Blond Hair On Tape Found In Aruba

DNA Testing To Be Done In The Netherlands, FBI Lab In Virginia

(AP)  Investigators said Monday they will conduct DNA tests on blond hair attached to duct tape that was found along Aruba's coast to see if it came from Natalee Holloway in a possible break to the six-week-old mystery.

A park ranger found the duct tape while collecting trash Sunday on rocks at Boca Tortuga, an inlet near a series of caves on Aruba's northeast coast, said National Park Ranger Service spokeswoman Dilma Arends.

Boca Tortuga is on the opposite side of Aruba from where the 18-year-old was last seen in public, and her father expressed little hope that the find would yield an important clue.

"We've had a lot of information that turned out false," David Holloway said as he prepared to leave Aruba and return home to Meridian, Miss.

The ranger who made the find, Mario Rasmijn, said there were several strands, each about 12 inches long, and that some were light blond and others were dark.

The hair will be sent to the Netherlands for DNA analysis, said police spokesman Edwin Comemencia. Aruba, a Dutch protectorate, doesn't have a lab to conduct the genetic testing.

A separate test will be conducted by the FBI at its lab in Quantico, Va., said FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela in Miami.

It was unknown when the results would be disclosed.

Searches by Dutch marines, Aruban police, and some 2,000 volunteers have found no trace of Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., who was last seen in public in the early hours of May 30, at the end of a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island.