Published: January 08, 2008 12:10 am            

Needle in a haystack

Information overload still plagues Holloway disappearance

Trying to find the truth about the disappearance of his daughter, Dave Holloway and his attorney must first wade through a sea of misinformation.

Monday was a prime example of what Holloway must put up with.

A man, who said he was calling from Nicaragua, contacted Holloway telling him he knew the whereabouts of his daughter, 18-year old Natalee Holloway, who has been missing since March 25, 2005 during a senior trip to Aruba. After talking with the man who would not give his name or phone number, Dave Holloway has all but written off the "source" as bogus.

"I've gotten a lot of strange stories since Natalee's disappearance," said Holloway. "Although the number of calls aren't as bad as they used to be, we still get them."

After listening to the man's claims, Holloway referred him to the attorney handling the case on this end.

"I'm about at the point where I'm running out of options," said Holloway. "The case has been closed by Aruban authorities and there just isn't any good information coming in anymore. But I still have to listen to every story I can. Maybe one day something will come from one of them."

A boat is still searching off the island of Aruba for Natalee's body. Working alongside Texas Equa-Search, a non-profit organization that specializes in searching for missing persons, Holloway said the owner of a survey boat equipped with some of the most up to date undersea technology has generously volunteered his time and crew to search for the missing teen.

"They've been down there for about three weeks," Holloway said. "You never know, maybe they'll find something."

Natalee Holloway was last seen the night before she and her classmates from Mountain Brook High School, located just outside Birmingham, Ala., were due to return from Aruba on a senior trip. Witnesses said they saw her get into a car occupied by three Aruban natives, Joran van der Sloot, Deepak Kalpoe and his younger brother, Satish Kalpoe.

During a television interview for the news program 48 Hours on March 25, 2006, Aruben Lead Investigator Gerold Dompig said theories surrounding the investigation, prior to it being closed, included Natalee's body being moved two or more times. The "source" Monday said the body was buried in Nicaragua instead of being dumped in the ocean as first suspected. Holloway has his doubts.

"He claims to have physical evidence but then balked at sending me samples so I could have DNA checked," Dave Holloway said. "There's another sign that this may be just another dead end."

Holloway has now been around the block several times since his daughter became missing. He knows there are a large number of people who would like to gain some sort of financial windfall by providing false information. As tiresome as it gets to field these kinds of calls, Holloway knows he has to listen, if for just a minute.

"Some people mean well and are genuinely trying to help but others are out there to rip you off," he said. "It's just something we have to put up with right now."

It will all stop when Natalee is found, he said.

        

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