BOYCOTT ARUBA--JUSTICE FOR NATALEE

Transcript by Michelle Says So
May 17, 2006

JOHN Q. KELLY: This is a multi-front battle. It’s not just the civil case, it’s part of my job since I’ve been engaged here sort of to push them down there after I got involved in November there was new light breathed into the investigation and they have been working hard. They’ve got up to 91 tips from the show they did…they’ve been following up on all of them. There were a couple of other witnesses, in fact, one that I was involved with Dave that was brought to his attention that they are checking out now and a lot of other things that have been going on that we just sort of touch base on.

GRETA: Do you have any sense of optimism that it is going to be solved through a criminal investigation in Aruba at this point?

JOHN: I’m not optimistic, but there’s hope. It’s going to be something quirky at this point.

GRETA …someone finally comes forward and says “I know this, and here it is.”

JOHN: Yeah and it’s going to be someone slipped, or talked, or said the wrong thing in an unguarded moment then we catch a break.

GRETA: It’s suprising that the reward, there is a lot of money on the table that usually attracts information…NONE here.

JOHN: None. I mean, the $250,000 just for information leading to a recovery or something like that. You think anybody who knew anything would hopefully turn on their best friend or if they thought it might even be good information, to come forward and share it right away…so it’s almost like the ‘almost perfect crime.”

GRETA: They are searching today…another search. What provoked this search and where was it?

JOHN: It was in the sea. I don’t know the exact location, but it was based on information we received from the witness.

GRETA: What are they looking for? At this point, I don’t mean to be particularly graphic, but if Natalee was placed in the sea, it seems like there would not be a lot of clues left.

JOHN: Yeah, but there would be a recovery possibly.

GRETA: That whole thing about the trap, is that what they are looking for?

JOHN: They are just looking for weights or something like that, where there would be some indication still or some possibility of a recovery.

GRETA: Deputy Chief Dompig, totally out of the picture at this point?

JOHN: He hasn’t called me (laughs)

GRETA: He hasn’t called me…he hung up on me the last time I tried to call him.

JOHN: Yeah, totally out of the picture as far as I know. By the way, a piece of information and a lot of talk about Janssen stepping down this summer and leaving the case. Absolutely no truth to that.

GRETA: Is she going to stay on until it is solved?

JOHN: Well, she said until next year.

Beth and Dave Speak

GRETA: Dave I think that you and Beth have been unable to catch a breath or get any good luck on this, and even today you came all the way from Mississippi to go to the hearing, and you never made it.

DAVE: Never made it. My plane…fog got us caught up in Cincinnati and just as I got here the hearing was over.

GRETA: I have to tell you, seeing the father of a missing child would be quickly racing up with his luggage to the courthouse…it’s hard to watch that. Just hoping to get some answers.

DAVE: Yeah, sometimes you just can’t catch a break, but maybe we will this time.

GRETA: Beth, you sat in the courtroom and watched it…what do you think? Were you nervous?

BETH: Oh Greta, I haven’t been that nervous and anxious and just so emotional…it took me back to June. It honestly did. I think that the difficult task she has before her. And I know it won’t be an easy decision, whatever she comes to…I know that.

GRETA: Can you live with a decision that the case gets thrown out…what happens then?

BETH: You know Greta, after sitting there today and seeing what is before her (judge) I know that we will be respectful for whatever decision she comes to. Of course we wanted her to hear us, but I know it’s a difficult task before her and we will have to be respectful and supportive of her decision that she hands down.

GRETA: You know Dave, when I first met both of you down in Aruba, I thought this was a day story. Whether there would be good news or bad news. I never dreamed that the three of us would be sitting in NY a year later, still no answers. It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?

DAVE: Well, I had a flight plan for Aruba to go home within 3 days, and here we are almost a year later. It is unbelievable.

GRETA: The most recent search, do you have any hope in that search today?

DAVE: We initially discounted the witness and we called his bluff and he put himself on the line of being deported from Aruba. So, maybe there is something there.

GRETA: What is it that he claims he might have seen or might have known…did he actually see something? Is that what is going on with this latest witness?

DAVE: Well, I don’t want to get in too much details, but he indicated that he saw something and he had some evidence. We made some arrangements with him and Jossy Mansur to meet directly with the prosecutor. So, maybe there’s something to it.

GRETA: Beth, do you have any faith in these latest searches or do you have search fatigue at this point?

BETH: Hmmm…I think I have search fatigue at this point. I know Tim Miller is trying to gear up and go back to the island and I think that there is always that possibility, there’s always that chance and we just have to keep hopeful. It just becomes an overwhelming task of just wondering…are we ever going to get any type of break at all? I just don’t know.

GRETA: Why do you think you can’t catch a break. This has been going on…whether it’s Dave at the landfill in 200,000 degrees, and you handing out flyers and asking questions. It’s a year later, and it’s like you haven’t gotten a break.

BETH: And you know I really thought we were. I really thought that we would have with reward money…in fact that once we raised it to $250,000…just information that leads to her whereabouts. Anything! I mean anything! And we have the million in place for her safe return. But I just kept thinking that was going to help…that was going to bring about something. It’s just hard for me to realize that a year has gone by and it didn’t…absolutely nothing.

GRETA: Dave, is there one major blunder in the investigation that makes you the maddest?

DAVE: The most obvious was when they waited nine days in which to make an arrest when Beth handed the three suspects over on a silver platter...the first day. It seems like they just turned their head and decided to look elsewhere.

GRETA: It’s hard to imagine your two lives. What it’s come to. You both have gone off, have other families, other marriages and now you are back together…to do the worst thing, to try and find your daughter.

BETH: I don’t think that any parent can imagine themselves being in our shoes….it’s just unbelievable that we have to be here this long, too. Just searching…just searching for anything to lead us to what they did with her that night. And that’s what’s been so frustrating about it. It’s just gone on for so long now.

GRETA: Dave, when you see other missing children, do you ever imagine the pain can be as bad as it is…and now you see these other stories…hundreds of them. Every night we do them.

DAVE: You sit down and watch TV, flip through the channels and see all of it, and then all of a sudden you are thrown into it, and then you have a new respect for those people who have lost missing loved ones.

GRETA: How did you first hear that Natalee was missing?

DAVE: I was sitting on the back patio enjoying Memorial Day weekend. Matt called and indicated that Natalee missed her flight and that Beth was on her way to Aruba on a private jet.

GRETA: What do you think, there’s my daughter acting like an 18 year old?

DAVE: Oh no…I was concerned. I know she was very prompt…always on time, never late for anything. It’s just by the book…just dot the I’s and cross the T’s…I knew something was wrong.

GRETA: (to Beth) And you were on the road when you got the cell phone call.

BETH: I was.

GRETA: Likewise, you didn’t think this was just…

BETH: I knew immediately. I knew within seconds.

GRETA: Is it just Natalee’s personality?

BETH: I think from a mother’s intuition and just of course knowing Natalee…no, I knew immediately. I even was calling a friend of mine just trying to find out if they knew of anyone who was a private pilot. And I remember telling her and we talked about it…it happens just like this, doesn’t it? I knew then.

GRETA: And your life immediately changed in a split second…and nothing has been the same for either one of you.

BETH: No.

GRETA: Can you go without thinking about this for a day, Dave?

DAVE: No…you think about it all the time. You wake up thinking about it, you think about it all day. You know, you work and your work helps you get it off your mind. But you still have that slight moment of whatever is on your mind…you go to bed thinking about it, you even dream about it. What happened and where is she?

GRETA: Do you, I remember talking to Sharon Rocha, and she told me that she would hear the phone ring, and she would think it’s Laci…and then, oh no, it’s not Laci. I mean you get sort of those phantom thoughts that it’s a daughter gone.

BETH: You know I had my first dream about Natalee about two weeks ago, Greta. And that was just really…I was just so…I think some parents would be difficult to dream about their missing loved one, but to me, it had been so long since I had a dream about Natalee before June. It was wonderful…it was the first time and it was about two weeks ago.

GRETA: We haven’t seen either one of you have lost your temper and broken down. I mean, I imagine this isn’t how you really are in private about this.

BETH: Oh no…no.

DAVE: You have those bad days.

BETH: Yeah, sometimes you have really bad days. Really bad days. Absolutely.

GRETA: Do you ever think that there is a point where you stop? You give up…you say you are not going to get the answers.

DAVE: You can’t. If you have kids, you understand that you don’t give up on your kids. You just don’t all of a sudden say, well, I’m just going to stop. Sometimes you think about it…how much longer can I go…how much longer can I continue doing this…and someone will come up and give you that support and a call, or a thank you card, or whatever. And it will get you fired up again.

GRETA: And we look at your families…all the families were down there.

BETH: We’ve been so fortunate and we still have a huge support group, as Dave said. There are people that are encouraging us and supporting us on a daily basis to get to the bottom of it. I just don’t think it’s just Dave and I, her stepmother and stepfather want an answer…a lot of us do.

GRETA: Will Karin Janssen solve this? Is she the one, if it can be solved?

BETH: Well I think if she could have done it, she would have done it a long time ago.

GRETA: So you are finished with her? I mean in your mind, she is out right now.

BETH: Well I certainly hope she can prove me wrong. And I would love nothing more for her to solve this. But, a lot of time has passed by...a lot of frustration, and I think she had a prime opportunity to solve this.

GRETA: Has she been good to you in a sense that she is been dismissive…is there a way to describe your relationship with her?

BETH: I think that her relationship with, and I can speak for myself, it was very difficult for me to get her to communicate with the family…and I had been told by several officials there that they do communicate with families during a crisis like this…but for some reason I was just not able to get communication from her. Of course John Kelly has been very successful at it…that’s a good thing.

GRETA: How about you Dave? In terms of dealing with the police and Karin Janssen?

DAVE: Well, you know my book was out, and I think there are some police officers who are working against us…I think there is a lot more that is working with us, but there are some elements there that I think helped these kids out.

GRETA: An unbelievable amount of sadness I see in you guys. Early on I saw you with more drive, now I feel the sadness. It just doesn’t go away.

BETH: No. No, it doesn’t . You know what I think with me, I think that, of course the sadness is so overwhelming but I’ll be honest Greta, the anger, the anger really tends to override the sadness when I see what all Natalee has missed and what she is missing, and what she will continue to miss for the rest of her life…and THAT is what drives me.

GRETA: And I’ve seen it in a lot of parents is that when they are driven and when they are looking for answers, you don’t feel that sadness because they are on such a mission to find the child…and then you get to the point where it’s like, ‘what’s the next step?’

DAVE: Well, you’ve got a picture up on the wall and imagine her walking through…you just can’t get that out of your mind. You just keep on going.

New York Bar Association Accuses Bush and the U.S. as Having:

"Inflexible antagonism toward the ICC may be harmful to larger foreign policy interests."

Click on image to enlarge and read:

Links to the Rome Statute, The Hague Convention, and Other Information:

ICC--International Criminal Court

Rome Statute of ICC

The Hague on Private International Law

Statute of The Hague Convention

By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK -- The mother of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teen who vanished in Aruba, heard arguments in court for the first time Wednesday about whether the trial of her lawsuit over her daughter's disappearance should be held in New York.

Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was 18 when she went missing in May 2005 during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island with classmates. In February, her parents, Elizabeth Twitty, of Alabama, and Dave Holloway, of Mississippi, sued Joran van der Sloot, who was questioned about the teen's disappearance, and his father, Paulus.

The parents' lawsuit accused Joran van der Sloot, 18, of imprisoning and sexually assaulting their daughter and causing her disappearance. It also said his father had enabled his delinquent behavior, including the Dutch youth's underage drinking.

A lawyer for the van der Sloots, Joseph Tacopina, told the court the case should be dismissed or sent to Aruba. He argued that the parties, the witnesses, the physical evidence and the events that led to the lawsuit have no connection to New York.

"It would be impossible to try this case and defend this case in New York," Tacopina told state Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick. "This state, you honor, has absolutely no interest in this matter."

A lawyer for Twitty and Holloway, Scott Balber, served the van der Sloots with the lawsuit when they arrived in New York from Holland for an interview with ABC News. In that interview, Joran van der Sloot denied involvement in Natalee Holloway's disappearance.

Balber told the judge the case should be heard in New York in part because the law gives "deference to the plaintiff's choice of forum." No site is perfect, Balber said, not New York, Aruba, Alabama or Mississippi.

"This is their last chance for justice, to find out what happened to their daughter," Balber told the judge. Balber said it was up to the defendants to prove that a New York trial would be so inconvenient and burdensome that it would not serve the interests of justice.

The arguments in Manhattan's state Supreme Court lasted about 25 minutes and basically reiterated points the lawyers had made previously in court papers. The judge said she would notify the lawyers when she reached a decision.

Twitty entered the courthouse minutes before the proceeding and said nothing to waiting news reporters. After the hearing, she and her lawyers left the courthouse immediately without commenting.

By Meri, Aruban Boycott Blogger

I just watched both Beth and Dave on Greta's show and watching their faces was absolutely heart-breaking. The weariness, the pain and the sadness were almost too much to handle.

Greta asked them very personal and probing questions and they answered every single one of them. Beth admitted that she is angry and Dave just looked defeated since his plane was delayed and he didn't make it on time for the hearing in the Court today. Greta said that watching the father of a missing child run into a courtroom dragging his luggage was awful to see.

I can only imagine...no...wait...I can't imagine.
I can't even fathom how that must have looked and felt.

I read the hate sites and how they gloat and call Beth ugly names and pander to Joran and Joe T. and I feel ill. I wonder how those people can exist without making themselves physically ill by the very sight of their own faces in the mirror. How can they NOT feel compassion for these parents...for their lost child???

Joe T., with his puffed up chest acting all confident and powerful and sure and talking about how Joran is pleased with the case and how he's doing well at school.

School...Joran is alive, he's at school, he breathes and Natalee is not. Natalee will never go to school or get married or have children...but Joran is fine.

The Judge has a tough decision to make and despite the screeching lawyers on Rita Cosby's show and the jurisdictional issues, the case could go either way. There is precedent and that's all that's needed in law. Of course, the chances are remote because none of the parties reside in New York and the case is in a very gray area of law....either way would be right and either way would be legally binding.

There will be no appeals no matter how the Judge rules. If Joe T. loses he will file more motions and seek postponement after postponement but the case would eventually go forward.

If John Kelly loses he has no place to go except to Aruba and we all know what kind of treatment this case would get there.

Beth thanked their supporters and I almost wanted to scream out that I am doing NOTHING to help...that I feel trapped in a web of helplessness. I can only keep on writing and keep on letting her and Dave know that we are here....we won't leave, that we care.

No answers....no breaks.....no luck.....no Natalee.

In my faith I was taught never to pray for anything frivolous and never to pray for myself so in keeping with that I will ask God to give Dave and Beth a break...give them peace, give them the truth, give them justice.

If you are innocent Joran, show US that you are innocent.

Joran, if you are "stone cold innocent" (maybe you should hire Mark Geragos...a real scumbag like you.) then why not take a lie detector test by an independant party who knows nothing about the case.

Lie detector results aren't admissible anyway...but at least show the public you are not lying!

Video Recap of Today's Events:

Why is the civil case being tried in a New York court? That is what the defense posed today before the judge who asked why the whole thing should be thrown out?

Holloway’s parents are suing Joran van der Sloot and his father. Joran was among the last people to see Holloway before she went missing almost a year ago. The lawsuit claimed that Joran van der Sloot kidnapped and hurt her, and that his father helped him cover it up.

Trace Gallagher, Fox Reporter:

The only reason why we are arguing this case here is because a couple of months ago, Joran and his father came to New York to do one of the morning shows in New York and the Holloway camp snuck up on them and served them both with summons.

Well now, the Van der Sloot attorney, Joe Tacopina says this case is impossible to defend here for several reasons: One, because it didn’t happen here, and two, Aruban law would have to apply and you have all these translation issues; and most importantly he said New York has no subpoena power in Aruba, and therefore you cannot compel witnesses to testify.

The Holloway attorneys firing back saying New York signed onto the Hague Convention, that way they do have subpoena power. And they say this is nothing more than a simple sexual assault case…it’s the best way for Natalee’s family they say to achieve justice.

Van der Sloot’s lawyer says they are willing to fight—in Aruba.

Joe Tacopina:

“If they were ready to serve us papers today to move the case to Aruba, we gladly accept on behalf of our clients. They are not afraid of the facts of the litigation. They just want a fair shot at defending the case.”

Trace Gallagher:

The suit alleges that Joran sexually assaulted Natalee Holloway and then held her against her will. And that his father turned a blind eye to his son’s often violent behavior. As for the Judge, she took all this information of 45 minutes or arguing under advisement.

A decision could come any day.

by Meri, Boycott Blogger

The days drag on leading to that one horrid moment when Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway must acknowledge that an entire year has gone by since their daughter vanished off the face of the earth. How must that feel? How do they endure the pain of not knowing, of not seeing her smiling face, of missing milestones in her young life?

They aren't the first parents to face this sort of horror and they won't be the last; but they may be the most well known by the public at this point in time. While other children go missing and some are even found, Dave and Beth have little hope of ever knowing what Natalee's fate was on that night in May, 2005. Again, they aren't the first and they won't be the last.

Today, a New York Judge took under consideration their filing of a civil lawsuit against the young man last known to have seen Natalee and his father, who they claim enabled him to run around on an Island doing whatever he pleased at any time of the day or night. Drinking, gambling, picking up tourist girls.....all a part of this young man's apparent behavioral patterns up to and including the night of May 29th, 2005. No one stopped him from his pursuit of all the pleasures that his Island home had to offer. No one could reign him in and keep him from indulging in activities that were illegal even according to the lenient laws of his Country.

Perhaps they tried as most parents would do when they became aware that their child was taking part in activities that are reckless and harmful and perhaps they anguished over their inability to stop him from heading down a slippery slope to serious trouble. According to his mother there was nothing to stop; he was not even guilty of those transgressions. She chose to see him as a scholar with a perfect record of clean living and obedience to his parents and teachers.

I asked myself if I would have done the same thing as the mother of this boy if it had been my own son who was out drinking and gambling on school nights. Would I? Could I stop my own son? I don't have an answer to those questions because I was not confronted with anything quite so serious when my children were teenagers.

Did my sons listen to me when I tried to educate them about the dangers of drugs and other harmful behavior? They did, and they all grew up and now have good lives. They all earn a living, are married and some have children of their own. None of them is infamous for being involved in the disappearance of another human being and none of them were ever on the news on a nightly basis. Does that mean that it couldn't have happened; probably not. I guess that I was lucky or maybe I refused to hide my head in the sand whenever I discovered that my kids were headed in the wrong direction. Maybe I deserve no credit at all and my kids are just not prone to harm other people. I will never know and I thank God for that.

The mother and father of the young man who was last known to have been with Natalee Holloway before she vanished may be decent people and I'm sure that they have high hopes for all of their children just as Beth and Dave had high hopes for their daughter. The fact that their paths crossed and one of them never returned and the other has a dark cloud hanging over his head was probably something that they couldn't foresee....or maybe they knew that it could happen because their son was headed for a fall and they couldn't or wouldn't stop him?

Even if the young man is innocent of harming Natalee and everything that happened was accidental the boy lied and complicated matters. He prevented the authorities from retrieving evidence in a timely manner and was responsible for the arrest of two men who had nothing to do with Natalee's disappearance. The young man has cost his family dearly both financially and emotionally and whether they recognize it or not, he has brought shame to his entire family. His actions following his last night with Natalee Holloway led people to suspect him and accuse him whether or not he committed a heinous crime or simply the crime of obstructing an investigation and preventing a family from knowing what happened to their daughter.

What if he had told the truth from the beginning? Would that have changed things, would we know more about what happened to Natalee? I suspect that we would but none of us will ever know for sure because he lied and covered up his actions.

I ponder the various scenarios that might have taken place if the young man had not lied. I go over the possibilities in my mind and yet I still come back to the first lie, the lie that was heard 'round the world and on the nightly news broadcasts, the lie that resonates in the minds and hearts of Natalee Holloway's family and friends and their supporters. The lie that led us to this day a year later.

While the Judge in New York deliberates on whether or not to dismiss the civil suit brought by the family of Natalee Holloway I also deliberate what would have happened had that lie not been told.

Sometimes life is not fair and we don't get logical answers to our questions. Sometimes we have to learn to live with a hollow place in our hearts that were once filled with life, laughter and vitality.

I know that Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway have to learn to live with that hollow place and I know that they must wonder when it will be time to say, "Enough". Somehow, I doubt that they will ever reach that point as long as people like the young man who left a nightclub with Natalee, police officers who have their own apparent agendas and politicians who are afraid to allow the truth to come out continue to expand on that first lie.

Such a small thing, one little lie...has changed so many lives...forever.

From Blogs For Natalee

Larry King Live – CNN - Wednesday 05/17/06

1st Segment: Dave Holloway, Beth Twitty & John Q. Kelly, from New York

2nd Segment: Joe Tacopina, from New York

Time: 9:00 pm Eastern

On The Record w/Greta – Fox News – Wednesday 05/17/06

Dave Holloway to be Greta’s guest, from New York

Time: 10:00 pm Eastern, Replay: 3:00 am Eastern

It's a bird, it's a plane...Is it the Pink Panther?

NO...it's Big Pimpin' Joran!

Deep Thoughts, by Joran Van der Pimp

I've been thinking and contemplating for some time now...and this is the perfect opportunity to use my media spotlight to develop and sell my own clothes line. So far, I think I will be naming my summer line "Big Pimpin' with Joran".

Next I will be coming out with my first full length CD recording. I consulted Eminem on how to trash and demean defenseless women in my rap writing and I talked to Vanilla Ice about my image. I'm all set, beeeatch!

More to come from me, Joran the PIMP!

By Mike Ferlazoo, with Laura Barlament

Most football players will tell you that they play the sport for the pure love of the game. George Twitty loves it too, but football took on extra meaning last season for the 5-11, 180 pound junior starting free safety.

That’s because Twitty is the stepbrother of Natalee Holloway, the Birmingham, Alabama teen that has been missing in Aruba since May 30 of last year.

He paid tribute to her each time he laced up his cleats—writing “N” on the left heel, and “H” on the right heal on the white tape that wrapped his shoes. He also wore an orange rubber bracelet under the glove on his left wrist with the words, “Faith, hope, and prayer for Natalee.”

Most of his teammates also wore the bracelets, which were ordered for a prayer vigil for Natalee in Birmingham last summer. Twitty says that these friends have been his greatest source of support at Sewanee.

“I always got support from my roommates and teammates…Just being with me was important. They didn’t have to say anything. It’s hard to be alone. Just to hang out together was helpful.”

But Twitty and his teammates had to endure even more heartache. Only a few days after Twitty had returned from Aruba, where he spent two weeks with his family searching for Natalee, he was back at Sewanee for the start of summer school on June 13. On June 14, wide receiver, Stephen Motley, C’08—one of those good friends who was there with Twitty when his sister disappeared was killed in a car accident.

They honored both by overcoming a 2-4 start to win three of their last four games and finish 5-5.

…”He has such strength of character, the way he’s dealt with it,” Sewanee coach John Windham told the Huntsville Alabama Times. “As hard as I can imagine it is, he’s dealt with it beautifully. He’s been encouraging all of us while we try to encourage him.”

Twitty initially started at home in Birmingham with his 17-year old stepbrother, Matt, following Natalee’s disappearance. But after a week or so, they flew to Aruba to join their parents, Jug Twitty and Beth Holloway Twitty in the search.

Ultimately, Twitty’s dad advised him that the best thing he could do was stay focused on his dreams of going to medical school and continuing to play college football. That proved to be good advice.

“I think Sewanee’s location helps me. There are not many distractions. I can try and keep my mind on academics. It’s a way for me to get away from the way it was in Birmingham, when there’s news everywhere. Being up here when you don’t have to worry about that confusion is good. I try and keep my mind on my work.”

With the amount of television coverage Natalee’s case has continued to receive, he appreciates that Sewanee’s dorm rooms are not wired for cable. He says his father keeps him updated with news from home and tells him when there’s TV coverage that he might want to watch in the dorm commons room, like when Barbara Walters interviewed Beth Twitty as one of the “10 Most Fascinating People” of 2005. “That was pretty cool,” he says.

…Although he keeps his mind focused on his work and athletic involvement in Sewanee, he keeps Natalee close to him too by wearing the orange bracelet—which he never takes off. He hopes that others notice it every time he swings a club and remember to pray for Natalee as well.