Ala. judge asked to declare Natalee Holloway dead/Judge Declares Natalie Holloway Legally Dead

Natalee Holloway's Dad Wants Her Declared Legally Dead


Natalee Holloway's father has served papers on her mother seeking to have the teenager, who disappeared during a senior class trip to Aruba in 2005, declared legally dead.

Court papers obtained by ABC News indicate that on April 19, 2011, Dave Holloway signed papers seeking a "petition for presumption of death for persons missing for more than five years." Natalee Holloway vanished on May 30, 2005, more than six years ago, at age 17.

The request was actually filed in probate court on June 21. The court documents state that a hearing on the father's request is scheduled for Sept. 23.

The missing teen's mother, Beth Holloway, spoke briefly to ABCNews.com to say she does not intend to agree to have her daughter declared legally dead.

"No, I want to get to the bottom of what's going on from Dave," she said.

Dave Holloway could not immediately be reached for comment.

The court papers state that Natalee left an estate "estimated to be worth approximately $500 and probably not more."

Beth Holloway has been relentless in her efforts to find out what happened to her daughter, even slipping into a Peruvian prison to confront Joran van der Sloot, the Aruban man suspected of killing Natalee.

At one point, she agreed to a sting, seemingly complying with van der Sloot's demand for cash in exchange for information about the location of her daughter's body. The transaction was monitored by Aruba authorities, but van der Sloot left the island before the FBI filed extortion charges.

Before van der Sloot could be arrested on extortion, he was arrested in Peru and charged with killing a woman, Stephany Flores Ramirez, on May 30, 2010, the fifth anniversary of Natalee's disappearance. He has been in a Peruvian prison since.

Natalee Holloway was on the last day of a graduation trip to Aruba with her senior class at Mountain Brook High School in Alabama when she did not return to her hotel.

She was last seen in a car with several people that included van der Sloot.

Extensive searches were carried out on the island and surrounding waters, often with Beth Holloway pleading publicly for someone to come forward and hectoring officials to keep on searching.

In the years after her disappearance, there have been many false leads for police and false hopes for Beth Holloway.

The case was closed by Aruba police in 2007, but reopened in 2008 after van der Sloot was caught on video telling someone that he disposed of her body.

The mystery was cruelly fueled by van der Sloot, who frequently changed his story. He also denied that he disposed of her body.

The investigation into Natalee Holloway's disappearance was criticized by Beth Holloway as well as other experts.

Aruban officials seemed to have learned from the Natalee Holloway case and were being much more aggressive in this year's probe of another missing American woman, Robyn Gardner of Maryland.

The Natalee Holloway Resource Center, a foundation started after Holloway's disappearance, has been offering help to Gardner's boyfriend, Richard Forester.

"It strikes a chord close to home, because that's where my nightmare began, the day I got the call in 2005," Beth Holloway told ABC News last month. "We want to be a first responder to these families. We want to be there to help them."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/natalee-holloways-dad-declared-legally-dead/story?id=14513497

Judge moves toward declaring Natalee Holloway dead

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A judge ruled Friday that Natalee Holloway's father has met the legal presumption of her death and now it's up to someone to prove she did not die six years ago on a high school graduation trip to Aruba.

Jefferson County's probate judge rejected a request by Dave Holloway's ex-wife, Beth Holloway, not to proceed with steps to declare their oldest child dead. The judge's ruling Friday afternoon is the first of two rulings necessary for a declaration of death. The second could come in early 2012.

In a hearing, Dave Holloway became teary eyed and his voice cracked as he asked Probate Judge Alan King to bring legal closure to the case.

Beth Holloway did not attend because she was in California for a speech. Her attorney, Charlie DeBardeleben, said, she was "horrified" by her ex-husband's efforts and she doesn't want her oldest child declared dead.

"There is always a glimmer of hope, especially when there is no hard evidence she is dead," the lawyer said.

The next step is to run legal notices in a newspaper to allow anyone to come forward with evidence that Natalee Holloway is alive at age 24. If no one does, the judge would hold another hearing in about three months, where he could issue a final order of death.

The Holloways divorced in 1993. Natalee Holloway was raised by her mother in Mountain Brook, a wealthy Birmingham suburb, and spent every other weekend with her father, an insurance agent in Meridian, Miss.

Dave Holloway described in court how he saw his daughter for the last time at her high school graduation in Mountain Brook in May 2005. Then she left with her classmates for Aruba. She was last seen leaving a bar on the Caribbean island about 1:30 a.m. on May 30, 2005.

Dave Holloway recounted the extensive searches by land, sea and air and how no sign of his daughter was found.

His attorney, Karen Hennecy, asked, "''Dave, do you believe Natalee is alive today?"

"No," he answered quietly.

Holloway said he based his conclusion partially on statements by the primary suspect, Joran van der Sloot, that he had seen her die.

Van der Sloot is not charged in her disappearance, but he is imprisoned in Peru where he is accused of killing a 21-year-old woman in May 2010.

Holloway testified that he was surprised by his wife's objection and called the FBI agent in charge of the investigation Thursday night to make sure the agency still considered it a homicide case. Holloway said he told the agent, "'I need to know right now has anything changed?' He said it has not."

He also pointed out that he and his ex-wife signed affidavits in 2007 saying that they presumed their daughter was dead and they gave those affidavits to Aruban authorities in hopes it would result in charges being filed.

If Natalee Holloway is ruled dead, her father could use her $2,000 college fund for her younger brother, Matt, and could stop paying for hospital insurance for her, attorney Mark White said.

During the searches in 2005, Dave and Natalee Holloway were united in their search for information about their child. The court hearing Friday showed their relationship has changed.

DeBardeleben complained that Dave Holloway never told his ex-wife that he was seeking a declaration of death, and she learned about it when a process server "posing as a fan" delivered legal papers to her in Georgia while she was at a speaking engagement.

Dave Holloway said he learned about his wife's objections from a statement she released to the media Thursday.

DeBardeleben acknowledged there is "no communication back and forth."
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Judge-moves-toward-declaring-Natalee-Holloway-dead-2185553.php

What a terribly sad story. I can understand both parent's and feel for both of them. What a hard call this would be...

By PHILLIP RAWLS | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

(AP) — An Alabama judge has scheduled a hearing in Birmingham on whether to sign a court order declaring Natalee Holloway dead more than six years after the 18-year-old woman disappeared in Aruba.

Thursday afternoon's hearing was scheduled before a suspect questioned in Holloway's disappearance, Joran van der Sloot, decided to plead guilty Wednesday to killing a young woman in Peru.

Probate Judge Alan King is hearing a request by Holloway's father to have her declared dead. The judge ruled in September that Dave Holloway had met the legal presumption of death for his daughter and it was up to someone to prove she didn't die in Aruba. He set the hearing Thursday to allow time for anyone to come forward.

The father's attorney, Mark White, says no new evidence has emerged.

http://news.yahoo.com/ala-judge-asked-declare-natalee-holloway-dead-091514958.html

Natalee Holloway declared legally dead

(CNN) -- An Alabama judge signed an order Thursday declaring Natalee Holloway legally dead, attorneys for her family said.
Probate Judge Alan King signed the order after an afternoon hearing in Jefferson County court in Birmingham.
Holloway was 18 when she was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving a nightclub on the Caribbean island of Aruba with Joran van der Sloot and two other men. No one was charged in her disappearance, and her body has never been found.
On Wednesday, van der Sloot -- who was detained twice in connection with Holloway's disappearance but never charged -- confessed in a Lima court to murdering a 21-year-old Peruvian woman five years after Holloway went missing.
Holloway's dad talks guilty plea Van der Sloot's lawyer mentions Holloway
Natalee's father, Dave Holloway, filed a petition to declare his daughter dead in June, six years after she went to the Caribbean island with 100 classmates to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham.
He was present at Thursday's hearing, as was his ex-wife, Beth Holloway. She opposed the move to declare Natalee dead, pointing to a lack of evidence indicating her daughter is deceased and saying in a September statement that she "will always hope and pray for Natalee's safe return."
On Thursday, she told reporters while leaving the courtroom that she was upset by the judge's decision.
"Natalee's father wanted to see this through, and of course it makes me very sad," said Beth Holloway, who now works with groups and families of missing children.
Dave Holloway acknowledged Thursday that the ruling is "tough," though he said he's considered it a possibility ever since the FBI told him 10 days after his daughter went missing that they were approaching her case as a homicide.
"We've been dealing with this death for the last six and a half years," he told reporters Thursday. "Hopefully, this meeting today will (provide) some closure."
In a hearing in September, King ruled the petition could go forward, according to CNN affiliate WBRC.
At that time, King ruled that a notice of presumption of death must be published in a local newspaper for two successive weeks, followed by a 12-week time frame to submit any evidence the teen is still alive, WBRC said. Barring any such evidence, the judge would then be able to declare Natalee Holloway dead.

Yearbook photo of Natalee Holloway
Dave Holloway explained that, barring his daughter miraculously being found alive, that a decision like the one issued Thursday had to be issued "eventually."
His attorney, Mark White, previously said that the order -- which acts as a death certificate -- will help resolve the estate of Natalee Holloway, who still has a small college fund in her name and is listed as a participant and beneficiary on her father's health insurance.
Now was the proper time to pursue this action, said Dave Holloway, given his desire to take "care of some needs" and van der Sloot's conviction earlier this week.
"I was in a situation where a lot of things came together, with the criminal element as well as having to take care of business," he said.
The 24-year-old Dutch national could be imprisoned for as many as 30 years when he is sentenced Friday, two days after he pleaded guilty to all the charges against him in the killing of a Peruvian woman in 2010.
Investigators believe van der Sloot killed Stephany Flores after she found something related to the Holloway case on van der Sloot's computer as she visited with him in his hotel room.
Van der Sloot also faces possible extradition to the United States. In June 2010, a federal grand jury in Alabama indicted him on charges of wire fraud and extortion after allegations surfaced that he tried to extort $250,000 from Holloway's mother. Van der Sloot offered to provide what turned out to be bogus information about the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway's remains in exchange for the money, according to the indictment.
He was allegedly given a total of $25,000, and authorities believe he used that money to travel to Peru and participate in a poker tournament, where he met Flores.
Peggy Sanford, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office for north Alabama, said that there's no timetable as to when federal authorities will seek to bring van der Sloot to the United States for prosecution.
"We want Joran van der Sloot to face the charges here, and we are prepared to try him as soon as we can get him to the United States," Sanford said. "Right now, we don't know when that will be."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/12/justice/alabama-natalee-holloway/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular

I think this is so sad. I was at the docs office and switched the TV from "FX" to "HLN". LOL.

This is for legal purposes..wills, college loans, etc.

I still don't want to put her "In Loving Memory" as who knows..now that she is "legally dead", they still have not found her body.

I thought the same thing, re: not to put her into In Loving Memory because she hasn't been found.

raine1953 wrote:What a terribly sad story. I can understand both parent's and feel for both of them. What a hard call this would be...

I agree with you Raine. This is very sad. I also understand both sides of this. It is a hard call to made, kind of like having to make a decision to "pull the plug" on a loved one.

Wouldn't that be something if they find her now that she has been declared "legally dead"? The odds are slim to none but stranger things have happened!

And, I want Vanderslut to once and for all Confess to murdering her. We All know he did, he Knows we all know. He's already locked up..just admit it and do your time.

His sentencing is tomorrow. Jean Casarus said he most likely won't get the full 30 years but the scene was horrific..blood all over the place. I hope the judge (I guess that is how they do it in Peru) gives him at least 20 years w/no chance of early release.

Parents of Natalee Holloway Still Want Justice
January 13, 2012 04:15 PM EST

Natalee Holloway was declared legally dead by a Birmingham judge yesterday, but that doesn't mean this case is over. In fact, the parents of the "missing" Alabama teenager want Joran Van der Sloot to face justice for the presumed death of their daughter.

It's been nearly seven years since Natalee Holloway vanished from the Aruban tourist trap Oranjestad. From day one, Joran Van der Sloot has been one of the primary suspects in her death, but unfortunately it seems that Aruba isn't necessarily that good at conducting actual investigations. That much was made certain last summer when Robyn Gardner vanished from the very same tourist town as Natalee. Just like in the case of Holloway, the prime suspect in the Robyn Gardner disappearance has walked free on lack of evidence.

The similarities of these two cases have stirred speculation that perhaps Van der Sloot may not have been connected with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. However, it's important to keep in consideration that Joran had already admitted/confessed to the murder of Hollway, but then retracted the statement saying he sold her into a sex slavery ring.

Did Joran Van der Sloot murder Natalee Holloway?

The parents of the now "dead" young woman feel strongly that Joran is responsible for her disappearance. They want justice to be served. Seeing as though he just pleaded guilty to the murder of a South American woman, he may be willing to be more truthful regarding the disappearance of this other young woman. If he's responsible, the truth may come out as he was just sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison. With that kind of time in the pen, he may want to make amends eventually.

Whether or not he "makes amends" isn't the issue, though. Natalee's parents want him to be tried in a U.S. court for the murder of their missing daughter. Since Joran's daddy is dead, he hasn't been able to keep himself out of trouble, so who knows. He may eventually be tried in the States, but what would it truly solve?

http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981021438

"What would it truly solve if her were tried in the US for Holloway's death?" MORE TIME IN THE SLAMMER! Not rocket science here!

updated 1 hour 19 minutes ago

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The mother of Natalee Holloway is suing The National Enquirer, saying the tabloid published untrue stories to profit from her daughter's 2005 disappearance in Aruba.

Beth Holloway said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that the magazine and its publisher, American Media Inc., published "false headlines, articles and statements" for nearly seven years.

"They keep on doing it," said Lin Wood, the attorney for Beth Holloway. "We had no choice but to file this lawsuit. This is a mother who has exercised every effort to make sure her daughter is alive."

Natalee Holloway was 18 years old when she vanished during a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba. She was last seen leaving a bar the morning of May 30, 2005 with Joran van der Sloot, a Dutchman who was raised in Aruba.

Holloway's body was never found and the ensuing searches for her would create intense media scrutiny and worldwide attention. In January, a judge declared Holloway dead.

Wood said Beth Holloway hopes her daughter is still alive. But if Natalee Holloway is not, Wood said, the mother believes Van der Sloot is responsible for her daughter's death, saying the "evidence is overwhelming" against him.

Van der Sloot is the prime suspect in Holloway's unsolved disappearance. He faces extortion and wire fraud charges in Alabama in connection with Holloway's unsolved disappearance in Aruba exactly five years before he killed Peruvian college student Stephany Flores after meeting her in a Lima casino.

Van der Sloot pleaded guilty in January in Peru to killing the 21-year-old Flores.

The lawsuit mentions several articles, including one that claims van der Sloot had a "secret hand-drawn" map to Holloway's grave. The lawsuit also claims the magazine knew statements used in stories were false when they were published.

A call to Boca Raton, Fla.-based American Media Inc. was not immediately returned.

"Defendants purposely avoided learning the truth by, among other things, failing to attempt to interview many individuals who could confirm or deny the things stated in the headlines, articles, and statements and captured in the photographs," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47902702/ns/today-today_news/t/natalee-holloways-mother-sues-national-enquirer/#.T-M_wLXY8oI