The National Enquirer Article

Red sent me this link about a story that the National Enquirer did on the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

According to the National Enquirer:

A meatpacking plant once occupied the site. Workers there would discard meat cuttings into the ocean. The sharks would quickly gather and go into a feeding frenzy. To this day, dead animals are dumped into the waters at the shark site for the sake of tourism.

There was not ever a meat packing plant there. It’s true that government workers used to discard meat cuttings there, but this was at the very least a decade ago. If dead animals are dumped on that specific site, it’s because their owners don’t want to go the trouble of burying their pets, certainly not because “for the sake of tourism”.

According to the magazine’s sources:

“Joran and others discussed an appropriate place to dump Natalee’s body, a specific place where someone would disappear forever… a spot on the island where the waters are shark-infested.”

Boca Mahos may have been shark infested a decade ago or more, but it’s not anymore. Yes, one can get rid of a body there if so desired, but the same thing can be said about most of the north coast. If they were at the Marriott / Lighthouse, it would have taken them perhaps ten minutes driving to get to an appropriate spot, instead of driving all the way to Boca Mahos.

Another one of their sources stated:

The source revealed: “Paulus told the headmaster that Joran and Natalee had been taking drugs and decided to go for a swim. As they played in and around the water, Natalee fell, hit her head on a rock and drowned. In a drug and alcohol-induced panic, Joran felt he had no other choice but to dispose of Natalee’s body in the sea.”

I’m not sure that Joran’s father would confide this matter to his son’s headmaster, but in any case, on the south coast there isn’t anywhere where you’re swimming, minding your own business, and then oops, you hit your head against a rock. Natalee would have had to go to the north coast shore, looked down at the rocks and jumped in anyway.

In short, the theory of Natalee swimming and hitting her head seems unlikely to me.

DIARIO : Visit to Joran van der Sloot Suddenly Canceled

DIARIO July 16th 2005, Frontpage
No byline

VISIT TO JORAN V.D. SLOOT TODAY WAS SUDDENLY CANCELED
Joran allegedly had scratches on his chin the day after the disappearance

ORANJESTAD (AAN)–
As could be concluded from an interview with Natalee’s mom, Beth Twitty, given yesterday on Fox News Channel, the mother of Natalee Holloway made it known that she, together with the father of Natalee, Dave Holloway, had a confirmed visit for this morning at ten o’clock with Joran v.d. Sloot, at KIA, but yesterday afternoon she was suddenly informed that the visit will not happen.

The question that remains open is that if Joran v.d. Sloot insists that he is innocent, what fear can he have to talk with the father and mother of Natalee.
Also was questioned yesterday the bone that had meat on it, that a tourist found a few days ago and that until today there was no indication or information on this matter.

People of the Equusearch went to find information at the police about this since the bone was in the hand of the police and could not find any information, since it seems that no one knows about this bone and that those who would be working on this are apparently on vacation.
Equusearch will search where this bone was found and all beaches.

Yesterday a barrel was taken out from the sea while a great amount of tourists looked on, but this apparently did not yield any fruits on the investigation either, from what can be found out until now. From the interviews yesterday night came forward that there were also wounds or scratches that Joran v.d. Sloot allegedly had on his face the day of the disappearance.

The mother of a International School classmate allegedly declared that on that day Joran would have had scratches on his chin.
That day the mother of Natalee also talked with Joran, but it was dark and she herself did not notice scratches or wounds on the face of Joran in the darkness.
A forensic medic [doctor?--arubagirl] stated that the day that Joran and his friends presented themselves at the police station, the police should have made a note of this, examining their bodies etc. and even look for scratches under their nails, which has not happened either, according to all indications.

For My First Post…

Hi everyone, arubagirl here. Red and Tom were so kind to let me post on their site. I figured that for my first post I’d keep it nice and neutral. Take note, as this might not happen too often.

For those interested, the decision on the appeals that were submitted to the court today will be made public on Thursday, July 14th at two pm Eastern time.

Oops, I guess the post order goes when you created the post, not when you published it. That’s why the second post came before the first one.

Today’s Lesson: Don’t Piss Off Your Boss’s Daughter

While this is certainly not the most important thing going on in the Natalee Holloway case, it seems that the lead prosecutor may have made a mistake in questioning Mariaine Croes’s ability to brief the press adequately on the case.

As it turns out, according to the local gossip, Karen Janssen pointed out to Mariaine Croes that her [Croes] job as a spokesperson is not to give her own opinion on the case, but to only give out information. Whether Mariaine indeed crossed this line I couldn’t say, but I have to assume that Ms. Janssen wouldn’t tangle with her boss’s daughter over nothing.

Oh, you didn’t know? Mariaine Croes is the daughter of our Attorney General , Theresa Croes – Fernandes Pedra, who is also her ultimate boss. Who said that nepotism was dead?

In any case, the story goes that Mariaine wasn’t too pleased with Karen Janssen criticizing her work, and told Karen Janssen to it herself, then. I guess Karen Janssen took her to her word, hence the press release that Karen Janssen would be in charge of the press briefings.

The gossip goes on to say that our AG wasn’t too pleased about this and took time out from her vacation in the Netherlands to formally warn Ms. Janssen. According to my sources, Ms Janssen wil fight the warning.

There aren’t enough words to describe how preposterous this is, if it’s true. You’d think that the whole department would have bigger fish to fry, right?