Murders and Mysteries of New England · Marti Shaw

The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway

·58 min·3 clips

Hidden-camera footage captured Joran van der Sloot saying Natalie Holloway convulsed and became unresponsive while he was smoking cannabis.

1. Murders and Mysteries of New England covers the disappearance of Natalie Ann Holloway in Aruba. 2. Host Mardi Shaw names himself as the narrator, and his updates matter because he says the case is still active as of the recording. 3. The episode asks what happened to 18-year-old Natalie Holloway after a Mountain Brook High School graduation trip to Aruba. 4. Shaw says Natalie was born on October 21st, 1986 in Memphis, Tennessee, and later lived in Mountain Brook, Alabama. 5. He says Natalie graduated from Mountain Brook High School with honors on May 24th, 2005, joined National Honor Society, and planned to attend the University of Alabama on a full scholarship. 6. The trip to Aruba began on Thursday, May 26th, 2005, with 124 graduates and seven chaperones. 7. Shaw quotes chaperone Bob Plummer and organizer Jody Bearman to explain that the adults met students daily but were not supposed to track every move. 8. Police Commissioner Gerald Dompig says the students engaged in wild partying, heavy drinking, and room switching every night. 9. Natalie was last seen outside Carlos and Charlie's around 1:30 a.m. on May 30th with Joran van der Sloot, Deepak Kalpoe, and Sachish Kalpoe. 10. Shaw says Natalie's luggage and passport were found in her room after she missed her scheduled flight home. 11. Beth and Jug Twitty flew to Aruba by private jet, gave police van der Sloot's name and address, and searched his home with two Aruba policemen. 12. The search response included thousands of civil servants, FBI agents, 50 Dutch soldiers, three Dutch Air Force F-16s, and divers in the ocean. 13. Shaw says Aruba banks raised 20,000 units of currency and Beth Twitty was first housed in the Holiday Inn room Natalie had used. 14. He notes that the Holiday Inn surveillance issue stayed disputed because Beth gave different statements about whether the cameras worked. 15. The investigation produced false leads, including a possible blood sample from Deepak's car that tested negative and a drained pond near the Aruban Racquet Club. 16. Shaw recounts the 2005, 2006, and 2007 arrests of van der Sloot, the Kalpoe brothers, and other men including Nick John, Abraham Jones, Steve Gregory Crows, Jeffrey Van Cromvert, Guido Weber, and Freddie Arambatsis. 17. He says van der Sloot repeatedly changed his account, including claims about Arashi Beach, the Marriott Hotel Beach, and a dark man in a black suit. 18. Shaw describes the Dutch television hidden-camera footage, Peter R. de Vries, Patrick van der Eem, and the taped statements that were not enough for a conviction. 19. The episode is interview-style narration with a long chronological format, heavy on names, dates, and procedural details. 20. People interested in long-form true-crime chronology would likely stay, while listeners wanting a short resolved case may skip it.

As heard by us

A careful case walk-through that keeps the unanswered questions in view.

The episode takes the case as a steady, patient walk through the searches, arrests, reported mistranslations, and later turns that kept the story unsettled.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a detailed, unsparing walk through a case that was still unfolding at the time of the recording.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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