Old Tiger
06-17-2005, 11:42 AM
A fourth person has been detained in Aruba in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, authorities announced Friday.
The person "suspected of being involved" in Holloway's disappearance was identified by the attorney general's office only as a 26-year-old with the initials S.G.C. The office did not disclose the gender or say when the person was detained.
Also in custody are 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot, the son of a justice official on Aruba, and his two friends, Surinamese brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18.
Holloway disappeared in the early morning hours of May 30 on Aruba, a Dutch protectorate in the Caribbean.
Also Friday, prosecutors filed a motion asking a judge to rule there is sufficient cause to continue holding van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers. The three were detained June 9. Under the law, a judge must review their case after 10 days and decide their status.
A judge was expected to rule as well Friday on another petition, from van der Sloot's father, Paul van der Sloot, to be able to visit his son in jail. None of the four detainees has been formally charged with a crime.
Holloway disappeared the same day she was to return from a five-day trip with 124 other students celebrating their high graduation in Mountain Brook, Ala.
Searches by authorities, volunteer islanders and tourists have come up empty. Authorities were refusing to say if they thought Holloway was dead.
On Thursday, however, Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten told The Associated Press that authorities used a helicopter "to search for possible remains — but found nothing." He declined to say where the search was conducted.
On Wednesday, authorities searched the van der Sloots' one-story, yellow-beige home, where Joran lived in an attached apartment. Agents were seen carrying two white garbage bags filled with items from the house, while authorities towed away a blue SUV and a red Jeep from the property in Noord, outside the capital, Oranjestad.
Following the approximately four-hour search, Attorney General Caren Janssen said Paul van der Sloot was not under investigation.
She refused to say whether a judge brought in from neighboring Curacao to hear his petition was considering other motions in the case as well. Paul van der Sloot, from Holland, is training to be a judge.
Asked why it took investigators more than two weeks after Holloway's disappearance to search the van der Sloot home, Janssen said Thursday, "You have to build up an investigation. You can't just go in there like a cowboy, you have to give certain direction to investigators."
The Kalpoe brothers have told police that they and Joran were with Holloway and that she and the Dutch youth were kissing in the back seat of their car. The detainees initially said they took Holloway to a beach on the northern part of the island then dropped her off at her Holiday Inn hotel, where they claimed she was approached by a security guard.
But Antonius "Mickey" John, a former hotel security guard released from custody on Sunday, told reporters that Deepak Kalpoe told him during a chat in jail that he and his brother actually dropped the young van der Sloot and Holloway off together near the Marriott, about 10 blocks north of the Holiday Inn. John said he passed the information on to police.
Kalpoe's lawyer would not comment on John's statement Wednesday, but said his client maintained his innocence.
The person "suspected of being involved" in Holloway's disappearance was identified by the attorney general's office only as a 26-year-old with the initials S.G.C. The office did not disclose the gender or say when the person was detained.
Also in custody are 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot, the son of a justice official on Aruba, and his two friends, Surinamese brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18.
Holloway disappeared in the early morning hours of May 30 on Aruba, a Dutch protectorate in the Caribbean.
Also Friday, prosecutors filed a motion asking a judge to rule there is sufficient cause to continue holding van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers. The three were detained June 9. Under the law, a judge must review their case after 10 days and decide their status.
A judge was expected to rule as well Friday on another petition, from van der Sloot's father, Paul van der Sloot, to be able to visit his son in jail. None of the four detainees has been formally charged with a crime.
Holloway disappeared the same day she was to return from a five-day trip with 124 other students celebrating their high graduation in Mountain Brook, Ala.
Searches by authorities, volunteer islanders and tourists have come up empty. Authorities were refusing to say if they thought Holloway was dead.
On Thursday, however, Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten told The Associated Press that authorities used a helicopter "to search for possible remains — but found nothing." He declined to say where the search was conducted.
On Wednesday, authorities searched the van der Sloots' one-story, yellow-beige home, where Joran lived in an attached apartment. Agents were seen carrying two white garbage bags filled with items from the house, while authorities towed away a blue SUV and a red Jeep from the property in Noord, outside the capital, Oranjestad.
Following the approximately four-hour search, Attorney General Caren Janssen said Paul van der Sloot was not under investigation.
She refused to say whether a judge brought in from neighboring Curacao to hear his petition was considering other motions in the case as well. Paul van der Sloot, from Holland, is training to be a judge.
Asked why it took investigators more than two weeks after Holloway's disappearance to search the van der Sloot home, Janssen said Thursday, "You have to build up an investigation. You can't just go in there like a cowboy, you have to give certain direction to investigators."
The Kalpoe brothers have told police that they and Joran were with Holloway and that she and the Dutch youth were kissing in the back seat of their car. The detainees initially said they took Holloway to a beach on the northern part of the island then dropped her off at her Holiday Inn hotel, where they claimed she was approached by a security guard.
But Antonius "Mickey" John, a former hotel security guard released from custody on Sunday, told reporters that Deepak Kalpoe told him during a chat in jail that he and his brother actually dropped the young van der Sloot and Holloway off together near the Marriott, about 10 blocks north of the Holiday Inn. John said he passed the information on to police.
Kalpoe's lawyer would not comment on John's statement Wednesday, but said his client maintained his innocence.