Crucial Natalee Holloway witness dies

Thursday 11 February 2010

Paul van der Sloot, father of the chief suspect in the disappearance of US teenager Natalee Holloway, is reported to have died on the island of Aruba at the age of 57.

The father of Joran van der Sloot, the teenager who was with Holloway on the night she vanished, collapsed during a game of tennis.

He is considered a crucial witness in the mysterious vanishing of Holloway, who went missing on the last night of a graduation class school trip to the Caribbean island in May 2005.

Joran van der Sloot has admitted being with Holloway on the beach the night she died. He told an undercover tv reporter that a friend had dumped her body at sea.

TV crime reporter Peter R de Vries, who has followed the case closely, says on his website he is convinced Paul van der Sloot helped his son in covering up the crime.

'I am personally convinced he knew more [about the case] and helped his son that night,' De Vries wrote. 'But he has now taken that secret to his grave.'

© DutchNews.nl

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