Tim Miller of EquuSearch takes the High Ground

Last night Tim Miller appeared on CNN’s Nancy Grace and although was repeatedly bated by the host refused to get into an on air confrontation over recent comments made by Jim Knox. Tim Miller of EquuSearch gave high praise to the many volunteers who took part in the searches on Aruba for Natalee Holloway and continued to stress the point that “The focus needs to stay on Natalee, period, end.”

MILLER: Well, I mean, these are things I`m advised by our attorney not say to interfere with a possible lawsuit. I mean, this stuff`s on the Internet. It`s — you know, it`s floated all around. And so anyhow, it sends some real negative messages about a very positive search, and this doesn`t need to go negative. The focus needs to stay on Natalee, period, end.

Tim Miller also focused on the profound frustration and disappointment in not being able to help Natalee’s family closure. A disappointment that I felt personally as well. I must admit it can get very depressing when one tries so hard and puts themselves in such an emotional situation for an extended period of time and does not get the results that one was trying to attain. The emotional aspects of dealing with the search and the family coupled with the just horrendous environment one is searching in only to leave Aruba without results was difficult. There is a feeling of disappointing Natalee’s family and letting them down. As Tim Miller made comments last night all I could do was nod in agreement and feel the disappointment again.

TIM MILLER, TEXAS EQUUSEARCH DIRECTOR: Well, thanks for having me here tonight. You know, I`ve got mixed emotions on that. Of course, there`s that big question mark out there still, What did happen to Natalee? I know our efforts — you know, we walked away and felt as though that, you know, we didn`t accomplish any more than we did when we got there. You know, I`m still real concerned about the dump. There`s some things we`re actually working with right now and…

MILLER: Well, I`m saying, you know, the only way we`re going to know is, of course, through DNA testing. You know, from what we understand, the way the waters flow, it`s — you know, it`s something that couldn`t possibly go there, but you know, people have been wrong before. We had a huge interest in the water in the beginning and spent a lot of time in the water. We did a lot of diving, side-scan sonar equipment and stuff.

And you know, somehow or another, this thing`s going to have to come it a close. Something`s going to have to happen so there can be an arrest. Something`s going to have to happen so this family can get some closure and try to move forward with their life and…

MILLER: And anyhow, it was disturbing to — you know, I remember talking to Beth before we left, and I said, Beth, one day, you`ll be able to look back at this and see that Natalee`s disappearance wasn`t in vain. And with all the resources, all the people that went there, you know, we`re looking at this as something positive for future missing person cases all over the nation, which there`s going to be some. And with all the negative things that were said, many of our people…

MILLER: That is a huge island when you`re searching for one small girl. We certainly realized that when — I know we did everything that we could possibly do. We brought in every resource that we thought could possibly be brought in. And there were a tremendous amount of frustrations, and you know, we walked away feeling like we didn`t accomplish a whole lot, that maybe we let the family down, we let the community down. And we know from our hearts, you know, what it`s like on a search for missing people. And we took it personal

We took it extremely personal with Tito last night went on and said that Equusearch set the dump on fire four days after we was gone, and about the turtle egg deal and the threatening the judge. We put too much into that thing to absorb all this criticism, and we will not do it. I mean, let`s report the facts as they are when the dump caught on fire. Let`s report the facts about the turtle eggs. And we`re not going to take that criticism and sit back. This is about Natalee. I think everybody deserves a huge applause for what they did over there, and there`s a lot of people that got real hurt feelings about this thing..

Although Tim Miller certainly let it be known that he and TES would not sit back and take the criticism, he certainly tried to focus on Natalee, positives that may come from this search and a hopeful closure for the family. However, that is not to say Tim Miller did not briefly comment on his displeasure to certain comments that had been made.

MILLER: Just some things that Jim Knox had said. And you know, it`s one of the things right now that our attorneys have, and we`re certainly looking at some things. And you know, we don`t want to take the focus off of Natalee Holloway. I mean, Jim and I — Jim Knox and I had a long conversation on the phone on Monday. Jim certainly knew I was upset. This was after Paul Reynolds called Jim. Paul let him know I was upset.