No Body, No Case

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP)- The father of a Dutch teenager arrested in the disappearance of a young U.S. woman told his son and his two friends that "when there is no body you don't have a case," Aruba's attorney general said Wednesday.

Paul van der Sloot, a judge in training in Aruba, gave his 17-year-old son Joran van der Sloot and two Surinamese brothers legal advice the day after 18-year-old Natalee Holloway disappeared, District Attorney Caren Janssen told MSNBC in an interview.

"They spoke about the situation that when there is no body you don't have a case, and that was already in the first day after the disappearance," Janssen said.

Janssen said that the elder van der Sloot had obstructed the investigation by asking a friend of Joran, who had been interrogated by police, what he had told them.

Paul van der Sloot, 52, was arrested last Thursday in the disappearance but released Sunday when a judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence to hold him.

Janssen told MSNBC that he was arrested because investigators believed he was also a suspect in the disappearance.

Janssen also said that a month after Holloway's May 30 disappearance, investigators had found nothing concrete to suggest she was dead.

...Also Wednesday, Steve Croes, a disc jockey who was arrested and held 10 days before being released Monday, told The Associated Press that his detention was based on a lie he told police.

Croes, 26, said he told police he had seen Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers drop Holloway off at the Holiday Inn the night she disappeared, as the three originally told police.

"That was a lie," Croes told the AP during an interview Wednesday night. "I didn't even know those guys and they didn't know me."

Croes said that while he was at an Internet cafe a few days after Holloway's disappearance, he heard Deepak Kalpoe talking on a cell phone about how the young men had dropped Holloway off. Croes said the story seemed plausible and he went around repeating it, adding that he had seen them drop her off. Police questioned and then arrested him, Croes said.

"I learned that if you don't know something, keep your mouth shut," said Croes. He said he has been fired from his disc jockey job on the Tattoo party boat.

This Croes guy sounds like a real piece of work. Now all of a sudden, Croes doesn't know the Kalpoes or van der Sloot. When he was arrested, it was reported that Croes was a friend.

This case is almost impossible to follow. There are so many lies, far out numbering the facts.

Much more disturbing though is the revelation that not only did Paul van der Sloot tell his son and the Kalpoe brothers not to talk, they had a discussion related to the body.

One day after Natalee's disappearance these four conscienceless, lowlife slimeballs were analyzing the situation, determining whether they could get away with murder.

District Attorney Caren Janssen says the elder van der Sloot gave the three young men legal advice, telling them to keep quiet since there would be no case as long as there's no body.

At the very least, Paul van der Sloot obstructed justice; yet Aruban authorities released him! He's not innocent in any of this. What kind of man, a would-be judge, could advise these suspects to stay quiet. He should be encouraging them to cooperate with investigators, not impede their efforts. He should be urging them to tell the truth and confess. A good father would hold his son accountable, not cover up for him.

Beth Holloway Twitty was right about Paul van der Sloot. She correctly believed he knew more than he was saying. I don't understand how he could face Natalee's mother and talk to her for over an hour, knowing what he knows about her missing daughter.

Sadly, Janssen's comments confirm that the investigation into Natalee's disappearance revolves around her death. Although Natalee's parents were still clinging to the hope that by some miracle she would be found alive, that seems unrealistic now.

No body.
No case.
No conscience.