This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," December 1, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Does the headmaster of Joran van der Sloot's former school know more about Natalee's disappearance than he lets on? Earlier, we spoke to two friends of the Holloway family who did their own investigating on the island of Aruba.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN SUSTEREN: Mitch and Charlie, thank you both for joining us.
MITCHELL ENNIS, MET WITH JORAN'S HEADMASTER: You're very welcome.
CHARLES DEBARDELEBEN, MET WITH JORAN'S HEADMASTER: You're very welcome.
VAN SUSTEREN: Let me start first with you, Mitch. When do you about, do you remember arriving in Aruba 2005?
ENNIS: Yes--Wednesday morning, about 11:00 o'clock.
VAN SUSTEREN: What did you do when you got there, Mitch? What was the day like?
ENNIS: First thing we did is we went straight to the hotel to meet Jug and Beth. And we got there, met them. And then the first person we talked to was the chief of police. I think his name was Jan van der Straaten.
VAN SUSTEREN: Charlie, were you with Mitch this whole? Did you arrive with him?
DEBARDELEBEN: I sure did. I was with him the whole time.
VAN SUSTEREN: After you met with Van der Sloot, did there come a time when you went to the International school? I mean Van Der Straaten.
DEBARDELEBEN: Yes, Greta. We actually went there the next day.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why did you go to that school?
DEBARDELEBEN: We were looking for Joran. We wanted to talk to him and try to find out where he went, what school he attended, and just help in any way we possibly could to find Natalee.
VAN SUSTEREN: Mitch, when you got to the school, did you talk to anybody?
ENNIS: Yes. We were told there was a school he went to. And we went to that school, and they said "No, he's not here." We had carried some of the posters we had that said "Missing" with Natalee's photograph on it to pass out to try to aid in the search for her.
And the chief of the school, he was the headmaster there, said he doesn't go to school here, and if you would, please don't put any more of these around my school. We said certainly, we won't do that.
On leaving we went across the street and got into a car. He came across the street, he actually jaywalked, and he said, "I wouldn't want my name used, to say that I told you this, but he goes to the International School, and he is there now, and I under he is sleeping over there, and possibly in a sleeping bag."
So we went to the International School straight from there. The headmaster at one of the other schools.
VAN SUSTEREN: Charlie, you then went to the International School. What happened when you got there?
DEBARDELEBEN: When we got there, we met the headmaster of the International School, myself and a couple other friends that were with us, and Mitch and another friend who stayed out in the lobby. And we spoke with the head master asking if he know the whereabouts of Joran or anything about Natalee's disappearance.
VAN SUSTEREN: What did he tell you, Charlie?
DEBARDELEBEN: He told us some quite interesting facts, as a matter of fact, that Paulus and Joran had been there a day or two before, that Paulus was trying to explain with his son what had happened, and that he was trying to explain that his son had taken Natalee out to the light house, that she wanted to see sharks, that at some point she had fallen.
And he was just volunteering information, but also saying what a good boy Joran was and how the father was about to be a judge, and he was a very upstanding citizen of Aruba. And it was really apparent to us that he was doing the best he could to cover for him.
VAN SUSTEREN: Mitch, what was your impression of the headmaster. Did you get the sense that he was straight talking, or were you suspicious of him?
ENNIS: I was very suspicious because the first thing he said was she may have drowned, and the way these currents are they would carry her out to sea and we would never find the body.
He mentioned that the night she went missing, probably they could not tell that she came back to the hotel because the cameras were not working. How would he know these things unless he was coached into it?
And I was suspicious of what he had to say, because from day one this thing appeared to be a cover up. The police, it seems their main objective was to protect Joran, and the heck with finding Natalee.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why do you say that, Mitch?
ENNIS: Van der Straaten told us, he said "I don't think I could arrest my best friend's son. I am his godfather, and I honestly don't think that he's guilty. He is a witness."
And I said this is strange. That is the last person who saw her. And he said, "We are working on another angle on that." And that angle was the two black men that were security guards, they were going to try to blame it on them.
I felt like from day one we could tell that they did not want us there. They were very uncomfortable with us being around them because they were trying to cover it up.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is there anybody else in the investigation that you met that you have a thought about whether the person was doing his job or her job or not, or that you're suspicious of?
ENNIS: One of the things that was really strange about it, Greta, to me was we had a meeting with them, and we had 25 questions to ask them. They would not answer a single one of them.
VAN SUSTEREN: Who are they, the police? Do you the police?
ENNIS: This is really the odd thing. The police are supposed to be investigating Natalee's disappearance. But they told us in the meeting that the investigation, the people in charge of it, was the Aruban tourism department, which I thought was a little bit strange.
It appeared to me that they were not trying to investigate anything. It was damage control. They were worried about tourism, not finding Natalee.
VAN SUSTEREN: Mitch, this is the first time I am hearing that the tourism was involved, and that's particularly interesting to me. Did they say anything else about the tourism division at any time to either one of you?
ENNIS: All that they would tell us was that every question we ask, we cannot answer that question. If they had any sort of evidence, it disappeared. And you could ask what happened, they wouldn't tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN SUSTEREN: Here is a look at what is coming up after this show on "The O'Reilly Factor."
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Hey, Greta, we have to analyze how that terror attack in India affects all of us Americans, and what does that Wal-Mart stampede killing say about the USA? That's coming up on "The Factor."
VAN SUSTEREN: 11:00 p.m. eastern time with Bill.
And up next the Aruban prosecutor gets pressured from all angles. Wait until you hear what the Aruban justice minister is not saying about this case. This might surprise you.
And then, listen to this, according to our State Department this past year more than 800,000 women and children were victims of cross border human trafficking, and the Caribbean/Venezuela corridor is a hot spot for it. How bad is it? You will find out directly from the ambassador at our State Department whose job it is to monitor and fight this growing crisis of human trafficking.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
VAN SUSTEREN: There is news in Aruba. The Aruban justice minister holds a press conference about the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
And according to translations provided to "On the Record," the justice minister says this unsolved case is a stain on Aruba, and he wants the prosecutor's office to put special attention on the case.
Your panel is back. And panel, during the first segment, I received and e-mail Dave Holloway, who we all know is the father of Natalee Holloway.
And I'm going to read it on the air. This is what I just got from Dave Holloway. It says "I am greatly disturbed that Hans Mos," that's the prosecutor, "and the Aruban investigation team has not requested information that you have obtained regarding the case of my daughter Natalee Holloway.
If the Aruban investigative team wanted to solve this case, it would appear to me that they would want to see any and all leads and information. A telephone call to the local FBI attache would suffice to obtain this information. Obviously that would be too simple." It's signed Dave Holloway.
And my offer remains open to the Aruban prosecutor. They can have what we have.
Now, the second thing is the minister of justice, apparently, we are getting some traction in Aruba. And you can see this article that is causing some heat down in Aruba. This is written in the local dialect. I have underlined all the places where my name is. We have had it translated.
Incidentally, even Governor Palin made the article, we don't know exactly what. But anyway - "A scene in Aruba," Ted. That's what the minister of justice is saying.
WILLIAMS: Greta, I have to absolutely agree. This case has been going on too long. And the sad commentary is the manner in which it was investigated.
As we know this case initially started off with them accusing two black men of actually having something to do with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. And we had Dompig, who is no longer with the operation. No we have a new prosecutor.
Nobody is doing anything. And you are absolutely right. I don't care if we believe or disbelieve this rotten kid, the fact about it is everything needs to be followed up upon.
VAN SUSTEREN: Jim, the fact that the minister of justice, it seems at least we are getting a little traction. It made the news paper down there, and they are calling it a stain on Aruba. Maybe this minister of justice will get this prosecutor, Hans Mos, to contact us.
(CROSSTALK)
HAMMER: Would you just clarify that since you aired this, and since you made the offer, Hans Mos has never said he wants to see what we have.
VAN SUSTEREN: He has been absolutely silent. And he knows how to reach me.
HAMMER: Then the minister of justice should stop holding press conferences and have this man fired. I had an open mind about this guy and was hoping it was a fresh start. But if anyone has information about a crime, and if prosecutors do not pick up the phone and say "I'd love to see it. When can I meet you?" And I know offered to meet him in Miami. He should be fired, period.
VAN SUSTEREN: Bernie?
GRIMM: Why is the minister of justice, to pick up on Jim's point, communicating with the prosecutor through the newspaper? Just called the guy up or email him and say open an investigation. Whatever Greta has, take a look at.
For all we know it is completely unreliable, or it's reliable. But just look at it. Give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, or you're out on your backside tomorrow. I don't understand it.
VAN SUSTEREN: But what I don't get is the Dutch. Holland--what in the world is Holland doing sitting there 3,000 miles north east just sitting up there with its relationship with Aruba, it's protectorate or whatever it is, but what is Holland-
GRIMM: Unbelievable.
VAN SUSTEREN: Holland, one of our best allies. This is an American woman missing, and their prosecutor won't even look at the information to prove it or disprove it.
WILLIAMS: It is an embarrassment. It is sad. I am hoping that something now will come from this, Greta. And I have to tell you that you have done a remarkable job of staying on this.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: I don't know if we are on the right path, but-
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: At least we are trying, and that is a lot more than I can say - at least FOX News Channel is trying. I don't know if this is the right answer, but we are not just sitting there soaking in the sunrays.
Go ahead, Jim.
HAMMER: How sad that the Holloway family has to rely upon a TV anchor and a former defense attorney and not the prosecutor to investigate the crime. How crazy is that?
VAN SUSTEREN: Panel, thank you.
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