Taxi’s In Aruba; Could You Tell the Difference?

From the beginning Beth Twitty stated that her daughter Natalee Holloway thought she was getting into a taxi cab after leaving Carlos & Charlie’s.

She spent her 5 days at home reviewing all of her notes and statements from witnesses and friends and she says on the night Natalee disappeared, she left a bar thinking she was getting into a cab.

Beth Holloway Twitty said, “Now I know– I know what happened to Natalee! Do you know that our daughter felt like she was getting into a cab? That Deepak Kalpoe was a taxi driver? She thought she was going to the Holiday Inn!”

That was the last time Natalee’s friends saw her, happily yelling out of that car window, “yay Aruba!”

After the mention of confusing a taxi cab for an individuals private vehicle, much debate ensued where many stated that was impossible. That the cabs were clearly marked. Many claims that Beth Twitty was lying. It was simply impossible to confuse the two. Impossible and never are very dangerous words to use. Especially in the case of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Cliff Van Zandt of MSNBC provided the following information with his own eye witness accounts of what we saw while in Aruba in August 2005.

As I walked out of the bar the cabs and cars drove by. Some were looking for fares, while some were just cruising, checking out the nightlife in the area. In Aruba it can be hard at times to tell a private car from a cab. If you play detective you can spot the special license plate decal on registered cabs, if, that is, you go to the rear of the car to look for it. Sometimes there’s a small, plug-in sign on the dash of the car that says “taxi,” and sometimes the driver even has a CB-like radio. But other times a car rolls up and when you climb inside you see nothing that suggests it is a cab. This happened to me twice. When I asked, the driver said his “real” taxi was being repaired, so he was driving a friend’s car. The reality is that you have about five seconds to decide whether to get into the car or not. It’s hard to know if it’s a real taxi, perhaps a situation that Natalee, like me, accepted at face value. What we do know from witnesses is that at about 1:45 a.m. she drove off in the back seat of a car with Joran van der Sloot while the two Kalpoe brothers were in front, and she was never seen again.

Could you tell the difference between these two cars whether one was a taxi cab or not at 1:30AM after coming out of a bar on vacation and being escorted to it?

The following is from an individual who has been to Aruba on many occasions:

Could Natalee have mistaken Deepak’s car for a taxi? My initial thought was that there was no way a car could be mistaken from a taxi, as taxis always have a prominently displayed yellow taxi sign, which is lit at night.  Or so I thought, until I saw this car….

(Deepak Kalpoe’s silver car)

(Aruban Taxi)

At night, if taxis were to bring people home at closing time and the passenger door was to the curb; is it completely impossible for some one who had just come from a bar to confuse the two? Impossible?

Or is it like what Clint Van Zandt witnessed with his own eyes when at the very same location?

The reality is that you have about five seconds to decide whether to get into the car or not. It’s hard to know if it’s a real taxi, perhaps a situation that Natalee, like me, accepted at face value. What we do know from witnesses is that at about 1:45 a.m. she drove off in the back seat of a car with Joran van der Sloot while the two Kalpoe brothers were in front, and she was never seen again.

You decide whether it is possible or impossible.

Scarborough Country, Beth Twitty: “It does concern me that Paulus van der Sloot has tied up many loose ends”.

‘Scarborough Country’ for February 7, 2006 (Guest: Beth Twitty)

Beth Twitty’s reaction to the Van der Sloots GMA interview. It can be summed up best by Beth Twitty’s comment.

Joe, I have not done the damage to Joran. All I have done is share information that Joran has given voluntarily to witnesses, and officials, police officials, interrogators. You know, Joran caused the damage to himself.

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GMA Part II: Revenge of the Sloots

This morning GMA brought us the second part of the two part interview with the parents of Joran Van der Sloot, otherwise known as “must not see TV”. The Van der Sloot whine fest aside, one really must wonder what Arubans and Aruban officials are thinking this morning.

For the better part of two weeks there has been an all quiet on the Aruba Front. One could only speculate that Aruba and their spokespeople after Steve Cohen’s comments and retractions of the Dr. Phil Show just wanted to keep a low profile. Aruba just wanting this to go away and their lives to get back to normal by avoiding the topic.

NOT SO FAST. Aruba, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … Guess what … It’s back.

No, you do not have Beth Twitty to blame for this or Dave Holloway or Greta Van Susteren or Scared Monkeys.
YOU HAVE PAULUS AND ANITA VAN DER SLOOT TO BLAME.

Why Aruba, Arubans and Aruban officials continue to sacrifice themselves for this family is a mystery. It was plain to see in the GMA interviews or infomercials that they only care about keeping this story and themselves in the spot light. Why would they continue to do this? What is their motive for stoking the fires of the MSM? For people who want to get on with their lives they certainly have an odd way of doing it. Maybe its because they have an agenda? That agenda seems to be in direct contrast with that of Arubans and the Aruban government. Do the good people of Aruba really think a boycott will end when the Van der Sloot’s continue to insult American’s intelligence and pour salt in the wounds of a family with a missing daughter?

Aruba, take a good look at what you are defending. Answer the question why the parents of Joran Van der Sloot would speak out now. Why are they keeping the story going? Why are they calling out the MSM when everyone knows that the MSM will respond. It is not about you Aruba, it most certainly is about them.
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Scared Monkeys Attends TES Fund Raiser. Get a first hand Account of the Event

Last week Texas Equusearch had a fund raiser and gathering at a local spot in Houston, TX attended by Beth Twitty and many other missing persons families. The following is a person account of one of our very own that attended the function. Get a first hand take on not only the event, but their impressions of Beth Twitty, Tim Miller and the rest. Special thanks to our Texas correspondent Monkey, Beachwego, for the following.

This past Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Beth Holloway and Tim Miller of Texas Equusearch in Houston, Texas. Texas Equusearch (TES) is a dedicated all volunteer search and recovery organization that was founded by Tim Miller and is based in Houston. Each year the Houston Corporate Paralegal Association chooses a non-profit organization for recognition of their contributions to the local community and sponsors them to help off-set expenses by holding fund-raising benefits. This year Texas Equusearch was chosen for their relentless efforts involved in search and recovery efforts locally, nationally and abroad. The Paralegal Association decided to hold an impromptu gathering once they learned that Beth Holloway Twitty was arriving in Houston for a presentation with the children that attend the school of Teketria Buggs, the little girl that TES recovered the body of in a recent search.

The benefit all came together very nicely, though very hurriedly,as Tim Miller pointed out. The M Club is a very up-scale club in a newly renovated section of downtown Houston. There was a good crowd, it was mostly a professional, business-attired crowd of around a hundred or so. It was cash bar and at $17.50 for two cokes for my hubby and myself, believe me, I did not see very much free-flowing liquor. Despite delicious food and drink, it was apparent the focus was on honoring TES and the importance of their work. There was lots of mingling, quiet talking and many were observing the flat screened LCD’s that lined the walls of the M Club. I noted neither drunks nor mechanical bulls!

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Tim Miller on Aruba’s Refusal of Sharing Information with FBI; “a new excuse every day”

‘Rita Cosby Live & Direct’ for Jan. 30, 2006 (Guests: Beth Twitty & Tim Miller)

Just when you think there is cooperation between Aruba and the United States, a new excuse is made. The latest in a long line of promised questioning suspects, arrests and fireworks comes the FBI’s refusal to bring cadaver dogs to Aruba because the ALE will not provide the FBI with “who tipped them of to start searching the dunes”.

With all shock aside, as many were wondering when the shoe was going to drop on the FBI cadaver dogs going to Aruba comes Tim Miller’s with the following comment in lieu of the FBI dogs.

We’ve got proven cadaver dogs our own self, and we don’t need to know where the lead came from. We can take them there, and we can take the ground penetration units there. And I promise you, in three or four days, we can find something in the sand dunes or clear them.

Oh, I’m going to be back in Aruba in two weeks, and we’re going to be doing stuff in the water. If the sand dunes have not been searched, we’re taking our ground penetration units and we’ll go ahead and do the sand dunes. We’ll take the dogs, too.

It was not too long ago on Greta Van Susteren ‘ON THE RECORD’, where Tim Miller offered Aruba the equipment and dogs to search on the land at no cost to the Aruban government.

Now on the land, I told Dompig I hope you find her before we go in the water. I told him to take dogs and offered the ground penetration equip at no cost to Aruba. we are going to do the sea, we will help free of cost for the land search.. we just want Natalee home.

Ground penetration equipment , I am willing to put rep on the line, in two days most if she is there, she will be found with this equipment. It will show a body under the sand, it works like a sonar on the water. The resources are there free of cost. There may be a conflict with FBI with taking somethings over there.

Conflict? Looks like Tim Miller knew something in advance. However, what is troubling is the fact that when Tim Miller provided this offer, Aruba’s response was, … “we will get back to you”.

So the ALE creates a road block to the FBI’s help and gives the brush off to Tim Miller and Texas EquuSearch. All of the US is watching and what they see is Aruban officials who do not seem to want to solve the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

From Rita Cosby:
And tonight, we’ve got some late-breaking details in the case of Natalee Holloway’s investigation. The Holloway family attorney met with Aruba’s deputy police chief and the island’s prosecutor today. There are also plans for the three to meet again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the FBI is refusing to send cadaver dogs to Aruba to help in the latest search of the sand dunes. The reason why? The Aruban police won’t say who tipped them of to start searching the dunes two weeks ago. They won’t share the information with the FBI.
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