Wiretaps May Provide New Evidence in Holloway Case
Dutch newspaper reports police recorded phone conversations of suspects.
Nov. 26, 2007 — -- Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, is back in Aruba after being rearrested with two other suspects, and a Dutch newspaper report says police used wiretaps to record a conversation between the three men that might implicate them.
A judge will decide today whether police can keep him behind bars.
Van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were the last three people to see Holloway alive. Holloway's body was never found. The three men were last held as suspects two years ago, but a judge ruled there was not enough evidence to indict them in Holloway's disappearance.
Former Aruban prosecutor Helen Lejuez thinks the suspects may have assumed they were no longer being wiretapped.
"It's a long time ago and people get relaxed and maybe start talking — things they haven't said before, and prosecutors and police are sharp listeners," said Lejuez, who is now an attorney working for the teen's mother, Beth Holloway.
Today authorities will ask a judge to hold van der Sloot for at least eight more days while pursuing a case against him. Van der Sloot and the Kalpoes are being held at separate jails on the island and police spent the weekend interrogating them.
In a 2006 interview, van der Sloot told ABC News' Chris Cuomo that he had nothing to do with Holloway's disappearance.
Hans Mos, Aruba's chief prosecutor, told ABC News he believes the the new evidence makes the case against the three men stronger than it was two years.
"We are convinced if we had had this evidence we have now they would not have been released by the court at that time," Mos said.
But van der Sloot's attorney believes this is nothing more than another round of questioning.
"I'm not worried about any evidence because I know Joran had nothing to do with the disappearance of Natalee," Rosemarie Arnold, one of van der Sloot's attorneys, told "Good Morning America Weekend."
Meanwhile, Natalee's father, Dave Holloway, wants to resume a search of the waters around the island. He believes there may be evidence her body may be in deeper waters off the Aruban coast than authorities first believed.
Holloway's parents are expected to arrive in Aruba by the end of the week to watch the case unfold. If the suspects aren't found guilty by Dec. 31, the statute of limitations expires and prosecutors have to drop the case.
