$1 Million for Natalee Holloway

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) -- Aruban authorities have brought in experts from the Netherlands and sent a prosecutor to consult with the FBI as they seek to solve the disappearance of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, officials said Monday.

The reward in the case rose to $1 million.

The four experts from the Netherlands traveled to the Dutch Caribbean island to assist with interrogations while two members of the team investigating the Holloway case traveled to the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Va., the public prosecutor's office of Aruba said.

Aruba has agreed to show transcripts of interrogations to the FBI, which is acting in an advisory role in the high-profile case, in a sign of increased cooperation that drew praise from the family of the Mountain Brook teen who vanished on the last night of a high school graduation trip.

"I'm really so grateful to the Aruban officials who have made it possible to release this information," the teenager's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said after announcing that the reward for information leading to her safe return had been increased to $1 million.

A family spokeswoman in Birmingham said the reward was increased after Holloway's relatives received an offer from an anonymous benefactor.

...Aruban authorities agreed to provide the transcripts after the country's prime minister sent a letter to Attorney General Karin Janssen urging prosecutors to give the FBI "complete access" to materials from the investigation to the extent allowed under Dutch law, which governs the territory.

...The public prosecutor's office said in a statement that Amalin Flanegin, a senior member of the prosecution team, and a police investigator would be at the FBI crime lab for a week with materials gathered during the investigation to discuss the case. They did not specify the materials.

It's about time that the hapless Aruban authorities permit the FBI to handle this investigation.

Not only should ALL involved in Natalee's disappearance be held responsible and punished for their crimes; the Netherlands should do what it needs to do to get the incompents out of positions of authority on Aruba.

I wonder if Joran van der Sloot, the Kalpoe brothers, Steve Croes, and judge in training (What a joke!) Paul van der Sloot hear the clock ticking?

The FBI, a $1 million dollar reward--if daddy van der Sloot was sweatly profusely before, he must be ready to pass out now.
Read about Natalee.

The piece serves as a reminder that this isn't a fictional murder mystery. This isn't a salacious tabloid soap opera.

For Natalee's family and friends, this isn't a nightmare that goes away upon waking.

It's the real story of the loss of their beloved Natalee and it's forever.