Letter From Paul Reynolds

Natalee Holloway's Uncle, Paul Reynolds penned a letter to the Editor and sent it to Amigoe, Aruba AM and Aruba Today. He was on MSNBC's Scarborough Country Tuesday night to discuss the letter and related topics.

Below is the unedited text of the letter.

Letter to the Editor

I have been reading Aruba AM, the English Aruban newspaper sent out over the internet. There appears to be a growing backlash against the Holloway family that I am very concerned about. I am sure the people in Aruba wish this investigation could be resolved as much as our family does.

The people in Aruba have been overwhelming supportive of our entire family since Natalie's disappearance. When I arrived on the Island two days after she was reported missing, I was always greeted with expressions of concern and hope for Natalie's return. There are hundreds if not thousands of stories of people coming together and helping each other during this incident. Bernadett from Economy Car Rental, the people at Holiday Inn, the Aruban Government Workers who left work to search the island are just a few of the examples. This is the good story of Aruba . The compassion and desire to help has meant more than you can imagine to our family.

Unfortunately, there are a very small number of individuals that are holding the people of Aruba , the Holloway family and what seems like the whole world hostage. These individuals are not a reflection of the Aruban people or the system of Justice in Aruba . These individuals know what happened and are refusing to accept responsibility for their actions. It also appears that certain individuals may be attempting to protect those individuals that know what happened. Helping them hide from their responsibility will destroy rather than preserve what is left of their lives, hopes and dreams.

The concerns that we have about the investigation are real. It began with the 10 day delay with taking the three original suspects into custody. My sister, Beth and her husband, Jug, arrived on the island the same day Natalie was reported missing. They were able to identify the three individuals she had last been seen with and report this to the police. The three suspects were briefly questioned and released. Their stories turned out to be false and their allegations led to the detainment of two innocent individuals. In a missing person case, every day is critical. Ten days would allow those individuals responsible time to hide evidence and coordinate their stories. What if the missing person was alive in those first few days? The failure to take those individuals into custody and seek evidence may have damaged this investigation beyond repair. Why was this done? Was it an attempt to cover up whatever happened and or protect those individuals involved?

Because the father of one of the suspects is a member of the Judicial system, there was immediate concern on behalf of the family that the investigation might not be fair and objective. The interest and presence of the FBI along with assurances from the US Government and the Prime Minister of Aruba reduced those concerns.

Actions since then have again increased concerns that the investigation is not being done in an objective manner. Why would you refuse assistance from the FBI in resolving a difficult case? Why would you hinder a private search team, composed of a group of volunteers whose director has experienced a similar loss of his own?

The release of two of the suspects is also a matter of concern. Although the latest (third) story of one of the suspects places him alone with Natalie on the beach, the other two have admitted to lying. Is this not obstruction of justice, interfering with an investigation or conspiracy to cover up a crime? Aren't these illegal activities whether or not you are involved in the actual crime itself? How can these individuals be allowed to go free and possibly leave the country? Why would they lie unless they had knowledge of a crime either before or after the fact? Why would the father of one of the suspects tell all three that without a body, there is no crime?

As you can see, our many questions and concerns are about the investigation, not the Island or the people of Aruba . They are as much a victim of these individuals as we are. Please join us in our request to the Prime Minister of Aruba and the Dutch Authorities to launch an independent investigation of this matter and allow all of us to learn the truth, return Natalie to her home and go forward with our lives.

Respectfully yours,

Paul Reynolds

Natalie Holloway's Uncle

Comments

[Dutch]

A. Hall:

Well said. I totally agree

[Alvaro]

In addition, when reading and posting on these boards, it's good to remember that the average person in the United States does not have even remotely the same level of passion for this tragedy as posters on here.

As far as the Twitty's and the Holloway's, perhaps they are now annoying the islanders and people in people in Europe, but so what? If I was Aruban I'd be sick of them too, but you have to keep in mind that it is hard to stop fighting when you have lost someone, and even harder when you feel everything possible has not been done about it.

I agree with posters who say PvdS is low-level and would not warrant a cover up... This is not cover-up, it is a ****-up. The investigators BLEW IT. Not the Aruban people, not the media, not the Twitty Holloways, not the FBI, not the Dutch, it was the Aruban investigators. It is blown, crucial evidence will never be recovered, and should not be manufactured, a killer(not proven, just my opinion) may walk, so you can say this is a double tragedy.

Do I or many of the people I know consider this an international crisis. Hell no! It's an unfortunate tragedy. And might I add, a disgusting tragedy. There is something in this for everyone to be pissed about. People on all sides have made pretty messed up statements that have ranged from irrational to insensitive, from hurtful to downright IGNORANT. Ignorant seems to be pretty popular.

[NevadaMom]

Alvaro

Well said!

[a.hall]

To nevadamom: In answer to your rather snarky inquiry: yes I am a mom who loves her kids very much and is loved by all of them as well.

And I'm not promoting being meek, I'm promoting being reasonable as well as passionate.

It would not be going out on any kind of limb to say that my children, as well as my husband, and quite a number of others in my life, would depend on me in an instant if they were in trouble. More to the point, they have. (btw I am not particularly concerned that you wouldn't want to depend on me if you were in trouble: Good Lord, woman, you know nothing about me except a few lines typed in a forum: it would be almost pathologically dependent to think that you could).

What is implied in your comments here is the exact mindset that bothers me about media-reality. You know nothing about me, nothing at all really, yet somehow you have come up with a whole scenario about my reliability in real life. I see a lot of this sloppy style of thinking in the posts here, a style that encourages certain types of people to believe that they have some God-given insight, and with the courage of their ignorance, they get all in a lather because not eveyone accepts their ideas uncritically.

Mean and cynical because I think that made-for-TV movies are a joke? Well sticks and stones to you too baby. I'm on the record: I hate the Womens' Entertainment Channel. I find it to be unrealistic, politically correct, and encouraging of flights of fantasy among a vulnerable subgroup of viewers. Happen to know a lot of people who are good, caring individuals in real life, who are bored by it or hate it also. So we can agree to disagree on that one.

Here is my hypothesis (subject to change with further info of course) about people like you, nevadamom,---and about people who watch some TV on this Joran kid and just know that he's guilty--I believe that this kind of reaction represents a sort of lazy emotionalism that is not informed with hard reasoning.

Because emotion and logic have to work together, in order to feel and to understand reality adequately, that is exactly what is lacking in some of the more out-there comments about the Natalee Holloway case

[NevadaMom]

A Hall
Hey calm down, you don't have to agree with my opinion nor do I have to agree with yours. I may not want to have you on my side but I certianly didn't go all out and bash you. Glad that you care.

[a.hall]

nevadamom: I'm just as calm as I can be thanks, hope you're the same. Might be that I read more into your comments than you meant.

See what I mean: it's that whole media reality thing that lets you think you understand others adequately through a paragraph or a sound-bite.

Could be a lesson here for all of us.

[Yu di Korsow]

Appearantly everyone seems to think it is possible to kill someone dispose of the body (in such a way that it is NEVER recovered) and clean all the evidence in approximately 2 hours, and have the calmness to stay awake and take finals in school.
I for one don't think this is possible, I don't think that JvdS has what it takes to hide a body in such a fashion that it will never be found. On a small island like Aruba this is not possible.
In my opinion the american justice system failed on the trial of OJ Simpson so as you see it can happen everywhere including the all great US of A.
High media scrutiny does nothing to help a case, just look at some cases where this was the case:Jon Benet Ramsey, OJ Simpson, etc. These are a few of the unsolved cases where the FBI and numerous other agencies FAILED to produce a conviction or in some cases even a suspect.
Just because I think that the parents killed Jon Benet Ramsey, doesn't mean I can call them criminals on internation media. They have not been charged with any crime.

[Yu di Korsow]

Appearantly everyone seems to think it is possible to kill someone dispose of the body (in such a way that it is NEVER recovered) and clean all the evidence in approximately 2 hours, and have the calmness to stay awake and take finals in school.
I for one don't think this is possible, I don't think that JvdS has what it takes to hide a body in such a fashion that it will never be found. On a small island like Aruba this is not possible.
In my opinion the american justice system failed on the trial of OJ Simpson so as you see it can happen everywhere including the all great US of A.
High media scrutiny does nothing to help a case, just look at some cases where this was the case:Jon Benet Ramsey, OJ Simpson, etc. These are a few of the unsolved cases where the FBI and numerous other agencies FAILED to produce a conviction or in some cases even a suspect.
Just because I think that the parents killed Jon Benet Ramsey, doesn't mean I can call them criminals on internation media. They have not been charged with any crime.

[Alvaro]

Yu di korsow

I think every "reasonable" person on this board agrees that every justice system in the world is flawed... of course because its made up of people. The media and the judicial process, probably are not a good mix, but the media is a monster we must live with, because it also does good. I must say though, some American posters may be hypoctitical in their evaluation of the Aruban judicial system, but the American media is not. The American media is like a shark, it does matter who is botching up and investigation or prosecution, the American media loves to turn them inside out.

As far as body disposal goes, I disagree with you Yu, (Insert Speculation Disclaimer for the anti speculationists) because if he did it, he had two or so hours to HIDE the body, and then had more time to dispose or arrange disposal in the following days. I believe whole-heartedly that had the police investigated the vdS more agressively at the beginning, they would have done Aruba a favor. They would have either clearly ruled him out as a suspect, or generated a little thing called EVIDENCE(of which it seems there is little if any at this point). Please know this, I understand nothing has been proven, no one has been tried, blah, blah, blah... I think we know so little, that almost anything is possible. However, I also know Joran was last seen with her, lied, got advice from dad, and all that, that makes me suspect him above all. If he gets off for lack of evidence, (I hope he doesn't) I can live with that. It has happened before, in my country, your country, everywhere, and will happen again. People should not stop travelling, they should not draw battle lines, the sky is NOT falling. This is one tragedy in an ocean of thousands.

[Alvaro]

Yu di korsow

I think every "reasonable" person on this board agrees that every justice system in the world is flawed... of course because its made up of people. The media and the judicial process, probably are not a good mix, but the media is a monster we must live with, because it also does good. I must say though, some American posters may be hypoctitical in their evaluation of the Aruban judicial system, but the American media is not. The American media is like a shark, it does NOT matter who is botching up and investigation or prosecution, the American media loves to turn them inside out. It helps their ratings.

As far as body disposal goes, I disagree with you Yu, (Insert Speculation Disclaimer for the anti speculationists) because if he did it, he had two or so hours to HIDE the body, and then had more time to dispose or arrange disposal in the following days. I believe whole-heartedly that had the police investigated the vdS more agressively at the beginning, they would have done Aruba a favor. They would have either clearly ruled him out as a suspect, or generated a little thing called EVIDENCE(of which it seems there is little if any at this point). Please know this, I understand nothing has been proven, no one has been tried, blah, blah, blah... I think we know so little, that almost anything is possible. However, I also know Joran was last seen with her, lied, got advice from dad, and all that, that makes me suspect him above all. If he gets off for lack of evidence, (I hope he doesn't) I can live with that. It has happened before, in my country, your country, everywhere, and will happen again. People should not stop travelling, they should not draw battle lines, the sky is NOT falling. This is one tragedy in an ocean of thousands.

[NYer too]

I was 8 when Santa Claus misspelled my sister Missy's name in a letter thanking us for the cookies. He spelled it "Missey". By the logic of some people posting here, the letter must have really been written by Santa, because certainly Dad would know how to spell his own daughter's name.

Maybe Santa wrote the letter for Paul Reynolds, too.

[sleuthing]

a.hall,

Hey, guess what? I don't watch "The woman's entertainment channel", but THIS case could definitly qualify as "fiction" since the Aruban police screwed up the investigation from the beginning.

It's laughable the way this case was handled. There was help offered, and it was turned away. Now, all evidence is lost.

You keep saying "what if Joren is telling the truth" and I ask you, "which truth would that be THIS time"?

Innocent people don't lie.

For some reason you like to throw around the terms "The ugly American", Yankee, Anti-American, but that's okay.........I could care less as long as Natalee is found.

I don't blame anyone in Aruba except for the one's that know what happened to Natalee and the authorities that totally blew the investigation from day one.

Just for the record.

[macy christ]

this is to Harry from the big flashy website for AOL-----your last word was ARUBA. That is not the case at all.

Beth and her brother make it very clear---the trouble lays with afew people in powerful positions NOT the gracious people of Aruba.

You are like those people trying to foment bullshit when it doesn't exist. I am calling you sloppy with very bad karma attached.

[shonane]

RE the theory proposed by some that Joran would have had the two hours to kill Natalee, then dispose of the body, then get home. This never has added up. They also apparently had sex during this time to work in also. (So say this was forced if happened and I don't see that reasoning either.) This is why - it was reported that he went to school the next day bragging to a few friends about the romantic encounter with her last night, not a put down just talking about. (Many teen age boys unfortunately regularly do this, sometimes they are just thrilled about the girl and sometimes they are doing their macho rooster behavior.) Whatever the reason, if he forced her into sex, or if he knew she was missing, he would not have gone to school and brag about the romantic encounter with her the last night. NO WAY! Thus, he did not know she was missing at that time and he didn't cause her to be missing. Also, why would he lie if innocent? Because he was immediately being accused of having something to do with her being missing and he wanted to have witnesses to verify that they last saw him and that he couldn't have done it - he didn't want to be framed and he saw it coming!

[a.hall]

sluething:

"Innocent people don't lie"? Not entirely true actually. I know that for a fact, working with teenagers as I do. They do indeed lie for the oddest reasons sometimes, for reasons that they may not readily reveal to an adult.

For example, a kid might, embarrassed that his parents will find out that he had been making out with someone on the beach, might lie about having only been in the company of that someone with a couple of friends and therefore not even ever alone with that person. Something like that could explain an early lie while not proving guilt. Then when pushed into a corner the kid will often tell the whole truth.

Or a kid may be afraid of being blamed for something that he is in fact not guilty of, and so make up a false alibi with witnesses even, just to be sure he's safe from blame.

I'm not saying it's a good way to act but it happens especially with kind of immature adolescents. So I'm taking my own experience into account when I consider this young man's statement.

As for the terminology in some of my posts, glad you don't mind them, always nice to be able to express oneself and make one's point without necessarily offending.

[calista]

I seriously do not believe after all this time that there has been no progress in this case - you can argue until you have no more breath left and the people in aruba can be mad all they want but the facts are the facts and they are that there is a landslide of more than questionable actions by the aruba poilce and government that all point ot a either cover up or the most poorly trained and messed up bunch of investigators ever. Clearly Beth Holloway was and has been threatened to keep quiet because she had NO reason to apologize to anyone for wanting her daughter found and the people who lied about where they left her to stay in jail until the truth comes out. Maybe just maybe you could say that the boys were scared because they were the last ones seen with her and they might have said "we left her at her hotel" but NO innocent person comes up with a detailed lie before she is even known to be missing about two black security guards approaching her and her stumbling out of the car.......this is total b.s. and on top of all that you have steve croes who claims to have just walked on in to the police station to lie for some guys he doesn't even know and a dad who gives the advice "no body no case" to his son.........pleeeeeeaaaseeee.......you have to be an idiot to not see the lies a mile away and the botching of the investigation by the aruba authorities.........answers need to be demanded about why search teams were not allowed to search the vandersloot property or the kalpoe propery and why aruba will not allow the help of the fbi along with many other things.........I don't know what is preventing Beth Holloway from talking but we keep hearing about the things she knows that will "shock the world" but she never says them....I don't mean to be rude or insensitive but let's grow some balls here and not allow the aruba government to get away with this crap - BETH YOU NEED TO TALK!!!!!! What can they possibly do to you for it?

[Trae Harwood]

blah @ the silly comments RE: the mispelling of a name....as if that covers up the fact that a beautiful young girl has been murdered and Judge ( in training) Paul Vander Sloot, has offered legal advice..no body, no case....as the mother of a daughter myself, I have put myself in the place of Natalee's parents, and I have cried with them.....I will support the Alabama Legislature in calling for a boycott of Alabamians in visiting Aruba, as well as ALL Americans....praise to the Aruban Prime Minister for ordering the authorites to give all information to the United Sates FBI, however late it may be.......God Bless Natalee Holloway and her family.....my prayers continue.......

[kelly]

I have 2 theories on what happened to natalee holloway.

1. She hooked up the the 3 boys (and i do emphasize boys) and things got out of hand. They gang banged her over and over. Joran got a hold of his father who helped the boys to cover up (why his comment of no corpse, no crime) He did not want to see his son in trouble also with them being high society the embarrassment and public humility to the family also the jeopardizing of his livelyhood.

My 2nd theory is:

She hooked up with the boys and was raped, joran got a hold of his father because she was passed out. Her father being a gov official and thus probably knew about the "other"industry there. (ie.. Whore houses on neighboring islands) either sold her or sent her to another island.

The reason I say this theory is because back in the 90's, a united states submarine pulled into curacco and a small group of the sailors were out and about on the island when they came across a fenced in compound. A girl at the edge of the property called over to them and told them her name and where she was from and what had happened to her. (She had been there 16 months was from Mississippi) When one of the compound guards came over to get her, the sailors played it off that they were going to come back and GET SOME.
They immediately went back to the sub and informed their commanding officer who notified the U.S. authorities. Turns out that the girl was for real, she had gone missing 18 months before from a trip to aruba.

If my child went missing and there were suspects, I would of hired Mercenaries to get them so I could get info from them.