NOT TALKING

FOX reports:

Official: Dad Detained to Pressure Son

The father of the Dutch teen suspect in Natalee Holloway's disappearance was taken into custody in order to make his son talk, Aruba's justice minister said Saturday.

In an exclusive interview with FOX News' Geraldo Rivera, Justice Minister Rudy Croes said the detention of Paul van der Sloot — whose son Joran changed the story he told police about the night of Natalee's disappearance — could be key to solving the case.

"Any moment, we can have the solution," Croes said. "I don't think [Joran], if he really participated in the disappearance of this lady, I don't think he can hold out for so long knowing his father is detained."

Croes said Joran and two other suspects, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, were surveilled electronically after being released following an initial round of questioning. He implied that information picked up by such surveillance led to their second detention.

"That's why, after a certain moment, they were seized," said Croes.

Meanwhile, a volunteer group from Texas arrived on the island to search for Natalee, who disappeared during a vacation on Aruba nearly four weeks ago.

The 24 volunteers, who include eight divers, arrived late Friday in the Dutch protectorate, bringing four dogs and sonar equipment with them. Tim Miller, director of Texas EquuSearch, said his team started looking for Natalee on Saturday morning.

"We are holding out hope that Natalee is alive, but we know the odds are against us," said Miller, adding that the group would remain in Aruba until it finds her.

...Aruban authorities have received criticism for their handling of the case. But Jug Twitty, Natalee's stepfather, told FOX News Saturday evening he believed investigators were now making progress.

"I think they are on the right track," he said. "They’re putting the heat on [the suspects]."

As for the effort to find Natalee, media attention on the case has inspired many to take an interest in the search.

Miller said athletes in the United States had approached him about helping, but declined to say who they were or how they might participate.

Miller, who arrived ahead of his team, met with authorities Thursday to check where they had searched and plot new sites.

His first contact with police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten was "tense," but the two came to an agreement, he said, declining to elaborate.

Miller also would not say where the search would begin.

"If we find something that is evidence, we certainly don't want your cameras on it," Miller told reporters late Friday. He said the team would ask Arubans to help in the search within a few days.

Think how angered people were by the selfishness of the Runaway Bride for putting her fiance and family through hell, and pointlessly depleting the resources of the community. So much pain and expense could have been avoided if Jennifer Wilbanks would have made a simple phone call to spare her family the worry that someone had done harm to her.

Compare that with what Joran van der Sloot and his associates are doing.

As Natalee's mother has said, this seventeen-year-old knows what happened. His father may know as well; but progress in the investigation is slowed because of their failure to cooperate.

What's going on in Aruba makes the uproar over what Wilbanks did seem laughable.

Joran van der Sloot is acting like he has ice in his veins. No doubt he learned that from his father.

The thing that makes this case especially disturbing is all the screw-ups by Aruban authorities.

AP lists some troubling questions about how the case has been handled.

Why were the youths last seen with 18-year-old Natalee Holloway left free for days after she disappeared?

Why did police not search the home of the Dutch youth who was flirting with her until two weeks after she went missing?

Why did Aruban officials ask the FBI to send divers, who came to the island but never searched its waters?

The incompetence of Aruban officials have made the case harder to solve and possibly impossible to crack.

When confronted with the criticism, Attorney General Caren Janssen, the top prosecutor on the Dutch Caribbean island, refuses to comment. He said, "I can't comment on the investigation until it's over. Investigators must be allowed to do their jobs."

That's convenient, isn't it?

Joran van der Sloot, 17, and Surinamese brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, were the last ones seen with Holloway, an honors student from Mountain Brook, Alabama.

...The three were questioned soon after she disappeared, but not arrested until June 9. At the time, Janssen said there were "tactical reasons," and there was speculation authorities hoped the freed young men might lead them to a clue.

That was an error, according to Joseph Pollini, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College in New York City, where he spent 33 years as a homicide detective: "Once released, it's problematic because somebody surely coached them," he said. "A lawyer wouldn't be worth his weight in salt if he didn't tell them simply not to say anything."

Pollini doubted any confession was now possible.

In other words, the individual or individuals responsible for Natalee's disappearance are lacking a conscience.