Judge Keeps Aruba Suspects In Jail

An Aruban judge ruled Wednesday there was sufficient cause to continue holding two former hotel security guards arrested earlier this week in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama honors student.

Judge J.S. Kuiperdal decided that authorities may hold suspects Nick John, 30, and Abraham Jones, 28, while prosecutors investigate them on suspicion of first- and second-degree murder and capital kidnapping, said their respective court-appointed defense lawyers, Noraina Pietersz and Chris Lejuez. Capital kidnapping is a charge brought when an abduction victim is killed. The two suspects have not been formally charged.

Attorney General Caren Janssen confirmed the judge's decision in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

"They are accused of, first of all, murder. Conspiracy to commit murder homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and capital kidnapping," Lejeuz said Wednesday on CBS News' The Early Show.

Both suspects, whom he initially represented, told Lejeuz "they've never seen Natalee Holloway, and they've never spoken to Natalee Holloway," he told co-anchor Hannah Storm.

The suspects were first identified publicly Wednesday by friends and relatives. Pietersz and Lejuez confirmed their identities following the judge's closed-door hearing, which took place at a police station where the men are jailed, outside the capital of Oranjestad.

The former security guards worked for a hotel two blocks from the Holiday Inn where 18-year-old Natalee Holloway had been staying. Their work contracts had expired on May 29, one day before Holloway disappeared, said authorities close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Investigators have not found any solid proof of Holloway's death, however, despite extensive land and water searches, which continued Wednesday. Holloway's parents were holding out hope that she was still alive.

The parents said they had not received any request for ransom or any other evidence that she had been kidnapped or murdered.

"As far as I know, there's no evidence of that, so that gives me hope that Natalee is still alive," stepfather Jug Holloway told Early Show co-anchor René Syler. "That's what we're here to do, is find Natalee."

Judge Kuiperdal will review the former security guards' case again next Wednesday and every eight days after that until there is a final resolution, the defense lawyers said. Aruban law allows authorities to hold the two suspects, who were arrested Sunday, for a total of 116 days without filing formal charges.

In an interview following the hearing, Pietersz said the prosecutors had asked that the defendants be kept in jail at least until next Wednesday, when they hope to conclude their investigation.

Under Aruban law, only serious suspicions from investigators — not solid evidence — are needed for a judge to rule that the suspects can continue to be held, Pietersz said.

"I do believe my client is innocent, that's all I can tell you," she added.

Lejuez asserted earlier Wednesday that there is "no evidence whatsoever" to indicate the suspects had anything to do with Holloway's disappearance.

At least one of the two men had a reputation of trying to pick up women at tourist hotels on the Dutch Caribbean island, police said. But both men insist they never met Holloway, Lejuez said.

Jones' common-law wife, Cynthia De Graaf, said she and her husband were together continuously both on May 29 and May 30.

"He was home. He was even sick," De Graaf said, breaking down in tears as she waited for the hearing to start. "They ruined everything. My daughter has been asking for her father."

Jones' mother, Cynthia Rosalie Jones, 64, added that the only way her son knew about Holloway was from seeing the news on television.

"They have my son there for something he knows nothing about," Jones said emphatically. "My son is innocent."

Police last week questioned and then released three men whom they referred to as "persons of interest." The three told police they took Holloway to a beach and then dropped her off at her hotel the night she vanished.

"Those guys saw her last," said 33-year-old Alvin Cornett, a man who identified himself as a friend of Jones. He added that the case against the former security guards "is like a frame."

"Those other three guys are rich."

Jones and John "are just regular guys," Cornett said.

Holloway vanished while on a five-day trip with more than 100 classmates celebrating their high school graduation. Seven chaperones accompanied them.