Natalee Holloway's Disappearance — Everything We Know

It has been [music] more than 20 years. since Natalie Holloway disappeared. during a high school senior trip to. Aruba. And while some questions may have. been answered, it [music] is a case that. still fascinates us. And right now, Netflix is [music] releasing a new. threepart documentary series on. Natalie's case. And we are doing a deep. dive into what we [music] know about one. of the most famous abduction cases in. history and what still remains a mystery. all these years later. And [music] we're. going to do that with the private.

investigator who has been directly. involved in this case from the very. beginning. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. I would say it would be hard to. overstate the media frenzy that. surrounded the disappearance of Natalie. Holloway back in 2005. It was huge. This. young blonde 18-year-old from Mountain. Brook, Alabama, just graduated high. school, jetted off to Aruba on a senior.

class trip in May of that year, but she. would never come home. And it would take. nearly two decades to finally get real. answers about her disappearance. And it. wasn't for lack of trying. The man who. would eventually confess to killing. Natalie on an Aruba beach had been at. the center of this police investigation. for years. Dutch national Euron Vand. Derloot was arrested not once but twice. in connection with Natalie's. disappearance, but he was released both. times due to a lack of evidence. And.

when Natalie's family finally got his. confession, it had been almost two. decades since the teen was last seen. Natalie's mother, Beth, was a constant. figure during the search in Aruba. Natalie had been set to fly back to the. United States on May 30th, but she. didn't show up for her flight. her. packed luggage, her passport, they were. found in her hotel room at the Holiday. Inn. Those were immediate red flags for. Beth. So she and Natalie's stepfather, they immediately set off for the island. And the last place that Natalie had been. seen by her classmates was outside a.

nightclub and restaurant called Carlos. and Charlie's. It's in the island's. capital. And Natalie was reportedly seen. getting into a car with 17-year-old. Vanderloot and two brothers, Deepo and. Satish Kalpo. They were 21 and 18. Now, backtracking her daughter's movements, Beth Holloway was reportedly able to get. Vanderloot's name from a manager at the. Holiday Inn, where the senior class had. been stay. And that manager allegedly. recognized him from surveillance video. inside the hotel casino, where he.

allegedly first met Natalie and her. friends before agreeing to meet them out. later at the nightclub. Now, Beth. reportedly took Vanderloot's name. directly to the Aruba Police Force. They. all went to Vanderut's home to talk to. him. He told them the first of many. versions of what might have happened to. Natalie. An incredibly frustrating. pattern that would play out again and. again and again. And at this point, Vanderloot said that the three of them. had driven Natalie to a beach on the.

northern tip of the island because she. wanted to see sharks. Claimed they. dropped her off back at the hotel after. that at around 2:00 a.m. And then there. was the search for Natalie. It was. enormous. Hundreds of volunteers from. Aruba, the United States. They joined. in. 50 Dutch Marines searched the. shoreline while government employees. were given the day off to help with the. search, too. Beth moved into her. daughter's room at the Holiday Inn as. the search stretched on. And Vanderloot. and these Calpo brothers, they were. arrested on kidnapping [clears throat].

and murder charges. But they weren't the. only ones who came under police. suspicion. two security guards from a. nearby hotel, a local disc jockey, Vanderloot's father were all detained at. one point or another and questioned, but. eventually released. And by that point, Vanderloot and the brothers had. constantly changing stories. Vanderloot. allegedly got dropped off at a beach, said he left her there, walked home. He. also claimed at one point that he was. dropped off at a home and Natalie was. driven away with the brothers.

Eventually, the story that seemed to. stick was that he was on a beach with. Natalie and she wanted to have sex, but. he didn't have a condom. And she then. wanted to spend the night on the beach, but he declined and just left her there. In later interviews, in a book, Vanderloop apologized for not being. truthful from the beginning about what. happened. Serious investigative tools. were used to try to find Natalie. We're. talking F-16s flying over the island. with infrared sensors, FBI agents with. cadaavver dogs searching the landfill.

multiple times, several pieces of. alleged evidence being sent back to. Quantico for testing. There was a reward. for Natalie safe return. It went all the. way up to $175,000. to $1 million and she was never found. Her body has never been found. 2007, two. years after Natalie Holloway. disappeared, Vanderloot and those. brothers were arrested again. And that. was reportedly thanks to new evidence. But they were all released. They were.

all released a few weeks later. The. charges were dropped. The new evidence. was never publicly revealed. But. Vanderloot wasn't done talking about the. case. No, he gave many interviews with. outlets all over the world. And his. story was constantly changing. He was. reportedly caught on a hidden camera. saying that Natalie died of a drug. overdose, that he and a friend dumped. her body into the ocean. Another time he. told Fox News that he'd sold Natalie. into a sex trafficking ring for $10,000. Eight hours after the interview, Fox got. an email from Vanderloot saying he lied.

Another time there was this allegation. that she'd fallen from a balcony after. drinking and doing drugs. So you can see. why Vanderloot became a completely. unreliable source of information for. investigators and for Natalie's family. who were still desperate for answers. And that desperation was extorted in. March of 2010 because that is when Vand. Derloot allegedly contacted the Holloway. family and said he would give them. details about Natalie's death and where. her remains were, but he wanted.

$250,000. Now the family's lawyer, John Q. Kelly. coordinated with the FBI, traveled to. Aruba, where he gave Vanderloot $10,000. in cash, and Beth wired another $15,000. to a bank in the Netherlands, creating a. $25,000 down payment. Vanderloot told. Kelly yet another story about how. Natalie hit her head on a rock and died, and he led Kelly to a home under which. Natalie was allegedly buried. But once.

again, it all turned out to be a lie. Now, Vanderloot later told the newspaper. that he was seeking revenge against. Natalie's parents for quote making his. life tough. But Vanderloot's criminal. behavior wasn't finished. Just a few. months after apparently extorting. Natalie's parents, he admitted to. killing a Peruvian woman in a hotel room. in Lima. Stephanie Flores Ramirez was. found bludgeoned to death. Vanderloot. was arrested in Chile days later.

reportedly confessed that he choked, beaten, and smothered the 21-year-old. woman with his t-shirt. And this is. after she apparently discovered his link. to Natalie's case. He was sentenced to. spend 28 years in prison back in 2012. And that same year is when Natalie. Holloway was legally declared dead. 2023. This is when Vand Derloot was extradited. to the United States to face extortion. and fraud charges for trying to take the. Holloway's money in exchange for.

information about their daughter. And he. ended up entering a guilty plea in. October of 2023. He was sentenced to 20. years in prison, which is going to run. concurrently, meaning at the same time. as his sentence in Peru. But as part of. his plea, Vanderloot seemingly revealed. critical information because he now. claimed that this is what happened to. Natalie Holloway that she had denied his. sexual advances on the beach. She kne. him in the crotch and then he hit her in. the head with a cinder block and threw.

her body in the ocean. And Beth said. Vanderloo took a polygraph test and it. verified his statement. Now, the. Holloway family spent decades fighting. for answers, trying to get information, never giving up, even becoming advocates. for other victims and their families. And that is one of the things that Danny. Sloan, the director of this new Netflix. documentary, it's called Taken, that is. what Sloan wanted to highlight. She told. TV Insider, quote, "Growing up in the.

mid200s, it was impossible to turn on. the TV or walk by a news stand without. seeing Natalie Holloway's face. But. beyond the wall-to-wall coverage and. sensational headlines is a story about. the incredible courage, devotion, and. strength that Natalie's mother, Beth, showed in the face of unimaginable loss. For me, as a mother and filmmaker, Beth's steadfastness and dedication to. her daughter is nothing short of. inspiring, and I'm so proud to be able. to share her story. Okay, real quick. If. you own a business, if you manage a. business, if you run a business, you.

might want to hear this because look, running a business is tough enough. The. question I have is why make it harder. doing things manually or relying on. dozens of apps that don't really talk to. each other, right? That's where our. sponsor ODO [snorts] comes in because. ODU is an all-in-one business management. platform with a full suite of integrated. apps that seamlessly connect all your. operations from sales and accounting to. manufacturing, even shipping. ODO can. automatically generate professional, sleek looking sales orders, invoices, vendor bills. It can automatically.

assign sales teams, send email updates. through each sales stage, and even use. AI to pull reports that help with your. decision-making. For manufacturing, their apps can sync inventory with. real-time production and purchase. updates so you never run out of stock. And when it comes time for accounting, that's also fully automated. ODU can. create invoices, track expenses, and. even summarize data with AI to save you. hundreds of hours. You know what the. best part is? You can choose your apps. and even build custom workflows so it's.

all fully tailored to your business's. needs. Take your business to the next. level by consulting with an ODO expert. today for free at odo.com/sidebar. Let me bring on TJ Ward, a private. investigator who was hired by the. family, has been investigating this case. since the beginning. I I couldn't think. of someone more that I wanted to talk to. about this as this case is now coming. back into the spotlight. It's being.

revisited. Um the first po part about. this is um what troubles you the most as. you look at the Natalie Holloway case? Like what still keeps you up at night? What haunts you the most about this? >> Well, uh thank you very much for having. me on the show. Um, one of the things I. wasn't just looking at Vanderloot, Deepo, and Satish. I had to look at. Vanderloot's father who was a judge in. training in Aruba. And until 2010 and.

before he died, I had to look at him. also cuz he was involved with this. directly with his son. And uh, one of. the things that he told the family was. nobody, no case. So, I mean, that's kind. of disturbing for a father whose son has. been under investigation. And how many. times all three of them, well, all four. of them, I should say, got arrested in. Aruba and then released was kind. [clears throat] of surprising. But I. looked at his father probably as much as. I looked at your Vanderloot. And uh.

ironically, you know, after I worked the. case for 18 years, looking at. interviewing people, interviewing. witnesses, interviewing places that. they've been, trying to find evidence. that he was involved with the. disappearance of Natalie Holloway, who. is ironically still missing. Um, on the. night of May the 30th in 2005 when they. were on the beach, something happened. apparently according to Vanderloot's. confession now with the FBI that um she.

started fighting him and battling cuz he. tried to sexually assault her and uh he. ends up hitting her in the face with a. cinder brick and uh then after shortly. after that calling his dad and. apparently from what we have learned and. what we believed his father brought sent. a boat in and took her off the island. >> Do you believe his account? Do you. believe what he told investigators? Do. you believe you were on Vanderloot? >> Well, other than the fact that he said. that he threw her in the water, he.

didn't throw her in the water. We know. for a fact that she was taken off the. island by boat and and uh so we're still. looking. We have the name of the person. that that had that had the boat, so we. know who that is and we're still. looking. We have not found her body. And. uh ironically um that's that's a. problem. >> Do you think like a documentary like. this now that a lot of people are going. to be watching this, people who weren't. familiar with the case, a whole new. generation is going to revisit the. story, do you think that's going to lead.

to more people looking into this? Do you. think that's going to lead to to maybe. new developments? >> I think the case is still very active. Dave and I um have we hired two DE. agents and uh to try to find the guy. that we believe took her off the island. So, we're trying to locate him right. now. So, I mean Dave Holloway wants his. daughter's body back. I can tell you. that right now. And Dave and I are very. close friends from having to do a TV.

show in 2017, The Disappearance of. Natalie Holloway, which aired on the. Oxygen Network. And uh so I mean he's. very much wanting to get his daughter. home. >> Do you think that's possible? Do you. think that's possible after all these. years? >> Well, we hopefully we can find a. remains. We're still looking for new. information. If and if somebody knows. something, please call Dave or call me. and and then so we can explore it and. look into it. >> Okay, big announcement. So for anybody. out there who's been following me over.

the years, supporting the projects I've. been a part of, first of all, you guys. are the best. Thank you so so much. I. love our audience. But made me think, what can I do? What can we do something? How can we be a little interactive? So, switching things up. Instead of me. asking the questions, why don't you ask. me the questions? Yeah. So, what we're. doing is a few fans are going to get to. meet with me virtually, one-on-one. Ask. anything. Ask about the cases I've. covered behind the scenes at Sidebar, prime crime, really anything you've. always wanted to know. So, to enter, sign up for Long Crime Plus. Click the. link below. Submit your question for a.

chance to be featured in an exclusive. Just Ask Jesse special. It's going to be. the week of Thanksgiving. And right now, by the way, you get 25% off an annual. long Prime Plus subscription with promo. code just ask Jesse. It's just $44.99. for the entire year. I hope you can be a. part of this. I hope you submit your. questions and we'll talk then. >> This this is a series that promises to. deliver never-before-seen footage, access to investigators, previously. unreported details all about this case, all about this story. Do you think it is. important for a new generation to look.

at this case to hear about this? Is it. important for them to know about Nat. Natalie Holloway? >> Yes, I I think very much so. I think. it'll educate educate people that are. letting their kids go out of the country. um to party and all when they graduate. from high school. This is exactly what. happened. There were 12 adults with. Natalie Holloway with I think 122. students in there. And of course, they. were allowed to go party and go do this. and go do that and and the 12 um.

supervising adults were there, they were. partying, too. So, but I I think when. when families let their kids go out of. the country now, they need to step back. and look and and make sure that the. security of what's going to things do. not happen in other countries that. happen here. It's it's it's completely. different. The law enforcement's. different. Um the way they handle things. there is is completely different and uh. it's it's just it's crazy. Um going out. of the country going out of the country.

is is very dangerous if you're not. taking the precautions to be able to be. prepared for something going wrong. >> So you say you're still investigating. Are you still receiving tips, leads, information on a regular basis? I still. get I still get emails and tips about. somebody telling me something new about. Natalie and and I share it with with a. family and I I said tell Dave and and. then what we believe may be true or not. true. But Vanderloot said told the FBI.

in in Birmingham three years ago when. when he confessed finally that he ended. up throwing her in the water. And we. believe that's not true. We believe that. the person that brought a boat in was. his father's acquaintance and and. direction. We believe that she's. somewhere other than in the water. >> There's nothing ever washed up. There's. nothing ever washed up or anything. >> Even if she was in the water, something. would have come up, her clothes or. something, and nothing has ever.

transpired. >> So, what are some possible theories. about what happened to her remains? What. happened to her body? Um, we have. indirect information that she was taken. to another country and possibly buried. So, we're still looking and and trying. to learn the facts and circumstances. I. mean, I know it's been many years now. You know, I worked that case 18 years. and uh, so there's a lot of different. theories. Beth originally hired me with. his her former husband and then Dave.

hired me in 2010 to get involved also. which I stayed in contact and direct. I. think I went to Aruba probably 14 times. and I don't think we would be very. welcome if we went back there right now. because I know there was two prosecutors. ended up getting terminated and two. police chiefs ended up getting. terminated over this case and uh. >> what do you mean because of the way they. handled it? >> Yep. Yeah, it was not handled. It was. totally improperly handled. I can tell.

you that right now. >> In what way? In what way? >> Because one, because Vanersley's father. being a judge in training that there. were things that weren't looked at that. they knew about and wasn't brought up at. the time. There was just a lot of. information that should have been. brought out and should have happened way. back when that didn't. you know, now. that um Vanderloot, you know, in 2010. um prior right after his father died,

Vanderloot called Beth and said, "I'll. tell you what happened to Natalie for. $250,000." Yep. >> So Beth incorporated her lawyer in along. with the FBI and the Arabian authorities. and we wired a whole hotel room and. ended up on film giving him $25,000, which he should have been arrested right. then and there um by the FBI, but they. said they want to keep an eye on him and. see what he was doing. And ironically, he got away and took that $25,000 and. fled to Peru where he met Stephanie.

Flores in the casino, same place, had. money to gamble, and then had taken. Stephanie Flores back to his hotel room. with him. While he was in the shower, she got on the computer and started. seeing all the information about Natalie. Holloway. when he got out of the shower, he she started speaking to him about. what transpired with Natalie and he got. angry and ended up killing her and. [snorts] then fled and then was later um. found by a taxi cab driver and uh then. was arrested and is now serving 28 years.

in the Peruvian prison. >> So, so you you you've talked about how. when you get new information, you speak. to um Natalie's father about it um and. you share it with the family. Do you are. you also in contact with the FBI? Are. you in contact with other authorities. regarding information that you get? >> Not right at the moment. I have we have. not um given them any additional. information. Dave kind of can filter out. what he thinks may be true. I I if. anything comes up to me, the first thing. I do is call Dave Holloway.

>> and I have a very very good relationship. with Dave. I mean, I speak to him. usually once or twice a week. >> and some work doing a TV show. We've. developed a friendship. And ironically, I had spoke to you um earlier off camera. that I lost my son during the show and. uh and Dave um ironically came to my. son's funeral all the way from. Mississippi where he where he lives and. uh and I greatly appreciate what he did. and um but uh we we become very good.

friends now and needless to say there's. probably nothing I wouldn't do for Dave. Holloway to help him um find his. daughter and and be able to bring her. back home. >> I have no doubt. I have no doubt and I. you know that that is a very very. special relationship under you know um. unthinkable circumstances and I. mentioned this off off air and I'll. mention again I'm so sorry for your loss. that and and and it's really uh it's. really tragic. Um, the one part as we go.

through this, do you know if authorities. are still invested in Natalie's case or. have they said, "Okay, he confessed. That's all we need. We're done. We don't. need to find her remains." Or are they. still heavily invested in getting more. information about what happened to. Natalie? Well, I think from, you know, in three years ago, Beth Holloway and. Greta Vanestin went to the Peruvian. government and asked him to be. extradited to um Alabama where that's. where he confessed to the FBI and he. went before a judge and so on and so.

forth and was sentenced to 20 years in a. federal penitentiary and concurrent. after he um finishes his time in Peru. So, I I think there's still a wide open. I don't think they've closed the case. out. I think it's still probably open if. something else comes up. Um, nothing. nothing important has arose since he. confessed in three years ago, but I. still would think the FBI still has the. case open. And as much as we're still.

looking, Dave Holloway and I, and I'm. sure Beth would still wander and see, she's got new information that may come. up in this this series coming out um. today. Um then we'll we'll see what the. new information is about. >> Are you going to watch it? >> Yeah, hopefully. You said it's on. Netflix, >> correct? >> And Okay. And what time is it, Aaron? Do. you know? Right off the top of your. head. >> Oh, I mean Netflix, you can watch it. whenever you want. That's the beauty of. Netflix. So, but you plan to watch it.

and and you, I imagine, have a different. perspective when you watch it. I mean, what are you going to be looking out. for? >> I'm I'm going to look and see what the. new information is. And obviously Dave. and I would share and uh if there's. something new there, we may end up. looking into it. But, you know, way back. when when we learned that Vayner's. father may have brought a boat in, Beth. was still on board then and she she. believed and she heard the same thing. too that she but Natalie was taken off. the island. So, in fact, Vanderloo. testifying to the FBI three years ago.

that he threw her in the water is. totally untrue. >> Listen, TJ, I always appreciate talking. to you about any cases, but particularly. uh the Natalie Holloway case and now. it's back in the conversation can only. be a good thing as transparency and. trying to get more information is what. the family deserves and what you know, hopefully, you know, you've been on top. of this case from the beginning. I hope. you get the answers that you're looking. for, too. So, thank you so much, TJ. Ward. Really appreciate you. >> You're very welcome. Thank you. If I can. help you anything, please call me. And. >> that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so.

much for joining us. I'm Jesse [music]. Weber. I'll speak to you next time. >> [music].