SECOND INTERVIEW WITH P.I. RICH STROM

Private Investigator and Former Homicide Detective Speaks Out About Aruba

M: What experiences did you have with the Aruban officials regarding their attitude from day one?

RICH: The official’s attitude was that they wouldn’t speak to anyone, they don’t really care. In my opinion, they don’t care what went down…what is going on down there. They refuse to release any information, they refuse to have a dialogue and accept anything that we have to say. And it seems like that this Gerold Dompig wants to blame everything on Beth Twitty…the investigation, what went wrong, and that’s ludicrous. I mean they failed the investigation upfront, and purposely didn’t do it properly and they still to this day refuse to do it properly.

M: Have you been in contact with Dompig?

RICH: I made 10 calls to Dompig’s office. And on 2 of the occasions, I spoke with the secretary and she would tell me that we would have an appointment and then you wouldn’t hear another word from them. But then in 36 hours later there would be an article in their newspaper blaming Beth for the botched investigation because we gained excessive information. Then another 36 hours go by and after I made another contact with them they want to blame the news media and the United States. They are putting the blame everywhere but on themselves. They seem to be very, very defensive when there is no need to be. I mean you have a missing child, whether she be alive or not, I mean you have to representatives from the family and you go there to talk with them and they refuse to meet with you!

M: So I take it you haven’t interviewed anyone, then?

RICH: I spoke with the minister of information…I don’t have her name with me. That was at the prosecutors office. I went to speak with the prosecutor, and every time you want to see someone, they would tell you, “everyone is in a meeting”…everybody was always in a meeting and they would get back to you immediately… and they never did. This girl told me that nobody wants to be involved in the case, they have an Aruban lawyer for the family, because they are the grieving party, and all information was going to that lawyer. We explained that it’s not true because the lawyer has no information to give to Beth. I just got off the phone with Beth, and she was getting NOTHING.

M: They wouldn’t tell the aruban attorney anything, or the attorney didn’t want to tell Beth?

RICH: They aren’t giving ANY information. I think they are protecting the father of Van Der Sloot.

M: Even her own attorney who represents her can't give her any information?

RICH: That’s what Beth said. The attorney is telling her she doesn’t have any information. But it seems that there is a cover up, and you can’t put your finger on it, but it seems to be coming from the chief of police right to his top aides.

M: When you were in Aruba what did you do? Did you help out with any of the searches?

RICH: I know the island well. I’ve talked to some of the people there and the people that are in business, they wanted to arrest me!

M: They did?

RICH: Yes they did!

M: Why is that?

RICH: Because they want an arrest made, they think it’s horrible. Then you have this idiot at the airport that I already told you about…. (see past article)

M: Yes, I wrote what you said on my blog and people thought it was fake.

RICH: You tell them to call me if you think it’s fake.

M: People thought I was making the whole thing up.

RICH: Well, then you tell them to call me. There is no reason to make something like that up.

M: So did you or did you not get involved in the search at all?

RICH: No. Periodically they would have search teams doing things on the island.

M: So you didn’t work with Equasearch?

RICH: No, our problem was getting back to the other side of the island. It’s desolate on the other side. There was too much heavy rain, you just couldn’t get over there. We had a lot of rain when I was there. I don’t know what they are doing at different angles or different areas to try and find her, but they won’t release anything. They had a search periodically that go to different areas…but you have to be there or go to the island to see how much there is.

RICH: Now, remember we talked about trying to find out about Steve Croes, the DJ, and he was supposed to be a suspect in the other case in 1998?

M: What case in 1998?

RICH: The girl that was missing off the cruise ship.

M: You mean Amy Bradley?

RICH: Yep. And I went to talk to the prosecutor back in 1998 to ask them to take this guy’s clothing, but Aruba said it wasn’t their case. They said if the suspect was on the island they would have done something. But the suspect WAS on the island, because he LIVES there. We got nothing there either. They just don’t divulge any information. They want to make it hush.


RICH: Did you hear anything about that guy Robert Wayne Benson that was killed in Aruba? I haven’t heard a thing about it.

M: No, I haven’t. I looked all over the internet, I have the guy’s picture and I have a paragraph of information. I don’t know how to locate an Aruban death certificate or how to contact his family or anything.

RICH: You’d have to contact the prosecutor’s office there.

M: Down there? (sarcastic) Like they’d talk to me?

RICH: Who knows. I mean they don’t want to give anything…I haven’t even heard if it’s true. Joe Mamamma said it happened, but I don’t know where he got his information, but I have not seen anything since.

M: This is something that we need to look into in the future, if it is true.

RICH: A friend is going to Aruba after Christmas and one of his close friends has trained aruban lawyers…so I am going to see what he can find for me.

End of Interview...more to follow as it develops.