Van Zandt: Father knows best, at least in Aruba

Clint Van Zandt • Profile • E-mail

Three and a half months ago, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway stepped into a car with Dutchman Joran van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe and drove off into the night, on what may well have been her last night on earth.  We all know the story, one that cable television has told and retold:  pretty, smart high school graduate goes missing while on a school trip to the happy island of Aruba.  On the last night of her trip Natalee visited a well-known tourist trap and bar, Carlos ‘N Charlie’s.  Any local worth his salt can tell you that women can be found there who might drink a little too much.  In a worst case scenario, a woman might even be convinced to accompany complete strangers on a trip around the island, perhaps visiting upon herself a horror that she could never have anticipated. 

While recently in Aruba, I spoke to people who told me about predators on certain exotic islands who look for young and not so young women that are spending their last night on such an island paradise.  The game plan, so I’m told, is to find an intoxicated woman, or get a woman drunk, or to drug the woman.  Then while intoxicated, drugged, or both; the victim, with little or no strength or ability to resist, is next taken to a lonely location, possibly gang raped, and then dumped back at or near her hotel.  Were such a victim to report that she had been assaulted, local authorities would then tell her that the investigation would require her to miss her plane ride home or her cruise ship away from the island.  Further, the victim is told that her life will be turned upside down by the subsequent investigation.  Most women get the message – accept your fate and move on with your life.  Score: predators 1, victim 0.

In the case of Natalee Holloway, I saw a confession that Joran van der Sloot had allegedly given to four Aruban police officers, one of many of the so called confessions or different

"Paulus van der Sloot supposedly told his son and both Kalpoe brothers, “No body, no crime.”  Father does know best sometimes, and the senior van der Sloot, Esq., may well be right in this case."

versions of his story, concerning the night Natalee disappeared.  In this statement van der Sloot said Deepak Kalpoe sexually assaulted, murdered, and buried Natalee.  In another statement Joran allegedly said that he took Natalee to his house (he lives in an apartment detached from his parent’s residence in a middle class area of Aruba) where he had sex with the teenage girl while she was semiconscious.  Joran then said he took Natalee to a beach close to her hotel, near the so-called “fisherman’s hut,” where he allegedly left her passed out or asleep on the sand.  (I’ve visited the “fisherman’s hut”; it is in fact a few small shacks, where fishermen clean their catch.  These shacks provide no protection from the elements or from any potential predator or assailant.) 

Then, of course, there’s Joran, Deepak, and Satish’s original story, that they dropped her off back in front of her hotel.  Lies, lie, and more lies.  What’s the truth guys?

We now know that Deepak, who referred to Natalee Holloway as “a slut” in a recent tape recorded interview, also allegedly stated on tape that he, his brother Satish and Joran van der Sloot all had sex with Natalee the night she disappeared.  Deepak also acknowledged that Ecstasy is used to drug women in Aruba.

Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, a woman who only wants to know what happened to her daughter, told me that Joran had provided police with intimate physical details concerning Natalee that would support some aspects of his confession to having had sex with Natalee.  I am quick to acknowledge that consensual sex has nothing to do with any allegation of murder.  At age 18, Natalee could, if in full control of her mind and body, have a relationship with Jordan and even the Kalpoe brothers, but do the authorities seriously think that she had the ability to say no that night?   

Most know the story of Joran’s father, the local Aruban lawyer and judge-in-training Paulus van der Sloot.  Although the elder van der Sloot was at home the night Natalee disappeared, his wife was in Holland and can only support her son by suggesting what a good boy he is – notwithstanding that other women have now allegedly come forward to say that they had also been sexually victimized by one or more of the suspects in this matter.  Paulus van der Sloot supposedly told his son and both Kalpoe brothers, “No body, no crime.”  Father does know best sometimes, and the senior van der Sloot, Esq., may well be right in this case. 

There are about as many opinions in this matter as there are points on a compass, but one thing is as clear as the crystal clear Caribbean waters that surround Aruba.  The investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Natalee Holloway has so far produced no overt evidence of a crime, no clearly identifiable crime scene, no obvious victim of a crime, and definitely no body.  Although Joran and the Kalpoe brothers have recently been in and out of jail so many times that they know all the guards by first name, the three have again been released and some Aruban officials suggest that this case is now over, while others continue to monitor communications between Joran and the Kalpoes, and suggest that the investigation is still very active.

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