Getting Away with Murder

It's been five weeks and there's been no sign of Natalee Holloway whatsoever--no body, not a shred of forensic evidence, and no cooperation from suspects as to what happened to her.

Early on, Paul van der Sloot coached his son, Joran, telling him not to talk. That strategy may prove successful, allowing him to walk out of jail free.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- The mother of an Alabama honors student missing in Aruba for a month said Tuesday she is devastated by the release of a Dutch suspect's father and convinced the high-ranking judicial official is hiding information.

"I know in my heart he has some answers," Beth Holloway Twitty told The Associated Press in an interview.

She said her suspicions were based on his behavior when she went to his house looking for those answers last week, and Paul van der Sloot, who's training to be a judge on the Dutch Caribbean island, could not stop perspiring.

"I've never sat across from an individual in a well-ventilated room who was sweating so profusely. His wife had to use napkins to wipe his forehead, and the sweat drops falling on the table" as they sat under a fan.

But his wife, Anita van der Sloot, insisted on her family's innocence in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press...

"Why is the finger being pointed at Joran? Because he's the son of a judge?" she asked. "But there is no proof he did anything. Investigators have lost control [of the case] and don't know what to do anymore."

Van der Sloot said her family has been devastated since Natalee Holloway disappeared in the early hours of May 30.

"Our lives, and the life of a young teenager, have been destroyed," she said. "For us, the most important thing is Natalee and my son."

...Both the Holloway Twitty and the van der Sloots "are feeling like they are losing a son or a daughter," said Ricardo Yarzagaray, an Aruban defense lawyer not connected to the case.

Anita van der Sloot wants sympathy she doesn't deserve. I have no idea what happened to Natalee. I have no idea who's guilty in her disappearance. However, Mrs. van der Sloot has the comfort of knowing where her son is. Of course, she's upset he's in jail, but she knows he is alive and safe.

Beth Holloway Twitty does not have that assurance. In all likelihood, she really has lost a daughter, forever. There is no comparison between what Natalee's loved ones and Joran's parents are experiencing.

It's an insult to Natalee's family to even suggest that the van der Sloots are hurting in a comparable way. If they are losing a son, it's because he's a criminal, not a victim.

Yesterday, some more information came out about the relationship between Joran and Natalee. He was not someone she had just met that night. This flies in the face of growing sentiment among the locals on the island that Natalee is to blame for her fate, that she was a drunk and a slut, putting herself in a dangerous situation by behaving irresponsibly.

An NBC affiliate in Alabama, NBC13, interviewed Jamie Justice, one of Natalee's friends.

She said that "Joran van der Sloot, was no stranger to the Mountain Brook group. He'd been hanging out with them all week.

"Jamie Justice said she got to know van der Sloot at the Black Jack table.

"'The way he came off wasn't at all in a threatening way,' Justice said. 'He was really naive to everybody.'

"Justice and many of Holloway's friends thought van der Sloot was a fellow tourist.

"'He didn't look like one of the locals and he didn't act like one of the locals,' Justice said. 'He acted more like he was just down there vacationing.'

"...Justice said Holloway spent most the night with her friends, not van der Sloot. However, at about 1:30 a.m. Holloway and van der Sloot left the bar together.

"Justice says although Holloway is a sweet person she isn't overly trusting."

Also, Geraldo Rivera said yesterday there were reports that Joran brought Natalee to his home on the night of her disappearance.

Apparently, Joran has a room with a separate entrance from his parents' home. He could easily bring someone home without them ever knowing.

Furthermore, the ten days that Joran was set free obviously would have given him ample time to scrub the room of any trace of evidence that Natalee was there.

It sickens me to think of how badly the Aruban officials botched the investigation, maybe to the point of letting someone get away with murder.