http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0802/07/lkl.01.htmlCNN LARRY KING LIVE
... How Did Natalie Holloway Die?
Aired February 7, 2008 - 21:00 ETTHIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK VAN DER EEM: What happened to her? What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) happened to her? Joran, listen. I'm from Aruba. I know the beach.
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT: And I'm telling you the honestly I know what happened to that girl.
VAN DER EEM: What happened then, Joran? She's dead, isn't she?
VAN DER SLOOT: Of course. She's never going to be found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Natalee's mother and the reporter who uncovered the story react.
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Do we finally know what happened to Natalee Holloway? You'll want to see this, after the break.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How were you so sure she was dead, Joran? You can't. You know, people can also go into a coma.
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Have secretly recorded videotapes finally solved the Natalee Holloway case? It's been nearly three years since the American teenager disappeared in Aruba. Suspicion in the case has centered on Joran van der Sloot. He's been arrested and released three times in the case. But in mid-December, Aruban prosecutors announced that they were closing the investigation. And then last week, a bombshell -- hidden camera footage played on Dutch TV showed Joran claiming he was with Natalee when she collapsed on a beach in Aruba and that he asked a friend to dump her body into the sea.
Joining us now in New York is Beth Holloway, Natalee's mother. Natalee disappeared May 30th, 2005.
Also in New York is Peter Devries, the Dutch crime reporter who orchestrated the undercover surveillance operation against van der Sloot, long time suspect in the case.
Before we talk, let's take a look at a segment of the hidden camera tape some believe constitute a confession by van der Sloot. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP
VAN DER EEM: What happened then, Joran?
VAN DER SLOOT: Morta, she's dead, isn't she?
VAN DER SLOOT: Of course.
VAN DER EEM: Did she die or what?
VAN DER SLOOT: But do you think -- come on. I would never kill a girl.
VAN DER EEM: No, I think, so. Joran, you know (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
VAN DER SLOOT: I just lucked out, that's all. That's -- that's what it was.
VAN DER EEM: What do you mean?
VAN DER SLOOT: Well, that it's just -- something happened there.
VAN DER EEM: Well, of course, something happened there. She's no longer around, is she?
VAN DER SLOOT: Yes. And the ocean's big, isn't it?
VAN DER EEM: Of course. The sea is big, man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: OK. Beth Holloway, how do you react seeing something like that, hearing something like that?
BETH HOLLOWAY, NATALIE HOLLOWAY'S MOTHER:
Well, Larry, you know, it's difficult to -- you know, when I hear that, the words coming out of Joran. But I think the most difficult aspect of that is how he imitates her while she's suffering. I think that is -- gosh, that's just the hardest thing for me to comprehend as a human being, to listen to him and how he has such a disregard and just an utter, utter disregard for just the existence of human life.And I'm thinking he certainly had the ability to seek help for her, to call an ambulance and see if someone could come. And he just chooses to call a friend to dispose of her, you know, body. And I just can't imagine another human being committing such a heinous act, or just such a barbaric action.KING: Do you gather from listening to that she -- she was not murdered?
HOLLOWAY: Well, when I hear Joran, what I'm hearing, though, is he doesn't know, Larry, if Natalee was alive or not when he decided to dispose of her body. So, yes, he is a murderer, Larry, to me.
KING: Yes, all right.
HOLLOWAY: There is no way a 17-year-old can make a decision whether a young woman is alive or not. She could have been in a coma easily.
KING: Peter, explain how this whole -- this tape came about.
PETER DEVRIES, REPORTER, INITIATED ON-CAMERA "STING": Well, Larry, this tape came about because some guy named Patrick came to me and he said I am a close friend of Joran, he trusts me completely and I think he's not telling the truth about what happened to Natalee that night on the beach.
Is there something I can do for you? Yes. Well, I said, I think so. And then we worked out a plan with the hidden camera and the undercover camera operation.
KING: Why do you think he confessed?
DEVRIES: Well, I think he confessed because he was just released out of prison. The case was closed and he considered himself as a winner of the case. And, well, this guy Patrick, he trusted him completely. They were playing poker. They were cruising around. And he thought it was safe to tell him in the car.
KING: Now, Patrick -- who unearthed the confession -- he has a kind of tainted background, the fact that he was using marijuana to help gain this confession. Any concerns about who you collaborated with?
DEVRIES: Well, Patrick, indeed, has a conviction in the past, but that is already more than 12 years ago. And he is now a respected businessman. So there's no problem with that, I think.
And about the pot smoking in the car, that's the daily routine of Joran. Patrick didn't push him. Patrick didn't ask him to do that. He -- Joran just did what he wanted to do himself.
KING: Beth, do you believe this?
DEVRIES: I believe the confession, yes. I am convinced.
KING: Yes. But does -- does Beth believe it?
HOLLOWAY: Larry, I do believe the words that Joran was admitting to Patrick. I do. And I think there are a lot of things that, you know, we knew were transpiring early on and, you know, when we're hearing the condition and how he's describing her and, you know, his actions. Yes, absolutely I do, Larry. And I feel as if, for the first time, I saw the Joran that I had met that first night at the Holiday Inn. And I -- I felt like I hadn't seen him in the last two-and-a-half years. But when I saw him in the car with Patrick, I was like there he is. That's the Joran that I met that night at the Holiday Inn hotel.
KING: We'll be right back with Beth Holloway and Peter Devries on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE.
More to come. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DER EEM: Did he ever tell you how he did it?
VAN DER SLOOT: Of course, he did.
VAN DER EEM: How did he do it then?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: I pronounced it Joran Van Der Sloot, because it's spelled S-L-O-O-T. But the correct Dutch pronunciation as Sloot, if it were S-L-O-A-T. My apologies. Let's take a look at another clip, taken some hours -- from some 20 hours of hidden camera tape. This one involves Joran talking about a boat -- a boat owning friend he says he asked to dispose of the body.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DER EEM: How far do you think he took her? This guy must have done a really good job. This guy really knows what he's doing. Did he weigh her down to make her sink?
VAN DER SLOOT: I don't think so.
VAN DER EEM: You don't even know that?
VAN DER SLOOT: No. VAN DER EEM: Did he ever tell you how he did it?
VAN DER SLOOT: Of course he did.
VAN DER EEM: How did he do it then?
VAN DER SLOOT: He just went out into the sea further and he just dumped her.
VAN DER EEM: He just threw her overboard, just like that? You've been really lucky, you know? You've really been lucky.
VAN DER SLOOT: That's what I say. I've been very lucky.
VAN DER EEM: Really lucky. That he has been so stupid to do this, you know? Then you have a giant angel hanging over your head.
VAN DER SLOOT: I was even able to sleep that night. I just went home and went to bed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Hard to believe. Beth, to your knowledge, what are the Dutch authorities going to do with this bit of information?
HOLLOWAY: Well, I think what they are planning on doing is to requestion Joran, and I'm not sure when that's taking place. Peter Devries might have more information than that -- on that then me. But I believe they were either headed to Holland, where he is in school, to perhaps question him some more, and I think that they'd also maybe were able to secure some -- some of his e-mail or cell phone, computer records. So, not too clear on exactly how that's going to transpire.
KING: Peter, do you know what's going to happen?
DEVRIES: Well, Larry, I understood that Joran offered to make a statement to the police investigators today. I don't know what he has been saying there, but he made a statement, and that's a very important development, because until this day, Joran refused to talk to the police. And he didn't say a thing about his whereabouts that night on the beach.
KING: Beth, has this finally, at least -- it's such an overused term -- put closure for you?
HOLLOWAY: Well, you know, what it really does -- it does in some way, Larry, and it just gives me the answers that I need. And it just brings to light, you know, what we have, you know, felt was there in front of us all along, but we could just not grasp it. So, it does. It gives you -- it's really given me just a lot of peace and comfort in finally knowing what happened.
I think it's a daily torture for a family that has a missing loved one and the not knowing. So, I can now say, Larry, you know, even though the knowing is difficult, the not knowing, that is just sheer hell. It really is. KING: Let's take another look at another video clip, one some people believe offers a chilling insight into Joran's character.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DER SLOOT: And he says, Joran, what have you done. But she looks sweet, you know.
VAN DER EED: She's just lying still?
VAN DER SLOOT: Still, still, she's not doing anything. He says, what happened? I said, I don't know either man.
VAN DER EEM: Did you try to resuscitate her?
VAN DER SLOOT: Of course, I tried everything man. I tried to shake her. I was shaking the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I was like, what's wrong with you man. I almost wanted to cry. Why does this have to happen to me? I said to him, this isn't possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Beth, can you explain it all, rationalize to yourself, his cavalier attitude?
HOLLOWAY: Gosh, Larry, I just can't. I just can't imagine, as I said earlier, having such an utter disregard for someone's life. I don't know why, if you weren't involved in, you know, the disappearance or, you know, the possible death of someone -- as I said, we don't know if Natalee was in a coma or not when he disposed of her body, but why wouldn't you seek medical help? It seems like you would just pick her up and rush, just run to the Marriott, run somewhere, saying, please, someone help.
I can't imagine the first response would be to call somebody to dispose of her body. I feel as if he is fully aware of his wrong- doing, whether -- I mean, there was one part, I think, where he conveys to Patrick something that they will find inside of my daughter, and I think it's -- I think we all know it's -- but anyway, I can't even say it on TV, Larry -- but -- so, I know there was wrong- doing there, and he knows that he is responsible for the condition that she was in.
KING: Peter, when you challenged Joran, he got angry with you. He threw wine into your face?
DEVRIES: Yes, he threw a glass of red wine into my face, yes, in a talk show, yes.
KING: What were you accusing him of?
DEVRIES: Well, he there was on the show after the case was closed. He tried to gain some sympathy of the audience, and I was asking him questions about his whereabouts that night.
And I told the audience that there has been a lot of established lies, and that he wouldn't answer simple questions, and that he always revoked on his right to keep silence by the police. And why would an innocent man do this, I asked him, and that frustrated him very much. And at the end of the show, he threw the glass of wine into my face.
KING: Was he, in your mind, a suspect, to you, all the time?
DEVRIES: Yes, he was a suspect to me all the time because I am a crime reporter for 30 years now, and I've seen and done an awful lot of murder cases and disappearances. And, from the beginning, I had the impression this case could be solved.
I did an investigation on Aruba, one year and a half ago, and from then, I had the feeling Joran was not telling the truth and he was hiding something, and protecting, maybe, somebody else. But for me, it's quite sure that he knows exactly what happens on the beach, that he was present when Natalee die and that he got rid of the body.
KING: Will Joran van der Sloot's confession tape lead to a guilty verdict? That's the quick vote on CNN.com/LarryKing. You can head there right now and vote. We'll come back. We'll talk with a private investigator who works with Joran van der Sloot's attorney. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Beth Holloway and Pete Devries remain with us. We are joined now in New York by Les Levine. Les is a private investigator. He works with Joran van der Sloot's U.S. attorney, Joe Tacopina (ph).
Where is Joran right now, Les?
LES LEVINE, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: He's in Holland.
KING: And how is he dealing with all of this?
LEVINE: Well, he's recognizing the damage that he's done to himself, that he's destroyed his credibility, that he's certainly hurt his mother and his father, and that he will have to live with this for the rest of his life, not in the least of which is, of course, he has torn down the credibility that Joe Tacopina, Rosemary Arnold and myself have been able to build for him over the last two and a half years.
Having said that, Larry, there is no truth to this confession. It plays well on television, but certainly does not stand up in a court of law. The prosecutor and the judge in Aruba are all aware of that fact. And the confession is loaded with one fabrication after another.
KING: Why would he confess to something he didn't do?
LEVINE: Because he was under stress. Because he wanted to puff himself up in front of what he perceived to be some wise guy who had offered him an opportunity to make some money in a deal that was in itself illegal. And, he told this guy exactly what this guy wanted to hear and had pumped him for it time and time again. KING: A pretty dumb thing to do.
LEVINE: Absolutely, no question about that. It was one of the more stupid acts that I have seen in my entire career.
KING: Let's take a look at another videotape clip. This one raises a nightmarish possibility about the timing of her death. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DER EEM: You know, I wasn't there. I'm asking you, how were you so sure she was dead, man?
VAN DER SLOOT: I wasn't sure. But from the time it happened until the time he came, you know, she wasn't doing anymore.
VAN DER EEM: Did this Daury check if she was dead? Did he look, too?
VAN DER SLOOT: He looked and he said, yes, she's not alive anymore, dead.
VAN DER EEM: How did he do that?
VAN DER SLOOT: We were just standing over her and looked. It wasn't good.
VAN DER EEM: Of course, I understand it wasn't good. But he could have also been in a coma.
VAN DER SLOOT: Yes.
VAN DER EEM: That's possible, too, huh?
VAN DER SLOOT: That's possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Les, what do you think of Peter Devries, who is with us now, in another studio there in New York, who set this up, in a sense?
LEVINE: I think Peter did what he had to do to get a story and didn't care about how he went about getting it. He was successful. As I said, he was successful, but it certainly doesn't hold up in a court of law.
KING: Beth, how do you react to that?
HOLLOWAY: Well, Larry, I think that a lot of people have kind of stepped into this tangled web, into Joran's web, well into this journey, and we -- we have a lot of thing that were transpiring early on in the island of Aruba, within the first 48 hours of Natalee's disappearance, and had a stunning revelation when I was watching the taped admissions of Joran to Patrick. And, when he imitates how Natalee was suffering through the seizures, well, Larry, within 48 hours of Natalee's disappearance on the island of Aruba, a lead detective, Dennis Jacobs (ph), first and only medical question he asked me was, does Natalee have a history of epilepsy or seizures. And I said, no, why would you ask that? And he only asked me that once, and from there forward, three other detectives asked Natalee's step father probably a dozen times, Larry. Jug had to come to me six times and ask me if Natalee had a history of epilepsy or seizure. And I kept saying no, why do you keep asking us that? Why? So, it brought it full circle for us.
KING: Peter, what do you make of what Les has to say?
DEVRIES: Well, he said that Joran only told what our guy Patrick wanted to hear. But how did Joran, for heaven's sake, know what Patrick wanted to hear? Did he whisper that in his ears? Did he write a letter about it? It's nonsense, I think. And the other thing was, he told that he might try to impress Patrick -- but frankly, I don't think anyone in the world will be impressed by a story like this, because it's a horrifying story.
KING: Thank you all very much. We have not heard the last of this. And we'll continue to stay on it.
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