Mystery of Alabama Teen Drags on in Aruba
By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Yellow ribbons reminding people to keep an eye out for an Alabama teenager still flutter on tree trunks and telephone poles, but they're unraveling and fading in the sun, along with hopes of solving the mystery of her disappearance.
Of seven men detained at various times, only one remains in jail — a Dutch youth who has admitted he was alone on a beach with 18-year-old Natalee Holloway in the early hours of May 30, the morning she vanished.
Joran van der Sloot, 17, faces no charges, and authorities can hold him until Sept. 4, when he must be charged or released.
Islanders who suddenly found their tourist-oriented Dutch Caribbean paradise thrust into the international limelight are longing for life to return to normal.
"Every time I see one of those ribbons, I think of her, and so do most Arubans. But it's too painful to go on looking and not finding her," said Julia Renfro, an American who has lived in Aruba for 16 years and whose International Friends of Aruba organized teams to search for Holloway.
"We all cried when Natalee went missing. But it was an isolated incident," said Myriam Croes, 52. "We want things to go back to where Aruba was before she came."
Croes was among more than 200 people who, wrapped in Aruban flags, demonstrated last week in front of the capital courthouse, saying they believed their island was being falsely portrayed as not doing enough to find Holloway.
Some 2,000 volunteers — most tourists — joined Dutch marines, Aruban police and FBI agents from Miami in the search for the honors student from Mountain Brook, Ala., in the first two weeks after she vanished.
They distributed photographs, knotted ribbons on boughs and doorknobs, and scoured the seaside and scrubland.
But by now, they've dwindled to a handful.
A team from Florida State University's underwater crime scene investigation department left the island Tuesday.
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Some taxi drivers still carry photos of Holloway in their vehicles, and most Arubans sigh and shake their heads when her name is mentioned.
The story has slipped off the front pages of local newspapers, however, and on radio talk shows, people increasingly voice indignation at what they consider slurs against their island.
Many fear they'll never know what happened to Holloway, who disappeared on her last scheduled night on the island, one that started with a party at Carlos 'N Charlie's restaurant, where she danced, drank and flirted with the Dutch youth and then left with him at 1 a.m.
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