Horror of cheerleader, 18, who VANISHED on paradise island holiday in one of US’s most chilling missing person cases
CHEERLEADER Natalee Holloway was enjoying the holiday of a lifetime when she mysteriously vanished on a graduation trip to the Caribbean paradise of Aruba.
And almost 17 years on from her disappearance the case remains shrouded in mystery - with theories ranging from murder to her being sold as a sex slave.
Authorities were alerted when 18-year-old Natalee failed to show up for her flight home - hours after she'd been spotted getting into the back of car with three men on the night of May 29, 2005.
The case sparked a media sensation after the prime suspect in the case suggested that the teen had been sold as a sex slave while later claiming she'd been buried in building foundations.
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Three men Joran van der Sloot, 17, and brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe, 18 & 21, became suspects in the case and were arrested and quizzed by cops after being the last people to see the teen alive.
All were later released but Joran remains a key suspect in the case after he went on to murder 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramírez in Lima Peru - five years to the day of Natalee's disappearance.
He beat the Peruvian woman unconscious before smothering her with his bloodied shirt in a hotel room in what he said was an "impulsive act".
Natalee and 124 of her classmates arrived on the Caribbean island of Aruba, a Dutch territory, on May 26 along with seven adult chaperones for the unofficial graduation trip.
The group had enjoyed four nights of wild partying on the north of the island, staying at the Holiday Inn resort, before their final night of fun at the Carlos'n Charlie's bar, in Oranjestad.
Natalee was spotted climbing into Deepak Kalpoe's car long with his brother 18-year-old Satish and then 17-year-old Dutch national, Joran.
It would be the last time that Natalee was ever seen.
The following day her passport and packed bags were found untouched at the hotel when she failed to show up for her flight.
He claims to have first seen Natalee at the casino inside the Holiday Inn resort after trying to help one of her friends win her money back, he was then invited along to the bar by the group.
He told Fox that Natalee wanted to come back to his house but they never went inside, that she asked to go look for sharks at the nearby beach
REWARD FOR CLUES
Natalee's desperate family offered a $175,000 reward for anyone who could shed light on her heartbreaking disappearance, which they later increased to $250,000.
Her heartbroken also refused to believe that her teen daughter was dead, despite a US judge