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Interview Reignites Inquiry

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The Associated Press

Published: February 5, 2008

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - A hidden-camera interview with a Dutch student saying missing teenager Natalee Holloway was dead and that he had a friend dump her body at sea is admissible in court, the chief Aruban prosecutor said Monday.

The courts in Aruba likely will accept the tape as evidence because it was recorded by a private citizen without any influence by authorities, chief prosecutor Hans Mos said.

"I take it very seriously," Mos said of the video.

The tape, which was first broadcast Sunday on Dutch television, appeared to spur the investigation. Mos said authorities in the Netherlands searched two homes Monday where Joran van der Sloot lived while attending college there.

A judge in Aruba denied a prosecution request to detain van der Sloot based on the new information. Mos said they will file an appeal today and expect a decision within a week.

The prosecutor declined to give details of the searches. Bert de Rooij, van der Sloot's attorney in the Netherlands, said police took a hard drive and a laptop.

De Rooij, speaking on Dutch television Monday, said the college student would make himself available for questioning by authorities if necessary. "As far as Joran is concerned, that can happen soon," he said.

In the secret recordings, van der Sloot said Holloway, 18, was drunk and that she began shaking and slumped down on the beach as they were kissing in May 2005.

"Suddenly she started shaking and then she didn't say anything," van der Sloot said in Dutch, adding that he did not kill her. "I would never murder a girl."

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