Aruban Judge OKs Detention of Brothers in Holloway Probe

Nov. 24, 2007 — -- A judge in Aruba on Friday approved the detention of two brothers picked up this week as part of a probe into the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway.

Surinamese brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe were to be detained for at least eight additional days in Aruba while prosecutors continue to pursue the investigation, the judge ruled.

The brothers have been held since Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in Holloway's death. Prosecutors said they have new evidence implicating the brothers.

A third suspect, Joran van der Sloot, was due to arrive in Aruba on Friday, after a judge in the Netherlands approved his arrest and transfer, the prosecutor's office said. A source close to the case told ABC News that ven der Sloot arrived on Aruba Friday night around 10 p.m. local time. Minutes after the flight touched down, a security gate opened and three cars sped through a phalanx of photographers and cameramen.

All three men were previously jailed as suspects in the case, but were released for lack of evidence.

Van der Sloot will appear before a judge on Monday, Aruba's chief prosecutor Hans Mos told the Associated Press on Friday.

"From a human point of view, I think it's almost a disaster for a young kid who has overcome so much trying to get a new grip on his life," van der Sloot's lawyer, Leo van den Eeden, told "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" today, "and suddenly, as if by lighting, he is getting back again."

All three were arrested on suspicion of involvement in voluntary manslaughter and causing serious bodily harm that resulted in the death of Holloway, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

After the trio's arrests, Holloway's father, Dave, committed to launching a new search for his daughter's body in the waters off Aruba, using divers and sonar equipment to map the ocean floor beyond the depths previously searched.

"You know, it just gives us hope that they're still involved and maybe we'll finally get some answers," he said.

"We have no indications what he is looking for," Hans Mos, the island's chief prosecutor, told The Associated Press. "Police are not involved because he has information that we don't have...Anything that helps is fine with us."

Statute of Limitations Approaching

Van der Sloot's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said Thursday on "Good Morning America" that no formal charges have been filed against van der Sloot or the Kalpoes and that they have been taken in for questioning.

"This may be another go-round when they'll do some more questioning and release Joran, which is what we expect to happen," Tacopina said.

With the statue of limitations on filing charges in the case approaching, Tacopina said he believes this latest development is more about that deadline than any "smoking gun" evidence.

"In the early stages of the investigation they botched it so significantly," Tacopina said, referring to the police and investigators in Aruba. "So they come back to the safety of the last three men to see her alive."

Mos, the prosecutor in the case, said Friday on "Good Morning America" that he could not comment on the evidence but said it is significant.

"We are pretty confident about the arrests and the reasons why we arrested these three guys," Mos said. "We have new evidence which we think is important in this case, and we see it as a necessary step, up to the end of the year, where we have to take a finaldecision in this case."

Van der Sloot Continues to Deny Involvement

The 18-year-old Holloway was last seen leaving a bar with the three men on May 30, 2005, hours before she was scheduled to board a plane home with high school classmates celebrating their graduation on the Dutch Caribbean island.

Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway, has relentlessly pursued the case, searching for answers about her daughter's disappearance.

"What I know to be true is that Natalee is not on this earth, but I truly believe that I will get answers one day," Beth Holloway said last month on "Good Morning America."

Holloway also said that she feared her chances of finding out what happened to Natalee were fading away.

"I think that, I think that it's certainly not in the forefront anymore," she said.

In fact, authorities in Aruba searched van der Sloot's home in Aruba in April, and ABC News has learned that police questioned his family as recently as last week. Prosecutors say they will continue their investigation until the end of the year, when the statute of limitations runs out.

ABC News' Chris Cuomo spoke with van der Sloot more than a year ago. After initially denying it, van der Sloot admitted to having a romantic encounter with Holloway on the beach, but he insisted he left her alone at the beach.

He has continued to insist he had nothing to do with her disappearance and told Cuomo during the interview he was hoping to put the whole thing behind him.

But van der Sloot said he thinks about that night all the time. "I think about it always, and say, what if, what if. But of course I can't go back and change that."

Feelings among islanders about the long unsolved missing persons case appear to be split between those who are tired of the stain the case has left on the otherwise unblemished reputation of Aruba as a tourist paradise, and those who remain anxious to see the case resolved.

"Some of my friends are saying, 'do they finally have something on these guys?' Danela Colinha, 27, who has lived on the island for two years. "They really want to see this whole problem solved.

"Other people hate [Natalee's mother] Beth Twitty and the media,'' he said.

"But you know what? She's her mother. She's the first person who has the right to know what happened. I understand her rage. I understand why she's so mad,'' Colinha said, pointing out that it's been 30 months since the blonde Alabama teen disappeared without a trace.

"She still doesn't know what happened to her daughter."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.