MURDER

Joran Van Der Sloot, Satish Kalpoe, and Deepak Kalpoe have been charged with Natalee Holloway's murder.

This really isn't a new development. They've been charged since June 9!

The Aruban authorities decided it would be better for Natalee's family if they didn't know.

What were they thinking?

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) --Three young men detained in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager have been charged with murder since their arrest more than three weeks ago, Aruba's chief prosecutor told The Associated Press on Friday.

The charges were not announced at the time to protect the family of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, said Attorney General Karin Janssen.

"The three have been charged with the murder of Natalee Holloway from the beginning" of their arrest 10 days after the young woman went missing May 30, she said.

Police have been criticized for letting more than a week go by without detaining the three young men last seen with Holloway and for waiting 16 days after she went missing before searching the home of one of them, a 17-year-old Dutch youth.

Ruben Trapenberg, spokesman for Prime Minister Nelson Oduber, defended the police work, saying the government has put 21 detectives on the case and exceeded the budget with overtime the past month.

Trapenberg also mentioned the 70 Dutch Marines on the island who helped in initial searches and were called back Thursday to comb the island again.

"They do not bungle cases," Trapenberg said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "Aruban police and prosecutors are professional forces that have been successful."

Prosecutors have an 89% conviction rate on the Dutch Caribbean island, he said. Violent crime is rare in the tourist haven.

Asked why two of three suspects were transported together, apparently giving them the opportunity to compare or arrange their stories, Trapenberg said that was done to secretly monitor what they might tell each other.

Late Thursday, CNN captured images of detainees Joran van der Sloot, 17, and 21-year-old Deepak Kalpoe handcuffed together, being put in a car to leave San Nicolas prison. It wasn't clear where they were being taken.

The third detained suspect is Satish Kalpoe, 18, the brother of Deepak.

The three were the last ones seen with Holloway the night she disappeared. Police questioned the three that same day but did not detain them until June 9. Two other people, including van der Sloot's father, Paul, an island judicial official, were detained and released.

"One of the techniques is that after hearing separate stories and getting nowhere, prosecutors will have suspects confront each other," said Trapenberg. "The U.S. system might be different, but this technique has worked in the past here."

Trapenberg also said that police initially did not have any cause to hold the young men.

"Because of a lack of evidence of any crime, they opted for different tactical and monitoring techniques," Trapenberg said. "If they had arrested them immediately, they would never have collected evidence."

Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, has repeatedly criticized investigators, saying that if she did not get answers soon she would believe they were protecting someone — probably Joran van der Sloot because of his father's position.

"Prosecutors couldn't even attempt a cover-up because they know better than anyone that this case is under a microscope," Trapenberg said.

Aruba also has welcomed foreign rescue groups like Texas EquuSearch and allowed the FBI to help in the investigation, Trapenberg said.

"If an Aruban girl is lost in the U.S., are they going to let Aruban police investigate there?" Trapenberg asked.

That's a stupid question.

Why would Aruban police need to investigate in the U.S. if an Aruban girl was missing in America?

U.S. authorities wouldn't release suspects to give them time to clean up after themselves and dispose of evidence.

Moreover, if a person is charged, it's not kept from the public.

According to the Attorney General, the charges were not announced at the time to protect the family of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway. How in hell did that protect the family? That is absolutely ridiculous.

Janssen rationalized, "At the time, we didn't want to upset the [Holloway] family talking about murder while they searched."

AP writes, "Janssen, who has said several times in the past three weeks that no one was charged in the case, said they also kept the information quiet in order not to compromise their investigation. Authorities have said they have no physical evidence suggesting Holloway is dead."

For weeks, Aruban authorities let the family and everyone who cares about Natalee hold out hope she'd be found alive. What was that about?

They charged the three with murder on June 9; but they kept that information from the family to protect them.

I'm speechless.