Aruba reportedly has lead in Holloway case

updated 9:54 p.m. ET March 22, 2006

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Aruban police reportedly have a new witness in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway and plan to conduct another search for her body on the Dutch Caribbean island.

The witness provided specific information that prompted investigators to organize a search in sand dunes along the northern tip of the island, Gerald Dompig, Aruba’s deputy chief of police, said in an interview with CBS television’s “48 Hours Mystery” program, which released a partial transcript of the interview Wednesday.

Dompig said investigators will use cadaver dogs to search near a lighthouse and believe that someone took steps to carefully hide Holloway’s body — perhaps burying her twice. The CBS interview was scheduled for broadcast on Saturday.

The witness said “he knew more about the whereabouts of Natalee,” Dompig said. “The information that this person gave was too specific to just be a story that was just made up by someone.”

Aruban authorities declined to comment on the report Wednesday.

Holloway’s mother, Beth Twitty of Mountain Brook, Ala., said she’s aware of the program.

“I’m just waiting to see it Saturday night,” Twitty said.

Holloway, 18, was last seen leaving a bar with Dutch national Joran van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. No one has been charged in her disappearance, and the investigation has produced a number of false leads.

In January, Aruban investigators searched sand dunes on the northwest coast of the island with more than 50 officers. At the time, Dompig said police have considered the dunes a place of interest since the investigation began and had searched them before.

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