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US suspect confesses to killing missing teen
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-11 19:42

One of three young suspects arrested Thursday in the investigation into the disappearance of an Alabama teenager has confessed to her killing, a senior police official said late Friday.


Natalee Holloway met one of the suspects the day before she vanished, authorities say.
Police did not say which of the three confessed to the killing of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway.

The three have been identified as brothers Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Depak Kalpoe, 21, and their friend, 17-year-old Joran Van Der Sloot, the son of a judge.

The three, taken into custody early Thursday, were the last people to have reported seeing the missing woman.

Aruba Prime Minister Nelson Oduber told CNN that he had not been informed of any confession, but he noted he and other politicians would not ordinarily be told at this point in an investigation.

"The only people who can make that statement are those involved in the investigation," Oduber said.

He said as of early Saturday there was no hunt for any body or remains.

"Investigators will continue early in the morning doing their job," Oduber said.

Casino meeting

Police said Van Der Sloot met Holloway May 29 at the casino in the Holiday Inn where she was staying. The Mountain Brook, Alabama, resident was in Aruba with classmates celebrating their high school graduation.

Later that night, Holloway went to a popular nightclub, Carlos 'N Charlie's, with about 40 of her classmates. She left around 1:30 a.m. on May 30 with the Kalpoes and Van Der Sloot, authorities said.

Holly Brown, a Holloway friend who was at the club that night, said she found Van Der Sloot to be "very different."

"He lied about his age, and when we went on the [Carlos 'N Charlie's] Web site, we found pictures of him there one week before at the same place, wearing the same clothes," Brown told CNN.

Police said the Kalpoes and Van Der Sloot told authorities they went with Holloway to a beach after leaving the bar before taking her back to her hotel at about 2 a.m.

The men claimed they visited a lighthouse on the northwestern tip of the island, which is only 19 miles long and 6 miles wide.

According to police statements, the Kalpoe brothers described her as stumbling on the way into the hotel, possibly as a result of alcohol, and that a "dark-colored" man in a black T-shirt with a radio helped her.

Two arrests

That testimony led to Sunday's arrest of Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30, two security guards at a hotel near where Holloway was staying.

But a Holiday Inn employee who has reviewed surveillance tapes from that morning said the tapes do not show any sign of Holloway. Authorities had no explanation and were looking at whether the five men have any connections to each other.

The guards' attorneys maintain the two are innocent.

None of the five men have been formally charged.

Van Der Sloot's mother said she was confident her son had told authorities everything and that he was innocent.

"He was willing to help with anything, and he had a kind of quiet resolve -- I mean he said, 'Mom, don't be upset because everything will be fine. I know I am innocent, I didn't do anything,'" Anita Van Der Sloot told CNN.

"And in a very almost naive way he was very open with us, told us everything what happened," she said, adding that he has offered to speak with the Holloway family.

Government officials have said solving Holloway's disappearance is a national priority on the small Caribbean island where tourism is a top industry.

A massive search operation has involved authorities, family, friends and volunteers.



 
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