10 Years Later: Searching in Aruba for Natalee Holloway … The Search of the Aruba Landfill in 2005 for Missing Natalee Holloway (PICS)

THE LANDFILL SEARCH FOR NATALEE HOLLOWAY … PROBABLY ONE OF THE BEST AND WORST THINGS I HAVE EVER DONE …

On July 23, 2005 Scared Monkeys conducted an interactive, town hall style  on-line interview with Tim Miller of Texas Equusearch, the non-profit search team that had been searching for Natalee Holloway in Aruba since she had gone missing on May 30, 2005.  Texas Equusearch had been flooded with emails of encouragement and tips from the many followers and readers at Scared Monkeys that Tim granted the interview. Interactive web interviews are commonplace today, needless to say they were not in 2005 and the logistics to make it happen was nothing short of a miracle. Following the interview as I thanked Tim Miller on the phone and for TES’s great work in their search for Natalee Holloway, Mr. Miller did an amazing thing … he asked if I wanted to go to Aruba and help search for Natalee. Once we cleared up some logistics and made sure that we could pay for the ticket to Aruba ourselves so not to impose on TES or have them divert any funds from the search on our account, we let it be known that Red was going to Aruba to search with Texas Equusearch.

Returning to Aruba, a place where my family had vacationed since the 1970′s, long before the many high-rise hotels and wining vacations there on game shows. Aruba, a place where I got to know so many families, who treated us as one of their own and a place where I had even dated an Aruban girl, who’s family was pretty well connected. Talk about your long distance relationship, before the days of social media and Facetime or Skype. A place where I hung out with more locals than tourists. Aruba, a place where I lived and worked as well. Now I was going back to help find Natalee Holloway.

I have to admit i was not sure what I was getting into and was not sure which searches I would be doing, land, water, both? I had told Tim that I was going to be a member of the search team first and reporting on the story second. Little did I realize than just a couple days before going to Aruba that that I would be helping search in the Aruba landfill as The witness claimed he saw the men dumping the body on the afternoon of June 1. The following article discusses the landfill search on such a generic and antiseptic way. Let me just say it was far from that and maybe one of the most rewarding and disgusting thing I have ever done in my life.

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

A volunteer group searching for Natalee Holloway dug through a landfill for a third day Sunday but found no clues, while the missing teen’s mother left Aruba for the first time since her daughter disappeared two months ago.

Crews equipped with trained dogs, a bulldozer and a tractor hoe dug 15 holes in a landfill where a witness claims he saw men dump and cover a female body two days after Holloway disappeared, said Robert Cook, spokesman for the volunteer Texas EquuSearch, which is coordinating the landfill effort.

Searches at the landfill Friday and Saturday also produced no sign of Holloway.

THE LANDFILL SEARCH FOR NAYALEE HOLLOWAY.

From July 30, 2005 … Red searched the landfill from 10 AM till 3 PM. He said it was one of the foulest and god awful smelling places he has ever been in. For three days we searched the landfill and for every hole that was dug to a certain level, some one then had to get into it to do a more fine search with rakes and shovels. The picture below taken by a digital camera, although it looks grainy. That would be because of the constant Aruba trade wind blowing all the sand and crap in the dump around.

During the landfill search, I not only searched for Natalee Holloway with the members of Texas Equusearch, I also was digging next to her dad, Dave Holloway. I thought to myself as we were digging in the worst filth and the most disgusting stench that I had ever experienced in my life, I so wanted to help this man and find his daughter. Then I thought to myself in the next second, it might not be the best thing to happen when he was present. It was one thing to take part in this search, another thing to find human remains in a landfill, but quite a different thing to have to see a grown man break down in uncontrollable tears and emotions if we actually found her. This was the roller-coaster of thoughts and emotions that took place ever day as we searched for Natalee Holloway.

This search will forever be seared in my mind, body and soul … as previously stated, one of the best and worst things I have ever done in my life.

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

Unlike most landfills in America where those in charge can locate and track what was dumped where and when, Aruba had no such tracking system. Imagine that. Instead, we had to go by the witness as to what area of the landfill he thought he saw the vehicle and where the dump site was. All the while the witness covered his face for fear of being recognized and to prevent the foulness from getting into his nose and mouth. So how did we know how far down to dig or where to dig holes? At a certain point we got in the holes and looked that the daily news papers that were thrown away to see what date they were to find the date just before May 30, 2005. That was the methodology.

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

And for every hole that was dug like the one above, when we got to what we thought was close enough to the correct proximity of time, some one had to get into the hole and comb throw it to see if we made needed to dig deeper or had to use a rake, shovel and your hands to search. That would be yours truly in the blue shirt in the hole.

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

And all the while Red and the members of Texas Equusearch were in the landfill in some of the most foul and hideous conditions trying to help Beth and Dave find their daughter on a witness tip we were following up on, the media was kicking their feet up from a distance trying to get a picture with their telephoto lenses.

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

Or better yet, a close up of the media getting a sun tan while we are in the landfill busting our butts to get some closure for the Holloway/Twitty/Reynold’s family.

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

Picture via Scared Monkeys – 2005

Laura McComb and Her Two Children, 6 Year Old Andrew McComb & 4 Year Old Leighton McComb Missing Since Memorial Day Weekend in Wimberly, TX (Update: Body of Andrew McComb Recovered)

BEYOND TRAGIC … MOTHER AND TWO CHILDREN STILL MISSING AND PRESUMED DEAD …

Laura McComb and her two children, 6 year old Andrew McComb and 4 year old Leighton McComb are still missing following the massive floods that hit Texas over the Memorial Day weekend. They were among 12 people who went missing as the vacation home in Wimberly, Texas, was ripped from its foundation in the rapid flood waters of the Blanco River (VIDEO). Jonathan McComb, was pulled from the floodwaters and taken to a San Antonio hospital for treatment. The McCombs were with Ralph and Sue Carey along with their daughter, Michelle Charba, her husband Randy and their 4-year-old son, Will. All are still missing. Say a prayer for the missing and their family.

Jonathan McComb was rescued on the bank of the Blanco River, but his wife, Laura McComb, and two children,
in addition to others who were in a house that was swept away, remain missing. (Image source: KVUE-TV)

UPDATE I: Laura McComb Salled Her Sister and said,  ‘I Love You, and Pray’ While Inside the House Floating Down the Blanco River Called Her Sister Before It Hit Bridge.

Missing mom’s sister Julie Shields says, “I think recognizing with what’s happening with the weather, we all know and we have accepted that they’re gone.”

Julie Shields said she was on the phone with her sister, Laura, when their cabin was swept away.

“We are floating in a house that is now floating down the river,” Laura told Shields on the phone. “Call mom and dad. I love you, and pray.”

Those were the last words Shields had with her sister.

“My sister will always be my sister,” Shields added.

The conversation ended when Laura thought she saw a light from a helicopter that was there to rescue them.

“And I just expected to go to Wimberley High School the next day and find her,” said Shields. “When she wasn’t there, I knew something was very, very wrong.”

UPDATE II: Body of 6-year-old Andrew McComb Recovered.

The body of Andrew McComb, 6, whose family was in a house washed away by floodwaters in Wimberley, Texas, has been found, a Hays County, Texas, official said Friday.

The body was found Thursday evening near the border of Hays and Blanco counties, according to Trey Hatt, spokesman for the Hays County Emergency Operations Center, The Associated Press reported.

Authorities earlier this week reported recovering the body of a child from the Blanco River in Hays County, but did not identify the child.

Andrew McComb’s identity was confirmed using dental records, an official said today.

The Body of Missing 43 Year Old Michelle Carey-Charba Found Following Texas Floods on Memorial Day Weekend

Sad new in the case of missing 43 year old Michelle Carey-Charba, who was one of 8 people swept away in Central Texas as a result if the raging flood waters over Memorial Day weekend. . A body was identified on Wednesday as Michelle Carey-Charba.

Michelle Carey-Charba and her son, William, went missing during flash flooding in Wimberley, Texas,
over the Memorial Day weekend. Carey-Charba’s body was found and identified Wednesday.

A body was identified Wednesday as one of the eight people swept away when their vacation home in Central Texas was lost amid raging floodwaters over the Memorial Day weekend.

The discovery of 43-year-old Michelle Carey-Charba came as her family told NBC News that they were still holding out hope for the safe recovery of all of the missing who had been inside the home.
A ninth person — family friend Jonathan McComb — was found alive Sunday after being carried several miles away from where the house once stood in the small tourist town of Wimberley. He was being treated in the hospital for a collapsed lung, a broken sternum and broken ribs, his family said.

McComb’s wife, Laura, and their two children, Andrew, 6, and Leighton, 4, were also in the home and are still missing, along with Carey-Charba’s husband, Randy Charba, their 4-year-old son, Will, and her parents, Ralph and Sue Carey.

Searchers made a grim discovery in the Blanco River Wednesday when thebody of a boy was found in the river in Hays County, the city of San Marcos said in a statement Wednesday evening.

The child’s age and identity have not been determined, and it is unknown whether he is on a list of those known missing, or another victim not previously reported missing, the city said.

Carey-Charba’s brother-in-law, Alan Daniel, said Wednesday that the search isn’t over: “We’re not going to stop looking until we’ve found them.”

Authorities said at least 23 people were killed and another 11 were missing after a series of storms pummeled Texas and Oklahoma,causing historic flooding in a region that had been crippled by severe drought.

The Careys own the home in Wimberley, where the Blanco River swelled 28 feet in an hour and a half. The McCombs are family friends, and they were all spending the Memorial Day weekend together.

Dave Holloway Interview on ‘The Real View’ with Gretchen Carlson Discussing Possible New Lead in Search for Natalee Holloway in Aruba

BACK TO THE BEACH …

In an interview on The Real View with Gretchen Carlson, Dave Holloway, the father of missing and considered deceased Natalee Holloway, went to Aruba a couple weeks back to investigate a new lead into the disappearance of Natalee. The lead comes from witness Jurrien de Jong who says, “I saw Natalee Holloway on the last night that she was alive. I was the eyewitness.” Dave Holloway went back to Aruba about two weeks ago on the pretense of this information and to get an exact location of where Natalee Holloway was last seen. Dave took a cadaver dog with him; however, they were not allowed to search many locations because they were considered restricted  and off limits.

Dave Holloway stated in the interview that he finds the new witness credible and asked T.J. Ward, a private investigator who has worked on the Natalee Holloway case in the past, to give  Jurrien de Jong a voice analysis test.  Jurrien passed the test.

For much more information, read the extensive history of the disappearance of Natalee, read others opinions and analysis and to provide your own, go to Scared Monkeys Forum: Natalee Holloway.

10 Years Later after the Death & Disappearance of Natalee Hollwaoy in Aruba … Will Witness Jurrien de Jong’s Story Pan Out, “I saw Natalee Holloway on the last night that she was alive. I was the eyewitness … ” I knew she was dead.”

EVEN IF TRUE, WHO REALLY BELIEVES ARUBA AUTHORITIES WILL LOOK INTO THIS LEAD?

DAVE HOLLOWAY, BACK TO THE BEACH … Nearly 10 years later, after Alabama teen Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba, a witness has come forward who says he knows what happened that night. The witness, ” Jurrien de Jong, says “I saw Natalee Holloway on the last night that she was alive. I was the eyewitness.” According to news accounts, Natalee Holloway’s father, Dave, has returned to Aruba to meet a man who claims he saw what happened to her 10 years ago. Dave Holloway brought a private investigator and cadaver dog to check out the potential witness’ story.  De Jong further went on to say,  “I saw that Joran was chasing Natalee into a small building under construction. In about five minutes he came out with Natalee in his arms, and slammed the body of Natalee on the floor, and then he made an opening in a crawl space … I knew she was dead.”

Natalee Holloway’s father has returned to Aruba to meet a man who claims he saw what happened to her 10 years ago. Dave Holloway brought a private investigator and cadaver dog to check out the potential witness’ story. The story was given to Inside Edition.

“I saw Natalee Holloway on the last night that she was alive. I was the eyewitness,” Jurrien de Jong told Inside Edition.

De Jong said he saw Joran van der Sloot, the primary suspect in Holloway’s disappearance, chase her into a small building under construction. He says van der Sloot then reemerged with Holloway in his arms, slam her body on the floor then make an opening in a crawl space. He has previously told media this building is a Marriott Hotel.

“I knew she was dead,” he told Inside Edition.

Natalee Holloway was just 18 when she vanished while on a Mountain Brook High School graduation trip to Aruba where she went missing on May 30, 2005 and was never seen again. The last individuals that Natalee was seen with was Joran Vander Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers, Deepak and Satish, leavings Carlos & Charlies.  All will remember the very first post that Scared Monkeys ever did on this missing persons case, ‘This Can’t Be Good For Tourism, Where’s Natalee Holloway?’ And sadly, this is what this lack of police investigation and island coverup was all about. Cronyism, corruption and coverup … how the island of Aruba and its officials covered up the death and disappearance of Natalee Holloway to protect one of their own and their tourism dollars.

Much, much more to come.

For much more information, read the extensive history of the disappearance of Natalee, read others opinions and analysis and to provide your own, go to Scared Monkeys Forum: Natalee Holloway.