20 Years Later: Suspect’s Confession in Natalee Holloway Disappearance Raises New Questions, Private Investigator Says

It has been two decades since 18-year-old Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba during a high school graduation trip, but the case continues to raise questions among her family and those who have investigated it for years. Despite a 2023 confession from Joran van der Sloot, Holloway’s family and their longtime private investigator, TJ Ward, remain unconvinced that the full story has come to light.

Van der Sloot, now 36 years old, confessed to U.S. federal authorities last year that he killed Holloway after she rejected his sexual advances. In a chilling interview transcript released by officials, van der Sloot described striking Holloway with a brick and disposing of her body in the ocean. "Her face basically, you know, collapses in," he told investigators. Holloway’s remains have never been found.

Despite the confession, TJ Ward, who has worked with the Holloway family since the disappearance in 2005, believes van der Sloot may not have acted alone. “We’re not convinced that he was alone with what transpired with Natalee Holloway,” Ward said in a recent interview, citing the ongoing investigation and accounts from witnesses. “Dave Holloway [Natalee’s father] and I are still looking and trying to gather information, which we believe that there’s other people involved with Joran van der Sloot when she was on the beach in May 30, 2005.”

Holloway was last seen leaving Carlos’n Charlie’s nightclub in Oranjestad, Aruba, with van der Sloot and brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe.

The three men were initially detained by local authorities but released due to insufficient evidence.

Over the years, new leads emerged, but the suspects were released again after further investigation.

Ward, who specializes in voice analysis, utilized technology to analyze existing interviews with van der Sloot shortly after Holloway went missing, determining that he had lied to authorities and the public at the time. “We knew numerous times along the course of the investigation that Joran van der Sloot was not telling the truth,” Ward noted. This pushed him and the family to continue searching for credible witnesses and new evidence.

Five years after Holloway vanished, van der Sloot murdered Peruvian student Stephany Flores. The killing occurred on May 30, 2010 — exactly five years to the day after Holloway’s disappearance. Van der Sloot later confessed to the crime, claiming he killed Flores in a fit of rage after she discovered his connection to the Holloway case.

In 2010, van der Sloot was indicted in the U.S. for extortion and wire fraud after allegedly attempting to sell information about Holloway’s remains to her family for $250,000. According to Ward, "He should have been arrested right then and there for the FBI for trying to extort Natalie's mother." Nevertheless, van der Sloot left the country and later admitted to lying about the location of Holloway’s body.

Currently serving a prison sentence in Peru for Flores’ murder, van der Sloot is expected to be extradited to the United States in 2036 to serve a concurrent 20-year sentence related to Holloway’s killing and the subsequent extortion scheme. During his 2023 sentencing, Judge Anna Manasco condemned van der Sloot’s actions: “You have brutally murdered, in separate incidents, years apart, two young women who refused your sexual advances.”

Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth, described the ordeal and its long-lasting impact during her victim-impact statement. She accused van der Sloot of tormenting her family and called out his fraudulent extortion of the family’s hope. Outside the courthouse she said, “After 18 years, Natalee’s case has been solved. Joran van der Sloot is the killer.”

Yet, for the Holloway family and their investigators, true closure remains elusive.

• Natalee Holloway’s body has never been found.
• TJ Ward and Dave Holloway continue to pursue new leads, citing suspicions that others may have played a role in the events of that night.
• The case remains an enduring symbol for missing person investigations and the pursuit of justice for families left behind.

The struggle for answers, according to Ward and Holloway’s parents, endures well into the third decade after Natalee’s disappearance. “We have not reached a finalization of what happened,” Ward emphasized. The search for truth, and for Holloway’s remains, continues.