DJ, Dutch suspect’s dad released in Aruba

updated 3:22 p.m. ET June 27, 2005

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Aruban police Monday released a party boat disc jockey held in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a day after a judge said authorities did not have enough evidence against him.

Steven Gregory Croes, 26, did not speak with reporters as he left the courthouse in the capital, Oranjestad, through a back exit. Authorities would not discuss the judge’s rulings.

“Prosecutors tell us that progress is being made in the case,” government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said. “We just hope they are on track to solving this mystery.”

He was one of five people held in the disappearance of Holloway, an 18-year-old Alabama honors student last seen in the early hours of May 30. On Sunday, police released island judicial official Paul van der Sloot, 52, after a judge said there also was not enough evidence to continue detaining him. His 17-year-old son, Joran, is one of three young men still in custody.

No one has been charged in Holloway’s disappearance.

Croes is a disc jockey on the party boat Tattoo, which offers nightly dining, dancing and swimming and docks near the Holiday Inn hotel where Holloway had been staying on Aruba, a Dutch protectorate. He had been detained June 17.

Paul van der Sloot was detained June 23 for allegedly collaborating in a crime with his son, according to his lawyer, A.J. Swan.

Still jailed are the young van der Sloot and his friends, Surinamese brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18. Under Dutch law, a suspect can be held for up to 116 days without charge if a judge decides police have good reason.

The three young men initially told police that after a night of eating, drinking and dancing, they took Holloway to a northern beach before dropping her off at her hotel around 2 a.m.

On Saturday, Satish Kalpoe’s lawyer said his client admitted that his story was a lie.

Slide show   Missing teen American teenager Natalee Holloway is still missing after disappearing in Aruba while on a trip celebrating her high school graduation.

Satish Kalpoe now claims that he and his brother dropped Holloway and Joran van der Sloot off together at a beach near the Marriott hotel, then went home, said the lawyer, David Kock.

On Sunday, Kock said the brothers were becoming increasingly angry with Joran van der Sloot and accusing him of changing his story to put the blame for Holloway’s disappearance on them. Kock would not elaborate.

Anita van der Sloot said her son told her he was alone on a beach with Holloway and left her there unharmed in the early hours of the day she vanished.

Joran van der Sloot’s lawyer, Antonio Carlo, said Sunday, “My client maintains his innocence.”

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