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Corruption And Collusion Inhibited Search for Natalee Holloway

Department of Justice official and Dutch Judges drastically limited the search of the Van der Sloot property as a favor to Joran van der Sloot’s father. Despite what Aruban government officials led the U.S. media to believe, there was never a full search made of the Van Der Sloot property in order to find evidence in the case of missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway.

October 19, 2005

Dompig: That is correct. The fact is that we as a law enforcement agency always try to get the maximum. Meaning that we want to search as much places as possible. We were not granted by the judge a search warrant for the complete house, we only received the warrant for the apartment.

Reporter: But what about after Paul Van der Sloot was arrested, couldn’t you get a warrant to search the house then?

Dompig: It was also denied, we were a bit disappointed with that. The judge was coming from another island I must point out. He said we didn’t make a good enough case to get a warrant.

Although a warrant for a search was originally requested and granted to the prosecutor, officers were blocked from searching the main residence and grounds by Justice Department official Ben King (Voking) and Dutch Judge Bob Wit, who were waiting at the Van Der Sloot’s premises when the search team arrived.

November 27, 2006

VAN SUSTEREN: What about the search of the van der Sloot property? Was that ever done, and was, you know--including, sort of, the cabana area where Joran lives?

DE VRIES: Well, the search in the home address of the family van der Sloot was very strange because the search warrant was made by head prosecutor Karin Janssen, and contained an allowance to search the whole address, “Montanja nineteen.” So, the gardens, the buildings--everything. But, when the police was on the spot, another high-ranking employee of the Justice office--it was Mr. Bob Wit--reduced the search warrant to only the room of Joran--and that was very strange.

November 28, 2006
Robert Jensen show

DEVRIES: Yes the police missed several changes to do things right: when they wanted to search the house the door was opened by Mr. Ben King, an assistant of the Procurements Gen. office, the highest justice-office on the island, and a friend of the family who wanted to support the VdSloots in these difficult times… So clearly the search of the house hadn’t been a surprise to the VdSloots. And the police had a warrant for the complete estate but a judge - Bob Wit - who was at the house as well said only Joran's room could be searched.

These are things a Dutch crime-reporter is of course totally astonished about. Justice Department official Ben King, who later admitted to the media that he was a close friend of Paulus Van der Sloot, claimed he was on vacation and therefore not acting on behalf of the Justice department. It was King who personally informed the search team they could only search the small apartment of Joran Van Der Sloot, located in the back yard of the property just behind the main residence, when they arrived.

Also present at the Van Der Sloot residence was Dutch Judge Bob Wit from Curacao, who was one judge presiding over the case. It should be noted that Paulus Van der Sloot was a Dutch judge-in-training at the time of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance.

Although Joran Van Der Sloot was arrested on June 9, 2005 the Aruba Prosecutor Karin Janssen did not execute a search of the Van Der Sloot residence until nearly a week later on June 15th with members of her office, the Aruba Police department, and Dutch forensics specialists from Holland in tow.

The search itself of the Van Der Sloot apartment looks now to be nothing more than a “mock raid” for media consumption purposes. The search lasted only four hours and was conducted in the middle of the day, quite a contrast to the early morning raid the same Prosecutor ordered on the residences of two black security guards on June 5th. The two security guards were arrested at 6:30 am and “perp walked” for the mainstream media who also got to witness their residences being ransacked. It was later proven both guards had alibis for the night Ms. Holloway disappeared and no evidence was found at either of their homes which ultimately led to their release.

The fact that the Van Der Sloot residence and grounds were not searched was kept hidden from the media until mid-October when acting Police Chief Gerold Dompig revealed his department was denied a full search of the Van der Sloot property on not one, but two occasions. In addition to being denied a full search on June 15th, a second request to search the main residence was flatly denied by a Dutch judge when Paulus Van Der Sloot was arrested on June 23rd.

Judicial rulings in the Natalee Holloway case have been riddled with questionable decisions, leading many to believe Paulus Van der Sloot’s personal and professional connections to the Justice Department, Aruba Police Department, and the Dutch judges have deliberately tried to keep the case from being solved.

It now appears there has finally been a proper decision made in this case by Judge Rick Smid. The decision to retain three of Natalee's attackers as official suspects is the first positive step in a very long time. Will Aruban officials take their cue from this Judge and finally do the right thing for Natalee Holloway?

We will not let up until this victim and her family receive justice.

Natalee's Freebirds