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State Official Meets With Aruban Authorities

Representative Spencer Bachus, Republican of Alabama, met with Aruban officials last Friday regarding Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teen who disappeared in Aruba during a class trip this summer. Bachus says he came away from the meeting confident that Aruban authorities planned to aggressively pursue leads in the case. Bachus, who district includes Mountain Brook, the town Holloway is from, said little about the meeting, only commenting that it was a "frank and open discussion" and that Aruban authorities have devoted "tremendous resources" to the case.

Holloway was last seen on May 30 leaving an Aruban nightclub with three young men, all of whom have been detained and released at various points in the investigation. Friday`s meeting consisted of Bachus, three state prosecutors from Alabama and three officials from Aruba, one of who was Aruban Deputy Police Chief Dolf Richardson. Bachus said the Aruban officials also have meetings scheduled in Washington with the FBI during their trip to the United States.

Holloway`s family was initially pleased with the investigation, but recently turned critical of the Aruban authorities handling of the case, citing incompetence. The governors of Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia have all called for a boycott of Aruba in protest of the way the case has been handled. But Bachus told reporters that "Their intention going forward is not to shut this case down, but to continue to pursue it vigorously. They do not consider it a closed case nor do they consider that they have a dead end. They continue to develop information and pursue leads."