October 18, 2005

HOLLOWAY: EXCERPT FROM CNN'S NANCY GRACE



MORET: ...On Friday, it would have been Natalee`s 19th birthday. And Natalee is far from forgotten by her parents. Her mom, Beth, and her father, Dave, are both heading back to Aruba, they feel armed with potentially new evidence. They`re going back with a search team from EquuSearch. They want to re-examine a landfill that was, in there view, not fully investigated before. They`re going to seek permits so they can continue their search. And also, I talked with Beth Twitty yesterday and she is emboldened by that interview that you just played a portion of, because she said that those statements made by Deepak, one of the three boys who were taken into custody, indicates that these statements -- that they actually had sex with Natalee, which is inconsistent with statements that they made in the past. And she is hoping that this will ultimately lead to their re-arrest.



VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, one of the problems with this case, Jim, is that there have been so many statements by so many people, and they`re all so contradictory, it`s hard to keep track of what the very latest statement is. But you`re saying the latest statement that Kalpoe made was that, in fact -- and I want to clarify this, because this is so significant -- all three had sex, according to him, with Natalee?


MORET: That`s right. And that`s inconsistent with statements made to investigators and made previously. And that`s significant, because, if these boys
have been released and are somehow emboldened to a point where they make inconsistent statements that would implicate them in this crime, then that may be reason enough to bring them back into custody, and reopen this investigation, and move forward in a meaningful way.


VELEZ-MITCHELL: And let`s hear exactly what Deepak Kalpoe had to say to this investigator for Dr. Phil.


SKEETERS: If it was an accident, I can help all of you. And if you guys were partying, even if someone had given her a date drug -- I`m sure she had sex with all of you.

KALPOE: She did. You`d be surprised how simple it was.




VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Now I want to ask Jossy Mansur, managing director of "Diario" newspaper, when we talk about all three, we`re talking about the Kalpoe brothers and Joran Van Der Sloot. Joran Van Der Sloot has gone from Aruba to Holland, where he is now going to college. Are Aruban authorities tracking him there? Are there any investigators who have gone to Holland to kind of track his movements, see if he talks to people, see if he says something that could break the case?


JOSSY MANSUR, EDITOR, "DIARIO": Well, I`m sure they have talked to him over there, but I don`t know who`s gone from Aruba. I have no knowledge of that. I`m sure they`ve talked to him in Holland. He`s given interviews, like everybody knows. But we don`t have much news from him from so far a ways at this point.




VELEZ-MITCHELL: So it`s kind of split. Joran Van Der Sloot and his dad, as I understand it, in Holland. But I believe Joran`s mother is still in Aruba. Is that correct? And what`s the very latest on the search of Joran Van Der Sloot`s parents` house? Because my understanding is, they searched perhaps areas around that, but they didn`t search the parents` home. Is it too late to do that? Let`s face it. DNA evidence lingers for quite a while. Why can`t they get there now and do that?


MANSUR: Well, I`m sure that they will, but this man has appealed to his own sense of privacy and has refused anyone to go on his property. I know that EquuSearch wanted to do it. They even had some argument on the spot. But Paul Van Der Sloot refused for him to search his property.


VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Tim Miller from EquuSearch, what do you have to say about that? I mean, if in fact there`s evidence that they were in back of the house talking about a defense strategy in the days immediately after her disappearance, why can`t they get a search warrant to go in there? Is it because the laws are different in Aruba?


TIM MILLER, EQUUSEARCH DIRECTOR: Well, I mean they are different in Aruba. And I mean, even in America here we got to get a search warrant and have to have reasonable cause to do that. But I mean, Jossy is right.
I got into -- not a real argument with Paul Van Der Sloot, but I let him know that we could help him clear his image and his name. And we really wanted to search the abandoned well in his backyard and also some new concrete supposedly poured around the swimming pool. And we had all equipment to do that with without having to dig anything up. And we said, "Will you allow us to do that?" And he literally went crazy on us. So, you know, on our searches, we always like to start the last place a person was seen. And I think evidence or, you know, statements are coming in that we feel as though Natalee probably was there last. And so, you know, allow us to clear it. Let`s just clear that and move on. But we`ve got other areas.


VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask defense attorney Richard Herman, because you raise a very good point. If, in fact, you`ve done nothing wrong and everybody wants to search, the whole world is gathered there, saying, "Let us search your home so we can clear your name," why not say, "Come on in. I`ve got nothing to hide"?


DEFENSE ATTORNEY, RICHARD HERMAN: Jane, he`s a judge, and he`s just too smart for that. You know, sadly, I believe this case was lost the first week to two weeks. That`s when they could have obtained the DNA evidence. They blew it then. And now, in my opinion, without an express admission by one of these guys, not these inconsistent statements, but an expressed admission, I don`t believe this case is going to be solved, sadly.


VELEZ-MITCHELL: But let me ask you this: DNA lingers. And the reason I say this is that, the more I look at all of these cases, the more absolutely struck I am by the fact that, if the DNA was available, so many, many, many cases could be solved. And as we look at many programs that detail, Luminol, all sorts of ways of finding blood evidence and DNA evidence, that linger years sometimes after the fact, is it too late? Or could we possibly get back into some of these key areas, like the Kalpoe brothers` car, the home, maybe the area she was last seen, and get a crucial piece of information?


HERMAN: Jane, it`s a possibility. It`s an absolute long shot. And we`re just never going to have that opportunity. The Aruban authorities will not give us that opportunity. They blocked the FBI. They made them sit in the back rooms while they conducted their investigation. And I`m telling you, that first week to t
wo weeks, that was the time they could have solved this crime. Absent this admission, these inconsistent statements are not prosecuted in Aruba like they are in the United States. You lie to an authority in the United States, you`re going to get prosecuted.








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