Natalee Holloway: Nieuwe aanwijzingen
ARUBA, 20060326 -- ORANJESTAD (26-03-06) - Natalee Holloway is niet vermoord, maar vermoedelijk in het bijzijn van Joran van der Sloot plotseling overleden aan overmatig drankgebruik, al dan niet in combinatie met drugs. Dat denkt de politie op Aruba, die de verdwijning onderzoekt. Daarbij sluit de politie niet uit dat, naast Joran van der Sloot en de broers Deepak en Satish Kalpoe, een tweede groep - of in elk geval anderen - bij de verdwijning is betrokken.Politiechef Gerald Dompig (foto) van Aruba speculeerde gisteren in 48 Hours (www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/22/48hours/main1430644.shtml) dat het lichaam van Natalee wellicht eerst in alle haast ergens is begraven, door Joran, mogelijk met hulp van de broers Kalpoe, waarna zij later door anderen op een beter verborgen plek opnieuw is begraven. Volgens Dompig is de zaak in de laatste fase beland. Een manager van een nachtclub op Aruba zou een telefoontje hebben gekregen en daardoor meer informatie hebben over de plaats waar Natalee is begraven. De beller zou weleens de sleutel tot de oplossing kunnen bieden, zo denkt de politie nu, die nieuwe zoekacties heeft aangekondigd.
De politie komt tot de 'overdosis theorie' na tal van gesprekken met getuigen en betrokkenen, waaruit onder meer zou zijn gebleken dat Natalee die laatse dag stevig had gedronken. 'Police interviews with hotel staff, local bartenders, and her friends reveal that Natalee had spent much of the day with a drink in her hand', aldus 48 Hours. Klasgenoten van haar die hier naar werden gevraagd tijdens de uitzending gisteravond, stelden dat Natalee met alcohol om kon gaan, maar bevestigden dat de studenten al sinds de middag en verder gedurende de hele avond hadden gedronken. Zij houden het erop dat Natalee die avond kwetsbaar was juist omdat zij zoveel had gedronken, en hadden het ook niets voor haar gevonden om met drie vreemden, Joran, Deepak en Satish, in een auto mee te gaan.
DRUK VAN FAMILIE
De druk die de familie Holloway heeft uitgeoefend op politie en justitie, heeft het onderzoek verder geen goed gedaan, aldus Dompig. Volgens hem is, in weerwil van alle kritiek, al vrij snel besloten tot observatie van Joran en de broers Kalpoe. Vanaf de derde dag na de verdwijing werden zij in de gaten gehouden. Daarbij werden de drie niet alleen gevolgd, maar werden ook telefoons afgeluisterd, vrienden ondervraagd en hun e-mails onderschept. Door alle druk van de media en de familie Holloway, zag de politie zich min of meer gedwongen om vervroegd tot arrestaties over te gaan. Dompig is er verder van overtuigd dat Paul van der Sloot, Jorans vader, meer weet.
UIT DE UITZENDING:
'Bringing in the prime suspect is basically the last thing we do', Dompig explains. 'When we bring you in, we probably already know the story because we have observed. We have talked to all your friends. We have checked your phone line. We have done everything that is technically possible to know about your whereabouts.'
But police say extreme pressure from the Holloway family forced them to stop their surveillance and make arrests. Just 10 days after Natalee disappeared, police took van der Sloot, the Kalpoe brothers, and later, even van der Sloot's father into custody. Asked if pressure from the family compromised the investigation, Dompig says, 'I think so. It at least distracted the investigators' efforts.'
Aruban lawyer Arlene Shipper - who often speaks on behalf of the Aruban government - was sure Joran would crack. 'It's mind-boggling to us that a 17-year-old, if he would have done it could not have been broken. It's incredible.'
But as Dompig explained, Joran's age actually made things harder for the interrogators.
Dompig acknowledges Joran was afforded some special legal protections because he was 17 years old at the time of his arrest. Dompig says that did complicate matters. 'Yes, that complicated matters seriously because he had more visiting rights with his father - his father being a judge in training was a problem for us because he could give his son certain advice.'
Joran's father discussed the family's ordeal with CBS' The Early Show. 'We are telling the whole truth, nothing but the truth. And we spoke all this to Joran to tell the truth,' Paulus van der Sloot said.
Police say they could not listen in on the conversations between Paulus and his son, citing that they were 'privileged conversations.'
Dompig says he believes Paulus van der Sloot does know more than he has been telling about the circumstances surrounding Holloway's disappearance.
But in spite of those parental visits, 48 Hours has learned that the interrogations were intense and tough. Special agents from the FBI were brought in, along with investigators from Holland to conduction the interrogations.
Dompig says while Joran van der Sloot wasn't subjected to questioning in the middle of the night, there were late sessions.
'So he was deprived of sleep but it wasn't going on for days?' Roberts asked.
'No,' Dompig replied.
Dompig says it almost worked. "There were several moments where Joran almost broke. Several moments,' he says.
Asked if Joran van der Sloot ever confessed to being sexually intimate with Natalee, Dompig says he never did.
'Believe me, we were looking for anything to throw him, to keep him in jail,' says Dompig. 'The only thing he admitted to was that he was fondling sexually, like kissing, touching her. And there was no sexual in terms of penetration or whatever, really having sex with her.'
After nearly two dozen lengthy interrogations, the police still had no confession and had found no body. So on Sep. 3, 2005, Joran van der Sloot was released to his parents.
'This young man, a 17-year-old-boy was able to withstand 90 days in prison, and undergo specialized interrogation, and they weren't able to get a confession from him,' says attorney Arlene Shipper.
'What does that say ?' Roberts asks.
'It can mean two things - either he's innocent, he really doesn't know what happened, or he's a genius,' she replied.
Joran van der Sloot has denied any wrongdoing, but he has done nothing to dispel Dompig's suspicions.
Asked what FBI profilers told Dompig about van der Sloot's psychological profile, he says, 'They use the word sociopath. And the fact that he was capable of lying about basically everything.'
Beth Twitty says there's a reason she thinks van der Sloot is lying - he is covering something up. 'He's covering something up so horrible that he can't tell the truth,' she says.
But if Joran can't or won't tell the whole story of what happened that night, police think they may soon find someone else who will.
'New people are coming in the picture,' says Dompig. 'It is possible that there was help. Or it is possible that there was a second group involved other than these three boys.'
Dompig is optimistic that answers will be found. 'We are that much closer to knowing what really happened to Natalee,' he says. 'A crime like this cannot go unsolved.'
(bron 48 Hours)
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