Aruba Court Releases Last Holloway Suspect

Joran Van Der Sloot Released In American Teen's Disappearance; Kalpoe Brothers Freed Earlier

(CBS/AP)  A judge has ordered the release of a Dutch suspect who was re-arrested last month in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, the Aruba prosecutors' office said Friday.

The judge called for Joran van der Sloot, 20, to be freed Friday afternoon, according to John Pauly, a communications consultant for Aruba's prosecutors' office. Details of the ruling were not immediately available and a news conference was scheduled for later Friday.

Van der Sloot was arrested Nov. 21 along with two other suspects, Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, who were released from jail on Saturday after a judge found the evidence was not strong enough to continue holding them.

The three men were the last people known to see Holloway alive before she vanished in May 2005 but have denied any role in her disappearance.

Aruba chief prosecutor Hans Mos called the decision to release the Kalpoes a setback, but said the investigation will proceed.

"We had hoped for a longer period to confront these suspects with the material we have against them," he said. "We were not finished with that yet. But this is the way the law says it has to go."

An attorney for Deepak Kalpoe, Hose Figaroa, said his client "is trying to get his life back to normal" and hopes that "finally this case will stop haunting him."

Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, was last seen leaving a bar with the three suspects on May 30, 2005, hours before she was scheduled to return home with fellow high school classmates celebrating their graduation on this Caribbean island.

[rgneufeld]

I find it interesting that her luggage was packed in her room along with her passport. I don''t know about you but when I am abroad I pack my luggage in the morning before I leave the hotel. If she went missing in the evening wouldn''t her hotel room show signs of "a lived in look".
Maybe this girl went missing in the morning after she had her luggage all packed.

[rickstas]

I wonder if these kids could stand up to that great American tradition -- waterboarding!

[pelostilaho]

JH6379 sez - this is boring. move on.

JH6379 would be having the biggest sh*t fit in the world if "her" girlfriend Hillary was declared missing - and presumed dead.

Too bad for this country she isn''t.

Again, if you even have children, Brain Dead Leftist, you''d have a heart. But someone who loves the Clintons, well, this is to be expected from them.

[pelostilaho]

UNBELIEVEABLE.

Dutch people in the Netherlands are stubbornly loyal, true and honest. The Best.

Dutch people and their Indian friends in Aruba are stubborn, liars, dishonest, and deceitful.

GO TO AMSTERDAM BUT BOYCOTT ARUBA

[pvperson]

For a year and a half people have blamed those three without any evidence. She was drunk and she was leaving Aruba in a few hours to go home to Alabama. Isn''t it possible that she wanted one last swim, walked into the ocean and just plain drown.

[denn034]

Those kid''s parents are connected so, what else did anyone think would happen? Here''s hoping that Natalie''s family will get closure eventually.

[apdepetris]

This story is tired.

Move on!
Posted by jh6379 at 03:39 PM : Dec 07, 2007

I bet you wouldn''t be able to move on if this was your child!

[susanhelit]

Sooner or later we all have to face it - Natalee''s family too - there never was any evidence against those three boys. After being interrogated for months, taped when they thought they were alone - there''s never been anything to suggest they were guilty of anything other than going out with a drunk girl, and leaving her alone on a beach.

If it weren''t for the obsessive focus put on these 3 guys, maybe we could have broadened the focus a bit, and seen if there were maybe some other suspects.

[jinxkity]

The Aruba prosecuter reminds me of Nifong.