SEARCH TEAMS BACK--ARUBA REFUSES TO HELP

Two search teams that helped hunt for missing Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway hope to return to Aruba soon for another look. Texas EquuSearch plans to return to the island later this month or next. Director Tim Miller intends to visit Aruba next week to set up the logistics for that trip, said George Adlerz, EquuSearch's manager of training of operations. The nonprofit team began its search after Holloway disappeared May 30 on a graduation trip to the Caribbean island but cut it short due to lack of deep-water equipment. Police and private searches have turned up few clues to her disappearance.


In addition, Florida State University's Underwater Crime Scene Investigation Program has asked Aruban officials if members can return to the island. Forensic divers from that program have been to Aruba twice and on the last visit were searching the waters around the island with sonar.

Director Tom Kelley said the team needs stronger sonar equipment to search two miles offshore, where depths plummet to nearly 600 feet. "We consider the business down there unfinished, and we'd like to go back to finish it up," he said. "We'd love to bring some kind of closure to this. She's an American citizen, she's our neighbor, and we want to make sure that if she was a victim of a crime, we do everything we can to solve it."

Beth Twitty, Holloway's mother, applauded the two search teams' efforts to return but said she didn't plan to revisit the island at this time unless absolutely necessary. She said the teams were frustrated by having to cut their searches short. "They thought they could at least rule out some possibilities," she said by phone from Palm Springs, Calif., where she spoke to a conference of the National Sheriffs' Association.

Twitty also said she was disappointed that authorities did not re-arrest or question one of the suspects, 18-year-old Joran van der Sloot, while he was home in Aruba for the holidays. Van der Sloot, who was detained and released in the case along with six other men, is attending a university in Holland.

Still under investigation Aruban authorities said the investigation is still proceeding but would not comment on any specifics. Aruban Deputy Police Chief Gerold Dompig said he had heard from Miller about EquuSearch's plans and wished them well, but that the government was unlikely to provide official support since the nonprofit group joined in an American call for a boycott of the island.

The boycott was led in part by Gov. Bob Riley, who encouraged Alabamians not to travel to the island in support for Holloway's family. The governors of Arkansas and Georgia have joined in the call for a boycott. "The government wants to work with every organization, but it seems strange to work with someone who calls for a boycott," said Dompig, who also refused to comment on the specifics of the case.

Dompig would not say whether police have come any closer to interviewing Mountain Brook students who were with Holloway on the trip. Aruban authorities have petitioned the State Department for permission to do so and have received support from Rep. Spencer Bachus, whose spokeswoman said Friday that she had no new information.