Nightmares

From FOX:

Suspect's Mom: 'It's a Nightmare for Us, Too'

ORANJESTAD, Aruba — The parents of Joran van der Sloot asserted that their son was innocent Wednesday, saying that he's a drug-free honors student who had nothing to do with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

"We still believe in Joran," said his father, Paul van der Sloot.

In an exclusive interview with FOX News' Greta Van Susteren, the van der Sloots said that their prayers were with the family of 18-year-old Alabama woman who vanished in Aruba. Anita van der Sloot, the Dutch suspect's mother, was wearing a bracelet that said "Hope for Natalee," which she received from Natalee's mother.

But the pair stressed that they also were going through an ordeal.

"It's a nightmare for us, too," said Anita van der Sloot, whose son, 17, is in jail in connection with the disappearance.

Sometimes too emotional to speak, Anita described how prison guards were putting "a lot of pressure" on Joran during interrogations, some of which lasted "10 hours."

The questioners did "things like calling him 'psychopath, murderer, tell us where you buried the girl. You're a criminal. I can't beat you, but if I could beat you I would do this.' … Extreme things," said Anita.

She described her son as "a very outgoing person" who received all "A"s and "B"s in advanced courses at school.

"He's a sweetheart. To me, he's very warm," she said.

Recounting a visit to her son in jail — she is allowed to visit Joran, but her husband is not — she said she couldn't stop herself from crying, and Joran tried to reassure her of his innocence.

"'Mom, don't worry ... the truth will come forward and I know that I didn't do anything to the girl,'" said Joran, according to his mother. "He was so strong. And I believe in him. I believe so in him."

When asked if Joran had ever been involved in drugs, Anita said: "A hundred percent, no."

Despite the suspect's parents' emotional interview, Natalee's stepfather, also appearing on "On the Record," said the missing teen's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, was having a much harder time.

"I understand her feelings, but Beth's feelings are ten times worse," George Twitty told FOX News.

George Twitty said that in the initial days after the teen's disappearance, Paul van der Sloot — and one of two Surinamese brothers arrested with Joran van der Sloot — advised his son not to talk to her family.

"He and the other boy kept saying 'you say nothing,'" Twitty said. "I know that the father and I know that the son knows a lot more than they're saying."

I wonder what prompted Anita and Paul van der Sloot to do an interview with Greta. I guess they probably were hoping to win some sympathy for Joran and themselves.

Will the parents of the Kalpoe brothers be next?

The mother's description of her son's interrogation sounds pretty rough. For ten hours at a time, the questioners did "things like calling him 'psychopath, murderer, tell us where you buried the girl. You're a criminal. I can't beat you, but if I could beat you I would do this.' … Extreme things."

They're tough in Aruba. It's a regular gulag. I hope representatives from Amnesty International are on their way.

By George Twitty's response to the van der Sloots' interview, it appears that the meeting Beth Holloway Twitty had with Joran's parents yesterday didn't convince Natalee's parents to take the pressure off them. They still believe Paul and Joran van der Sloot are not fully cooperating.

Moreover, their sympathy for the van der Sloots' nightmare is limited and rightly so. Although having a son being suspected of wrongdoing and in jail is no picnic, it doesn't begin to compare with having a daughter missing for over three weeks. Not even close.