The Natalee Holloway Wall of Hope – Part 1

We will be posting pictures taken at the Natalee Holloway  Wall of Hope , which is hosted at the Mountain Brook Community Church, throughout the weekend. Please click on the pictures to see them in full size. The full size of each is almost one megabyte, so if you are dial up they may take a while to download.

Natalee’s Wall

Main Wall

These pictures were taken by some of our discussion board members who go by the name of PairofDivers. Thank you very much for sending them in. 

Tito Lacle of Aruba Today; Cross-Fire Scared Monkey Style (Part1)

The following is the first of a three part segment of a questions and answers session from last night’s Tito Lacle’s, Aruba Today, visit to Scared Monkeys. Tito, who was so kind to have come on Scared Monkeys last night and take some questions in the Monkey cage. He was also gracious enough to answer many follow up questions. Scared Monkeys thanks Tito for his time and insight into the Natalee Holloway case.

Questions are taken in random order from Scared Monkeys readers:

Friend of Monkey:
What resulted in investigation into beheading/Columbian
necktie? Was anyone charged?

TITO: NOT FAMILIAR WITH THAT CASE

What of missing Columbian reporter Sergio Gomez whose truck was found
abandoned? (and the family said they thought Sergio left willingly but knew
not where he was)

TITO: WORKING ON THAT ONE

Is the manager of the excelsior casino missing also or on vacation?
TITO: HE LEFT THE ISLAND BUT REASONS UNKNOWN.. HE ALSO OWNS A COUPLE OF OTHER PLACES ON THE ISLAND. HIS NAME IS MICHEAL POSNER.

Does/did Joran have open credit at one or more island casinos?
TITO: HE FREQUENTED CASINOS.

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Golden:
Do you know if Steve C. is still working at C&C’s?
TITO: STEVE WORKED AT MI DUSHI AND TATTOO. HE FREQUENTS C&C. WILL CHECK IF HE WORKS AT C&C SINCE HE WAS FIRED FROM TATTOO AFTER HE WAS ARRESTED

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tlr:
RED-Can you ask Tito what his gut feeling is for the outcome of this
whole convoluted mess. And sort of OT how does he handle his new celebrity status?
TITO: THIS CASE.. THEY WILL NEVER FIND NATALEE.. THEY MIGHT SOLVE IT. ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT MY CELEBRITY STATUS.. DIDN’T KNOW I HAD ONE.
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erin_go_bragh:
Tito, are you aware of any Lorenzo’s involving the case? There is an alleged Lorenzo from Holland (now lives in Aruba) that might have eaten dinner with Natalee during her trip to Aruba. Allegedly, he’s around 27 and might have something to do with drugs…

TITO: HE LEFT FOR HOLLAND.. IF HIS NAME IS WEVER, THAT IS..
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golden:
Are Arubans aware of Jug’s letter to Al. Congress disagreeing with
any boycott? If so what is the general feeling about Jug having written the
letter?

TITO:THE LETTER WAS PUBLISHED TODAY IN MOST LOCAL NEWSPAPERS, SO YES.. THE ARUBANS ARE AWARE OF THIS LETTER
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Friend of Monkey:
When Mickey John was arrested he told me that 14 LE showed up at his house including van de rstratten…..is this common for
van der stratten and 14 LE to go arrest one man?

TITO: YES.. HE IS.. HE WAS AT ALL THE ARRESTS.. HE HEADED THE CASE AND WAS PRESENT AT ALL ARRESTS.

Has Tito heard of the shango posts? Would love to know how he feels about dirty hands and the sacrificial lamb
TITO: UNKNOWN TO ME

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crazybabyborg:
Wondering what Tito thought of the fabric pictures and the
relevancy to the case……

TITO: HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE.. BUT DON’T BELIEVE IT TO BE OF ANY SUBSTANCE.. BUT.. WE HAVE TO WAIT.. FORWARDED IT TO THE AUTHORITIES.. CRAZY.. I WILL LET YOU KNOW

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MuggsyMandrill:

One thing that I have always been curious about is the fact that the Aruban LE stated their reasoning for not immediately questioning Joran, Deepak & Satish was that they wanted to keep them under surveillance to see if they could get more information on Natalee’s disappearance.

Do you have any idea why they did not treat the 2 security guards in the
same manner, but instead, immediately arrested them and confiscated things they thought might have held evidence of their guilt in Natalee’s
disappearance?

TITO: GOOD QUESTION.. THE ARRESTS OF THE SECURITY GUARDS WAS BASED ON FALSE STATEMENTS BY THE THREE SUSPECTS. THEY LATER APOLOGIZED TO THE MAN FOR HAVING HIM INVOLVED IN THIS

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cubbeegirl
We heard early on around June 11 th that one of the boys had confessed to the murder of Natalee and that this boy would be taking LE to the place
where her body was. A few hours later we were told that this was a false
statement. Can you clarify what exactly happened concerning this?

TITO: THEY DID GIVE THIS STATEMENT.. JORAN CONFESSED OR SAID THAT AND IT WAS ON THE RECORD.. HE LATER CHANGED THE STORY

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Happinessis
HI–thank you–I’ve often wondered that if Nat did die –could she have been put in one of the big hotel freezers until she could be
moved—has that been researched?
TITO: UNLIKELY

What do you think of the information on this case from the National
Inquire???
TITO: DIDN’T EVEN TOUCH THAT ONE..

Was that whole missing shoe/shoes thing real or a red herring???
TITO: POLICE HAD A TIP ON THE MISSING SHOE.. THEY THOUGHT IT WAS A VALID TIP AND USED IT.. DIDN’T FIND ANYTHING THOUGH
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OneSillyMonkey
Hi Tito. TY so much for joining the SM forum to talk to us
On August 2′nd, Greta gave an interview with Police Lt Rudie Soemers, night watch commander. During that interview, Soemers told Greta that he believed Natalee left the island voluntarily and that she is alive. Last night, you mentioned what authorities believe was the second possible scenario of Natalee’s disappearance (died, then dumped in ocean). Going back to Soemer’s interview, would you say that other Aruban authorities concur with Soemer’s opinion – that Natalee left the island? If this is indeed what the majority believe, is that why we see little involvement in the landfill search? Do you know who the night watch commander was on the night/morning Natalee went missing? Was it Soemers, or can you give us the name or any info about who was on duty that night? The reason I ask is that there is some prevailing thought/rumor that Paul called whoever was the night watch commander on duty that morning. Thank you.

TITO: THERE ARE PHONE RECORDS BUT HAD THAT BEEN TRUE.. PAUL WOULD PROBABLY NOT BE FREE TODAY.. HE WAS DETAINED BASED ON INFORMATION HE GAVE HIS SON.. AND INTERPRETATIONS HEREAFTER
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Maritzka
The search at the VDS home, did they use cadaver dogs, do you know?

TITO: THEY USED ONE CADAVER DOG..

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Strike
I have a question (if I may)…
If anything, this case has seemed to expose a perceived problem with
underage drinking and gambling in Aruba. Do you feel (or has there been any attention paid to before this case) that there is a growing problem with
juvenile delinquency on your island because of this, and what have the
Aruban LE done to require establishments to enforce such laws in the future.
Thanks man!!!

TITO: YES IT HAS.. AUTHORITIES ARE CRACKING EVERY PLACE THAT VIOLATES THAT LAW

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Truthseeker2
Now that Jan Van Der Straaten is no longer working this case
can he be questioned in any way regarding any aspect of this case? If so,
can his statements be presented as evidence by way of a summons to appear in court to provide those statements under oath?

TITO: UNLIKELY.. HE WAS PART OF THE INVESTIGATION.

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Oldfart
Any chance of your paper doing a write to the editor questions
which Natalee’s family would respond to in the paper? This would be like the radio interview that Paul Reynolds did. It may or may not help
communications & understanding for all involved. Just a thought.

TITO: WE HAVE INTERVIEWED BOTH THE FAMILY MEMBERS AND THOSE STATEMENTS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN THE ARUBA TODAY SISTER PAPER BON DIA ARUBA

More Searches In Aruba; Light House and the Landfill

From MSNBC … Local Searchers are still searching the landfill and new search and rescue dog teams are searching near the lighthouse. Reports also that a brown belt was found similar to the one seen in Joran photo’s.

Video from MSNBC can be seen here.

- Belt found near lighthouse by search team and police with search dogs last night.
- Appears similar to belt seen in a picture of Joran.

- Witness missing.
- Another witness got thrown into psychiatric institution; some facts relayed by that witness match up with some facts given by LANDFILL WITNESS.
- Search at landfill continues.
(Hat Tip: justinsmama &Robert J )

Jug Twitty calls Out Aruban Government Spokesperson Ruben Trappenberg

Last night on Scarborough Country, Jug Twitty made some rather interesting and strong comments with regards to what Aruban spokesperson, Ruben Trappenberg has been saying lately. Frankly after hearing some of Mr. Trappenberg’s comments first hand on the set of Greta’s show I have been waiting for some type of response. Finally last night, Jug Twitty began did just that by stating the following regarding Trappenberg’s recent comments:

But the whole thing is—is frustrating to me. Last night, I saw something on TV. It was very frustrating, when Ruben Trappenberg said something to the effect that—somebody asked him about, well, you need to pay for all of the family’s expenses. Oh, we are. You know, everything is comped, all the cab rides, all the hotels, all the—everything.

And, you know, that’s so frustrating to me, Joe, it’s unbelievable. I mean, I cannot believe the man came on there and said that, because…

SCARBOROUGH: So, is he lying?

TWITTY: … I can’t tell you how—absolutely. They are not paying for all our things. And, yes, they have offered to help us with a couple of things, but they are not comping our rooms down there. I put Beth in a nice hotel because I wanted security in there, and the owner of the hotel was nice enough to come and give us a discount on the room, but they are not comping our rooms.

Jug then went on to discuss how on earth that all of the families expenses are being covered when he certainly has a credit card statement to prove otherwise.

They’re not comping—I have there in probably 70 cab rides. I have never had anybody offer me to give me a free cab ride. It’s just unbelievable to even come and say that. And I have seen my credit card bills, if they want to pay for it. I don’t want them to pay for it. I don’t want the Aruban government to give me a penny. All I want to do is, I want to find Natalee and I want to go home.

Then as the interview went on with Jug and Beth Twitty, Beth made the following comment regarding further things that Trappenberg has stated:

HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Well, all I was going to say, and there was also another false statement made that was by Ruben Trappenberg, the spokesperson for the government.

You know, the FBI was not involved from day one, and it was only until my plea that came probably June the 5th that we began getting some response and some involvement from the FBI. But, you know, we had to pursue that ourselves and from supporters in the U.S. to be instrumental in getting that.

And then, there were only in an assistive mode, remember, for many, many, many weeks, and basically up until just—until—until recently. And, still, I am not sure if they are much more into that unless now all the documentation, from videotapes, from audiotapes are being released. So, you know, that was a false statement.

One of the comments that has most bothered me because it affected me personally and those searchers around me that Trappenberg made was the one about Aruban Government equipment used in the landfill helping search for Natalee Holloway. Trappenberg’s made a reference in some form of cute comment stating, “well, you know, I don’t know if the White House has backhoes in their backyard, but we don’t have them down here”, was about as uncalled for and unprofessional as it gets. Then again with hat follows later on in this post may semi answer such ridiculous comments. Jug Twitty, however, decided to certainly let the world know how he felt about the backhoe comment:

TWITTY: Joe, I would also say, it’s so frustrating to us, because, you know, here’s the government down there. They are saying they are helping us.

And I am sure they are, but when Ruben Trappenberg comes on there and says statements like—this was on another network or something the other night—that they were complaining that the government wasn’t helping with backhoes and things like that, and that EquuSearch and private investigators—private entrepreneurs down there, like Jossy and people, were donating equipment.

And Ruben Trappenberg come on and goes, well, you know, I don’t know if the White House has backhoes in their backyard, but we don’t have them down here.

You know, what kind of statement is that? I mean, it just frustrates me to no end.

Maybe Mr. Trappenberg would like to explain to us all how the Aruban Government owned landfill does not either own directly the equipment that works on the landfill property or at the very least contracts with equipment owner’s and thus that equipment acts as an agent of the Aruban government? Parsing words of whether the equipment is owned or not is irrelevant. The fact that at any given time they could have been asked to help searchers looking for Natalee Holloway in the land fill is. As this story has gone on and the many statements that have been made by Mr. Trappenberg have become more and more puzzling and to Natalee’s family obviously frustrating. Then this bit of information was brought to my attention regarding Ruben Trappenberg. He has a Tickle site? You have got to be kidding me? A spokesman for the Aruban government has a Tickle site with a profile, how are we supposed to take this serious? More to the point, how does an official spokesperson for the Aruban government supposed to be taken seriously when of all things he has a Tickle site? To each their own but somehow the fact that the mouth piece for the government has one of these just seems inappropriate. I thought nothing more regarding this matter would amaze me, but I stand corrected.

Witness Still Missing

The man who claims to have witnessed Joran driving with his two friends the night that Natalee Holloway has failed to appear in Court according to the Birmingham News.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) — A man who claimed he saw a suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway driving with two friends the night she vanished failed to appear in court Thursday and has possibly fled the country, officials said.

The witness had been summoned to give sworn testimony in the missing Alabama teen’s case, but authorities were unable to locate him and believe he might have fled Aruba, Chief Prosecutor Karin Janssen told The Associated Press.

“There will not be a court hearing today,” she said, declining to give more details.

Police spokesman Edwin Comenencia said authorities did not know when he fled or where he might have gone.

“All we know is that we can’t find him,” Comenencia said.

Also from KSAT 12, San Antonio, TX: Key Witness In Holloway Case Disappears

A key witness in the case of an Alabama teen who disappeared in Aruba is now also missing.

Officials said a man who claimed he saw a suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance driving with two friends on the night that she vanished failed to appear in court Thursday.

The chief prosecutor in Aruba told The Associated Press that she believes the man might have fled the country. He is described as a Colombian national living illegally in Aruba.