DRUG DEALERS 'WILL KILL TEEN IN ARUBA CASE IF HE TALKS'
By DON GENTILE
Dutch teenager Joran
van der Sloot is terrified
he and his family
will be murdered if
he confesses all he
knows about the disappearance
of Natalee Holloway.
The National Enquirer can reveal
that police on Aruba are investigating
this theory, which centers on
whether narcotics dealers supplied
Joran with the drug ecstasy, helped
him get rid of Natalee's body — and
told him he'd vanish forever if he didn't
keep his mouth shut.
"Joran's statements have changed
many times because he does not want
police to find out who helped dispose
of Natalee's body," said a source close
to the case. "Police believe that people
involved in getting rid of the body
have threatened to murder Joran and
his family if he ever names them."
Natalee, 18, vanished May 30 while
on a high school graduation trip to
Aruba with classmates from Alabama's
Mountain Brook High School.
She was last seen leaving a nightclub
and getting into a car with Joran,
17, and his friends, Deepak Kalpoe,
21, and his brother Satish, 18.
During their investigations, police
have arrested two security guards, Joran,
the Kalpoe brothers, a party boat
disc jockey and Joran's father Paulus.
All were released except Joran — and
he remains the prime suspect.
Joran maintains his innocence but
has changed his story. First he said he
dropped a drunk Natalee off at the
Holiday Inn where she was staying
after a makeout session with her in
the back of the Kalpoes' car. Later he
said the Kalpoe brothers dropped
him and Natalee off on a beach near
the island's Marriott hotel and he left
her there alone.
As The National Enquirer reported
last week, police theorize that Natalee
died accidentally, possibly
drowning after she fell and hit her
head in a drug-induced stupor. Police
also believe Joran confessed to his father
that Natalee had taken ecstasy
and when she died, Joran panicked
and decided to get rid of the body.
But he needed help — and knew
where to find it.
"Joran is believed to be friends with
a known ecstasy dealer in Aruba and
police think that's where he got the
drug," said the source.
"When Natalee died, Joran got in
touch with the dealer. The theory is
that the dealer had an incentive to
dispose of her body so that police
wouldn't trace the drugs back to him.
But the dealer made it clear to Joran that if he talked he'd disappear too."
On a similar note, police are investigating
whether Paulus, a former
justice department official, helped his
son get rid of Natalee's body by contacting
shady characters he knows.
"The police are looking into Paulus
van der Sloot's finances and whether
he might be connected to mobsters
that may have ties to Aruba's casino
business," said the source. "Paulus is
a known high-stakes poker player."
The National Enquirer has also
uncovered details of Joran's activities
in the early hours of May 30.
"Police discovered Joran used his
cell phone to send an instant message
marked 'URGENT!' to Deepak
Kalpoe at approximately 2.45 am,"
said the source. "The instant message
essentially told Deepak that Joran
was walking home from the beach.
He said he had 'left the girl behind.'
"At approximately 3:30 am, Joran
sent the first of a series of other instant
messages from his home computer to
Deepak indicating he needed to talk to him about something important.
After examining Joran's cell phone
and computer, police discovered that
someone tried to manipulate the
clocks and calendars inside the
devices so it would look like the messages
were sent at different times.
"Police think it's suspicious that
Joran's instant message to Deepak
was marked urgent — they believe it
was critical for Joran to reach him to
concoct a phony story about what
happened to Natalee."
Published on: 07/22/2005
