Paul van der Sloot cremated
19 Feb, 2010, 13:16 (GMT -04:00)

 
ORANJESTAD — The morning newspaper Awemainta announced today that the last week deceased lawyer Paul van der Sloot was cremated privately yesterday.
 
He had become known throughout the world as the father of Joran van der Sloot, main suspect in the disappearing case of the American Natalee Holloway. Details on the funeral ceremony had not been announced in order to keep it out of the national and international news. The mortal remains had already been flown to the Netherlands earlier. Despite the fact that Holloway’s disappearance had taken place nearly five years ago, the case can still count on eager attention from the world press. Especially in the United States, but also in the Netherlands, the death of Van der Sloot senior had attracted the necessary attention and his role in the disappearance case. Moreover, the gossip magazine Privé directed its attention towards Anita, Joran’s mother. The magazine’s headline red: ‘Can Joran’s mother continue to keep silent?’

 


Natalee Holloway confession called ‘fantasy’
Suspect claims he dumped missing Ala. teen’s body in swamp on Aruba

Tues., Feb. 23, 2010

LONDON - The suspect in the disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway has confessed to disposing of her body in a marsh on the Caribbean island of Aruba, a Dutch tabloid newspaper reported Tuesday.
 
Joran van der Sloot made the statement in a sit-down interview with a television journalist, according to De Telegraaf.
 
However, Aruba's chief prosecutor Peter Blanken told NBC News that the suspect's story was "very unbelievable."
 
Holloway, from Mountain Brook, Ala., was 18 when she was last seen leaving a bar in the Aruban capital on the final night of a high school graduation trip in May 2005. Her body has never been recovered.
 
Authorities reportedly reopened the investigation after the alleged confession came to light following the interview, which occurred in August.
 
"It quickly became clear that this statement is held together by lies and fantasy," the Dutch newspaper quoted Blanken as saying. "Times did not fit and named witnesses mentioned are denying his claims."
 
The interview was not aired by German broadcaster RTL because of doubts about whether van der Sloot was telling the truth.
 
Van der Sloot claimed that Holloway had died accidentally and insisted that he did not kill her.
 
He previously told another journalist that he had dumped her body in the sea.