The Boondocks by Aaron McGruder for October 09, 2020

Natalee Holloway. I was in high school and the school year was wrapping up when I first heard about it on a news segment that aired during morning homeroom. It amazed me how her disappearance continued to get so much media coverage for months even though there didn’t seem to be much day-to-day development in the case.

I “dunno” either. I never watched to begin with.

Bitter Reality TV, I’d say.

It turns out that it was almost certain that a white boy named Joran van der Sloot killed her. A judge’s son, IIRC. He’s currently doing time in Peru for killing a different woman.

The (allegedly, her body was never found) dead girl in Aruba allegedly was last seen with van der Sloot and two brothers, locals. The two brothers were arrested three times each, va der Sloot was arrested twice. In all cases they were released for lack of evidence. It turns out that making a case for homicide can be quite difficult when you don’t have a body, or forensics, or witnesses. Van der Sloot’s story changed numerous times. He said that when he last saw her, she was fine. He also said that he knew she was dead, and had died the day of her disappearance. He also said that he had sold her as a sex slave. The two brothers mostly kept their mouths shut and put as much distance as they could between them and van der Sloot.

The girl’s parents made a lot of noise, and generally acted as if being Americans made them superior to Arubans and demanded action, with or without minor things like actual evidence. They got politicians in their home state, Alabama, involved, and tried to set up a boycott of Aruba to to put pressure on the Aruban authorities. It didn’t work.

Todays my Birthday!