Beth Holloway: A Mother Copes

Oct. 2, 2007 — -- It's been more than two years since the nation was gripped by the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an all-American girl and straight-A student who simply vanished while on vacation in Aruba.

For her family, especially her mother, Beth, it was the beginning of a desperate search for a beloved daughter.

"It's been a long journey, you know. I can't believe it's been over two years, but time is healing and I think I'm getting to a good part, good point in my life," Holloway told Chris Cuomo on "Good Morning America."

She's written a book about the love and faith that sustained her during her search for her daughter and to this day: "Loving Natalee, a Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith: The True Story of the Aruba Kidnapping and Its Aftermath."

Natalee vanished from the island of Aruba on the night of May 29, 2005. She had been at Carlos and Charlie's bar, with friends, but was later seen getting into a car with three boys. She was never heard from again.

Joran van Der Sloot, Satish Kalpoe and Deepak Kalpoe gave conflicting accounts of what happened, but were never charged.

Desperate for clues, family and friends flew to Aruba, spending months in 2005 scouring the island and battling the authorities for answers.

This weekend, Holloway traveled to Aruba still looking for clues.

She said on this trip, she saw some alarming things, namely, the lack of change.

"I discovered when I returned to the island is things are pretty much the same. … My hopes are that things will change as far as, being able to find the correct police officials on the island of Aruba," Holloway said, adding that it concerned her that she was still unable to locate officers, even inside of the precinct.

Holloway said she believes the investigation of her daughter's disappearance has fallen from the forefront of Aruban tasks and has since become primarily a responsibility of Dutch investigators in the Netherlands.

In California, though, a judge has ordered the Kalpoe brothers to turn over communications.

"There's a lot of e-mailing and text messaging, cell phone calls being placed during those early morning hours that Natalee was with them or had been with them," Holloway said.

She explained that authorities want to look at the cell phone records to see whom the suspects were reaching out to and to develop a better timeline of events of the night in question.

"We've tried to go outside the circle of the three suspects. I think there have been 11, maybe 12, persons who have been questioned and released. But it always goes back to the three primary suspects that Natalee was last seen with," she said.

In an exclusive February 2006 interview, when ABC's Cuomo asked van Der Sloot, "Did you kill Natalee Holloway," van Der Sloot responded simply, "No."

But his initial statements to prosecutors about the last time he saw Natalee have kept him in the spotlight.

He said he dropped her off at her hotel, but later admitted he left her on the beach. At the time, ABC News pressed the 19-year-old about that night.

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

Police never developed enough evidence to charge anyone. Van Der Sloot is back in Holland. Deepak and Satish Kalpoe are in Aruba, where the disappearance of Natalee remains a mystery.

Natalee's disappearance took a toll on Holloway's marriage at the time and she has since found someone she can relate to — whom she is sharing the journey with, John Ramsey, the father of Jon Benet Ramsey.

"We're dating. It's been a great relationship to support each other and have an understanding, we have somewhat similar experiences," she said.