Paradise Lost: The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway

Although the newspaper people and other private citizens who had at first helped the Twittys could simply sever ties with them once the Twittys criticism of their island nation became too much for them to overlook, the Aruban police couldn't simply cut off contact with the missing girl's family. So they launched some criticism of their own.

Natalee Holloway

Deputy Chief Gerold Dompig has said publically that pressure from Natalee's family forced his investigators to move on Joran and the Kalpoes too quickly, before they had gathered enough evidence of the trio's guilt, something that irreparably damaged the investigation.

"The Aruban government is very image-conscious," Dompig said during an interview with Vanity Fair. "America is basically our bread and butter. The government, well, everyone was on our case. They wanted the case solved as soon as possible. And then you had the Aruban Hotel [and Tourism] Association, which is a very powerful group, that started putting pressure. 'Guys, what about the tourism! The jobs in the hotels!' Imagine how a law-enforcement team functions with all this. Imagine that pressure! We got calls all the way up to the White House! They called the prime minister!"

Dompig has suggested that his investigators were monitoring Joran's and the Kalpoes' telephones and perhaps their emails as well, efforts that could have eventually led to solid evidence against one or more of them.

The deputy police chief's suggestion seems likely given that even after Joran and the Kalpoes were arrested, the police still found an excuse to put them together in a police car and secretly record their conversation.