Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods

Paradise Lost: The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway

Sand, Sun, and Surf

Mountain Brook High School
Mountain Brook High School

During the last week of May 2005, 125 teenagers from the graduating class of Mountain Brook High School, an affluent suburb just outside Birmingham, Alabama, flew to the Caribbean island of Aruba for a week of fun in the sun.

Holiday Inn, Oranjestad, Aruba
Holiday Inn, Oranjestad, Aruba

On Monday morning, May 30, the last day of the trip, 124 of the former high school seniors gathered in the lobby of the Holiday Inn in the town of Oranjestad for the drive to the airport.

One teen was missing, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway.

Carlos 'N Charlie's
Carlos 'N Charlie's

Natalee's friends had last seen her around one o'clock in the morning outside Carlos 'N Charlie's, a popular island nightspot. She had been seen climbing into a gray Honda Civic with three young men. At least one of Natalee's friends shouted at her not to go and told her to come back into the bar. She yelled back that she would be all right. A moment later the car pulled away and disappeared into the night.

That was a little more than two years ago and none of Natalee's friends or family have seen her since.

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