New Search for Natalie Holloway in Aruba

Over the years, investigators from several countries and the parents and friends of Natalie Holloway have seemingly exhausted all available resources in searching in vain for any trace of the Alabama teenager. Holloway disappeared while on a school-sponsored trip to the island of Aruba in 2005. The prime suspect, Joran van der Sloot, was a well-connected son of a Dutch justice official and has been able to avoid prosecution for the crime despite significant circumstantial evidence.

Because of the bureaucratic structure of Aruba and the complications in allowing outside investigators into the process, there have been few Americans allowed to take leading roles in the search for any evidence related to Holloway's disappearance. But special permission has been granted to Dave Holloway, Natalie's father, and a dog tracker named Fred Golba from Massachusetts. The new search is believed to focus on a retention pond very close to the area where Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two of his associates.

The pond has been searched a few times over the year, but no trace of the girl or any evidence potentially related to the crime has ever been found. Golba and Holloway had been hoping that the pond's water level would recede significantly before they launched their investigation, but the weather has not been cooperating. Golba has targeted the pond because a witness believes that he saw van der Sloot emerging from the scrub around the pond missing a shoe sometime after Holloway's disappearance.