Natalee Holloway and her classmates went to Aruba to celebrate Holloway’s graduation from Mountain Brook High School in Alabama. Hollaway, then 18 years old, agreed to walk on Aruba’s beach with Joran van der Sloot.
Holloway was at a bar when he met Van der Sloot. Van der Sloot is an Aruba native. They went on a beach walk. Natalee Holloway never appeared again.
Van der Sloot had been a suspect since the very beginning. In the years that followed, he was arrested twice. The prosecution was hampered by the lack of physical proof, which made it impossible to bring the case to court.
Van der Sloot, who was serving a sentence of 28 years for the murder of another girl in Peru, finally confessed in 2005 to killing Holloway on that warm May evening. Van der Sloot confessed to the crime in exchange for considerations of sentencing in an extortion scheme where he had told Holloway’s mother that he would reveal where her body was located if she paid him $250,000.
Mrs. Holloway only paid him $25,000 and the information Van der Sloot provided her was false. Van der Sloot, fearing another 40 years in prison, agreed to confess to Holloway’s murder.
New York Times:
He wanted to be dropped off with Ms. Holloway at a distance away from the hotel, where she was staying, with more than 100 recent Mountain Brook High School graduates in Alabama, so that he could “still get a chance, to be with her”. He claimed they kissed while lying on the sand, but she declined further sexual advances.
He said that when he continued, she kneed in his crotch and he “extremely” kicked her in the face. He said that at this point she was “possibly, uh… even dead, but definitely unconscious.”
He then picked up a large cinder block and “smashed her head with it completely.”
Van der Sloot carried Holloway into the sea and let the tide take her out.
Is this what really happened? Van der Sloot, the conman, is a first-class scumbag. He’s a predator and a liar. Van der Sloot may have embellished the story in order to portray himself as a Caribbean Lothario but the details of Holloway being rejected, and then murdered are true.
The media frenzy surrounding this case has been obscene from the beginning. On her dream trip, a young blonde girl – a picture of innocence – disappears in suspicious circumstances. The media could not get enough of this story. Parents were followed everywhere they went. According to The Times, the story has been told, retold, and regurgitated in “countless hours” of cable television programming, as well as in more than a half dozen nonfiction works, several episodes of the ‘Law & Order franchise, and at least one theatrical production.
You might expect that the race hustlers would try to make the case a black/white one.
The cable news networks received criticism for spending hours on the case of a young, attractive white woman who lived in an affluent Birmingham suburb, while other cases of women of other ethnicities and backgrounds were not covered.
Matthew Felling, of the Center for Media and Public Affairs said that the Holloway coverage was “emotional voyeurism.”
But the public’s fascination continued. In 2009, Lifetime’s movie “Natalee” set a record in ratings. There were many other television movies and true crime productions that followed. One of them, “Vanished With Beth Holloway”, hosted by the mother of Ms. Holloway, was a huge hit.
Holloway could not help being white. She couldn’t have helped that she was white, had blonde hair, and a beautiful face. Or, had wealthy parents. The media frenzy was more about the supposed innocence and youth of Holloway, a teenager with her entire life in front of her. She disappeared after a night out with her friends.
Holloway wasn’t “everywoman” and that is why her fate was so fascinating. She was a unique and special person.
Van der Sloot’s confession was a letdown. Natalee’s parents may have found comfort or closure in the confession.
“As far as I am concerned, it’s over. It’s over,” Mrs. Holloway said at a press conference, adding, “I’m satisfied knowing that he did it, he did it alone and he disposed of her alone.”
She said, “He’s the killer” and added, “He described when and how he murdered her.”
