Suspect in Holloway case returns to court

Defense presses for teen's release; judge has until Saturday to rule

Wednesday August 31, 2005
 


Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch teen who was with missing Alabama high school graduate Natalee Holloway when she disappeared on May 30, in a July 12 photo.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - A judge heard arguments Wednesday on whether to prolong the detention of a Dutch suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway.
 
Defense attorney Antonio Carlo said he urged the judge to release Joran van der Sloot, arguing prosecutors have produced no evidence that his client was involved in Holloway’s disappearance or that a crime had been committed.
 
Carlo said van der Sloot, 18, cried during the closed hearing but answered all of the judge’s questions.
 
“He maintains his innocence,” Carlo said. “He wants to go home.”
 
Van der Sloot was arrested June 9 along with two friends, Surinamese nationals Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Deepak Kalpoe, 21, on suspicion of involvement in Holloway’s disappearance. The Kalpoe brothers were released July 4 and re-arrested last week.
 
Prosecutors said Tuesday they filed a motion to keep the Dutch teen detained for another 30 days. The judge has until Saturday to rule.
 
Suspects can be held for 116 days without charge in the Dutch Caribbean island. However, if the judge orders van der Sloot held for another 30 days, prosecutors have until the end of that period to charge him or he must be released.
 
Carlo said prosecutors introduced two allegations of a “sexual nature” against van der Sloot. He declined to provide details but insisted they were not new. “We don’t consider them new circumstances,” he said. Prosecutors could not be reached for comment.

Kalpoe brothers questioned
The Kalpoe brothers were also questioned during van der Sloot’s hearing, Carlo said.
 
The two were arrested Friday, when a judge ruled that prosecutors had enough evidence to hold them for at least eight days while they build their case.
 
Van der Sloot’s parents tried to attend the hearing but were barred from entering because their son is an adult, Carlo said.
 
Eighteen-year-old Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen May 30 leaving a bar with the Kalpoes and van der Sloot, hours before she was to end a vacation celebrating her graduation.
 
No one has been charged, and extensive searches have produced no sign of her.

 


Aruba Suspect's Parents Speak Out

Exclusive: Joran Van Der Sloot's Parents Criticize Natalee's Family

PALM BEACH, Aruba, Aug. 30, 2005
 
Paul and Anita van der Sloot's dream is to have their son home.
 
In an exclusive interview with CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella, Anita says, "We want him to go on with his life."
 
Joran van der Sloot, 18, has been held since early June in the May 30 disappearance from Aruba of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.
 
Joran hasn't been charged, but authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island have named him a suspect in the case.
 
His parents say the only thing established for sure is that Joran was with Natalee the night she vanished, and they stand by his insistence that he didn't hurt her.
 
Prosecutors have to notify Joran's attorney if they plan to ask a judge to hold him for 30 more days. As of Monday night, it hadn't happened. A hearing is set for Wednesday, and Joran could be set free.
 
Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, says she's convinced Joran is guilty and that Paul, a one-time judge in training, is helping Joran get away with it.
 
Paul denies it, saying, "We are not hiding anything. We are telling the whole truth, nothing but the truth. And we've always told Joran to tell the truth."
 
From the beginning, Cobiella says, Joran has been the main suspect, and the primary focus of prosecutors and the press. Anita accuses both of following bad leads and spreading rumors, instead of looking for the truth.
 
But she's most upset with Holloway's family for attacking her son and husband on television.
 
"I think what the family is doing is terrible," Anita says. "I don't think it's their right to do these things like this. I know they must be upset."
 
The van der Sloots have chosen to defend themselves only sporadically until now, because they blame the U.S. media for making their son look guilty.
 
"News should be based on facts," Anita says. "If not, it's a show … to damage people, to slander people. That is no news, no news at all."
 
But the van der Sloots agree with Holloway's family on this: The investigation was botched from the beginning and, they add, that they also desperately want the mystery solved.
 "If Natalee is never found," Paul says, "it will always, always hit our lives, not only the lives of the Holloways, but also our lives."
 
The van der Sloots have an angel in their home they keep lit for Natalee, but right now their focus is on their own child.
 
"Our goal is to get Joran back," Anita says. "I just want my kid back. It has been enough. It really has been enough."