Exclusive: Van der Sloot Talks About Night Out

Feb. 22, 2006 — -- In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Chris Cuomo for "Primetime," Joran Van der Sloot, the Dutch teen seen with American Natalee Holloway the night she disappeared from Aruba in May, said he planned to have sex with her when they left a bar together.

"We were planning on going to my house, because she said she wanted to go to my house," he said. "My intention was to take her to the house to have sex with her."

But the couple did not end up sleeping together, he said. "I asked her if she wanted to have sex, and she was fine with it," he said. "I didn't have a condom with me though in my wallet, and I won't have sex with a girl without a condom."

Holloway, who was visiting Aruba on a school trip, met van der Sloot at a casino the night she disappeared. How they met and what went on between them has been the focus of endless speculation by officials and Holloway's friends and family.

Holloway sat at a blackjack table with van der Sloot in a casino the night she disappeared, according to a videotape obtained exclusively by ABC News from a confidential source. The tape shows grainy images of the two -- along with a group of Holloway's friends -- at the Excelsior Casino on what may have been the last night of her life.

"I sat down there and within five minutes, there was a group of girls from the Mountain Brook school that came up to me and sat down next to me and they wanted to play as well," van der Sloot told Cuomo. "They'd already been drinking that day and had drinks with them. We played blackjack for a while, and I told them whether or not to hit."

A Night on the Beach

Later that night, Holloway was seen leaving Carlos 'n Charlies with van der Sloot, who said she did not seem drunk, though she had been drinking.

"She didn't seem drunk," he said. "She seemed like she drank a lot, but there's a difference between someone being absolutely drunk and someone ... actually having had a couple drinks."

Holloway left with him by choice, he added. "There was this guy. I don't know who he was but he screamed to Natalee to get out of the car now. Deepak [Joran's friend] told her, 'If you want, go ahead and get out of the car' and she's like, 'No, I want to stay with you guys.'"

Van der Sloot said he spent time on a beach with Holloway before leaving her there -- the last time he saw her "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," he told "Primetime." "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."

He said he 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."

'I Didn't Want Anyone to Know'

Van der Sloot admitted he had a reputation in Aruba as a ladies' man, but he said he has been portrayed "unfairly" as a "murderer and a rapist and everything I'm not."

"In Aruba that was part of my lifestyle ... going out, being single and picking up girls," he said. "Going out with them, having a good time and then saying goodbye."

Aruban authorities have seen the tape obtained by ABC News and have used it in their investigation into Holloway's disappearance. Beth Twitty, Holloway's mother, has also seen the tape. She told ABC News she had viewed it on the first night she arrived in Aruba to search for her daughter but had seen only the portion that appeared to show van der Sloot.

Soon after admittedly lying to police about having dropped Holloway off at her hotel, van der Sloot became the main suspect in the case.

Van der Sloot -- along with Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe -- was arrested June 9 on suspicion of involvement in Holloway's disappearance. Van der Sloot admitted that he was with her but denied any wrongdoing. All were released after a court ruled that there wasn't enough evidence to hold them.Van der Sloot said he didn't want to tell the truth because he was scared.

"I didn't want anyone to know," he said. "I didn't want anyone to know I left her at the beach."

He said he is a "normal teenager," adding, "I like playing sports. I go to college. I hang out with friends."

At the same time, he told "Primetime" that his version of events is hard to believe. When asked why, after all the lying he's done, his word should be credible, he said, "There's absolutely no reason to believe me."

"I would probably not believe myself, no," he added.

Yet, he said, it was important that he tell his story.

"Because it's the truth," he said. "It's time to just tell the truth."