Aruba officials close Natalee Holloway case
They said they had no evidence to charge anyone in her 2005 disappearance.
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Authorities have closed their investigation into the disappearance of Natalee Holloway and do not have evidence to charge anyone, the prosecutors' office said yesterday.
The three young men who were last seen with the Alabama teenager have all been notified that they will not be charged, the Public Prosecutor's Office said.
"The Public Prosecutor's Office and the police have gone the extra mile and have exhausted all their powers and techniques in order to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the girl," it said.
The three suspects - a Dutch college student and two Surinamese brothers - were seen leaving a bar with Holloway the night she disappeared in May 2005. Police rearrested them last month in a last-ditch effort to solve the case, but prosecutors said they got no new information.
Prosecutors said they could reopen the case "if new, serious evidence were to be found."
Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty, was "terribly disappointed" that the case was closed and has been on an emotional roller coaster in recent weeks, said Sunny Tillman of Birmingham, Ala., a spokeswoman for her.
An attorney for two of the suspects, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, said prosecutors presented transcripts of online chat sessions that the suspects had with friends as new evidence.
"They tried to call it new, but it didn't have any incriminating points against our clients," David Kock said.
Holloway of Mountain Brook, Ala., was with fellow high school classmates celebrating their graduation when she disappeared. She was 18 at the time.
One of the suspects, Joran Van der Sloot, has said he left her alone on a beach the night she vanished.