Natalee Holloway's Killer Spills New Details About His Unforgivable Crime
The disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005 brought international attention and years of uncertainty. But while several men were detained, Joran van der Sloot remained a prime suspect, as his rapidly changing story made it nearly impossible for authorities to determine fact from fiction. Yes, he was a slippery suspect from the start, but an unofficial sting operation years later may have finally uncovered the truth.
Nowhere to be found
In May 2005 Alabama's Mountain Brook High School discovered one of its own was missing on a senior graduation trip in Aruba. On the day Natalee Holloway's class was to return home, the folks on the trip made a grim discovery: her hotel room was empty, save for her suitcase and passport.
End of the line
Quickly, search teams were sent out to locate any sign of Natalee. Naturally, the news that a young, blonde, affluent student had gone missing in Aruba went international. And when no signs of the high school senior were found, the police doubled down on their search for a suspect.
Narrowing the list
Various men who had encountered Natalee were detained. But with no hard evidence to make them clear suspects, they were soon released — except for one guy, that is. Joran van der Sloot, a 17-year old Dutch citizen, had apparently been with Natalee during her final hours, and he kept popping up on the investigators' radar.
A suspect's story
At first, Van der Sloot's version of events matched the ones from those who had been with Natalee that night. After drinking heavily at a local bar, she'd gotten into a car with Van der Sloot at around 1:30 a.m. Van der Sloot's friends, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, were also in the car. From there, however, the suspect's story gets fuzzy.
