We have heard that Aruban radio is announcing the arrest of a 19 year old male with the initials of G.V.C. In addition, there is a report of the same at Daily Comet . However, since everything out of Aruba is subject to retraction and mis-information, we can't help but wonder if this is true or just another of Aruba's dirty tricks.

We hope it leads to Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway finally finding out what happened to their daughter, Natalee Holloway. No parent should have to endure what they have already gone through.

"Mariaine Croes, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office, said Aruban authorities were not prepared to disclose why the person was arrested or how they are allegedly connected to the disappearance of the American teenager on the Dutch Caribbean island nearly a year ago.

Croes would only say that the person who was arrested is 19 and has the initials "G.V.C." Authorities in Aruba typically only release a suspect's initials upon their arrest."

The same story is now being picked up at AP NEWS

According to a poster over at Scared Monkeys the name of the arrested 19 year old is Godfried van Cromvourt who is from the Netherlands.

Again, we are skeptical only because Aruba has put out so much mis-information in the past. They faced severe critisim over the last few days about the reinactment program and often seem to release "breaking news" when they are out to deflect attention.

The documents filed by Scott Balber on behalf of Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway with affidavits from Natalee's classmates are avialable in pdf format.

Pages 1 through 3 are a simple affidavit of the attorney filing the documents, detailing what is attached. Beginning at page 5 through page 58 are the affidavits of at least some of Natalee's classmates who were on the trip and knew her well. Each state that New York is a convientent forum for them and most state that Aruba is not. The majority also state they never wish to return to Aruba due to what happened to their classmate.

Of interest is an Affidavit by Helen Lejuez at page 60 of the pdf. Ms. Lejeuz assisted the Holloway/Twitty families in Aruba and contends that she met with a 16 year old witness identified in the affidavit as "Jane Doe" who contended that she had been date raped by Joran van der Sloot. In addition the witness contended that she was threatened and harrassed by Joran and his friends and therefore unwilling to tell her story in Aruba.

Joe Tacopina, attorney for Joran and Paulus van der Sloot in the New York civil case was on TV tonight contending that he has also has met with witness "Jane Doe". Tacopina contends that the same "Jane Doe" told him that she was in essence bribed by the Holloway/Twitty team to say these things. Tacopina contends he will file affidavits in late April where Jane Doe recants what she contended to Ms. Lejuez. It will be interesting to see if 1)the affidavit is filed; 2) Jane Doe recants her recantation when outside of Aruba.

The letter following Ms. Lejuez's affidavit (page 65) is from none other than Karen Jassen, Chief Prosecutor in Aruba. Jassen contends that holding the civil case in Aruba might have an adverse impart on the investigation and she foresees "that possible witnesses will be discouraged to come forward to share important information."

A number of Natalee's classmates make it clear that they are redicent to return to Aruba because of the trama suffered when learning Natalee disappeared. In addition Beth Holloway supplies an affidavit (page 68) pointing out that animosity and hostility exhibited towards her and the death threats she has received from Aruba.

Additional documents attached include:

Prime Time Transcript, February 23, 2006 (starting at page 72) where Joran tells Americans that "it's time to tell the truth".

Expert Declaration from two attorneys with NautaDutilh from Amstradam, Rotterdam and Brussels (page 95). This declaration discusses the very basics of Aruban law, its foundation and the fact that there is no jury or pre-trial discovery system.

At page 102 is a copy of an email from Joran van der Sloot to the Joran van der Sloot blog regarding the defense fund set up by Joe Tacopina in none other than New York state!

The last document, starting at page 105 is apparently a story run in the Boston Globe regarding Aruba's tourism. The document states that New York is the US's largest market for tourist coming to Aruba.

Antillean House angry about brown Joran

"CURACAO/RIJSWIJK - Minister Plenipotentiary Paul Comenencia of the Antilles accuses before the ANP the police and the Public Prosecutor (OM) as producers of the Dutch program Opsporings Verzocht of twisting the facts consciously and abundantly clear. He also says that police and justice do no longer need to count on the cooperation of the Antilles.

The criticism is about yesterdays program that dedicated time to the disappearance of the American Natalee Holloway. According to Comenencia, Joran van der Sloot, a white Dutch boy, was presented as a brown person, which was unjust.

By consciously twisting abundantly clear facts and misleading the public that are being asked for their cooperation in tracing perpetrators, the program departs from its purpose, says Comenencia. Why didn't they choose a white actor for Joran's character? By using a brown actor it gives the impression that the producers have opted for highlighting what is already presented as stereotype criminal in the Netherlands. And this is unjust.

Opsporings Verzocht is an investigation tool for police and justice. These two services decided on the content of the program. What should we think of the rest of the program? They do no longer need to count on our cooperation. Looking for fictitious perpetrators makes no sense. A spokesperson of the Utrecht police that has worked on the program says in a reaction on Comenencias accusations that the reconstruction was done by the investigation team in Aruba. We helped, but we were not responsible for the direction.

OM in Aruba: - Stand-in is white-

The young man that acted Joran van der Sloot in the reconstruction yesterday has very light skin and considered white in Aruba, said the OM in a press report in Aruba.

Besides, no skin colour was considered during the selection. It is not important for the investigation team what the colour of a person's skin is, or how dark the person is.

The length and the figure were the criteria used for selecting the young man that played Joran. The stand-ins for Joran and the brothers Kalpoe were selected amongst police officers of the Police Academy in Aruba."

To us, the racial make-up of the character stands out prominately because of the program's attempts in other areas to be "so" correct to the point that they impounded the original car and even dressed the character of Natalee in similar clothes. However the Joran character did not accurately depict Joran or what he was wearing (a plaid shirt). How could this be explained away as simply being unimportant details with other "details" being so very important? Furthermore, one has to ask why Joran's account of where they went after leaving Carlos n Charlies is the version presented and yet we know without a doubt that Joran van der Sloot is a liar!

It's almost like the message being sent was "don't identify Joran". Would not their very depiction of Joran tell people that it's not safe to tell Aruban authorities if someone did see something that night? Would not the previous actions of Aruban authorities, the recent Bon Dia Aruba article and ignoring previous witness statements give a message to any future potential witnesses?

The Dutch show Opsporing Verzocht featured the disappearance of American teen, Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in the early hours of May 30th, 2005 while on a trip with her high school class. The show was aired last night in Holland and in Aruba with subtitles in Papiamento, Aruba's local language.

Current reports indicate that have already been as many as 60 tips since the show aired last night. Though so far, no one will characterize the quality of the tips.

Any effort to actually find Natalee and what happened to her that fateful night must be applauded. However, we are left wondering if the investigators in Aruba really want the answers since we hear a couple of troubling criticisms about the program.

Expatic says:

"Curiously, a non-white actor was used in the programme to portray Van der Sloot who is white. The government of the Netherlands Antilles expressed concern Wednesday that the choice of actor distorted the facts of the case."

You can view photos of Joran van der Sloot and the actor that portrayed him to judge for yourself at Aruba Get a Grip

When the program directors were so careful to use the exact car in which Natalee was driven that night, we wonder why there would not be a accurate portrayal of the people with whom she left and who have been the chief suspects since June 10, 2005 when it was discovered they were lying.

"The programme revealed Aruban police are looking for a man who allegedly harassed a woman on a beach on the island nine days before Holloway went missing."

"We have no concrete proof that this incident has any relation to Holloway's disappearance, but we cannot completely disregard this either," Police Commissioner Adolf Richardson said.

Dave Hollway tells us the man shown in the sketch on the show is someone identified early in the investigation. Dave and his brothers actually saw this man while they were searching for Natalee in Aruba and turned in the license plate of the Suski he was driving. Nothing further was done. This tells us that the police must have known this person was not involved.

Truth be told, we strongly believe that Aruba investigators already know without question at least four people involved in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway and are covering up those facts and indeed attempting to mis-lead the public with extraneous "facts".

From the Daily Comet

"While Aruban authorities are keeping all options open, they believe Holloway is most likely dead and buried somewhere on the island. Prevailing currents would have likely washed her body ashore if she drowned or her body was thrown into the sea, an agent on the program said".

Yet another "new tip" is learned by Beth Holloway after reading the show's transcripts.

"...an unidentified woman called the hotline after the show to report seeing four sweaty boys leaving the beach with a shovel the night Natalee disappeared."

Yet another "lead" currently being floated by Aruba is that a tape from the Holiday Inn lobby shows a grainy photo of Natalee entering at 3:00 am. Beth Twitty has seen the video and is certain the image is not Natalee; Dave Holloway states that he really can't see the image of a person at all. Remember, these are Natalee's parents. They knew Natalee all her life. However, a PR spokesperson for Aruba and writer for Aruba Bon Dia who never even met Natalee goes on America cable shows and says things like: it's Natalee's clothes, her size, her arm, her nose blah blah blah.

Translation curtesy of Aruba Get a Grip. We suggest that Aruba not only get a grip but also get a good lawyer!

Bon Dia Aruba
4/10/2006

ORANJESTAD  Now that Gerold Dompig is no longer at the head of the investigative team, Natalee Holloways mother thinks its good to accused High Commissioner Ronny Bernadina of being the person who is maneuvering and orchestrating the whole investigation with his latest changes in the case of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. This has put many people to think that now one has to search in the other side, in the direction of the parents of Natalee Holloway, and not in Aruba where there are 3 youngsters who are still suspects.

RETIREMENT

This can be deduced from the moment that the news came out that Gerold Dompig was handed his retirement as chief of the investigation on Natalee Holloway. The reaction the mother had was incredible in the U.S. It could be noted on various TV channels that the mother of Natalee Holloway appeared in the course of the week. Instead of being happy that Dompig was removed, since she was angry with his style of work, now she looked for another guilty one, who is Bernadina.

BERNADINA

She, among others, indicated that Bernadina didnt even have the decency to speak with her, but knows well enough to orchestrate this investigation in such an unprofessional manner that she was stunned. This is another indication that the mother has to continue to look for a guilty party, whoever it may be.

INVESTIGATION

If traced back to the beginning, with the person who started the investigation, Jan v.d. Straten, was the one who was boze dader macamba who had a complot with another macamba [Dutch born Aruban], Karin Janssen and together they were manipulating and undoing things that were not good. When v.d. Straten retired, she spoke of a positive change. But in an instant, this changed and she continue to turn against local police.

SCREEN

When Gerold Dompig came into the screen, he was the perfect bulls eye for Beth Twitty. She was in constant contact with Dompig, as was the case with v.d. Straten, but this again was not enough. The mother continued with her attacks in and a very short time, Dompig became the target of criticism.

PATTERN

The pattern that now exists is that the reaction of the mother in these past weeks has made many people think what others thought from the beginning. This is that the mother and the father themselves have something to do with the case, and as a sort of coverup, they are looking for all sorts of way to find an easy public target to attack, and remove the attention from themselves.

TWITTY

When Beth Twitty is heard declaring that almost nothing has been done, to the questions of the American journalists of whether she believes enough has been done, this makes many agents and people in Aruba boil. It shows that if it were another investigation, it would have been closed a long time ago. However in this case, almost a year later, the investigation is still open. This should say something.

METHOD

For all the exceptional methods that were used, such as using F-16 jets, giving the whole island free time to look for Holloway (while there have been other missing people and nothing like this was done in their case), it is difficult to believe that the mother dares to mention that not enough has been done to be able to find her daughter.

QUESTIONABLE

Another questionable issue is the fact that this week, the biological father, Dave Holloway, published his book on the disappearance of his daughter. Not even a year has passed that the book is on the market. A book that will surely generate renewed interest and at the same time is a financial contribution to the father. A book, seeing the media interest, will become a best seller surely. And with bestseller status, it will be a million dollar sum for the writer, who in this case is Dave Holloway. And never has there been a mention that this sum will be used for Natalee causes. Something that has never been mentioned.

TACTIC

Finally, time will tell if the families of Natalee Holloway themselves are guilty of this case. All this is the fault of everyone who gave long hours in the service of the search of this American lady. Call the tactics of v.d. Straten, Dompig, Jacobs and others bad, but they worked searched and tried to do something for the family of a lost child and as such, they have to be given the benefit of the doubt. Their tactics and expertise will be clear later.

So I guess the new story Bon Dia wants to float is that it was Beth and Dave that came to Aruba, found their daughter who died of voluntary drug and alcohol overdose and then they buried her along with her sandels and Joran's shoes no less!

Aruba shows each and every day that there is no new low to which they will not stoop. They allow 3 suspects to walk around free for 10 days; not revealing that each of those three are related to the investigators themselves. They blame the victim, saying she bought drugs, based on the witness of the chief investigator's druggie brother-in-law.

Then the poor distraught father of Natalee writes a book about his daughter, her disappearance and the resulting search taken on by him and his family and Aruba turns around and attacks him!

Of course there is not mention in the article that Paulus van der Sloot, father of the number one suspect and also a suspect himself in our minds, hasn't even bothered to write a book. Instead he simply sues his own government for his $250,000! Remember, Paulus was part of this government. He worked for the PM, worked in the Injustice Center, knew all the players, was good friends with Jan v.d. Straten, the original investigator of the case, gave advice ("no body, no case") to his son and his two thug friends the Kalpoe brothers. And, was allowed access to the Aruba Injustice center while the case was ongoing.

Remember also that Paulus van der Sloot's own son, Joran, was the last person seen with Natalee Holloway. And Joran admittedly lied to police, causing two innocent security guards to be taken into custody and held.

It's certainly none of Aruba's business where the money from this book will go. But to American readers let's point out that there are two co-authors with Dave. They will receive some of the profits of the book. In addition, Dave and his family have spent countless money and hours away from work searching for their daughter when the Aruban police could not be bothered. Third, one only has to know the character of Dave to know that he would never profit from his daughter. I'm certain he would rather burn the money than to do so.

We don't *know* but we strongly suspect that Dave will reimburse family members and then either use the money to search for Natalee or help educate other children. I'm sure Greta Van Sustern will ask this question tonight on her show where Dave is a guest to talk about his book.

I've seen it asked over and over, why is American Media fixated on the Natalee Holloway case when ther are many other missing person cases. The American media follows the story partly because it continues to change on at least a weekly basis. Secondly, American citizens continue to show interest and of course the media runs the stories consumers want to watch. Image used by permission of Vanderbilt of Scared Monkeys.com.

Numerous Americans continuing to follow the Natalee Holloway story out of Aruba because as Dave Holloway said "Natalee has become everybody's child. Many of us can so identify with this family and many bloggers who follow the case are beyond horrified as to what this family has had to go through. I know, I really do think about this family every single day.

Americans do indeed cry out when we see injustice. Yes, there are those calleous to injustice, who walk away when they see something negative happening. But thankfully there are still many Americans raised in a culture of justice. We believe in justice. Yes, we see injustice every single day, but many of us speak out. We want to make a difference and we want to believe that justice is not dead.

This is the reason America went to Holland and many other countries in WWII. It is the reason we went to Vietnam, Iraq, Afganastan, Greneda, Kuwait and have done both peace keeping and humanitarian missions across the world. Cynics will say these interventions are for our own well being and for political reasons. Maybe that's why the politicians promote these interventions; but if so, even they know the way to appeal to the "average" American heart is by pointing out the injustice. Many Americans are simply bleeding hearts, waiting to right the wrong.

Now many would wish that we'd stay home - and some Americans even agree with that. But the reason why we are there is to prevent blatant injustice.

The treatment of the Natalee Holloway case by Aruban authorities and investigators is what is causing our outcry. Had Natalee disappeared, been found dead and we came to see 4 perps go to jail; you would have seen something totally different. You would have seen a discussion for a couple of days that said we better warn our high school students, send more chaparones, have more rules, rethink sending young people, etc.. Like Imette St.Guillan, Americans would have been shocked, discussed it a few days, followed the story and then moved on once they felt assured the police had the case in hand and justice would come about.

Had the same happened in Aruba, Beth Twitty probably would have started her safety program a lot earlier and Aruba would continue to be that happy little island without much effect on tourism. However, it is the appauling things, one after another, that has caused this rage and outcry and it's not going away

From the zillion of versions of stories from Joran van der Sloot, to the "no body no crime" statement from Paulus van der Sloot as he advised his son and the Kalpoe brothers.

From the first question asked by Aruban police of Dave Holloway "how much money do you have" to the tireless hours we saw Beth Twitty go from store to store putting up posters.

From discovering that Jan van der Stratten, the origianl investigator, was Joran's Godfather but remained in charge to the investigation to finding out Paulus van der Sloots's tight connection to the "justice" system in Aruba.

From the hearing that a suspect had confessed "something bad happened", Natalee was dead and he was leading investigators to the body to the retraction of that statement saying it was "mis-information".

From watching Aruba arrest two black security guards and charge them with murder and kidnapping which they contended was done with solid evidence to discovering that Beth Twitty could prove the last three boys seen with Natalee lied when they said they returned her to the Holiday Inn.

From watching these 3 boys be allowed to be free and run about the Island for 10 days, cleaning out the car and distroying evidence before they were finally taken into custody to the continued holding of the security guards even after proof of their innocense.

From seeing Paulus van der Sloot finally taken into custody to watching him freed a couple of days later while knowing that he advised the boys "no body no case" to watching him profusly sweat when trapped by Greta van Susteren and Beth Twiddy and simply knowing he was sweating because he was lying.

From being told that there was evidence to hold the three boys and then watching first the Kalpoe brothers and then Joran walk out free and without charges; yet knowing that one of them confessed "something bad happened", knowing by then their MO of picking up American tourist girls in Carlos N Charlies, hearing that date rape drugs had been used by at least one of them.

From watching Aruba get very testy about the case to the point that they stuck up a disinformation campaign to protect themselves rather than spend the time to provide information to the family, answer their phone calls or requests for meetings.

From the immediate attacks on Beth Twitty and Natalee Holloway showing up on blog comments by those who purported to be from Aruba to the promises from Aruba that we would soon see Fireworks, suggesting the perps were about to come to justice. How could anyone with an ounce of compassion fault this woman for insisting on finding her daughter?

From the announcement of the second investigator, Gerold Dompig, that he had a credible witness come forward who said Natalee was buried in the dunes by the lighthouse to watching as he simply sat and did nothing to search that area for 2.5 months.

From Dompig announcing that he knew Joran, the Kalpoe brothers and Paulus van der Sloot were involved with Natalee's disappearance to the 48 Hours program featuring Dompig saying that Natalee's death was not murder but rather due to her ingesting drugs and alcohol.

From hearing Dompig claim that he had a credible witness that said Natalee purchased drugs in Aruba to finding out that that credible witness was a known drug dealer in Aruba who happened to be none other than Dompig's brother-in-law so crazed on drugs that one could hardly understand him. We also then learned that this same person had also provided witness statements against the two black security guards originally arrested.

Then we find out just this week that Dompig, the chief investigator of the Natalee Holloway case, who had ignored the family, refused to meet with the family's attorney after he travels to Aruba and stays there for 5 days trying to meet with Dompig, is related to none other than 2 of the suspects, Satish and Deepak Kalpoe.

In the mean while we watch Joran van der Sloot do several TV and radio shows and in each he gives differing details such as who gave him a ride home that night to where they went with Natalee, to Natalee's behavior and on and on ad nasuem.

We see evidence disappear or reported as being found and sent to a Dutch lab and then never heard of again. We heard that blood was definately identified in the Kalpoe's car and then get told it's food stains. We hear a tape where Deepak says all three boys had sex with Natalee and he totally trashes Natalee calling her a slut; then we hear a denial saying the tape was doctored.

Now we hear an investigator say the file (which it appears many people have copies of) contains a transcript of a conversation between Deepak and Joran where Deepak tells Joran, "if they find out the truth, you will go to jail for 15 years". Yet nothing but the status quo happens in Aruba.

Knowing all these facts, and many more, is it any wonder tht Americans can't stop writing about the disappearance of Natalee Holloway?

Aruba can announce tomorrow that they will not do another thing to find Natalee or prosecute the ciminals and then refuse to say another word, but the synergy built to boycott Aruba will not stop. The quest to find Natalee and to speak out against the injustice done to her family, Americans, and the attempt to dirty both Natalee and her family will not stop, will not go away and will vibrate through Aruba for years to come.

Natalee could be our child. We could be the parents banging our head against a brick wall trying to get a country to actual pay attention to the evidence and the criminals instead of playing neoptism, hide the body and hit at the family.

The search of the sand dunes is over according to Julia Renfro of Aruba Today. Nothing was found. The Holland and US search teams have both left the Island of Aruba. Renfro says she does not expect any further searches.

Renfro also tells us that she knows of Booty (Boeti) but that she doesn't know of him as a drug dealer. Gee whiz, everyone else knows he is a drug dealer. He spent 10 years in prison for drug traffiking and apparently lives in the bushes outside the Holiday Inn. He is the person who now contends that he sold drugs to Natalee. Booty also supposedly confirmed the 3 boys original story about the security guards by identifying the security guards. Now there's a good witness. Always handy to confirm what ever the story of the day.

According to Beth Twitty's interview on The Lineup tonight, Gerald Dompig's son, Michael, revealed to Beth Holloway that Gerald Dompig, chief investigator on the Natalee Holloway case, is related to the Kalpoe brothers. All this inter-relationship between the investigators and the suspects gets confusing.

Let see, the first investigator, van der Stratten, was Joran's Godfather, and now the current investigator is related to Deepak and Satish Kalpoe AND uses his brother-in-law as the one and only witness who says Natalee bought drugs from him. Wonder what you call a guy who by his own admission sold drugs to Natalee (though we don't believe that) if not a "drug dealer". In addition, when the van der Sloot residence was being searched, a member of the PM's staff was present as a friend, to support the van der Sloots. Well, that's in addition of van der Straten being friends with Paulus van der Sloot.

What drives us totally up the wall is that while Aruba plays the circus act, changing statements, investigators related to suspects, witnesses missing and/or deported, lies and more lies, and media spin - there is a family out there, the Holloways and Twiddys, that are suffering beyond belief.

It's a parents' worst nightmare to lose a child. But then to encounter "authorities" that want to know how much money you have as the first question out of their mouth, tell you to go have a drink at the same bar where you daughter was last seen and she'll turn up, and then don't lift a finger to search for several days - it's incomprehensible.

Since then the Holloway and Twitty families have had their hopes raised and dashed over and over. They've run into stone walls, been attacked for trying to find their daughter and keep her name in the news until they do. They have stomped all over that Island looking for any clue regarding their daughter even to the point of going through a foul garbage dump. Their daughter has been slandered over and over and not just by the suspects but also by the very people in Aruba who are suppose to investigate the case.

One more time the Twitty and Holloway family face Aruba simply trying to close up the case and walk away, now that Aruba is floating the prospect that no further searching will be done. To add insult to injury, Paulus van der Sloot has sued the government for the "wrongs" done to his family to the tune of about $1,500,000. This case is suppose to be decided by May 2006. Yet anyone with any sense knows that Paulus van der Sloot has something to do with this case, knows further that his son, Joran's lies took the case in the wrong direction and has allowed it to never get back on track. For this the van der Sloots should be compensated?

Bloggers: Help the Holloway and Twitty families in the name of their precious daughter, Natalee. Ensure anyone planning a vacation understands just how dangerous Aruba is as a vacation spot. While crime happens every where, in Aruba when crime happens, it gets covered up at the highest levels. If you fight against this you will be ridiculed, laughed at and stone walled at every turn.

Aruba
: The Tragic Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise book written by Dave Holloway, R. Stephanie Good, & Larry Garrison is currently offered at Amazon.com for shipping upon release.

An excerpt of this book is available at ABC News, Good Morning American Dave will be on the show to talk about the book he helped write about his daughter, Natalee Holloway. Natalee went missing the last night of her high school graduation trip to Aruba. In this excerpt, Dave talks about his learning that Natalee was missing, the way the family was treated as the arrived in Aruba to search for his daughter and the search the family launched with little help from Aruba police authorities.

Dave finishes this excerpt with the following statement:

"Not even a full week had passed, and I had become so engrossed in my daughter's disappearance that I was hardly aware of what was going on in the rest of the world. I had absolutely no idea that Natalee's situation had sparked widespread news coverage until I phoned home and heard about it from Robin. The only news channel that we were able to view in the hotel by the time we got back to our room late at night was CNN, and to hear from Robin that Natalee's picture was being broadcast all over the world was unbelievable. And it brought home the message that everyone, not just her family, took her situation seriously. I was glad to see that our plight had gained so much support in such a short time.

Natalee had become everybody's child."

Yes, Natalee has become everybody's child; Dave Holloway and Beth Twitty are living every parent's nightmare; and Aruba has become the symbol for corruption, lies, a nonchalant attitude that is incomprehensible and blaming the victim.

Things get more and more strange in the case out of Aruba involving the missing and presumed dead American teenager, Natalee Holloway. With the latest news, we aren't even sure Aruba knows who is on this case from day to day.

Once again we rely on Aruba Get a Grip for a translation of an article appearing in Bon Dia Aruba yesterday.

"ORANJESTAD - Commissioner Gerold Dompig remains as the person in charge of the investigation of the case of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. This was declared yesterday morning by Minister Rudy Croes during a press conference. At the same time, the Minister indicated that although he preferred for inspector Dolfi Richardson to be the spokesperson for this case, Richardson himself asked for Dompig to remain the spokesperson, due to his knowledge of the case. As such, Dompig was re-appointed as spokesperson for this case.

MEDIA

It was yesterday that a few media outlets reported that Gerold Dompig will no longer be at the head of the investigation, and that he wouldn't be the spokesperson either, and finally that he wouldn't be acting interim High Commissioner. A question from Bon Dia Aruba indicated that according to the Minister, this information was not known by him, and that as far as he knows, Dompig remains spokesperson and the one in charge of the investigation.

ROTATING POSITION

Where there really were changes was that the Minister obtained counsel from High Commissioner Bernadina to name Coizy Krozendijk as interim High Commissioner, replacing Commissioner Dompig. This is something normal, due to the fact that he decided to rotate this position every year. Last year was Dompig's year, and this year it has to change, but the change had not taken place. When Minister Croes asked Bernadina how much time he wants for the change to take place, Bernadina said that it could take place immediately, that is to say, this past 1st of April.

NEWS REFUTED

With this, the Minister of justice wants to refute the news that Dompig was already stripped of his functions and responsibilities, as some media outlets published previously yesterday morning.

One of the strange things about this latest article is that first they say: "As such, Dompig was re-appointed as spokesperson for this case".  Note the word re-appointed!

Read on: "A question from Bon Dia Aruba indicated that according to the Minister, this information was not known by him, and that as far as he knows, Dompig remains spokesperson and the one in charge of the investigation". Note the word remains.

So which is it? Re-appointed or remains?

Of course we want to point out that the "news" we reported a few days ago that Dompig was off the Natalee Holloway case came directly from an email received by Greta Van Susteren saying Dompig was not longer the lead investigator for the case.

In addition, Bon Dia Aruba"the Aruban Chief of Police is no longer the leader of the team that investigates the disappearance of Natalie Holloway".

Next, we have Amigo saying " the Aruban Chief of Police is no longer the leader of the team that investigates the disappearance of Natalie Holloway", reported today.

So we ask again, which is it? Re-appointed, requested re-assignment or remains?

And from Greta Wire today:

Good Evening,
Information I have coming out of Aruba indicate that Chief Deputy Dompig was never removed from the Natalee Holloway case and is still the leading investigator and spokesperson for the case.

I hope the show's producer double checks the facts before they are broadcasted to the world. It works against your credibility and motto: "Fair and Balanced."
Sincerely,
Jairo Dirksen

ANSWER: I don't know your source, but we confirmed that he is no longer the chief cop on the story with the chief prosecutor's office. I read the e-mail myself, so unless you have a better source, I am going with our source.

Why would Aruba send Greta Van Susteren an email saying Dompig was off the case if this was just some confusion among Aruba's media outlets? Could it be that Aruban officials confused Aruba's media outlets? Did Dompig get removed by one official and then re-instated by another? If he wanted off the case, why would Aruba put him back on the case? Why would Dompig want off the case if he was in the "critical last phase"? When does the circus time in Aruba end?

To further complicate and charge matters, Art Wood, investigator for the Holloway family, indicates he has a transcript between Joran and Deepak Kalpoe where Deepak tells Joran that "if the truth comes out, you are going to jail for 15 years".

Doesn't this just make you want to yell: "Hey Aruba, who's on first?"

Another Dario article is translated for us by Aruba Get a Grip Blog.

Once again if this didn't involve the death of a beautiful American Teenager and the absolute misery of her parents who what to know what happened and beg for the return of their precious daughter, it would be hysterical! In part the article says:

"AOL SURVEY

However, America Online now has a survey on their web site and asks: How likely are you to visit Aruba since Natalee Holloway vanished?

The answer that no native son wants to hear follows: less likely than before is ahead with 72%, at the time when some 75,000 people gave their opinion on this online survey, which is not a scientific one. Millions of Americans who are members of AOL saw this survey which appeared in large format on their computer screens.

Although Arubans do not feel this is fair, now the moment has arrived to conclude that perhaps the mismanagement of island leaders, as well as some in the judicial field, who do not know how to correctly deal with the American media, can be guilty of this lack of good judgment.

For you to raise your voice and tell our main clients (Americans) for them to kiss our behinds, is very probably what has put us in the position to start to feel the economic pain that is barely now showing itself."

It's sad to think that it's taken Aruba 10 full months to get the picture that Americans won't just turn their backs when one of their own is presumed murdered by three thugs with the apparent assistance of one of their fathers. We really have to wonder why Arubans have been so in the dark about how we would react.

Aruba's response has been to spend more on advertising, put up a blantantly untruthful PR site called Aruba Truth that does nothing but spin and blame Americans for Aruba's troubles.

And finally Aruba has just announced the installation of cameras in all areas where tourists frequent. Now why Aruba things Americans want to be watched 24/7 by cameras when the real problem is a corrupt police force, I've got no clue. We know a lot about what happened the night Natalee disappeared and we also know who was involved in her disappearance - all without 24/7 cameras. The problem is that there has been a very biased investigation that includes the Godfather of the main suspect, the relationships of investigators and even a judge with the main suspects' father and the attempt of Aruba to simply ignore the problem and hope Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway will just give up and go away.

We were horrifed (though why should we since this is the way the rest of the case as gone to-date) to learn yesterday that the reason why the van der Sloot's main property wasn't searched was because the judge who received the request thought it might be a conflict of interest since he was staying with Paulus and Anita van der Sloot at the time! A conflict of interest means you don't decide the issue; not that you decide the issue in favor of the suspect!

So while Aruba seems preplexed to hear that their handling of the Natalee Holloway case is keeping tourists away, I like Greta Van Susternen of On The Record think it's pretty obvious. In her Gretawire blog today, Greta says

In December, I was told that the chief prosecutor had told one of our sources that "fireworks would happen in January." I was excited to hear that. I read into that statement about fireworks that there was progress... and significant progress. That did not happen. January came and went with no fireworks. Two weeks ago on CBS News' "48 Hours," Dompig said the investigation was in its "last critical phase." That sounded good to me, too. Does that mean they are close to solving it? Last week a reporter told me that the police said there would be big news within 24 hours. That 24-hour period has come and gone more than seven times and no big news  unless, of course, the police meant the security cameras they plan for the beach, which we just learned about last night! ...

Yes, there are perfect crimes and perfect mysteries. People can vanish with no sign and this could be one of those cases. But what is wrong here is that there appears to be a lack of information  or worse, candor  from Aruba. The family can accept candor and we who follow this investigation with great interest can accept candor. It is when you hear odd things about the investigation - or worse, you suspect spin or lies - that your mind begins to wander. Yes, sometimes revealing information can jeopardize an investigation, but I think we are beyond that in Aruba. And some information from the authorities might go far towards helping the family deal with this crisis.

I think many of us simply want Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway to be told what happened to their daughter and have her remains returned to them for proper burial.