Early Theories

From CNN

The first theory is that "people of interest" -- the three men 18-year-old Holloway was last seen with early Monday morning -- may have harmed her.In a joint news conference with the missing student's mother, deputy police chief Gerald Dompig said the second theory is that Holloway may have chosen to disappear "on her own accord" and that still a third theory is Holloway may have been kidnapped. Police have not ruled out any of these theories, adding police are still receiving tips "by the hour."

Authorities have said they talked to the three men who left with her, and the men claim they took Holloway to Arashi Beach before dropping her off at her hotel at about 2 a.m.

"According to testimony from two of the Dutch boy's Surinamese friends, they brought 18-year-old Natalee Holloway to Arashi beach, on the northern tip of the island, but they didn't get out of the car. Instead, Holloway and the Dutch teen, a 17-year-old honors student at Aruba International School, "were in the back seat kissing" in an intimate embrace, the Surinamese brothers said, according to testimony given to police.
The brothers told police the young woman was drunk and refused to get out of the car when asked to.
The three young men said they then drove Holloway back to the Holiday Inn around 2 a.m. and that she stumbled in the parking lot but refused help from her Dutch escort.
Satish Kalpoe, 18, and his brother, Deepak, 21, told police they last saw Holloway being approached by a man in a security guard uniform before they drove off." These statements are credited to Satish's attorney David Kock.

Reward Offered for Natalee Holloway

The reward was quickly upped from $20,000 to $50,000 to $55,000 and has continued to climb. If we look back at June 2, 2005 we might find that on this date Seferino Gregory Croes willingly came into the police station to report that he had seen the gray Honda dropping off a very drunk blonde at the Holiday Inn on Sunday night and he saw her approached by 2 security guards from the Marriott that he knew to routinely harass female tourists as he worked on the Tattoo Party Boat. He was sure he had seen the gray Honda on Sunday night because he was working.

Sometimes we have to look a little deeper to find the truth. Steve claimed not to know the people in the car however pictures tell another story. Steve also claimed to be working on Sunday May 29, 2005 but he forgot to tell Marcus Wiggins, his boss and that lie cost Mr. Croes his job.
Now we should look at why would Mr. Croes want to set up the 2 security guards to take the fall. Did he have a vendetta or was he just hoping to throw suspicion away from his friends?
Most drug smuggling is done in the international waters by planes dropping packages of drugs onto boats or into the water to be picked up later by divers and then brought back to land at night. The easiest way is to have a job that requires you to be on the water at night and returning to the beach area so that you are not suspicious looking. The other option is for drug dealers to sell their wares to people leaving a party boat late in the evening or early morning hours. If Mr. Croes was involved in these types of activities , the security guards would surely have been a hinderance to his livlihood. Playing deejay on a boat a few hours a night is not enought to support a family.
There is reason to believe that Mr. Croes was involved in the lie because he was at Carlos and Charlies on that fateful night. One source close to this story claims that Satish was taken home before Joran was picked up and that the three boys were in fact Deepak, Steve and Joran. This source claims that Steve was at the cyber cafe when Joran called Deepak. Most agree that Mr. Croes supplied the XTC which was used to lower Natalee's inhibitions and get her into the car with the young men.

Seferino Gregory Croes

Reverse chronological order

Thank goodness my uncle has friends in the Lions club!

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Good thing I got this girl !

Oops!

blamk

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Wasted with my buds.

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Enjoying Spring Break at Carlos and Charlies with the boys.

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Wasted at work.

June 1, 2005

Wednesday

Early AM

Beth and Jug decide to change the posters to kidnapped instead of missing. Jug's daughter begins to handwrite KIDNAPPED across a several of the posters for Jug's friends to hang while Beth heads to the print shop to have more posters printed.

08:10 AM ISA school begins

Jug's friends go to ISA to hang posters and decide to write "ask Joran VanDerSloot" on the posters. They are stopped by the school's business administrator and asked if they are from the FBI. They answer "no" and refuse to tell him who they are. The schoolmaster then approaches them and invites them into his office. The schoolmaster recalls a meeting with Joran and Paulus VanDerSloot on the day prior, whereas Paulus said to Joran "You have to come clean you've already admitted you had relations with Natalee and you know we need to tell the true story". The headmaster then interjected that he had heard "the video tape at the hotel had a break in it so that's why they didn't see him pull up in the front of the Holiday Inn" and he had also heard "they may have been swimming and and she hit her head". The time of this meeting is unclear but it is believed to be in the morning.

Anita VanDerSloot returns from Holland

03:30 Usual time Joran returns from school

04:30 - 5:30 PM A witness believes he sees 3 men in a white pickup truck bury a blond female body, a yellow car with a brunette female and possibly another male pulls up at the landfill. He sees a man looking on with a red jeep at the cyclone fence.

Missing to Kidnapped

May 31, 2005

Tues May 31. 2005

03:00AM C. Croes, BHT, Police etc to VDS home, told Joran at Wyndham

05:00 Return to find Joran and Deepak.

07:00- 07:30 Things get heated Police ask H-T to leave.

08:10 ISA School starts. Joran would have been late to school.
How did he get there?

Paulus picks Joran up early and speaks with the headmaster and Juron (see comments).

01:37 PM Post made on Aruba Bulletin Board about Natalee missing This is the first public notice of any kind.

02:00PM Joran and the Kalpoe brothers are questioned at Police station and point to one security guard in dark pants and a dark shirt with a walkie talkie that walked up to Natalee after they dropped her off at the Holiday Inn.

Police Commissioner Jan Van der Straaten freed the three young men after taking their statements. When he was later questioned for his motives for releasing the last men known to be with Natalee he claimed it was a "strategic move". To this day it does not appear that any evidence was collected from the Kalpoe car at that time, not even photos. The phones were hopefully tapped but that remains very doubtful.

11:11 PM First news cycle hits on Natlee missing

Natalee is Missing

Early Timeline 5/29 - 5/30

Sunday May 29, 2005 evening

09:30 PM Natalee meets JVdS @Holiday Inn Casino
MBHS group goes to C n' C
11:00 ? pvds claims to p/u jvds at McD ? (v2)

Monday May 30, 2005

12:00 AM Ruth McVay leaves C n' C
01:30 Natalee seen leaving with Joran and 2 males.

02:00 ? car seen near vds ? witness
02:35 ? call from jvds to deepak ? kalpoe atty
02:45 ? call from natalee to friend ? speculation
02:30-03:00 ? witness claims to have seen 3 boys in silver car at raquet club ?
03:30 ? car seen washed at Kalpoe home ? witness
03:15 ? text msg to Deepak ? kalpoe atty
04:00 ? pvds claims to p/u pvds at McD ? (v1) witness overheard pvds say this
05:30-06:30 ? jvds calls to east island ? speculation
06:18 Sunrise
06:45 Joran on Schoolbus
07:50 ISA School begins
08:00 MBHS students begin to gather

11:00 Report given to beach patrol w/copy of passport

Call to Beth

12:00PM FBI Notified

03:30 Joran return from school

04:00 Beth, Jug and friends on Plane

09:00 Call to Police for Update, No report Filed by Beach Patrol

11:00 Beth and Jug arrive in Aruba
11:30 Beth calls Charles Croes.
11:45 Holiday Inn tapes reviewed by Beth and Jug

Carlos n' Charlies

These photos were taken by another tourist at Carlos n' Charlies on 05/29/05

This Looks like Natalee on the elevated dance floor, Lee in front and and unknown male. It is NOT Joran.

Joran in his favorite plaid shirt.