Since I'm Dutch, I am pretty aware of the case of the American 18-year old Natalee Holloway disappearing on the island of Aruba. We're a few years later and Dutch main suspect Joran van der Sloot has been keeping shut about his part in the case.
While he told quite some lies in the start of the investigations, the prosecutors and investigators could never get any proof on him, as he spoke about what happened with nothing, but some parts of his story did not add up. Dutch media crime-investigator and journalist Peter R. de Vries once covered the case in 2006, and pointed out several flaws in Jorans story, but again, there was no case.
Aruban/Dutch businessman Patrick van Eem by chance met Joran in a casino and decided to befriend him and win his trust. Instead of asking about Natalee right away, Patrick acted as if he didn't care and pretended to be a drug-dealer, something that got him respect and admiration from the young Joran. After a few months, Patrick contacted Peter R. de Vries who set up a few hidden cameras in Patricks car.
Ironically, the day after the first succesful camera session, the two were both guests in
the Dutch political/news talkshow Pauw en Witteman, during which Joran threw the contents of a glass of wine into Peters' face.
Patrick was succesful in extracting the needed information from Joran in ten
rather disturbing pieces of footage, in which Joran does not only admit that he hasn't lost sleep for a single night over the case, but in which he proudly parades how he's making money from the whole case. He mentions Natalee with an ignorant disrespect, and claims she died after suddenly heavily shaking during a rather explicit (and drunk) scene on the beach. Epilepsy comes to mind - it pretty much sounded like it. Without really checking if she was really dead (ie. checking for pulse), Joran called a friend who disposed of the body, possibly while only in coma or just unconcious.
Peter R. de Vries offered the evidence collected to the prosecutors, but honestly, without proof Joran won't get convicted even for this. It is good that we finally know what happened, but it would be better to see the guy locked away for his pure disrespect towards his friends, the victim, her family, the justice system and pretty much everybody else in the world.
Last week, the show was announced on Dutch TV in
a hypish way, and I must admit I watched and was pretty much disgusted. As Peter says, it'll be world news by now, so you'll probably see some excerpts with subtitles on your TV soon. The
full story is as disturbing as it gets, dumping a potentially alive person into the ocean without any trace of regret.
Whats your thoughts on the whole thing? Is it enough to get Joran prosecuted?
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