RECAP OF TYRA BANKS SHOW WITH BETH AND NATALEE'S FRIENDS

Women in Trouble--An Old Epidemic That Needs Revisiting

Hat Tip to San--an SM poster

Whether it’s Spring Break, Graduation Trips or a night out at a club more and more of young women are getting drunk or even drugged and they are getting into more serious trouble.






I’m talking about alcohol poisoning, drug overdoses, blackouts and unprotected sex and sometimes that sex is happening in public and a lot of the times it’s with groups of strange men. Just how far are young women willing to go when they are out partying and how easy is it to slip a drug into an unsuspecting young woman’s drink? Today I have compelling experiments that will expose the serious dangers of partying gone bad.




But first, the world watched in horror and has followed every terrifying detail of the story of Natalee Holloway, the angelic high school senior who vanished without a trace almost a year ago on a trip to Aruba.



Tyra – Natalee’s mother Beth Twitty is here with us today. I want to thank you so much for being her today. I admire you so much, you are such a crusader, you have so much strength but I want to know where that strength comes from.



Beth – Well I mean Tyra the strength comes you know the endless number of supporters that have stayed with the family and have prayed for the family and I have a really strong faith and belief in God and I know that those are the people and the reasons why we are getting through this I know that.



Tyra – I want you to take me back and tell me about the night your daughter disappeared.



Beth – Well the night that Natalee disappeared really was no different than any other night that the students had been on that island. It just happened to be that it was their last night and they had been around Joran Van der Sloot now for a period of about two days and have spent many hours with him at the casino and just around the Holiday Inn and it was their last night I think there was some unique circumstances that were going on that night the established closed earlier than what it normally does.


I think that when all the students as soon as they announced closing time I think that the bartenders were really rushing these kids out the door; there was a lot of confusion, it was a mass exodus. I think that you now Joran Van der Sloot just was able to just slip Natalee right out of there before she ever knew what happened. Because the cabs are just lined up they are unidentified they are not clearly marked whatsoever and as I said it was very chaotic and it caught the kids off guard because the bartenders were just like pushing them, rushing them "come on lets go, lets go."



Tyra – Do you think that he drugged her?



Beth – Oh yes. We thought that for a long time and there are some specific reasons why we thought that.



Tyra – What are those reasons?



Beth – Well when Joran describes Natalee, he has her talking about a lot of strange things. Also, he’s describing her in the car where she is coming in and out of consciousness repeatedly and to me that would just seem like to be a red flag.



Tyra -- In and out of consciousness? I know the show today is about Spring break and vacations and one of the signs of a drink being drugged is going in and out consciousness we have a girl here today who is going to talk about that.



Tyra – Tell me about the phone call when you received the phone call that your daughter was missing.



Beth – Oh when we received the call I knew immediately that something was terribly wrong for Natalee not to show up and or gather in the lobby.



Tyra -- When you mean terribly wrong, you mean terribly wrong as in what we know now?


Beth -- Yes.



Tyra-- A mother knows.



Beth-- I just that your instincts, you know, your children you know their habits as far as if they are late or if early. Natalee was just the type of person that she was just always always on time and it was just so out of character for her.



Tyra – What did they say they said your daughter is missing and we don’t know where she is?



Beth – We they said she had not gathered in the Holiday Inn lobby to depart for the airport.




Tyra – How do you keep her spirit alive and it’s odd for me to ask you that because whenever I think of abduction or someone missing in the back of my head I’m going could they possibly be alive somewhere. So for me to ask you how do you keep her memory alive at the same time in the back of my head and I’m wondering in the back of your head do you think that she is alive or do you think that she is gone.



Beth – You know for a long time we really hung on to the hope that Natalee was alive and you know we still don’t know exactly what happened but we know it certainly doesn’t look good. I mean we have we have all this evidence that we have never been able to rule out.


I mean there was blood in the interior portion of the Kalpoe brothers car, they cut out the back seat, the roof there was blood there was DNA present we’ve never been able to find out whose blood that was. So there is so many things that have happened to lead us to believe that it’s not a good outcome for Natalee. You also have to look at the two minority security guards that were implicated early on. They (the suspects) had this elaborate story fabricated within a few hours of us landing on the island so all with all those elements in place.



Tyra - So then I can ask you the question again-- how do you keep her memory alive?



Beth – I feel as if to keep her memory alive, you know, that’s something that every parent can do. But I think to keep her story alive until we have resolution is what all the supports are doing and that’s really where we need to go we need closure. We need to know what happened that night and I think that the path that we’re on if we just continue I think we will get to the bottom of it I do.



Tyra -- I think you will too because you are such a crusader, I remember seeing you on television and you saying I am not leaving here until I find her and I saw in your eyes and I was like she is going to find an answer and find out what happened to her daughter (everyone in the audience is clapping).



Tyra – Can you take us though the current state of the case? What’s going on with the case now?



Beth – Right now we filed a civil lawsuit against Joran Van der Sloot and Paulus Van der Sloot so they have retained an attorney in New York, Joe Tacopina, and he filed a motion in court to dismiss the case based on non convenience forum. Basically what they are saying is they are wanting to dismiss this. They feel this is a case that should be heard in an Aruban court vs. a New York court. But we feel that it is a convenient forum and we probably won’t have any information about his motion to dismiss until May 17th.





Tyra – How do you feel about Joran Van der Sloot? How do you feel about him?



Beth – I can’t imagine a mother and father that have allowed this young man gamble senselessly, drink, and enter these establishments at 17 years of age 16 years of age. I mean he has been entering Carlos n Charlies and gambling at the Texas Holdem table at casinos at least since he was 16 years of age. Here his father was to be preceded as a judge and you know they have absolutely no control over him.





Tyra -- Do you think they were covering things up because was going to be a judge?



Beth -- Oh absolutely. I think that Paulus Van der Sloot has played every card that he could to keep any type of criminal charges being brought against his son.



Tyra –Joran has admitted to sexually assaulting Natalee. He has admitted that.



Beth – Yes, yes by his own admission he has admitted to the sexual assaults he committed against Natalee. He’s admitted them to witnesses, he’s admitted them to interrogators and so yes, this is information that Joran has shared himself.

Part 2--Natalee's friends--Ali, Frances Ellen and Liz

Tyra – Francis I want to ask you about Natalee. Tell me about your friend.

Francis – That’s a difficult question to answer. She was one of my best friends, we had so much fun together, and she was always fun to be around. We just had a really good time and it’s hard to look back on that and answer what was your friend like because it kind of makes you sad to think about that but it’s good to talk about her with all of our friends to remember the good times and kinda remember her that way.

Tyra – I want to go back on to the trip because I didn’t know that you all had chaperones. You actually had adult chaperones watching over you? Who were these chaperones?

Liz – They were just some teachers through out school and the thing is though they weren’t there to baby sit us like we knew going into the trip they were there if we needed them and they were.

Ali – We were going to Aruba where we are of legal age to drink there and this is our graduating senior class and friends so you know they weren’t there to baby sit us but they were great chaperones.

Tyra – Were you guys partying a lot?

Liz – I mean just the normal. We were there to celebrate, so of course you know but we were doing it in moderation and being responsible.

Tyra – Did you feel safe in Aruba? Did you feel very safe there?

Francis – Well one reason we decided to go there is because we had been told that it was one of the safest islands that we could go to and that kind of gave us a false sense of security. I think about when I was there, I didn’t feel really that unsafe there but looking back on it I see "Wow that was really stupid we should haven't done this."

Tyra – Like what certain things did you see looking back that were not safe?

Francis – Well the whole idea of not having a really good buddy system. There was 150 of us there so we kind of assumed, 'well oh if say Liz wasn’t with us right now she is probably with Ali.'

Tyra – There is one thing that I’ve noticed from traveling throughout my past modeling career that a lot of times when people are in a different country or different island that’s not where they are from they assume that it’s safe. They walk down alleys that they would have never walked down, they would talk to guys that they would have probably never talked to when they are home but that place away makes you feel like you are invincible.

Ali – But also I think the one thing we--and I know I have learned from all of this and want to share with others that it can happen no matter where you are. You always have to be aware, your plans; and have a full circle plan of where you are going, who you are with and where you are going to end up with because this isn’t something that happens in a foreign country or in Aruba. It’s going out and having fun could be dangerous anywhere.

Tyra – Liz what do you think you would have done differently in hindsight?

Liz – See that’s the thing about that night, there was no red flags--like we weren’t doing anything...you know we were out together, we were with our friends...we were acting the way we would have been anywhere. I guess we should have been aware of our surroundings and used a buddy system more efficiently. Especially, we didn’t have cell phones that worked there and that was a major problem because if you were to get separated there would be no way to contact anyone you were with.

Tyra – So the buddy system in hindsight? I think that would be the one thing that might have been able to avoid this. One thing I know that one of you said and I think it was Ali that you said this could have happened to any of you. How does that feel knowing that?

Ali – I mean that’s a very kind of surreal and difficult thing to think about because the truth of the matter is Natalee that night was not doing one thing different than any of us were doing. I mean we weren’t going out of control crazy we were just having a good time with all of our classmates and best friends and it’s just really hard to think about that but it’s also one thing that everybody has to know that it can happen no matter where you are to anybody.

Tyra – You wanted to say something Beth?

Beth – Well I was just thinking when I’m listening to the girls and I think they are just phenomenal how they’ve come up with that. This just has to be brought to full circle and I think that when we say 'the buddy system' bringing it to full circle--put as much into how you are ending the night as how your beginning the night.

Tyra -- A lot of girls say 'I’m going to pick you up and then we’re going to do this and we’re going to get there', but you don’t talk about how you are going to get back home.