AL Teen Missing in Aruba

[Honeykiss1974]

Makes you wonder who's hair that was because apparently, somebody was bound with duct tape at some point or another!

[AGDee]

I'd venture a guess that any duct tape used in my house has some of my hair in it, because I seem to lose a lot of hair. It would also have my dog's fur in it. In fact, my dog's hair has made it's way to people's keyboards at work after I've worked on their PCs.

Duct tape is used for lots of things other than binding people and is going to get hairs stuck in it.

[PsychTau]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Alabama Lawmakers Ask Residents To Avoid Aruba

The resolution expresses concern that no one has been charged in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway. She vanished May 30 during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island.

You know the cool thing about Aruba law? They don't HAVE to be charged in order to be held...unlike the US where you HAVE to be charged with something first.

It sounds like Alabama is saying that Aruba is doing it wrong because they haven't charged anyone yet, when Aruba has it's own laws and it's own procedures and is probably doing better at this than we would. I'm sorry Natalie's missing, and if I were her mother I'd be raising hell too, but can you really be sure that all the media attention is helping the investigation? It's not the US...they do things differently...is everyone freaking out because they aren't doing a good investigation or because they aren't doing it like the US would?

Damn...not everyone has to be like the US...we're not that great.

PsychTau

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by PsychTau
Damn...not everyone has to be like the US...we're not that great.

Actually, I think the US is pretty great . But, yes, I agree that other countries don't always do things the way we do.

[amanda6035]

I was too lazy to read the rest of this thread, so if someone has already said this forgive me...

I'm tired of hearing about it. Not because I'm not sympathetic, cause I am....but, WHY is this missing person case SOOOO important? It's been 2 months. Her body was fed to the sharks, and she aint ever gonna be found. Why are they continuing to invest SO MUCH TIME and SO MUCH EFFORT in this? Sure, the media gets obsessed any time a pretty white girl disappears. But this one just seems extreme. I think there might be some weird underhanded stuff going on with this case, but I could be wrong.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by Honeykiss1974
Makes you wonder who's hair that was because apparently, somebody was bound with duct tape at some point or another!

About a month ago, the word was that Natalee is only one of many women who have gone missing - the reason there's still so much fuss about her is that her mother refuses to leave. GO MOM!!!!

That hair on the duct tape may be from one of the other missing girls. I hope they're keeping the evidence for the other girls' sake.

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by honeychile
About a month ago, the word was that Natalee is only one of many women who have gone missing - the reason there's still so much fuss about her is that her mother refuses to leave. GO MOM!!!!

Well, Natalee's mom has gone back to Alabama. I guess she had to, eventually. I can only imagine that her optimism is dwindling.

I looked into other cases of missing women in Aruba, and I could only find it from one source...The National Enquirer.. I don't know exactly what that means. It may be that the mainstream media just hasn't discussed risks facing women traveling alone there, if there are any.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by PsychTau
Damn...not everyone has to be like the US...we're not that great.

You're absolutely right. We're not just that great. We are the best.

-Rudey

[AnchorAlum]

Sorry to hear that some people are "tired" of hearing about this girl and relating it to some white girl thing. INteresting that more who feel that way aren't outraged at the sorry ass way two black men employed by the hotel spent 13 days in jail when Aruban authorities knew within 24 hours that their alibis were solid and that they in fact had nothing to do with the disappearance.

The sad truth here is that the Aruban police and the lead investigator, who turned out to be a longtime personal friend of Paul Van Der Sloot, were inept and more interested in taking care of a native who was buddies with all the right people.

Beth Holloway is doing what I'd be doing if it were my daughter.
Bless her.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by AnchorAlum
Sorry to hear that some people are "tired" of hearing about this girl and relating it to some white girl thing. INteresting that more who feel that way aren't outraged at the sorry ass way two black men employed by the hotel spent 13 days in jail when Aruban authorities knew within 24 hours that their alibis were solid and that they in fact had nothing to do with the disappearance.

The sad truth here is that the Aruban police and the lead investigator, who turned out to be a longtime personal friend of Paul Van Der Sloot, were inept and more interested in taking care of a native who was buddies with all the right people.

Beth Holloway is doing what I'd be doing if it were my daughter.
Bless her.

Hear, hear!

I'm sure that they're happy with their way of conducting this investigation, but the "he's arrested - he's freed" bit would really get on my last nerve!

I'm sure that Natalee's mother simply can't afford to stay "where happiness lives" forever - but this article says she plans to return soon.

I can't remember which tv news station I heard about the other missing women on, but since I don't read the Enquirer, and the above was the first search I did on her, I'm fairly certain that I did hear about the other women on tv.

[AGDee]

I definitely don't blame Natalee's mother for doing all that she can and I'm sure I would be doing the same if it was my daughter.

But, I think the Alabama congress is going a bit far in condemning a whole nation for not having solved this crime yet. It isn't as though we have all missing persons crimes solved in two months. It took far longer than that for Scott Peterson to be arrested. Ted Bundy killed women for years and years. Jeffery Dahmer was killing for a long time before they found all the bodies in his backyard and we have thousands of missing children in this country. It seems a bit self righteous to say "boycott Aruba". The Aruba officials do seem to be trying very hard to solve this case. They are draining lakes, going through landfills (for the second time), etc. They need some evidence and they don't have any yet.

I also heard a passing comment on TV about other missing women. I think it was on the Today show sometime last week.

Dee

[kddani]

how about we boycott California b/c they didnt' convict OJ, Robert Blake, and Michael Jackson?

[Taualumna]

When someone goes missing in another country, it may be more difficult to solve due to cultural issues. This can even happen within one's own country. When Cecilia Zhang went missing, the police had to approach the case with cultural sensitivity because the girl and her family were immigrants from China. Apparently people in China don't trust police as much as they do here.

Cecilia's case received a lot of media attention from the time she was missing until they found her body six months later. I think her middle class upbringining had a great deal to do with it. Had she been some kid from Chinatown, the Amber Alert would probably not have been issued.

[Munchkin03]

When the state of Alabama prosecutes all those who were involved in lynchings in their oh-so-great state, then they can tell other governments how to deal with their criminal justice systems.

OH TEH HYPOCRACY.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by kddani
how about we boycott California b/c they didnt' convict OJ, Robert Blake, and Michael Jackson?

I'm game!