Pretty, blonde 18-year-old Natalee Holloway was on a senior trip in 2005 with around 100 members of her graduating high school class. The merry group spent a week partying on the island of Aruba in the Caribbean.
When time came to return home, Holloway was missing. She had last been seen on the night before leaving a nightspot with three young men.
The three told police they took Holloway to a beach, then back to her hotel, but security cameras at the hotel entrance showed no record of her return.
Soon the FBI joined island police, and an extensive and highly publicized search began for the 5'4", 110-pound girl. Her family offered a reward, yet no trace of her has ever turned up.
Authorities arrested and questioned the three partiers, a Dutch student and two boys from Surinam. The young Dutch man, Joran van der Sloot, made a number of statements about what happened, which he later retracted. Other potential suspects, such as hotel security men, also were questioned.
Unable to locate Holloway, police could not build a solid case against any of the suspects. When Hurricane Katrina struck, the media switched focus. At that time, when the world wasn't watching, all three of the party boys were sent home, and the media frenzy attached to the missing girl's case fizzled out. No trace of Holloway has been found.
Disgustingly, a few people have tried to use the girl's disappearance as a way of making a quick buck. Others have complained--with some justification--that the only missing girls the media and public seem to care much about are white, blonde and good looking.
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