Duct Tape and Blond Hair; Solid Lead or another dead end? The Day After …

As reported yesterday, park rangers were doing a routine clean up of the area today and found duct tape with long shoulder length blond hairs in it in a cave.

In addition to the information at hand comes this update to the story of the discovered hair and duct tape from information received today from Julia Renfro of Aruba Today.

The area is called Boca Tortuga translated to ‘Turtle Cove’ located in the Arikok National Park. The exact location would be Quadirikiri and it is just south east of Boca Prins where EquuSearch was searching last week.

The cove has a sandy beach with small caverns created by erosion from the rough seas. The tape was stuck to the coral. The Park Ranger was on a routine cleanup when he picked up the tape and noticed the hair and called the police.

One of the Aruba Today reporters was giving a tour of the caves to some international magazine journalists and just happened to be in the area and jumped into the police parade on the way to Turtle Cove.

From the AP via Birmingham News; Blond hair found on Aruba shore to be tested in Holloway case

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) — Investigators said Monday they will conduct DNA tests on blond hair attached to duct tape that was found along Aruba’s coast to see if it came from Natalee Holloway in a possible break to the 6-week-old mystery.

A park ranger found the duct tape while collecting trash Sunday on rocks at Boca Tortuga, an inlet near a series of caves on Aruba’s northeast coast, said National Park Ranger Service spokeswoman Dilma Arends.

Boca Tortuga is on the opposite side of Aruba from where the 18-year-old from Alabama was last seen in public, and her father expressed little hope that the find would yield an important clue.

“We’ve had a lot of information that turned out false,” David Holloway said as he prepared to leave Aruba and return home to Meridian, Miss.

From CNN, here is a piece of information that has not been widely reported. FBI, Aruban authorities to test hair in search for missing girl. The FBI has been given part of the evidence to do testing on? There is a switch.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) — The FBI and Aruban authorities plan to test strands of blond hair found on a piece of duct tape to see if it belongs to Natalee Holloway, a missing Alabama teenager, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Aruban investigators were sending a sample to a lab in the Netherlands and shared it with the FBI. It was not known when the hair would be sent to the FBI’s crime lab in Quantico, Virginia.

One of the goals of the tests will be to determine if the hair is that of Natalee Holloway, the blond 18-year-old who has been missing since May 30.

Then there is the Fox News account that for some reason is claiming that “Police received an anonymous tip that led them to search the area”. An anonomous tip? Really?

The foot-long locks were attached to a piece of duct tape in a remote part of the island territory known as Boca Tortuga. Police received an anonymous tip that led them to search the area. Sources on the scene said that the hair washed ashore and was found in a cave. Divers were reportedly dispatched the area to retrieve any other possible evidence.

MSNBC Video
July 18: Police are testing a piece of duct tape found on the beach. NBC Michelle Kosinski reports.

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