Ex-Chief Suspect in Holloway Case Returns to Aruba Beach
Sept. 5, 2006 — -- Joran van der Sloot -- the Dutch man who was the chief focus of authorities in the search for Natalee Holloway -- returns to the Aruba beach where he last saw the missing Alabama teen in an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America."
Van der Sloot talks to "Good Morning America" anchor and ABC News senior legal correspondent Chris Cuomo and takes him to the place he last saw Holloway in today's interview. Van der Sloot, 19, was arrested and detained for months after Holloway disappeared on a high school trip on May 30, 2005. The Alabama teen has never been found and van der Sloot was never charged in her disappearance and presumed death.
Van der Sloot admitted meeting Holloway in a bar on May 30 and going with her to the beach, along with two friends, brothers Satish Kalpoe and Deepak Kalpoe -- who were also detained and later released in the Holloway investigation. He also said he kissed her on the beach that night.
In an exclusive interview with Cuomo in February, van der Sloot described the last moments he saw Holloway alive.
"She was sitting on the sand by the ocean. … We cuddled awhile on the beach just laying there. … Until I said, about time to walk her back to her hotel. … At that moment, she said she didn't want to go back to her hotel and she wanted me to stay with her, because it was her last night. I tried to convince her to go back to the hotel and she said just put me down."
Van der Sloot said he had made a mistake when he left Holloway at the beach.
"I should have brought her back to her hotel, or I should have made sure I left her with someone -- one of her friends -- but I just should have gotten her back to where she should have been."
Despite the focus on van der Sloot, the Holloway investigation has been a revolving door of people on interest. Police arrested, and ultimately released, 10 different men -- two of whom, the Kalpoe brothers, were later re-arrested and re-released. In May, the latest suspect, a casino worker at Holloway's hotel, Guido Wever, was released six days after his arrest in Holland.
