Transcript of tonights JVM:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0903/27/ijvm.01.htmlISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL
Cases That Changed America
Aired March 27, 2009 - 19:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, a special ISSUES presentation: cases that changed America. For the next hour, I`ll examine high-profile abductions that forever altered America`s legal system, starting with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. This case have all the elements of a must-watch news story: from beautiful characters to beautiful Aruban beaches.
Natalee`s mother deftly used the media to keep her daughter`s disappearance in the national spotlight. Meantime, TV cameras caught prime suspect Joran Van Der Sloot continuously lying and admitting he held an unconscious Natalee in his arms. Did he escape justice?
Then, the amazing story of Elizabeth Smart. Nine months after being snatched from her bedroom at the age of 14, Elizabeth was rescued and reunited with her family. This incredible case shows what happens when family, law enforcement, and the media work together. And it gives hope to all parents with missing children.
Plus, I`ll examine the ground-breaking case of Adam Walsh. The little boy was abducted and tragically killed in 1981, but Adam`s courageous father turned his personal nightmare into a national inspiration. Walsh started "America`s Most Wanted" and helped pass numerous laws that continue to save kids till this day.
This ISSUES special presentation starts now.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight an ISSUES special presentation: "Cases That Changed America." Three missing persons cases all with very different outcomes that have transformed America forever.
We begin with a story that had all of the makings of a picture-perfect vacation. A beautiful 18-year-old girl in a tropical paradise, Aruba, for one last hurrah with her classmates before graduating from high school and starting her adult life.
It all turned into a nightmare when Natalee Holloway never showed up for the plane ride home in May of 2005. Natalee was last seen leaving an Aruban bar the night before with three young men: Joran Van Der Sloot and the two Kalpoe brothers. These men would weave a web of lies about that night that no one to this day has been able to untangle.
Van Der Sloot, the prime suspect, emerged as a pathological liar. He changed his story again and again. At first, he claimed he simply dropped Natalee off at her hotel. Then he left her at the beach. Then he held her lifeless body and got a friend to throw her in the ocean. Then he even claimed he sold her into the sex trade. Then he recanted that.
All the while, Natalee`s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty and her father, Dave Holloway, have never given up hope of finding out exactly what happened. Every element of this story kept us glued to our TVs. Tonight, we dive in, examining how this perfect storm transformed coverage of missing person cases forever.
Joining me to dissect this case is my fantastic expert panel: Dr. Dale Archer, clinical psychiatrist; Vinnie Politan, former prosecutor and host for Sirius XM Radio. Joining us by phone from Aruba Julia Renfro, editor in chief for "Aruba Today." And my dear friend, Diane Dimond, journalist and author of "Be Careful Who You Love."
Diane, this case has obsessed America for years now. What were the elements in this story that made it so totally compelling that we couldn`t ever turn away? It really mesmerized us. Why?
DIANE DIMOND, JOURNALIST/AUTHOR: Yes, and it did in fact change America. It changed America for parents of girls like me who, in their senior year, they want to take that special senior trip with the rest of the class. They`ve worked hard for it. And of course, you want to -- you want to thank everything`s going to be OK in a place as beautiful -- the paradise of Aruba.
But it grabbed our attention, Jane, because it was a beautiful young girl. It was sex. It was lies. It was videotape of Joran Van Der Sloot. We just couldn`t look away.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. Even the suspect, Joran Van Der Sloot, was described as attractive. Everything about this case was attractive. And eye candy, but of course it was a real-life nightmare for the parents involved, and they were going through hell.
The day her daughter was reported missing, Beth Holloway Twitty flew to Aruba, vowing not to leave until she was found. She stepped in front the cameras at every opportunity to keep the story alive. Beth even did her own investigations when she felt Aruban authorities were failing her. Let`s listen to Beth talking about her first meeting with the three suspects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, MOTHER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: Really didn`t speak with all three of the suspects. Only one of the suspects approached the vehicle that I was seated in and what was given to me from him was a very condescending, arrogant, and very cold and almost somewhat powerful attitude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now despite road blocks early on, she never wavered, even lending her newfound celebrity to advocate for other missing persons` cases.
Vinnie, how did Beth, herself, how change relatives of victims can use the media to become champions and even activists determined to solve crimes?
VINNIE POLITAN, FORMER PROSECUTOR/RADIO HOST: Yes, you used the right word there: use the media. You know, we in the media, we`re out here to get the story, to talk to people, to find things out. And there`s this -- I guess relationship between victims and the media that sometimes, at least in the past, victims would stay away from the media, like they were the enemy.
She understood how to use the media to keep the story alive, because if that story`s alive, the search continues. The pressure stays on. And that`s exactly what happened here. And as a result of her keeping the pressure on, Joran Van Der Sloot, the prime suspect in all of this, has been pushed into the spotlight, remains in the spotlight, and he himself now has made certain alleged admissions as a result of what she`s done.
So she was able to not be a victim of the media, but able to sort of control and use the media to her advantage, which was to keep the story alive, to keep the search alive.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. But Julia Renfro, you`re in Aruba. You`re a journalist. We also want to get Aruba perspective. You can`t be in the spotlight this much and not face some controversy and criticism.
JULIA RENFRO, "ARUBA TODAY": Yes, that`s absolutely true. And like you said, this is the perfect storm: the perfect girl and the perfect island. Aruba is renowned for having the friendliest person in the world, as well as being one of the safest islands in the Caribbean. So that`s one reasons that the media took of on this so quickly because how could this happen in Aruba?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Beth did suffer some criticism by the Arubans, did she not, Julia?
RENFRO: Yes. But that started when -- actually, in July after the two Kalpoe brothers were released. She went on television, and she asked - - or she told the world that Aruba allowed criminals to walk amongst the tourists. And this was very upsetting for us, because that`s not what happened.
We understand with her. We empathize with her. But in the same time, the justice system, we believe in the justice system as you do, as in the American system, and there wasn`t enough evidence to hold these boys.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, Dr. Archer, we can never judge a mother who has lost a child. I mean, we have not, thankfully, walked in her footsteps.
DR. DALE ARCHER, CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST: Right. Yes, you can`t judge. But what I will say is that when I counsel my patients in cases like this is you have to take the pain, the hurt, the suffering and the anger. And you have to focus that on something positive.
And in her case, she focused everything that she had on trying to get to the bottom of what happened to her daughter. So I don`t think we can criticize her in any way, shape or form. She might have stepped over the line occasionally, but she was doing it for the right reasons. She wanted answers, and she wanted to get the truth.
POLITAN: And the reason -- and the reason, Jane, she had to step over the line is because of the way the investigation went. Well, we don`t...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly.
POLITAN: ... criticize the system of justice in Aruba. The investigation, that`s way up in criticism from day one. I mean, Joran Van Der Sloot is the man who was last seen with her. We`ve got her on videotape with her the night before. He says, "Oh, no, I dropped her off, and these two guys got him." And all of a sudden, the investigation shifts off of him and goes onto these other two guys who had absolutely nothing to do with it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely.
POLITAN: That`s where the ball was dropped here. And that`s why she was probably so upset. In fact, the system of the justice in Aruba, but the investigators, the way they bungled this case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, what`s fascinating is how videotape actually boxed Joran into a corner, not to the point that he was officially charged, but at least to the point that a lot of people felt, well, they`d finally gotten the answer. A blood-curdling twist in the case came last year when Joran Van Der Sloot was caught on tape admitting he was with Natalee when she died and that he knew what happened to her body.
Let`s listen to exactly what Joran said happen that night, caught on undercover tape, shown on "20/20" February 4, 2008.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s just lying still?
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, FORMER SUSPECT IN NATALEE HOLLOWAY CASE (through translator): Still. Still. She`s not doing anything.
He says, "What happened?"
I said, "I don`t know either, man."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you try to resuscitate her?
VAN DER SLOOT (through translator): Of course. I tried everything, man. I tried to shake her. I was shaking the bitch. I was like, "What`s wrong with you, man?" I almost wanted to cry. And (EXPLETIVE DELETED) what happened to me? I said to him, "This is impossible."
He took the body. He went far out, and he threw her over the side. And then he came back, and he docked us both there. And he came by my house for a bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At night?
VAN DER SLOOT (through translator): Yes. Then we talked for a bit and he says to me, "you know it`s all good. She`s going to be missing. They`re going to search. But they`re not going to know a thing."
(END VIDEO CLIP))
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow! Truly chilling to hear. Of course, Joran later said he was just telling this guy what he wanted to hear. This hidden admission came three years after Natalee went missing.
DIMOND: You know, Jane...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
DIMOND: You know, Jane, a wrote a book called "Be Careful Who You Love." It was about the Michael Jackson case, but it so relates to so many cases. We send our beautiful young girls out there to enjoy the world and find their place in it and look at the kind of people that they can attract.
I have to disagree with your reporter in Aruba. Aruba did let killers walk among the tourists. If it wasn`t Joran Van Der Sloot, in her mind because the justice system hasn`t proved it yet. There was somebody who killed that young girl. She did not just disappear into thin air.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Julia, I want to give you an opportunity to answer that.
RENFRO: OK. Well, and I understand what you`re saying. But actually, the Kalpoe brothers have been released of any suspicion and have been, based on -- according to the statements and videos that Joran has said, these two brothers have nothing to do with it. They`re innocent. And...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m not talking about brothers. I`m talking about Joran Van Der Sloot.
RENFRO: ... released, that`s who was released and that`s who she went on television. And she asked the world to stop coming to Aruba.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, here`s the thing, we`re going to get to -- we`re going to get to the boycott issue in just a moment. I think it`s fascinating.
RENFRO: OK.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Obviously, there were problems with the way this investigation was handled. I think the people of Aruba didn`t want to be tarnished with a broad brush. Pointing out, for example, the JonBenet Ramsey case was never solved, and yet, nobody was calling for a boycott in Denver.
We will get to these issues again momentarily. Stay right there. More on the Hollywood mystery in just moments. I will examine an abduction with an incredible ending, a great ending: 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart snatched from her bedroom. Nine months later she was miraculously returned safely to her parents.
But first, Natalee Holloway`s mom has worked hard to keep her daughter`s disappearance in the media spotlight. Here she is venting her frustration in 2005 when suspects in the case were freed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TWITTY: So the suspects who took my daughter from Carlos and Charlie`s on the last night of her senior trip, who were the last to be seen with her alive, and who all heard at least a dozen different versions of what they did with her, and who admitted to committing or witnessing sexual assaults against her while she was unable to defend herself, are now free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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TWITTY: When I hear Joran talking about her like that, my gosh, he just -- first you want to come through the TV and I want to kill him, and I mean peel his skin off of his face. And I think of the utter disregard he had for Natalee. And look at what he`s done -- from his friends. Look at what he`s done to a country. Look at what he`s done to everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was Natalee Holloway`s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, on "NANCY GRACE," describing how she feels about Joran Van Der Sloot.
I am back with my fantastic panel, discussing how Natalee Holloway`s disappearance changed America forever.
Julia, you are on the phone with us from Aruba. How has the Holloway case changed the island of Aruba and the attitudes of Arubans?
RENFRO: Well, this was very, very painful for every Aruban, for the - - for the main part is the whole island was being accused of harming this young, beautiful girl. And that`s just not what happened. And, so, yes, there`s people that are still upset with the situation.
But in the same time, everybody wants it resolved. And everybody here wants to help solve this case, but we just don`t know what to do.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and we want to talk a little bit about why there was no charge against Joran Van Der Sloot, even after that tape we heard just a few minutes ago, where he seems to admit that he held a lifeless Natalee in his arms.
But I think a key part of Natalee Holloway`s disappearance was that it was a prime example of the world as a global village. Authorities from Aruba, the Netherlands and the United States had to work in tandem.
Natalee`s parents and American viewers had to navigate, confusing American laws. That is, confusing to Americans. They were confused when suspects were held for months but never charged. Cultural differences reared their heads, and an American boycott of Aruba was also endorse for a time.
Let`s listen to what the Alabama governor, Riley, had to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BOB RILEY (R), ALABAMA: Natalee`s family believes, and I agree that we`ve reached the point where there are no other viable options to get Aruban officials to take this matter as seriously as they should. So today, Beth and Jug are here to endorse a travel boycott to Aruba, and as governor, I am joining them in this effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Her parents even attempted to file civil suits against the suspects in New York and Los Angeles.
Dale Archer, as a psychiatrist, weigh in on this. Many Americans didn`t realize Arubans were also watching American TV. So this case has had a huge -- a lot of turmoil. It`s created tensions between America, the Netherlands, and Aruba. And how much of this is about cultural differences? About how Americans do things versus how, maybe, things are done on an island where the primary source of income is tourism?
ARCHER: Yes, I think there`s no doubt things are done differently, but I think that`s what`s concerning here is -- for most Americans is the fact that you know where there`s smoke there`s fire, and there was so much that Joran said throughout the course of the last two or three years that it`s hard for an American to believe that at least there couldn`t be a trial here. You know...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right, exactly.
ARCHER: ... there may not be enough evidence to convict him, but why not a trial? I think that`s what we all have a hard time understanding.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Vinnie, especially after we see that video of him, apparently, saying -- it`s a confession, according to what we see. Of course, his attorney says it`s not a confession, and he was just telling this guy what he wanted to hear because he was smoking pot.
DIMOND (ph): Oh what else was he going to say?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly.
POLITAN: So here is the thing, I was a prosecutor. Is this going to be enough evidence? All right, you`ve got the last person seen with Natalee Holloway admits it all, lies immediately to police, lies again. And then when he doesn`t know he`s being recorded, admits the whole thing. That`s enough, from my perspective, to take that thing into court and try it.
Yes, it`s a circumstantial case, but there are some big circumstances there. Maybe more circumstances than to convict a guy like Scott Peterson.
DIMOND: Jane, that`s exactly right, and Dr. Dale is exactly right, too. So many people they I have talked to while covering this case and especially being down in Alabama with Jug and introducing him and others, it was -- isn`t there enough to take this to trial?
Joran Van Der Sloot, in part of that video that you see where he`s talking to the friend in the car, says, "I`m so incredibly lucky that they never found her body."
POLITAN: Right.
DIMOND: What more do you need?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s bring in this other aspect. Joran Van Der Sloot started to weave a web of lies the night that Natalee Holloway went missing. First he told cops he and the Kalpoes left the Holiday Inn and then that changed.
Let`s listen to what he told a "Current Affair" producer on September 26, 2005.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DER SLOOT: I told her I had to go home. I had school the next day. And I thought maybe she`d understand. She told me no she wanted me to stay there with her because the next day she was leaving. And she wanted to stay there the whole night. I told her, no, I had to go. I even -- I even lifted her back up to carry her to her hotel. And she told me to put her down. I left her there. I sat down next to her and talked to her for a while. And I called Deepak to ask him if he could come pick me up, which Deepak didn`t do. But...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was she angry?
VAN DER SLOOT: She wasn`t angry. If anything, she was probably more upset that I -- that I -- that I was leaving her there. And I don`t know what reaction she had. I don`t know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But Dale Archer, the reason why the Aruban court said they couldn`t prosecute him is that he made up so many lies even within that story that many things that he said couldn`t be verified or verified as untrue. Therefore, his so-called confession didn`t count either.
ARCHER: Well, you know, pathological liar is absolutely the toughest individual to deal with as a psychiatrist. Because you can`t take anything they say at face value. And you can`t, you know, fill in their personality. You don`t know what`s real and what`s not.
I would have to think it would be the same as a prosecutor trying to prosecute the case. But on the other hand, I mean, you`ve got to at least try it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. All right, more on the Holloway case in just moments. I will analyze.
Also the amazing story of Elizabeth Smart, missing for nine long months. Elizabeth safely returned. The family and the media worked together. I will show you how.
Plus, the Adam Walsh case. Unbelievable.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re back talking about the case of Natalee Holloway, a mysterious international disappearance that changed America and the world.
Joining me now is a very special guest, John Q. Kelly, the attorney for Natalee`s parents, Dave Holloway and Beth Holloway Twitty.
John, thanks for joining us.
JOHN Q. KELLY, ATTORNEY FOR NATALEE HOLLOWAY`S PARENTS: Sure, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Natalee`s parents have suffered the greatest loss any human being can face: losing a child, having no closure, no answers. Do they find solace in the fact that this case has changed the world?
KELLY: I don`t think, so really. I mean, you just can`t ease that pain at all, and the most difficult part is knowing that someone knows exactly what happened to their daughter and they can`t get the answer. And you know, they`ve done a terrific job of, you know, using the media, never seeing their search in what happened in Natalee.
But, you know, the pain is still there. And it`s always there. And as a parent, you feel that you can never do enough to get the answers you need or the closure, and they can`t get it yet.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What about the role of videotape in this case and how videotape is being increasingly used in cases like this? We all saw the apparent confession of Joran.
Of course, he and his attorneys say that is not a confession. He was just lying to please his friend. Nevertheless, the Aruban courts did not use that to prosecute him. Is that something that really irks the Holloway family?
KELLY: Well, of course it does. And the problem is Aruba`s taken the position that, you know, Joran Van Der Sloot has told so many lies that you can`t rely on one of them to serve as a confession.
But the flip side of that, more importantly, is he was clearly the last person with her. He`s fabricated at least a half dozen stories of what happened to her. She`s never been seen again since being in his presence. So the fact that the circumstantial evidence indicates that he was the last one with her, he, you know, deliberately fabricated stories about what happened to her. She`s never been found should be enough, alone, to prosecute him.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I was struck by something you said a long time ago, that adults sometimes plan for years to pull off the perfect crime, smart adults, and they`re quickly caught. And yet, it seems here with absolutely no preparation, a perfect crime was sort of pulled off.
KELLY: Well, I don`t think it was done by he alone. I think he had help. I think he had adults that helped him along, that enabled him to get away with this, which is unfortunate. And you know, it`s interesting. I think one or more of your panelists before talked about maybe back crossing the line, but I think when you are a parent and you need answers to your child`s whereabouts, and you know that someone has them and you can`t get them, it`s -- it`s hard to even go on then.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How has Beth Holloway Twitty worked to change how people, especially Americans, American kids behave when they go abroad? The preparations they make, the coordination between parent and child. This has become her life work, I understand?
KELLY: Well, sure. Her save travel program, and she did does a lot of lecturing on it and writing and speaking and appearances.
And the bottom line is that there a lot of wonderful places your children can go within this country. You don`t want to be caught in a foreign jurisdiction where you can`t seek help, that no one will listen to your pleas, and they really don`t care about whether they`re solve your problems when they want to tend to their own instead. So she really drew the spotlight on the dangers facing children going away to foreign countries.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: John, thank you so very much for joining us.
KELLY: Sure.
