuela or somewhere else in South America.
32'17 Reporter:
That's not so good..
32'20 Voice of Peter Blanken / Public Prosecutor Aruba
That's the state of things now.
32'24 Reporter:
Did you put out an international arrest warrant through Interpol?
32'27 Voice of Peter Blanken / Public Prosecutor Aruba
I found no records of that.
32'32 Reporter:
Does it make sense to still put that out?
32'34 Voice of Peter Blanken / Public Prosecutor Aruba
Yes, I think we should consider that.
32'35 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
Why not hold on to that person, why not charge him. I mean, you have an
eyewitness saying that's the person, 100%, who tried to commit this assault on
me. Yes, one more time, this catch and release philosophy that we see on Aruba.
He's caught, he's released and lo and behold, he flees the island.
32'59 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
He's no longer here, he disappeared. The investigation ends. It would have been
wise, if the two cases would have been linked right away.
33'10 Tracey Allan / witness
I would love for the Aruban police to capture him again and bring him to justice. It
would be good for everyone involved.
33'20 Reporter
And what about the truth in the Holloway case?
33'23 Tracey Allan / witness
I would love for them to investigate this lead, as well as any other lead that's
come up in the case, to give that family closure.
33'32 Voice-over:
A possible suspect in the Holloway-case, who fled to South America, because the
authorities failed to arrest him. It's not the only misstep of the police on Aruba.
34'06 Voice-over:
There are a number of unsolved enigmas in the police files. Such as Natalee's
hotel room door. It was opened three times in the night she disappeared, with her
magnetic key. Between 2 and 4 AM, someone entered her room multiple times, as
recorded by the hotel computer. But an explanation was never found.
34'28 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
That's a crucial part of the case. Suppose Joran van der Sloot killed her or was
present when she died what did he do with that keycard? Were the girls in the
room then?
34'45 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
Perhaps whoever was responsible for her disappearance, used that keycard to
get back into the room, looking for money, telephones, laptops, anything that
might be worth some money, figuring that the other roommates were out for the
night. And it was easy to get in and out once you got a card.
35'03 Reporter:
Another scenario is, that Natalee may have woken up from her intoxication and
may have walked back to her room?
35'08 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
You can't exclude that. And then the story that he left her on the beach, may be
true.
35'16 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
I think it's possible that Natalee came back to her room, we just don't have the
surveillance tapes to proof who used that card and who came in and out of the
room.
35'26 Voice-over:
Natalee's card was used for sure, but it's unclear who used the card. It may have
been swapped with a roommate.
35'35 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
The most likely explanation still is that the roommates swapped keys and
someone else was legitimately using Natalee's card that night.
35'45 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
You can only find that out by questioning the girls. Who had which keycard? Who
went in and out of the room?
35'57 Voice-over:
The roommates were never questioned about the swipe card. Not by the Aruban
police and not by the FBI.
36'03 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
This keycard issue is something that should have been resolved that next day.
Natalee's card shows she came in and out. The other roommates, let me see your
cards. What cards do you have. Very quickly, Aruban law enforcement could have
resolved that issue. It appears that's one more thing that may have been missed.
36'23 Peter van Koppen / Professor in Law
If the FBI failed to question those kids extensively, then that's bad police work.
Very bad police work.
36'34 Voice-over:
There were more missteps. We discovered that the Aruban police forgot to timely
secure surveillance tapes on the island. Not until three weeks into the
investigation, detectives started asking about surveillance tapes from petrol
stations, shops and banks. Most of the tapes were erased by that time, because
by default the recorders are set to save footage for two weeks only.
36'58 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
I think it's unconscionable that those tapes wouldn't have been obtained
immediately after she was reported as missing.
37'06 Julia Renfro / local journalist
They had their suspects in jail and they were confident that they had solved the
case already. Later, once they found that they needed more information to proof
their conclusions, is when they went out to get the security tapes but at that point
it was just too late.
37'26 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
It's almost as if they didn't want to find the evidence one way or the other, that
would answer their questions.
37'34 Voice-Over:
We asked the former prosecutor, Karin Janssen, why the surveillance tapes were
not secured earlier. She refused to talk on camera with us.
37'47 Voice of Karin Jansen / former prosecutor:
We need to be accountable of course. But primarily to the judge and to the family.
We're not accountable to your TV-show.
38'05 Reporter:
I hope you're taking the right decision. As our audience might think that Mrs.
Jansen refuses to appear on camera, because she doesn't want to answer the
difficult questions.
38'16 Voice of Karin Jansen / former prosecutor:
I understand your interests and it's a pity, but your interests are not mine. I have
different interests.
38'22 Voice-over
Because the videos were erased, it's impossible to know where the car with Joran
and Natalee drove that night. One of the many unanswered questions in this
investigation.
38'34 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
Time is so critical in an investigation like this. Memories fade, physical evidence
is lost and more lies are told.
38'50 Voice-over:
Aruba would like to forget about Natalee Holloway sooner than later. The police
say they have not enough capacity to work on the case. A disappearance which
seemed solvable, has become a cold case. Because so many lies were told and
so many mistakes have been made.
39'15 Reporter
Do you think this case will ever be solved?
39'19 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
I think the only way this case will ever be solved, is that whoever was there at the
time Natalee disappeared, died, whatever happened to her, if one or more people
involved in that, finally have a motive to come forward and talk and share that
story.
39'38 Julia Renfro / local journalist
I think the only thing that could happen is that unless somebody came forward,
confessed, or one of the suspects decided to tell the whole truth, will we ever
know what actually happened to Natalee Holloway.
39'51 Clint van Zandt / Former FBI agent
Until we get to that point, there's no forensic evidence, I don't think a body will
ever be found, and I think it's highly likely, that the people involved realize that if I
involve someone else, I may be involving me, may carry that secret to their
death.
40'09 Voice-over:
You can read more about Natalee in this new book: The Holloway Files. It
contains hundreds of original police files and analysis of this extraordinary case.
The e-book is now available on thehollowayfiles.com. Thanks for watching.