Phone Calls And Messages

Conversation and confusion continue around what, if any cell phone calls may have been placed that night, not simply between the suspects, but possibly between the suspects, and / or Natalee and other parties and trip attendees from Mountain Brook High School.

While I will continue to post what I have learned from speaking with reliable sources with a genuine or direct knowledge of events, I must also continue to caution readers that accumulating one larger more solid truth from reading the grains of sand that can be provided by a group of teenagers more caught up in this tragedy than observers must be read in context.

Clearly a combination of factors including - some individuals state of mind that night and after wards; an obvious over-indulgence in alcohol and possibly drugs, including Ecstasy by some in attendance at Carlos and Charlies; a necessarily secretive investigation and a desire by some to not discuss certain events that 1) may not sit well with family and friends and 2) may not always be remembered clearly due to the haze of partying, all combine to confound the unraveling of the mystery behind the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

As regards phone calls what I have learned from a reliable source is that at least two calls are said to have been placed by individuals on Aruba during the late night hours of the first evening of Natalee Holloway's disappearance. The calls were missed, either because phones were deactivated, or because of the poor performance of certain cell phones on the island of Aruba.

One male, said to be a close friend of Natalee Hollway discovered a message as he was riding home to Mountain Brook on a bus with other students and some chaperones. While I'm unable to verify the originating number of the call, I've been told it was not thought to be the cell phone of Natalee Holloway.

The message could not be clearly made out by ear and was characterized as being garbled "Aruban" voices. The call is said to have been originated in the "middle of the night" on the first evening of Natalee's disappearance.

A second "missed call" message is said to have been discovered by a female friend and possible vacation roommate of Natalee Holloway while flying home with the group from Aruba. The two groups of students mentioned were on separate flights.

As reported earlier, it is has been said that the remaining chaperone did use Natalee Holloway's cell phone the next day to reach her friends for more information that might have helped in finding Natalee early on in her disappearance. While that timing suggests the second call could have been placed by the chaperone, one source insists the missed call message was time stamped at 4 AM the previous night. That information has not been corroborated.

Attempts to clarify the circumstances surrounding Natalee's cell phone usage for the trip, specifically did she rent an alternate cell phone, as is common practice for some while visiting Aruba, were met with a no comment from one likely phone provider.

It is possible she had an additional phone resulting in some confusion as to where her cell phone was at any point in time. Also, the time stamp of the missed call from her phone could have been misinterpreted or reported incorrectly from the owner of the phone. It is assumed that authorities have verified those issues.

In the first instance above the young man notified a chaperone upon receiving the phone message and students quickly began to surmise that cell phones and any possible messages could become relevant to any potential investigation. I've been told that at that point most if not all phones were switched off and handed in, presumably to be handed over to investigating authorities.

I have no information as regards other possible phone messages left with anyone linked to this case.

Comments

[letsbefair]

hello

[DT]

Dan - Any idea as to when your next post will be up? Tonight or tomorrow?

[letsbefair]

Remember that Croes listened to one of the calls several times with Beth. Geta interviewed him. Greta has reported that the caller did not speak, but there was "background" noise, then a male voice asks "are you calling home?" then the call ended. Greta also asked Beth if she recognized background noise from the phonecall at the VDS residence.

[DennisAOK]

My understanding is that Natalee left her own cell phone in her hotel room. I am not clear if that was one brought in from the US or rented in Aruba.

I also read that most US cell phones do not work in Aruba, but that the remaining chaperone did use Natalee's phone to call students en route to Birmingham for details about whom Natalee was with in the final hours. This would seem to be a contradiction.

Do others know anything more?

[bey]

http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.38_Trinidad_PR_for_edit_2.htm

....thought this was interesting.

[CIndyLouWho]

Thanks Dan for the update. Too bad there wasn't a better connection so that Natalee could have been helped right away. Maybe there is some more that they just can't divulge yet. Hopefully time will tell.

[wreck]

There HAS to a lot more they haven't divulged yet. I strongly believe that Beth and Jug have confided what they know to Greta (who is told she can't divulge it on the air.) I would then expect Greta to subtly hint at clues for others to put "Two and Two" together. She may be secretly "theorizing" somewhere like here! She could even be a source to someone like Dan! Just MY theory!

[RstJ]

Um, yeah. So now a "close friend" of Natalee Holloway receives a cellphone call in the middle of the night from some unidentified cellphone with "aruban" voices on it and this is relevant how?

There is a whole lot we aren't being told here. If Natalee Holloway is making cellphone calls around 4am to close male friends and those calls were made on *her* cellphone, the one found in the room, then this case needs to be completely rethought.

RstJ

[Ash]

I agree about there still being a lot of mystery.

If these calls were made on a cell phone, then can't the locations of the phone be traced? I've always heard that.

Also, if the cell phone wasn't Natalee's, then there's a chance it's still there. Assuming it's not buried or destroyed, could it not be traced and located?

So many questions.

[NevadaMom]

Hi Dan,

As usual excellent posts. I really appreciate the latest summations. You are dead on that the teens may have been really blasted and are trying to keep their families from knowing just how much partying there was. And I think that it makes sense when you consider that Natalee's best friends did not stay with her and it seems that a lot of normal caution was thrown to the winds. I can't really blame the teens, it would be hypocritical to say that most of us have never done anything that dumb. Was it wise to let teens go to Aruba? Probably not, in retrospect, it seems that the permissiveness of the culture there acted as its own agent and consequently there were levels of victims. Natalee of course being the supreme victim.
Please contine your work and reflection.

[P in S.E.Asia]

As i said on another thread n which i think is very applicable here too,

"In the final analysis, Joran will only be guilty of changing his story. And to me the most plausible rationale for that is because he was the unfortunate one who was KNOWN to be with her last.

My undying support for Joran n his family comes from the fact that im a young caribbean male and that 'misfortune- the one of being the last person seen with the girl' - could have happened to me or any of my friends - we love to mingle with the foreign ladies, they love to mingle with us too - basic math.

many a contributor here have been quick to label him guilty because he changed his story, but ask yourselves, have u ever been in such a situation. - good to see more rationale tot these days. I have been in peeping mode for some time.

As nasia says, "the truth will reveal"

Natalie may be dead, but i think Joran knows less about that than people here seem to think.

But as the famous adage goes, "time will tell". "

[Bud]

Here is my theory on what happened. Tell me if you agree or disagree.

Natalee and Joran and the two Pakistani fellers met in C and Cs that evening. There was baseball on the television, so they started comparing sports in their respective countries. Suddenly, a lightbulb popped into Joran's head! "Ein thinken Ein know how to seducenheifen thissen woman!"

"How would you like to attend a cockfight on the beach?" Joran asked Natalee, while subtly winking at the Pakistanis.

"Wahhh, ahddd luv to! Mah step-daddy Jug be fightin' cocks up yonder in Alabammer!" responded Natalee.

So off they went to the beach. When they got there, the two curry-eating Pakistanis whipped out their under-endowments and began... JOUSTING with them! Deepak attempted to smote Satish's ball sack. Satish parried Deepak's blow and aimed his Hindu worm straight for his brother's shaft. They penis-fenced for awhile, neither side gaining the upper-hand,when Natalee cried out: "This is disgusting! This ain't the kind of cockfight ahh wuz contemplatin'! I was thinkin' of the kind with roosters!"

Traumatized, Natalee hurled herself from the bluff into the shark pit. Fierce Great-whites immediately gobbled her up. Joran, not knowing what to do, contacted his Daddy, who happened to be in a gambling den in one of Aruba's gay bars.

"Daddy, ich bin ein scared! Help me!"

"Achtung, mein son! How dare you interrupten me while I am gambling! Why don't you go help Lorenzo peddle some coke?"

After the handsome Dutch lad explained the situation, Paulus cried, "No one will believe this! Those Pakis are going to lie and make life hell for you!" Paulus drove over, whipped out some incriminating photos of Deepak and Satish shop-lifting packets of curry-flavoring from the local supermarket, and the rest is history!

[clintcarter]

Remember the comment about one of the security guards having been in Natalee's room? Did that get resolved?

Let's say that there WAS more sexual activity on this trip then we would like to think our youngsters take part in. That would help explain the 'wall of silence' the group has so effectively maintained. Imagine having to announce to the world who you slept with and when and just which drugs you'd done. All of us can remember getting involved in things at that age just because everyone else was doing it.

So if they had to fess up, the Law in both countries could be cooperating by using discretion in what they release.
Maybe some of Beth's early comment; "There's a lot more to this story, etc..." could have been related to her shock at the kind of activity (not just the ALA kids) that was routine there. She may have a more jaded view of that by now.
Another way the truth of a thing CAN change?

[clintcarter]

Bud, thanks moron.

[Roger]

Thanks Bud,

That was the biggest laugh I've had today!

[color]

What is becoming very clear to me is that none of these kids seemed to know what anyone else was doing. That is very scary, If Natalee bought another cell phone don't you think she would have told someone
From the very beginning I have always had a problem, let me ask the women here a question. When you go anywhere with a group of women/girls when you were younger. was there at least one who was your closest friend?
So If that was the case with Natalee why did that friend not look to see if she was back that night?
I have heard one of the boys on that trip say she was his best friend,
It is probably me but that has bugged me from the start I just think it is very odd.

[concerned American mom and teacher]

I am pretty sure I remember in the first couple of days Natlaee's mother making an appeal on tv to Natalee and saying your cell phone is now international so if you call me on your cell phone number and I'll come and get you or something to that affect. That's when they thought she was kidnapped or maybe ran away. but that wouldn't make sense if the chaperone called Beth to report Natalee missing on Natalee's cell phone. That's something that needs to be cleared up. I am pretty sure that was the comment cause I remember reading about some comments people made about it in this blog or maybe sm. Maybe the chaperone contacted Beth first on another phone like one from the Holiday Inn or another cell phone and then Beth called the cell phone provider and have it changed so she and the chaperone could communicate more freely until Beth got down there. If that is true then if Natalee did try and make phone calls that night it would have to have been from a rented cell phone or someone else's phone. surely her friends from MB would know if she rented a cell phone down there.

[HM]

Why was Van der Sloot taken back to the beach today?

[concerned American mom and teacher]

P in S.E.Asia

You may be right but I think it is more than just being seen with her last. He has changed or lied about what happened many times. He has also made some strange comments that set off alrams in my mind. Like when his mother said that he said when Natalee did show up he was going to kick her butt right in front of her mother. Or the one about I wouldn't have been sneaking out of the house if you had been home mom. It is clear that Joran has some isues that make him more suspicious of commiting a crime than just being the last to be seen with Natalee

[THolloway]

--------
"...The call is said to have been originated in the "middle of the night" on the first evening of Natalee's disappearance...."

Was this the night she disappeared or the following evening?
--------

You didn't actually say that the second call was from NH's cell phone. You wrote/quote that a chaperone used NH's phone the next day.

So which phone was the chaperone using? NH's US phone? If NH didn't have the phone at 4:AM, who did? the chaperone? Why? How?

----------

[iremember]

getting worse and worse.
Dan, thanks for sharuing only what you are convinced is fact (and which you feel able to share)....but holy crap....all of that update added up to nothing as far as I am concerned. It seems with each new day, the truth just gets farther away.....

[iremember]

"something bad happened to Natalee"
"no body no crime"

come on all, stop with the hapless victim joran scenarios!

[FindNat]

HM, where did you hear that JVDS was taken back to the beach today??

[Dan]

Good questions, TH - similar to my own.

[letsbefair]

Geez Dan, you should know more about this than me. It must have been the night that she disappeared because Beth arrived the following day and was listening to the call with Croes. Croes owns a cell rental company, that's why he was involved. The call was not from Natalee's cell.

[letsbefair]

Hey THolloway,

Talked to you at Scared Monkeys chat. I got kicked off their boards too! lol.

The chaperones found all of Natalee's stuff in her room (including the phone) so they called some numbers programed into the phone looking for her.

[tmag]

Dan, Monday night, when my son returned from the trip and told us about Natalee failing to show up for the plane, we asked a million questions. We asked if anyone had heard from her. He said that on the way home, everyone checked their phones. one of the boys had a funky message around 3. They wondered if it came from N, but could not determine who it was from. He said there was a bad connection and noise. He gave it to the FBI. I remmber when Greta did the monkey thing, I immediately thought they were trying to scope the VDS property for noise.

[Whit]

Riehl...

Your last report, 7-16-05, that you have teased for the last 24/7 is lame.

In fact, your reports are right up there with Marianne Calpoe's, to tell you the truth!

I applaud your efforts, but you tease your own reports and they're pretty much duds!

[P in S.E.Asia]

Whit, that was kinda harsh.

Go easy on the guy, he's doin his utmost.

[tideroller]

Color - Your question has been answered OVER and OVER again. Look up "carving out". It gets rather boring to have to keep repeating things to those who seem a bit lazy to keep up with the posts, so you'll have to look it up yourself, sorry.

[P in S.E.Asia]

concerned American mom and teacher,

like this guy jan has said on another thread, there really isn't much "we know of" beyond the lie. I excitedely await the formal indictment so as to get a first hand view of th efacts or evidence - circumstancial or otherwise - that the LE has on Joran.

Until then, i will remain convinced that he was just a victim of bad luck and wrong timing. but the facts - or what can be percieved as facts - seemingly point to someone else being responsible for her fate.

granted he reneged on his innate responsiibility of ensuring that she returned safely to her dorm, but unless additional evidence is provided, u cant pin murder charges against a man on that basis. well the lie(s) we have already exhausted the rationale for those so no need to go further.

but i will reiterate that it's good to see more persons becomin more n more objective and lookin outside the box rather than when it was focused on the three.

as the owner of this web log says so often..."deveoping"

[tideroller]

Concerned mom - I think it may be fairly obvious that the Mom was meaning that if Natalee could get to a phone she could call her mother who now has Natalee's phone in her possession and updated to receive international calls (a call from an Aruban cell phone would be international to Natalee's cell phone, even though, the phone itself was in Natalee's hotel room in Aruba.)

[tideroller]

P Asia - Sorry, afraid Joran is not as innocent as you like to depict. If something accidental happened to her, there would be no reason for the lie after lie after lie. No reason for the "No corpse, No case". No reason for the guilty behavior of the Van der Slut family afterwards, etc. There is more to Joran's implicity than meets the eye. And by the way, I suggest you open yours (eyes, that is).

[MrsJimiHendrix]

Dan

Thank you as usual for doing the best to give us what you can

P in SE Asia

did you just DEFEND DAN??? miracles happen!! : )

Have a good evening you two!!

[P in S.E.Asia]

tideroller,

i am sure u have come to understand over ur years that there is no "set format" for a guilty party to act.

those who may be perceived to be guilty in our eyes really n truly may be innocent n vice versa.

the media wants someone who will be held responsible, the family also needs someone they can hold accountable...Aruba needs someone, the US needs someone, right now Joran is the most suitable person, hell if we were in the good US of A, all threee guys would have been already convicted and sentenced-they have already been found guilty in mainstream media, hell her mom alredy thinks them guilty.

closure is sought "by the hook or by th ecrook" aka, by any means necessary.

luckily, such is not the case in the Caribbean. A murder will not be pinned on someone because of some strange statements and a few lies.

Once the evidence is brought forward i will be the first to say whoever is responsible shoudl receive the full extent of the law for whatever crime has been perpetrated - to me, for the tiem being they guys are guilty of changing their stories, possibly obstruction of justice etc.

but the story is developin and it is godo to be able to postulate n hypothesise, but remember that they didn't, by virtue of their lie, suspend their right to being innocenct until proven guilty.

[dave]

hi.

[concerned American mom and teacher]

tideroller

Okay, I see what you are saying. So if Natalee had tried to make a phone call from her cell phone that night in Aruba before it became international, would she have been able to make the call to a friend's cell phone or to someone in Alabama without it being made international. I was thinking that wouldn't be possible since the phone wasn't international but I don't know that much about cell phone service. Just trying to figure it out if it would hve been possible on her phone. Plus if she called another friends cell phone on her phone I would think the number or her name would have showed up. For example if someone calls my son on his cell phone and their number in in his phone book on his phone it shows their name when they call or the number.

[Horton]

So tell me. What are conditions like at San Nicolas prison? I mean, no prisons are "easy", but some are much grimmer than others.

[tideroller]

P in SE Asia - I wish I could close my eyes to all the crime in my country as you are so willing to do in crime committed in your region (You said you are a Caribbean male.) Have you been keeping up with this case at all? Have you never heard of the two innocent black security guards who were rounded up by the 'Cowboy' Aruban LE and charged on the basis of the lies of Joran and the two Bros.? How about the black?wife of the decapitated man found in the cemetery? The Aruban LE has charged her with his death. A woman decapitating a man? Wow, what kind of Amazon was he married to? BTW she also loaded his body up into a pickup truck and then unloaded it in the cemetery. P in SE, if you love your region, you would do your region more good by taking off the blinders, accepting reality and helping your region to overcome the type of corruption that is allowing these things to occur.

[tideroller]

Concerned mom - The reports say that she left her phone in her room because it was not set for international calls. The guess is that these 3? calls may have been made from a cell phone that she chanced to grab hold of wherever she was (Joran's pad?).

[dave]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/16/aruba.missing.ap/

Are there any more details of Joran's visit to the beach today?

[concerned American mom and teacher]

tideroller

Got it! That is what I was thinking. Also wondering how easy it would be to make a call to the US form a phone in Aruba.

[THolloway]

Aw come on merlin... why not just put the link on there so that all 3 people in the world who don't already have that timeline saved on their harddrive can find it?

[Hubert MacKechnie]

Tideroller,

Where in the States do you live that there is no corruption in your local justice system or government? What are you doing about it? What CAN you do about it?

[P in S.E.Asia]

MrsJimiHendrix

Ur comments seem to insinuate thta its almost inconceivable for me to 'defend dan'... not the case at all. i have always commended the weblog master for his efforts... jsut that there were times when i felt his a tad bit on the judgemental side of things, especially when i tot him to be privy to 'first hand info'.

so i woudl occasionally share my tots along those lines. but i think it is downright rude to go into someone's home n curse them - further, especialy when they did not even invite u into their home in th efirst place - ur jsut wayyyyyyyyy out of place.

Again dan, i think ur doin a wonderfiul job, not that my little acknowlegement means anything, but just that i tot u shoudl know.

[Concerned]

Just want to clarify that "concernedAmericanmomandteacher" is not me: "Concerned" who has been here since June, I believe. I hope it is not a poster or troll.

[Concerned]

Should I be "concerned" about it felllow bloggers?

[Chuck]

Why isn't Jug flying those F-16s himself? He is more of a man than those sissy Dutch pilots.

You go, Jug!

[Concerned]

Dan, do you know me?

[wreck]

I don't think you should be "concerned." I have seen her here before -- nothing unusual!