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Jan. 26, 2006 Is something significant about to occur in the Natalee Holloway case? The winds blowing on the paradise island of Aruba seem to indicate an affirmative response to that question. The investigation has not only stepped up some long-awaited moves, including the interviewing of Ms. Holloway's classmates from Mountain Brook this week; but, it has also been reported that there has been some cadaver dog activity up near the lighthouse on the northern tip of the island. Yes, the FBI has finally been given permission to search the area and Equusearch has returned to Aruba to spend time in the deep waters off that scenic coastline that may well serve as the final resting place of a young girl whose life was taken far too soon. The case is very basic, actually. The facts are few and far between. It has been documented that Natalee Holloway got into a car with three boys, Joran Van der Sloot, Deepak Kalpoe and his younger brother, Satish. They all agreed on one fact, that Joran was the last person to be with Natalee before she disappeared. That is it. That is all we know from a factual standpoint. There have been thousands of speculative comments since then, but none of them have buttressed by any evidence. Girl gets into car. Girl winds up with boy. Girl is never seen again. It is like I said, pretty basic. None of us know her character. None of us can prove Joran had anything to do with her disappearance. None of us has any factual information to support a belief that her mother or father has any ulterior motive or selfish agenda. We just all love to spout our opinions from a distance. It is something that gives us amusement and a sense of egotistic thrill to vent OUR views on what really happened that late spring night in May. Only two people know for certain what happened to Natalee Holloway. And, one of them is probably dead. The other one is simply not talking. So, we come to the fork in the road at last. Aruba is tired of all the controversy and feeling heavy under the weight of the judgements levied against them as a tourist attraction. They want this over with as soon as possible. So, the investigation is now at the, "fish or cut bait" stage so the island can finally have some peace. If the interviews in Alabama produce no real evidence or clues to Natalee's whereabouts and those searchers find nothing in the sand and sea, it is highy likely that the Aruban police will make a final resolution in the case and close it. This will effectively end Beth Twitty's relentless mission to find her daughter. There will be a few books published and perhaps someday, someone will finally go on the record and tell us the real story of that night. But, that someone is not likely to give us any revelations at this time. The other fork in the road is much more dynamic and exciting for the investigative team. If a witness somehow reveals the truth of that night and we have an arrest of a suspect with proof the indictment will stick, then Aruba can also begin to heal and feel a sense of peace that their ongoing international nightmare is finally over. Either way, it is possible that the road taken will bring a sense of closure. That also means closure for the attacks on Beth Twitty, closure for the insinuations of Natalee's lack of character, closure for the ridiculous suggestions that the Twittys and Holloways were somehow manipulating a financial profit out of all this, closure for the Van der Sloot family that may or may not be innocent, but certainly did little to help in the search for a girl last seen by their own son, closure for Joran who at the very least seems remarkably detached that he walked away from a girl who was never seen again and at the most took her life that night, closure for the media who gave Americans what they wanted most on their television screens last summer.. a real, live mystery and, finally, closure for a beleagured investigative team that may or may not be involved in a cover up but at its basic core was ill-equipped both in desire and technical skills to solve this case and too stubborn to allow the FBI to solve it for them. There will be no closure for Beth Twitty or Dave Holloway. How can there be? When a parent loses a child it is difficult enough to bury them but that is nothing compared to never knowing if their baby is dead or alive with the odds very high they will never find out. The best thing we can all do for them is to leave them alone when that final reality hits home and they prepare for the rest of their lives without the daughter they brought into this world and who slipped away from them without ever saying good-bye. No matter what you think of either of these parents personally or in their methods to find their child, they deserve our respect at the end of that long and difficult road which is now forking in one direction...or the other. Soon we will know which direction that will be. That is why Aruba wants to finally traverse this path. This country needs to know its final destination so it can be the only entity it has ever known. An island that knows how to have a good time both legally and illegally. It just never dreamt that a nightmare was beginning to take shape in the early hours outside of Carlos and Charlie's last May. It is now time to wake up and whichever road makes that possible, Aruba will live with it forever. Which means we will have to live with it, too no matter which side we are on. We may not feel comfortable with a fork in the road but it does force us to choose a final destination one way or the other. That is what Aruba needs right now. ------------ About the author: Pat Hurley has won three Emmy awards for writing, hosting and producing television shows. He resides in Southern California. Email: coolhumor@sbcglobal.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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