Dutch tv crime journalist Peter R. de Vries claims to have solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of US teenager Natalee Holloway on the island of Aruba. The Aruban authories say they have re-opened the case.

De Vries said he used a hidden camera to answer most of the questions surrounding the girl’s disappearance. Holloway vanished while on holiday on the former Dutch colony of Aruba in May 2005.
Holloway’s mother Beth Twitty was in the Netherlands on Thursday to discuss the case with De Vries. ‘It was very emotional,’ the reporter told tv programme Hart van Nederland.
In a press release published on De Vries’ website, the Aruban justice ministry says the fresh information ‘may shed new light on the way Natalee Holloway died and the method by which her body disappeared.’ It says it is currently investigating the ‘reliability and value’ of the information.
De Vries has refused to go into further details. The full results of his investigation will be broadcast during his Sunday night tv show on SBS.
Dutch student Joran van der Sloot has twice been arrested in connection with the case. He is the last person to have seen Natalee and says he left her on the beach the night she disappeared.
TV programme Nova says it has spoken to three different sources who claim that Van der Sloot has confessed to an un-named Aruban man that Natalee died in an accident and that he hid her body.
The conversation was recorded, claims news agency ANP. Two brothers who have also twice been arrested in connection with Natalee’s disappearance were not involved, Nova says.
De Vries, who says he worked with eight people on the case, refused to comment on Nova’s claims.
Weblog VKmag.com claims to carry a screen dump from De Vries’ own website carrying a transcript of a conversation between De Vries and Aruban prosecutor Hans Mos.
In the transcript, De Vries asks Mos what he thinks of ‘Joran’s confession’. Mos answers: ‘It is very impressive. This is the essential part that was lacking in our investigation,’ adding later that ‘clearly it is the first time he confessed to somebody’.
Reporters were unable to find Van der Sloot at his Arnhem address on Thursday. Van der Sloot and De Vries were involved in a confrontation on another tv programme recently which ended with Van der Sloot throwing a glass of wine at the reporter.
For De Vries’ website, click here
For the VKmag screen dump, click here