ORANJESTAD, Aruba (18 Apr 2006) -- Aruban prosecutors said Tuesday that a 19-year-old man arrested over the weekend is being held on suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. The man -- whom police have identified only by the initials G.v.C. -- "is suspected of criminal offenses that may be related to the disappearance of Miss Holloway and of offenses related to dealing in illegal narcotics," the prosecution said in a written statement. He has not been charged with a crime, and no one has been charged in connection with Holloway's disappearance. The prosecutor planned to hold the suspect for eight days, the statement said. He was arrested on Saturday and was scheduled to appear Tuesday before a judge. The Aruban newspaper Diario identified him as Geoffrey van Cromvoirt, the brother of a police officer, and published photographs of him attending his sister's swearing-in ceremony. Holloway was celebrating her high school graduation with classmates and parental chaperones on Aruba, a self-governing Dutch protectorate off Venezuela, when she disappeared nearly a year ago. A search of the tiny island by Dutch Marines, the FBI and hundreds of volunteers failed to find her. Holloway, then 18, was last seen leaving a nightclub in Oranjestad on May 30, 2005, with three other youths: Dutch national Joran van der Sloot, the 18-year-old son of an Aruban judge; and Surinamese brothers Deepak, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18. The Kalpoes told police they dropped off Holloway and Van der Sloot near a lighthouse at a beach north of the Marriott hotel after they left the nightclub. Van der Sloot's mother said her son told her he was on the beach with Holloway but left her there alone because she wanted to stay. | | Geoffrey van Cromvoirt The three men were arrested in June and later released after a court ruled there was insufficient evidence to hold them. The Kalpoe brothers were re-arrested and again freed in September. All three have maintained their innocence. At one point, van der Sloot's father, Paul, and a disc jockey also were taken into custody, then released. In February, Holloway's parents, Dave Holloway and Beth Twitty, filed a lawsuit against Joran van der Sloot. In court documents, the parents accuse him of "malicious, wanton and willful disregard of the rights, safety and well-being of the plaintiffs and their daughter." SOURCE - CNN |
