Ruben Trappenburg on Dutch Radio

–  The Police have already searched the area

–  Texas Equusearch has already searched the area

–  The Dutch F-16 Jets  have already searched the area

–  Four to six weeks ago there wasn’t any pond there, as the majority of the water that is there came from the hurricane that passed over the island.

The statement that the pond is not a permanent pond, but more of a retention area after heavy rains is interesting. Islands typically have these, and the ground tends to be softer than the areas around it.

Larry King Transcript

Here are some of the outtakes from the Larry King show last night.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At this hour, Larry the draining of a pond not far from this hotel is going on. This pond is located not far from the hotel where Natalee had been staying, but it’s also adjacent to a racquet club. You’ll remember talking about this very recently. This racquet club is where a witness has come forward and talked about seeing a car parked nearby it on a road in the dead of night, the night that Natalee disappeared. And he saw, he says, the Kalpoe brothers’ car, named as suspects, but no one is charged in this case.

Also in the car he said he recognized Joran Van Der Sloot. The three boys were known to be with Natalee the night she disappeared. And so authorities, law enforcement sources tell us that the reason they are draining this pond and are working, as I said, even at this hour, is because of its proximity to the racquet club where this car was parked.

They’re looking for possible evidence in connection with this case, possibly even Natalee herself, or some other evidence that the boys were at that pond. They think they might be able to finish draining it by tomorrow.

KING: Why, Susan, did this witness come forward so late?

CANDIOTTI: It’s unclear, but he has told some people that he had some concerns about what might happen if he came forward because of what’s happened to other witnesses in this case. For example, we know that the security guards were fired after they were arrested and then cleared. The mother of the Kalpoe brothers was fired, and this kind of thing. And so — however, those who know him say he has no reason to lie, and the law enforcement authorities at this time tell us that they believe him.

And this summary from the Holloway Twitty Aruban Attorney illustrates some of the differences in the legal systems.

PETER MOHAMED, ATTY. FOR HOLLOWAY TWITTY FAMILY: Well, of course the way things are going now, we represent the family and all that we want to do is that the family gets the best representation and gets what they came for. They want answers to the questions, as they said, and as everyone knows, things haven’t been, let me say, been done right in the beginning. And certainly these last few days, a lot of new developments are taking place.

And as we are in contact with the prosecution, we know — and with the police, we know that the investigative authorities are quite optimistic. I don’t want to say they are to be too optimistic, but they too want to solve the case primarily for Natalee and for the family of Natalee, and then, of course, you know, to finally get this thing over with.

Because the last few weeks, it has been so hectic in Aruba with this case and I think primarily, you know, the family wants to really know where they’re up to. That’s why, of course, you know, the $1 million reward came up from, and of course if finally something comes out of this draining of the pond, the prosecution knows maybe, let me say, whether that is going to be a case and how strong the case is going to be.

TJ Ward also added this nugget:

T.J. WARD, P.I. FOR HOLLOWAY TWITTY FAMILY: Well, one of the things that I figure that the witness that I found saw the car that was used in the disappearance and on the 28th, 29th and 30th. And it just seemed a little strange to me that a week later the same car shows up three or four times in the same area around that pond.
Those boys were there looking for something. And there’s a good possibility that the body could be buried, because there was very, very little water in there around the 29th and 30th of May, and shortly before the storm hit and the hurricane, that’s what caused all the water to be there.

And it’s very soft and very easy to dig and put somebody underground there. But like Dr. Henry Lee says, it would be very, very good if the body is there, that it would be preserved by the ground itself if it is underground.

Click here for the full transcripts.

Red is Going to Aruba with Texas Equusearch

We have waited to announce this until we got final confirmation as there is a special honor for the monkeys.

Red has been invited to go to Aruba with Texas Equusearch this Thursday. He will be working with a team to help find Natalee and also will be reporting live on the ground in Aruba.

This is a great opportunity for all of us. The people that comprise Scared Monkeys, our 5300 members of our discussion forum, and the many thousands who read our front page daily have made this possible.

We will continue to do all we can to help find Natalee, and appreciate your continued support.

Thank you.

The Scared Monkeys Team

Aruban Authorities are Draining a Pond

From CNN

Law enforcement sources told CNN that a local gardener gave them information that makes them want to search the pond for the teen’s body. The sources would not say what the gardener’s connection is to the pond and what information he has.

It was unclear when the work might begin.

A CNN news photographer saw two groups of police officers and investigators walking around the pond late Tuesday afternoon. The photographer was asked to leave, because authorities were about to “survey” the area.

A fire truck also pulled up to the spot.

From Fox News

Aruban firefighters were draining a lake Tuesday in the search for an Alabama teenager who vanished nearly two months ago while vacationing in the island.

Edwin Comemencia, a police spokesman, confirmed that the draining of the lake across from the Marriott Hotel was part of the investigation into Natalee Holloway‘s disappearance but would not comment further. A jailed Dutch youth has said he was with Holloway in the area the night she disappeared.

The draining was expected to take up to 24 hours.

 Earlier Tuesday, Holloway’s stepfather, George Twitty (search), said two new witnesses had come forward with information about the night she disappeared.

Political Teen has the video from Fox News.

Texas Equusearch is Arriving on Aruba Today

The team is starting to arrive again in Aruba today. There are reports that they have gone over to the landfill on MSNBC, but we do not have confirmation on that yet.

One of the people accompanying Tim Miller, head of Equusearch, is Paul Wehnert, an executive with Heath Consultants in Houston, Texas. He is bringing with him some amazing high tech search equipment to the the island. It is a Gas Detector. Here is the information we got from Texas Equusearch about it today.

The gas detection equipment is a piece of equipment that was developed to detect gas leaks in gas lines/pipes.  A tech was checking for leaks along a pipeline one day and kept getting readings that drew him away from the pipe.  He followed the signal and found human remains.  I believe its methane gas that it detects.  The one they are bringing is highly sensitive and will be able to detect decomposing remains for up to 3-4 months.

While this is not a positive sign that Natalee is alive, it is an example of the tools that are being brought to bear on the case.

Another member of the search team is Robert Cooke. He is from the Austin Texas area, and also has a missing daughter.

Rachel Cooke, Robert’s daughter, Rachel, is an accomplished cross-country runner. She left her home in the Northlake development on FM 3405 northwest of Georgetown, Texas (north of Austin) on the morning of Thursday, January 10, 2002, to go on her usual 3-4 mile morning jog around the neighborhood. Sometime around 11 AM, near the end of her run and possibly within 200 yards of home, she disappeared.

They have a website to help find her, so if you know anything about this case, please go to http://rachelcookesearch.org/.