CBS News/ May 10, 2011, 10:02 AM

Natalee Holloway's mom: She's dead

Nearly six years ago, Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba.

Her mother, Beth Holloway, has been relentless in her pursuit of the truth in her daughter's case, which is still unsolved.

But on "The Early Show" Tuesday, when speaking about her new Lifetime TV series, Beth Holloway admitted she doesn't think her daughter is alive today.

Photos: Stephany Flores Murder
Photos: Van der Sloot Wanted for Murder
Photos: Natalee Holloway, Paradise Lost

She said she reached the realization after learning of the death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, allegedly at the hands of Joran van der Sloot in Peru.

She said, "(When) I discovered ferocity in which he murdered Stephany Flores. That put it in perspective for me as to what transpired with Natalee."

Van der Sloot has been charged with Flores' murder and is a "person of interest" in Natalee Holloway's disappearance. Van der Sloot has been in a prison in Lima, Peru, since June 2010, pending trial. Van der Sloot admitted details of Flores' murder to a Peruvian newspaper last year, saying he hit Flores repeatedly after she looked at his laptop. He has, in recent years, admitted to involvement in Natalee Holloway's death and then recanted his accounts.

Holloway told Wragge, "It was after ... the shocking news. For me to hear that Joran had murdered another young woman, I think that's when it all came into perspective for me as to who this young man was, and he's a violent - he's a killer."

Prior to airing her new show, Lifetime also aired a documentary that showed video of Holloway visiting van der Sloot in prison last year in Peru.

Wragge asked Holloway to describe her experience of seeing him behind bars.

"I never could have imagined that I was going to be face-to-face with Joran in prison," Holloway said. "Opportunity presented itself. All parents missing a loved one will do anything and everything. And I decided, 'OK, I want to be face-to-face with him again."'

She said she was able to enter the prison with help from documentary filmmaker Peter De Vries and his team, but said she visited the prison like any other woman that day.

"It was Wednesday afternoon, Ladies' Day. I went through the proper protocol, and it just happened," she said.

Wragge asked if she was able to learn anything from talking to van der Sloot.

She responded, "No, really, as a mother, I didn't go there to get information from Joran. Because, obviously, we can't do that. We've known that's just not going to happen. We're going to go there to get information. Just remind him, I'm still there. Obviously, I'm not going to go anywhere. And show him how easy it was to walk in and be face-to-face with him."

She added, "What I think felt the best to me is when I walked out of there and left him in prison where he belongs."

Though Holloway is still looking for more information about her daughter's disappearance, she's now examining other disturbing and unsolved missing persons cases on her new Lifetime show called "Vanished with Beth Holloway."

Holloway told Wragge the show is an extension of what she's done before with families of missing relatives.

"I had been doing it quietly in the years before (the show)," she said. "It had been five years I had gone in to the search of a missing loved one, just working with law enforcement, helping to organize the search, connecting the family to resources. So now I feel like I had a larger platform, something I never imagined I would be able to help to the depths that we can now."

Holloway said her years of telling high school and college students about personal safety and travel safety have been therapeutic for her.

The show, however, has thrust her message to a larger audience.

"Within every 'Vanished' episode, there is a message of travel safety, personal safety, whether it's something as simple as what we think as parents as the buddy system or bringing your plans full circle, which is how do you want to end your outing at night. So those messages are there, they're the ones we've taught our children all their lives, but I think now they're in such a powerful format, it can open up conversations with your young adults (about) choices to make."

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
12 Comments Add a Comment
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blankandorange says:
What's with these cruel unnecessary comments ?? If one of my children went missing and I never got an answer, I might do the same thing. You do what ever comforts you and maybe that's what it does for Beth. If you don't care at all, then why are you on this blog. Move on to another.....
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JayRadar says:
Sorry, but I don't think it's right that she is now seeming to profit off of her daughter's death by getting a TV show, it actually sickens me. Sure she can say she isn't but, she really is. If she is getting paid to do this show, then she IS profiting from her daughter's possible death, shame on her.

She should have stuck with going around to high schools and telling females to not be stupid like Natalee and that it is dangerous to go off with strange men and to get drunk to the point she did this, AND to never accept a drink or leave a drink alone because maybe someone has drugged it. But Natalee went with those guys of her own free will, jumped in the car with them, they did not force her her friends said. She basically killed herself by these stupid actions. I partied in college, but NEVER got drunk, nor left with a strange guy(s) or accepted drinks, my friends and I stayed together. Sorry Natalie didn't have the smarts to know this and BEHAVE herself. Sorry for her family to find out this way, what type of girl she was.
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vista8635 says:
I don't normally do this, but, in the interest of justice, can I be honest? I think I saw Natalee Hollaway in an XXX porn video on xhampster.com. The audio on the video had South American and/or European foreign male accents too. Female sex trafficking disgusts me. Needless to say, the thought of maybe seeing Natalee Hollaway in a porn video was very disturbing! God help me; I'm just saying.

http://xhamster.com/movies/97013/white_teen_girl_gets_plugged_by_2_big_black_cocks.html
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vista8635 says:
I don't normally do this, but, in the interest of justice, can I be honest? I think I saw Natalee Hollaway in an XXX porn video on xhampster.com. The audio on the video had South American and/or European foreign male accents too. Female sex trafficking disgusts me. Needless to say, the thought of maybe seeing Natalee Hollaway in a porn video was very disturbing! God help me; I'm just saying&

http://xhamster.com/movies/97013/white_teen_girl_gets_plugged_by_2_big_black_cocks.html
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senca67 says:
Not being cruel.
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mb91764 says:
OK, we figure that out a long time ago.now moms let that be a lesson ,if your child want to go to a little island to party.
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senca67 replies:
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Why is it whenever there's a high profile case, she has to show up? It's over.
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bnigboy says:
Hopefully her show will be as successful and helpful as America's Most Wanted, which John Walsh started after the tragic death of his son. He turned his personal loss into a crusade to bring other child killers to justice, as it seems Ms. Holloway is doing as well. We should be grateful that some parents will not let the disappearance of their children go away and are willing to help others find closure to their own tragedies.
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us_1776 says:
Beth, I hope that Peru gives van der Sloot a life sentence with no possibility of parole in the Flores case.

So even if Natalee's case is never solved, this monster will never leave his prison for the rest of his life.


.
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brian_norwood says:
Ok. Enough is enough. This mother seems to keep wanting her 15 minutes extended. Tragic story. We get it. But, not to be cruel, go away.
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dal_5719 replies:
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Seriously? I'm sure this mother would rather have NEVER had her 15 minutes to have just 5 more minutes with her daughter.
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