Scared Monkeys on CNN’s Inside the Blogs

We had the great opportunity to be on CNN’s Inside The Blogs today.

Abbi Tatton was a wonderful producer to work with. Thanks for helping Natalee’s story stay in the news.

The Political Teen was kind enough to record it.

We also did a news segment with Mel Jenkins on the Andy Thomas Show.

Again, here is the audio from the show courtesy of Ian at the Political Teen.

BREAKING NEWS: PAUL VAN DER SLOOT HAS BEEN ARRESTED

According to Fox News & CNN …

PAUL VAN DER SLOOT HAS BEEN ARRESTED BY ARUBAN POLICE

Update from SM: Paul van der Sloot arrested (brought in as suspect)

From MSNBC:

Video from MSNBC, Paul van der Sloot was arrested.

The father of a Dutch teen held in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway was himself arrested Thursday, the Aruba chief prosecutor’s office announced.

“My husband was just picked up by police,” Anita van der Sloot, referring to Paul van der Sloot, said in a telephone call to The Associated Press. “I don’t know what to think.”

A spokesperson for the office said he would be held for at least six hours while prosecutors question him about the case. No further details were available.

CNN:

An Aruban judge, the father of a 17-year-old suspect in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, has also been arrested in the case, a prosecution spokesperson said Thursday.

Paul Van Der Sloot is now being viewed as a suspect in the case of Natalee Holloway, a missing 18-year-old from suburban Birmingham, Alabama, Mariaine Croes said. He was arrested about 2 p.m. Thursday.

On Wednesday, Holloway’s mother said more individuals “need to be pursued” in connection with the case.

Political Teen has video from Fox

The father is officially detained, due to the investigation. They speculate it is because of the interfering in the investigation, but the official says, no he is detained because of possible involvement in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

We have contacts in Aruba that are saying that maybe Steve Croes and the 2 Surinam brothers will be released, seems it is being focused now on van der Sloot family.

Comments are closed due to the high traffic. Please use the discussion forum.

CNN is reporting that Aruban sources are saying that Paulus Van Der Sloot is being arrested an accessory after the fact because the Kalpoe’s are saying they made up the “drop off at the Holiday Inn ” story and Paulus (father) may have assisted Joran (son) in that story or supported that story. He will be facing a 6 hour interrogation.

>>> Update: NBC 13,

Mariaine Cruz, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, told MSNBC that the elder Van Der Sloot was taken into custody at about 2 p.m. Aruba time. Cruz said the arrest was “based on the reasonable suspicion that he is involved in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. He is currently under interrogation at a police station.”

According to Cruz, Aruban law allows police to interrogate him for six hours, then prosecutors have the ability to hold him for an additional period of 48 hours if it is determined that he has additional information vital to the case.

Paul Van Der Sloot had previously been questioned by police about the case, but it is not known what was discussed at that previous interrogation.

>>> The interviews that the Van der Sloots did the last couple of days may have come back to haunt them. Is it possible that things that were said in these interviews could have directly gone against previously statements given by Paul Van der Sloot when he was questioned over the weekend as a witness? Did he have a part in something, after the fact? (Red)

Van der Sloot Parents Claim Their Son is Innocent

Yesterday the parents of the Dutch teen, Joran van der Sloot, claimed their son was innocent. What else would one expect the parents to say? Joran’s parents said, “he is innocent, adding that they don’t know how to deal with this “big nightmare.” Nightmare? If this is a nightmare for you what would you describe it as for the Holloway and Twitty families?

For the full story from The Birmingham News: Dutch youth’s parents think he’s innocent

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) — The parents of a Dutch youth held in the disappearance of an Alabama teen said Wednesday they believe he is innocent, adding that they don’t know how to deal with this “big nightmare.”

Paul van der Sloot, a judicial official whose 17-year-old son has been arrested in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, offered his first public statements since Holloway vanished three weeks ago, telling Fox News: “I still believe my son. It’s all very hard.”

Joran van der Sloot and two friends were arrested 10 days after Holloway, 18, went missing on May 30. Police say Joran van der Sloot met Holloway at a casino two days earlier. They say the three young men testified that they took her from a popular restaurant to a beach, where the Dutch boy and Holloway were kissing in the back of the car, then dropped her at the Holiday Inn where she was staying around 2 a.m.

Fox News had an exclusive interview with the the parents of Joran van der Sloot where Joran’s mom stated, “It’s a Nightmare for Us, Too.”

The parents of Joran van der Sloot say their son is a drug-free honors student who has nothing to do with the disappearance of missing Alabama high school student Natalee Holloway.

“We still believe in Joran,” said his father, Paul van der Sloot.

In an exclusive interview with FOX News’ Greta Van Susteren, the van der Sloots said that their prayers were with the family of 18-year-old Alabama woman who vanished in Aruba. Anita van der Sloot, the Dutch suspects mother, was wearing a bracelet that said “Hope for Natalee,” which she received from Natalee’s mother.

But the pair stressed that they also were going through an ordeal.

“It’s a nightmare for us, too,” said Anita van der Sloot, whose son, 17, is in jail in connection with the disappearance.

I am sure it is Mrs. van der Sloot but do not even think of comparing your grief to that of the Holloway and Twitty families. One of the only clear true facts in this case that is indisputable is that you son Joran is one of three people to last ever been seen with Natalee Holloway. The claim that Natalee was dropped off at the Holiday Inn afterward is even been disputed and changed. It has even been reported that the father, Paul van der Sloot had told his son not to say anything about the situation which prompted the Aruban police to question him as a witness for two days last weekend.

The parents further went to talk about their son’s treatment while he is in jail.

Sometimes too emotional to speak, Anita described how prison guards were putting “a lot of pressure” on Joran during interrogations, some of which lasted “10 hours.”

The questioners did “things like calling him ‘psychopath, murderer, tell us where you buried the girl. You’re a criminal. I can’t beat you, but if I could beat you I would do this.’ … Extreme things,” said Anita.

EXTREME!!! EXTREME!!! What in God’s name do you call the totally vanishing without a trace of a teenager on vacation in Aruba where you were one of only three people to have last seen her? What is probably more extreme in this case in they eyes of many is that your son was not questioned and detained from the very outset of this investigation. That your house was not searched and property seized by authorities immediately instead of allowing him to walk in what was stated as a “tactical maneuver.”

The Van der Sloot’s can claim all they want that this is a nightmare; however, in the grand scope of things there is no comparison. All your son needs to do is tell the truth and come clean as to what happened. Something that has yet to be done according to many media reports with the three suspects ever changing stories.

More from MSNBC: Suspect in Aruba: ‘I don’t know anything’
His mom says he had no reason to harm missing Alabama teen

The mother of a Dutch teen held in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway told NBC News on Thursday that she’s convinced her son is telling the truth when he says he knows nothing about her disappearance.

Video from MSNBC Today Show video with Matt Lauer.

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Transcripts From Greta’s Interview With Natalee’s Friends

From Fox News, “On the Record”, GRETA VAN SUSTEREN interviews Natalee’s two two of Natalee’s best friends, Frances Ellen Byrd and Ruth McVay. The transcript to the interview can be found here. Video of the interview is also available (upper right).

(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: Where were you?

MCVAY: We were in our hotel casino. And that was the first night that she had ever met him. Contrary to other stories that are circulating, she did not know him before that night.

(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: And Ruth, how did you happen to notice him? What was it about him that caught your attention?

MCVAY: He didn’t. He was sitting at our blackjack table, and he just seemed like a normal teenager. He wasn’t flirting. He wasn’t really outgoing at all. And Natalee, just in passing, introduced herself and walked off. And nothing was strange or out of the ordinary about him at all.

(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: How is it, Ruth, that both Joran and Natalee both ended up at Carlos and Charlie’s?

MCVAY: He came with his friends. He had told us that night that Sunday was not a fun night on the island and that no one goes out. So we found it ironic that he showed up.

(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: Ruth, did you actually see Natalee leave with Joran from Carlos and Charlie’s?

MCVAY: No, I actually left an hour before the club closed.

VAN SUSTEREN: Either one of you, do you know if any of your friends saw her leave with him?

BYRD: No. If one of our good friends had seen her, we would never have let her get in the car with him, ever. Absolutely not.

VAN SUSTEREN: Frances, when you left Carlos and Charlie’s, was it just Natalee that was left behind in your group of friends, or was there a bunch of you?

BYRD: No, I don’t know how many people exactly, but there was a lot of people there at closing time, including the local people and all the other people that were in Carlos and Charlie’s that night. And when we all left, there was just a huge group of people waiting outside for taxis, and I never saw her get into that taxi.

For full transcript