What Did Dave Holloway's Meeting with the Aruban Prosecutor Accomplish?

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," September 28, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Tips are still coming in, searches are still under way, but where is Natalee Holloway? Natalee’s father, Dave Holloway, recently met with the Aruba prosecutor and the lead investigators on the case. Dave Holloway joins us live from Meridien, Mississippi. Welcome back, Dave.

DAVE HOLLOWAY, NATALEE’S FATHER: Thanks, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Dave, I guess I should first ask you how you’re doing. It’s been a long time since May 30. I know you’ve been back and forth to Aruba and still no sign of your daughter.

HOLLOWAY: Well, it stays on your mind every day. You just can’t keep thinking about what happened and try to theorize what took place that night. But you know, things are getting better, and we’re getting back to, I guess, a normal life, so to speak. But it’s still tough and it stays on your mind constantly.

VAN SUSTEREN: You met about two weeks ago with the prosecutor for several hours. How did that meeting come about?

HOLLOWAY: Well, as you’re aware, Hurricane Katrina hit, and we were without communications to Aruba for a couple of weeks and still have trouble communicating through the telephone lines. So I got behind and I felt like it was time to return to the island. You know, all the suspects had been released, and I felt like the case was, you know, going into a dead end. And I just had to find some answers and make sure the investigation is still continuing, you know, make sure the prosecutor is still motivated to, you know, proceed forward with the case.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did she tell you anything you didn’t know before?

HOLLOWAY: Well, we discussed communications. That was one of the big issues. There seemed to be — you know, everyone was not really on the right page, and I wanted to just meet with them and, you know, Here’s my information. Here’s some tips and some information I received from the Web site that — or the e-mail address that we had set up: Helpfindnatalee@comcast.net. And I gave them a lot of that information. And I really wanted to talk to the police investigator. Since I had not spoken with Eric Summers (ph), I wanted to meet with him, get his take on where the investigation is heading and also provide him with some of these leads.

VAN SUSTEREN: I heard that she asked you some questions, asked about some life insurance policy and also asked about Jug Twitty’s brother. What was that all about?

HOLLOWAY: Well, we had some issues that came up on the Internet. And you know, when you’re the investigator with a police department, you want to know the whole story. And one of the first things is, is to look at the family and look at everyone. And I was very agreeable that — let’s cut off those paths where everybody’s trying to go down and let’s focus back on the real issues. And that’s what we did. We just dispelled some of the rumors, some of the other issues that may have come up that, you know, they may have had questions about.

And that was not the big issue. The big issue is really communications, what we’re going to do in the future as far as searches. You know, I’ve had several searches planned. We did one last week. In fact, we did another one today. I wanted to be sure that — and they wanted to be sure that the police were involved, the prosecutor was involved and a representative of the family were involved at the search site.

As you’re well aware, the Texas EquuSearch people came in. You know, we were searching all over the island, and when we came up on something, we wanted the police to be there. And a lot of it had to do with communications, and we just want to make sure that everyone was on the right page.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Dave. If you’ll stay with us, we’re going to have much more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAN SUSTEREN: In a new TV interview, Joran van der Sloot admits he lied to police but says he had nothing to do with Natalee Holloway’s disappearance. We are back with Natalee’s father, Dave Holloway.

Dave, before I talk to you about what Joran is now saying, I’m curious, the search that’s being done right now, is that something that the prosecutor and the investigators are doing in Aruba, or is that something that you are privately or private citizens are checking out?

HOLLOWAY: That’s something privately done.

VAN SUSTEREN: What are they doing themselves...

HOLLOWAY: That I’ve been wanting to do for some time.

VAN SUSTEREN: What is the prosecutor...

HOLLOWAY: Oh, the police...

VAN SUSTEREN: Yes. What are they actually doing?

HOLLOWAY: Well, they’re following up on tips and leads that had not previously been done because, you know, as you know, most of the investigators have been involved in the interrogation process. Now that that’s over, they’re focusing back on, you know, Hey, let’s stop and regroup and then start all over and start thinking like these kids were thinking.

And you know, they came to the bar — and this is not anything that the detectives mentioned. But you know, you stop and think. A group of guys, they get to the bar 30 minutes before it closes, they’re not ready to stop partying. So you know, when they leave, do they really go to the beach or do they really go to the lighthouse? Maybe, maybe not. So maybe they took a different avenue. Who knows?

We just need to start thinking outside the box in this investigation and pursuing every lead that’s possible. In fact, I spoke with our attorney today. She said that any lead or tip that comes in is going to be fully investigated.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, Dave, I sure hope it is, but...

HOLLOWAY: And that came from the prosecutor’s office.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, I mean, for the prosecutor now to be doing this in late September is rather stunning, since many of the clues that you would hope that would be available, for instance, hair, fibers, something in the car, whether she was taken to someone’s home or whatever — that stuff’s all gone.

On a 1-to-10 scale, 10 being the — you know, your greatest satisfaction, how would you rate your satisfaction with the zeal that the prosecution investigators are now showing towards solving this disappearance?

HOLLOWAY: You know, when I was there, I’d say it was a good eight to nine. You know, they would throw a party if this case were solved. I do believe that. They are — you know, the energy I got from the prosecutor was, was that, you know, she’s determined to solve this case. And that’s the indication she gave me, and it gave me confidence.

I also met with the police department, the new lead investigator. He, as well as the other two detectives involved in the case, are — they’re frustrated, and they want answers. And you know, I’m trying to give them as much leads and tips that I can, and we’re hopeful that — you know, someone out there knows something, and hopefully, that person or individual will finally come across because I feel like that’s the only way that, right now, we’re going to be able to solve this case is through a witness or someone who knows something who’s going to come forward.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do they have a theory as to where Natalee is or what happened to her?

HOLLOWAY: You know, we discussed that and brain stormed. You know, really, Greta, the only thing that we know for sure is they left Carlos and Charlie’s, and you know, that left or right turn, you know, it’s a bunch of lies from there on out. So you really — you really don’t have anything to stand on.

And one of my other reasons in going to the island was, you know, I’m — I want to be patient throughout this, and I didn’t want them to jump to conclusions, make a charge and then, you know, what’s happened every time, you know, the judge dismisses the case. And the worst thing that can happen would be to rush in there and file charges and then the judge dismiss it. And then where are you?

And I would rather wait. And I asked the prosecutor, you know, Get as much evidence as you can, and then, you know, please communicate with the family before you file those charges because we want to make sure that if this case is going to be concluded, that the charges will stick.

VAN SUSTEREN: Dave, have you seen the interview with Joran Van Der Sloot that was done by "A Current Affair?"

HOLLOWAY: I’ve watched bits and pieces of it. I’ve read the actual transcript of the interview, yes.

VAN SUSTEREN: Any thoughts about it? Did it give you any sort of insight into the investigation?

HOLLOWAY: No, not really. It just confirms that, you know, he continues to tell the stories. And he’s telling it to the American people now, you know, another pack of lies, I guess, so to speak, so… Maybe he’s telling the truth on this? No.

VAN SUSTEREN: Have you seen his June 10 statement that he gave to the police after he was in custody? He was picked up on the 9th and he apparently gave a statement the 10th. Have you seen that one?

HOLLOWAY: Oh, yes. We read it early on, yes.

VAN SUSTEREN: What does he say — what is his story as of June 10?

HOLLOWAY: Well, you know, I was thinking about that today. You know, the inspector on June 10, reported to the AP that they were getting ready to go to the scene, crime scene, and getting the family prepared to identify a body. And then here we are four months later, and they’re all free. So you know, what happened after June the 10? You know, it’s just perplexing to me that that could be reported and then we’re back to square one, so to speak.

VAN SUSTEREN: Has Joran, to your knowledge, in custody ever admitted to harming or hurting Natalee in any way?

HOLLOWAY: I think what — and I haven’t read any of these declarations or anything like that. But it’s reported that they got pointing the finger on who did what. And we were — I felt we were real close to getting our answers when they were all three — or when the Kalpoe brothers were re-rearrested again. And then, all of a sudden, the judge rules that they’re allowed to go. So at that point in time, it was finger pointing that something did happen, something bad may have happened, and then from there, it’s who knows what.

VAN SUSTEREN: Are Deepak and Satish still being talked to by the police or not, if you know?

HOLLOWAY: As I’m aware, they are not.

VAN SUSTEREN: And so the investigation is simply, at this point — if I can sum it up, the prosecutor and the police are following up any tips that are called in, but they’re not affirmatively going out and conducting searches. Is that right?

HOLLOWAY: They are conducting searches, Greta. In fact, we had a tip that came in while I was there on the island. I couldn’t stand it, so I had to go look myself. And the police showed up early the next morning, cleared away — I was not able to go into the well, but they had a fireman go into the well, check it and cleared that area. Since then, they’ve conducted a dive search up under a cave that went up to the lighthouse. They cleared it. And then today, they did another dive search in a yacht basin.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, so they’re actively searching, it sounds like. Dave, thank you, and I hope sooner or later, we get some information. Thank you, Dave.

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