CRIMINAL MIND > FORENSICS & INVESTIGATION

Paradise Lost

Catch and Release Redux

On July 4, 2005, a judge ordered the release of Deepak and Satish Kalpoe but authorized the police to hold Joran for up to 60 more days.

Then on August 26, Aruban cops arrested the Kalpoes again, citing "new facts and circumstances" that implicated the brothers and others in "premeditated murder and rape."

Joran remained in custody.

Six days later, on September 1, a judge ordered the police to release Joran. The next day, the judge ordered the release of the Kalpoe brothers.

Five days later, Joran left Aruba for The Netherlands to attend college.

By that point in the investigation, three months after Natalee's disappearance, at least seven people had been arrested and released, two of them twice. Still, the Aruban authorities weren't through arresting people.

Geoffrey van Cromvoirt

In April 2006, police in Aruba announced the arrest of a man they would only identify by his initials, G.V.C. He turned out to be 19-year-old Geoffrey van Cromvoirt, a former security guard who was reported to have been involved in security patrols along the beach near the Holiday Inn, where Natalee and her travel companions stayed.

After six days of interrogation, Aruban authorities released van Cromvoirt.

At about the same time, police also arrested a man with the initials A.B. but released him after six hours. They did not reveal his name.

Police also twice questioned Deputy Chief Gerold Dompig's son about Natalee's disappearance, but they did not arrest him.

In May, Dutch police arrested 18-year-old Guido Wever in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Natalee Holloway. Wever, a friend of Joran's, worked in the Holiday Inn casino during Natalee's stay at the hotel. Wever left the island two days after Natalee disappeared.

Aruban authorities sought Wever's extradition back to the island, but six days after his arrest Dutch authorities released him.