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Nancy Grace

Holloway Case Update

Aired February 01, 2008 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DIANE DIMOND, GUEST HOST: Tonight, breaking news in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway, Aruban authorities just requesting the rearrest of Joran Van Der Sloot based on new evidence, that according to a CNN source familiar with this case. We`ll go live to Aruba, where Holloway disappeared more than two years ago and where now an investigative journalist says he has solved this case. The Dutch reporter claimed he used a hidden camera in an ingenious way to uncover evidence that Holloway was murdered. He says he knows the cause of death and what happened to her body. We`ll fill you in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Aruba`s chief prosecutor has requested the rearrest of Joran Van Der Sloot moments ago, a source familiar with the investigation tells CNN. Van Der Sloot is currently in Holland. The prosecutor expects the request to be heard within the next 24 to 48 hours. If the judge approves the request, Van Der Sloot will be brought back to Aruba immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Good evening. I`m Diane Dimond, in tonight for Nancy Grace. Two Aruba, where sources tell CNN the chief prosecutor now requesting the rearrest of Joran Van Der Sloot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Prosecutors have filed a request to rearrest Joran Van Der Sloot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We could be just days away from finally learning what happened to missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. The 18-year-old has been missing since a 2005 high school graduation trip in Aruba. Dutch crime reporter Peter De Vries says he has solved the case and actually has a confession on tape, a tape he plans to release Sunday. Natalee`s mom has actually seen this tape. She says it shows former suspect Joran Van Der Sloot actually talking about being present when Natalee died and helping dispose of her body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Well, Tracy Sabo is a CNN senior producer, who has broken this major story in this major case for us. Let`s go right out to Tracy. Tracy, what is the latest, and how did this come about?

TRACY SABO, CNN PRODUCER: Well, actually, about a week ago, on the 24th, the crime reporter from Holland, Peter De Vries, approached the prosecution, saying that he had new information in the case, as we understand it, and presented some undercover videotapes, among other things, to the chief prosecutor in Aruba, who has been looking at it for about a week now.

We just learned yesterday that the prosecutor announced he was intensifying his investigation based on what he called new information in the case. And here we are today, one day later, he`s now announced that he is seeking the rearrest of Joran Van Der Sloot, who is in Holland now at school.

DIMOND: So now, Tracy, that announcement has been made, or are we awaiting that announcement from the chief...

SABO: Well, we`ve been told by a source familiar with the investigation that Hans Mos has, indeed, made that request. And at this point, the way the Dutch legal system works, a judge will consider that request. And then he has somewhere probably between 24 to 48 hours, based on past examples, to make a decision as to whether there`s enough new evidence here, which is the key word here, it must be new in order to warrant a rearrest of this suspect, who for several years now has already been under intense scrutiny in this investigation.

DIMOND: All right. And he`s been arrested twice, we should say, twice already, never actually charged with anything or held. So now he`s going to university in Holland. So if they do decide, yes, he should be rearrested, how long does it take, Tracy, for him to come back to Aruba?

SABO: Well, it`s all kind of a matter of speculation, but what we can say, based on the most recent rearrest -- it took about 52 hours from the time he was put back in custody in Holland to actually arrive back in Aruba. And a lot of that is based on simple logistics alone, as you can imagine. This is someone who obviously is generating quite a bit of media attention, and they go to extra effort to put him on commercial aircraft, but at the same time, to protect him in some capacity. So a lot of that will kind of play out, based on what is available in the way of transportation, again, assuming that that would be approved by a judge (INAUDIBLE)

DIMOND: Right. And that`s still one major piece of housekeeping we need to get over. Tracy Sabo, CNN senior producer, stand by for us now.

I want to go over to Jon Leiberman with "America`s most Wanted." Help me figure out -- help me explain to the audience what this Dutch reporter says he`s got. He has been investigating. He is pretty well known in the area. He`s pretty well respected. And he says he used a hidden camera, but he didn`t -- he wasn`t the one who operated the hidden camera, is what I`m reading through the lines here, Jon.

JON LEIBERMAN, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": No, he was not, Diane. And here`s what`s significant. It appears, at this point, that Mr. De Vries has Joran Van Der Sloot on hidden camera saying the following, saying that he had sex with Natalee Holloway, that she died after having sex with him, and that he then dumped her body at sea with the help of a friend.

And the latest developments, Diane, are this. Just moments ago, Joran Van Der Sloot told a television station in the Netherlands that he did tell a friend privately that he was involved in Natalee Holloway`s disappearance but that he was lying. That is the very latest.

DIMOND: Yes. The AP has just flashed this, that Joran Van Der Sloot, apparently feeling that maybe he was caught on tape saying something untoward, has said he was, quote, "lying" when he told a friend he was involved in Natalee Holloway`s disappearance. And his New York-based attorney, we should say right off the bat here, Joe Tacopina, says that they do not expect that there is any real solid new evidence.

But back to you there at "America`s Most Wanted" because you take those complicated stories and you, like me, try to figure out who`s telling the truth and what`s really real. As I read this, there might be -- I`m just guessing now, Jon -- an attractive young lady involved because I`m going to quote here now, "A person not involved in the previous investigations recently gained the trust of Van Der Sloot and was able to acquire specific information about Holloway." I`m thinking hot babe, glass of wine, she was wired, he started talking?

LEIBERMAN: You`re absolutely right. I mean, that is what it appears happened here. And really, there`s two issues here, Diane. One is, is there going to be enough on these recordings to actually prosecute Joran Van Der Sloot and get a conviction? That`s issue one.

But an equally important issue is this. Natalee Holloway`s family has been yearning for answers for almost three years now. Beth Twitty went over there. She`s the mother. She watched these videotapes. She`s convinced they`re real and she`s convinced that she`s getting some bit of closure as to what happened to Natalee. So perhaps, even if there`s not a prosecution of Van Der Sloot here, or a successful one, perhaps the making of this tape will at least give Natalee`s family a little bit of this closure that they so desperately need.

DIMOND: Right. Now, you know, this Dutch attorney (SIC), we should tell everyone here, has a little bit of a history with Joran Van Der Sloot. Earlier -- well, actually, this is February now, so last month, he was on a television show with Joran Van Der Sloot and really questioned his honesty. That`s Joran there, looking like, I don`t know, Fidel Castro in this get- up.

Watch what he does at the end of the show. The show`s over. Everyone`s saying goodbye. The reporter is sitting on the left-hand side of your screen. Watch what -- wow! He throws a glass of wine into De Vries, the investigative lawyer -- the investigative reporter`s face. And nobody seems to stop him or grab -- look right there. The man is temporarily blinded. It`s unbelievable.

You`re looking at this video through the TV show "Pauw & Witteman." It`s on a Dutch broadcasting outlet called NPS. And you know, we watched the tail end of this video. And one of his aides came and they flushed out his eyes, but nobody ever did anything to Joran Van Der Sloot.

It indicates to me, wouldn`t you think, Jon Leiberman, that maybe this young man has a little problem with his temper?

LEIBERMAN: Well, absolutely. And look, there`s no love lost between this reporter and Joran Van Der Sloot. He`s been going after Van Der Sloot since the beginning. You know, I did talk to Joe Tacopina earlier this afternoon. He said, Look, I don`t condone the wine-throwing incident. Joe is already starting to set up this defense that perhaps the videotape was spliced together, perhaps it was taken out of context, what Van Der Sloot said. But I can tell you Joe`s probably not very happy that his client went on TV tonight and said that, yes, he said certain things, but that he was lying.

DIMOND: Yes. I might have told somebody I had something to do with Natalee`s death, but oopsie-daisy, I might have been lying. OK.

Let`s quickly go to Jossy Mansur. He is the managing director of "Diario" there in Aruba. Mr. Mansur, thank you so much for being with us. What are you hearing about how this may all play out, when the judge may actually conduct a hearing?

JOSSY MANSUR, MANAGING EDITOR, "DIARIO": Well (INAUDIBLE) we heard the same thing that was said before on your program, that the judge will look at this new evidence and make a judgment as to whether it warrants -- it complies with everything that the law prescribes and it warrants his being arrested and sent back to Aruba. It may happen in 48 hours.

DIMOND: Now, have the Van Der Sloots said anything publicly? His parents still live there in Aruba.

MANSUR: No, his parents -- his parents didn`t, but his lawyer here said something this afternoon with regards to, yes, he was (INAUDIBLE) there were rumors on TV that he had been arrested, and he wasn`t. But that could change at any moment now.

DIMOND: Interesting.

MANSUR: So he`s foreseeing his arrest.

DIMOND: Everyone seems to be foreseeing it, but it just hasn`t happened yet. And again, we have to say that a judge has to rule on whether it occurs or not.

Let`s go out to the phones. Ruth in California. Hi, Ruth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

DIMOND: Hi. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to know whether or not this new information would even be able to be used against Van Der Sloot because it was acquired secretly.

DIMOND: Well, that is a great question, absolutely. Let`s go out to Remi Spencer. She`s a former prosecutor on our panel here. The prosecutor may have a fabulous piece of video, but can they actually introduce it into court, Remi?

REMI SPENCER, FORMER PROSECUTOR: That`s a great question because it may potentially be a great piece of evidence for the prosecutors, but they`re going to have to go through a multi-level analysis before it would ever be admissible in court. The touchstone of that analysis is really going to be the trustworthiness of the video. In most jurisdictions, there are standards with respect to hidden cameras, and that is one person to the recording needs to be aware of the recording and consent to it. And it`s not clear that that`s actually happened here.

DIMOND: Right. And I`m not exactly sure what the Aruban law is there.

Dan Horowitz is a famed defense attorney, a good pal of mine. Glad to see you, Dan.

DAN HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good to see you.

DIMOND: Well, how do you defend something like this? If Joran Van Der Sloot is on video and it is allowed in court, how do you counter it?

HOROWITZ: Yes, he`s in big trouble. First of all, this is going to come into court. Even in the U.S., it would come in because when the police do something that`s illegal, it doesn`t come in, a private individual illegally recording -- and I`m not saying this was illegal, it`s good journalism -- it comes in. It`s going to be suppressed under U.S. law...

DIMOND: Oh.

HOROWITZ: ... and as I understand, Dutch law.

DIMOND: That`s interesting.

HOROWITZ: The way you defend it -- it`s very tough to defend this. At this point, you just have to say, as a defense lawyer, Was my client just so angry that he`s throwing wine in people`s faces, saying anything just because he`s fed up, and then say, What other evidence do you have to corroborate? That`s the best way to at least prepare a defense -- without me knowing much more about the case, obviously.

DIMOND: Yes. It`s sort of like O.J. Simpson, though, caught on tape in that hotel room saying, All right, nobody gets out, and then saying, Oh, I didn`t really kidnap anyone.

Let`s go out to the phones again. Lee in Wisconsin. Evening, Lee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Diane.

DIMOND: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I`m great. How are you?

DIMOND: Good. Good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good. My question is, even if they rearrest this guy and there is a confession, without DNA or a body or any kind of evidence, how are they going to indict him?

DIMOND: Well, that is the $64,000 question. I have always said that the NANCY GRACE viewers are the smartest viewers in television. They have the best questions. Remi Spencer, got to go out to you again, the prosecutor on the panel. How do you do it without a body?

SPENCER: It is tough, no doubt about it. Jurors want to know where the dead body is. But as a matter of course, I think it`s important that the viewers, your very intelligent viewers, are aware that cases are tried and won every day in courtrooms across the country based solely on circumstantial evidence. Now, certainly, a homicide or a murder case, the stakes are so high...

DIMOND: That`s a different level.

SPENCER: It certainly is. But if the prosecutors here have enough evidence, if they believe that they do in this video -- it may be statements by Van Der Sloot himself admitting to the crime -- they have the right to proceed and they have the ability, although it`s going to be tough without a body, to convict him.

DIMOND: Well, and you know, Remi, some might say they have an absolute obligation to follow it up, as well.

I want to go out to Pat Brown. She is a criminal profiler and always makes my eyes open wide on subjects like this. Pat, if, indeed, Joran Van Der Sloot -- and apparently, he did say something caught on tape that is akin to a confession -- what`s happening inside this young man`s mind now? Is the house of cards falling down and he may make some other mistakes?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Oh, I think so. This is one of the reasons, Diane, that you always want to keep this guy talking. The kind of arrogance that a person with psychopathic tendencies will show -- - they think they can get away with anything. They think they`re smarter than everyone. So look at him. He`s going on television shows. He shouldn`t be doing that, but he`s doing it because he thinks he can always get his way and he`s entitled and he`s going to be able to pull the wool over everyone`s eyes.

Only now he`s messed it all up and he`s gone over that edge, and now he`s in big trouble, so he`s going to have to start backtracking and trying to come up with new stories. And after a certain point, you just, you know, back yourself into a corner.

DIMOND: But you know, Pat, he is an intelligent kid. He`s in university there in Holland, and very smart. His family has handled this just right. He`s had to spend a little bit of time in jail, but he`s never been charged with anything officially. What causes a very smart person to make a major misstep like this? Do they want to get caught?

BROWN: No, no. I never believe these guys want to get caught . I do believe it truly is arrogance, the simple fact that you think that you`re kind of God and you can play any game you want to and nobody`s ever going to catch up.

I do want to point out something interesting, why I`ve always thought Joran was at the center of this, when he tried to say even maybe his friends had something to do with it because his friends would never -- he would never stand up for his friends and go to jail for them, but they might do it for him. So I always (ph) knew (ph) Joran was the one.

DIMOND: And we`ll have more on the Kalpoe brothers, and the emotional roller-coaster that Natalee Holloway`s parents have been riding and what they must be feeling now, in just a minute.

But first to tonight`s "Case Alert." Breaking news in the case of Stacy Peterson. Could she be alive and well in Thailand? She vanished from her home in the Chicago suburbs three months ago, but tonight her husband and his attorney share photos with us that they say could place Stacy in Thailand. Also tonight, the Peterson camp in court today asking that personal items taken during the original search be returned to him. Among the items, Drew Peterson`s computers and his gun collection. The judge says investigators cannot hold those items forever. Another hearing is set for later this month.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could the mystery of Natalee Holloway finally be solved? Dutch TV reporter Peter De Vries says his private investigation shows Natalee dead, and he has proof who`s responsible, a special set to air Sunday in the Netherlands. Aruban prosecutors say they`ve already intensified their investigation after receiving info from De Vries. Natalee`s mom reportedly in shock after viewing the report.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Welcome back. I`m Diane Dimond, in for Nancy Grace. She`ll be back on Monday. So is the third time a charm? Could it be that this time around, if, indeed, Joran Van Der Sloot is rearrested again, could it actually stick? Can you imagine the emotional roller-coaster that the Holloway parents have been on?

Let`s go right out to Tracy Sabo. She is a CNN senior producer. She`s breaking news on this story for us. Tracy, do we know where Beth Holloway Twitty is?

SABO: We know that as recently as yesterday, she was in Holland. She was interviewed on Thursday by Mr. De Vries for his program and presumably will have some comments there on the program. And from what I`ve heard from various sources who`ve spoken with her, she clearly was upset by it. And obviously, as you mentioned, this is a mother who`s not only lost her daughter, but has certainly been on a roller-coaster during the investigation here.

DIMOND: Yes. Bethany Marshall is a psychoanalyst on our panel tonight. Talk to me about what might be going through Beth Holloway Twitty`s mind tonight. Maybe some closure, but still so much profound sadness.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, a mixture of fear and hope. I mean, she hopes that this case is cracked, but then what if she`s disappointed again? And she`s probably wondering about what you asked Pat Brown about, Why would this kid be bragging? And Pat talked beautifully about the grandiosity with at a least a kind of a braggadocious (ph) attitude.

But the other thing to remember about socipaths, they have very low levels of anxiety about getting into trouble. So you and I might get a letter from the IRS, and our heart starts to pound and we think, Oh, my God, we`re going to be audited. The sociopath just goes, Rip, and just throws it in the trash. It means nothing to them.

DIMOND: Yes. Exactly. Tra-la-la-la-la.

MARSHALL: Tra-la-la-la-la.

DIMOND: And Dr. Marty Makary is a physician with Johns Hopkins. He`s with us also tonight. You know, the awful thing might be that the house of cards is falling down, Doctor, and not only does he confess, but he gives up her body. What kind of remains could the family even hope to get, at this point?

DR. MARTY MAKARY, PHYSICIAN, PROF. OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV.: Well, a body is certainly not only a treasure chest of evidence for any investigator, but it can also provide closure to a case like this for a family, which is very important. It`s highly unlikely that there would be any search again for the body at this stage of the game, given the fact that in a salt water environment, a body at a deep level is not going to stay in any one location and it would essentially be a futile effort.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reporter Peter De Vries claims he`s cracked the mystery in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, the journalist alleging he secretly taped a confession of former suspect Joran Van Der Sloot, but hasn`t made clear what exactly that alleged confession consists of. A special set to air Sunday in the Netherlands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Oh, I can hardly wait to see that video. I`m Diane Dimond, in tonight for Nancy Grace.

Well, Joran Van Der Sloot, it`s just been reported by the Associated Press -- this just in -- is telling people that he was lying when he told a friend that he was involved in the Natalee Holloway disappearance. Well, perhaps that is because this Dutch reporter says that he has gotten him giving some sort of a confession on tape. We will see what happens.

What about the Kalpoe brothers, Jon Leiberman, "America`s Most Wanted"? Where are they in all this?

LEIBERMAN: You know, that`s a great question, the Kalpoe brothers, because it appears that this time -- see, what prosecutors are trying to do right now is build a narrative, a story about what happened that night. In fact, prosecutors came out this morning and said, We`ve thought to ourselves this was a very probable chain of events, but until now, we lacked sufficient evidence. According to what we`re going to hear on Sunday night from Van Der Sloot, he says that Holloway died after having sex with him and that he then dumped her body at sea with the help of a friend.

DIMOND: But Jon, what, she just -- oh, oopsie-daisy, she died during sex? There has to have been some act...

LEIBERMAN: And that`s what I was going to get to. It doesn`t appear that Van Der Sloot`s actually going to say he killed her. It appears that he says on the tape she died and then he helped with a friend dispose of the body. The question is, the million-dollar question is, Was one of these two guys one of those friends that helped him, at least in the story that he tells? As of right now, the Kalpoe brothers are not being rearrested, or a judge isn`t even debating that. Nobody`s asked for that to happen.

DIMOND: Right. Right. And we should say, CNN has not confirmed that Joran Van Der Sloot will actually be arrested or that the Kalpoe brothers might be next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news, Aruba`s chief prosecutor has requested the re-arrest of Joran Van der Sloot moments ago, a source familiar with the investigation tells CNN. Van Der Sloot is currently in Holland. The prosecutor expects the request to be heard within the next 24 to 48 hours. If the judge approves the request, Van der Sloot will be brought back to Aruba immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Welcome back, I`m Diane Dimond in for Nancy Grace. Breaking news here tonight. So what do we think? Is this the beginning to the end to the Natalee Holloway case? Has it been solved? Did this Dutch investigative journalist, a man with a pretty good reputation, is he right when he says he`s got a confession by Joran Van der Sloot on camera that the prosecutor is going to use?

Tracy Sabo is a CNN producer. She is all over this story for us here. She`s with us.

You know, Tracy, let me ask you this. There`s a dutch newspaper reporting that on this video, Joran Van der Sloot admits that he had sex with Natalee Holloway and during that act, she somehow died. Can we confirm what`s actually on this video?

TRACY SABO, CNN SR. PRODUCER: No, we have not seen the video nor will the prosecution confirm that for us. Obviously, as you can understand, that`s something they want to keep for their own investigative purposes. But I will say in the two, three years that we`ve been investigating this case, the prosecutor has always maintained that their belief is that this was not an intentional death, that this death happened in relation to perhaps an evening out, something that wasn`t planned. And that unfortunately, because of that, the evidence that they have in this case to this point only indicates that perhaps they were guilty of disposing a body, which under the Dutch law only requires six months in prison.

So they have maintained for quite some time that they will hold on to this evidence until they feel they can prove perhaps a stronger conviction.

DIMOND: Right. The crime could just be in the cover-up. That would be sad.

Jesse Mansur is managing director of the local newspaper there in Aruba and he has kindly joins us also this evening.

Mr. Mansur, what are Arubans saying about this turn of events now? Are they throwing up their hands and saying oh, here we go again? Or is there some hope that they might finally come to the truth of this case?

JOSSY MANSUR, MANAGING DIR., DIARIO: I think that`s the major expectation and the majority of the people here is that we are nearing the end of this case, that it will be solved if and when this videotape is shown and that we know what is on it, what this suspect or ex-suspect declared to this friend that he met and confessed or admitted that he was involved in -- with Natalee Holloway in the case and that he dumped her body in the ocean, which is what we`ve always believed that she is in the ocean somewhere.

DIMOND: Right.

MANSUR: And if the search is going on now, because the ship that was here is still here, they`re persistent. They`re still going on with the search in the ocean.

DIMOND: Now, Mr. Mansur, let me remember something correctly here. The prosecutor, the chief prosecutor that you have now is not the one who had the original case. Is that right? What`s the reputation of the prosecutor right now? Is he known for getting to the bottom of tough cases?

MANSUR: Yes, he`s known to be a tough prosecutor that he knows his business and he goes about it in a very serious manner. A famous man. He`s the major prosecutor in the case. And we believe that he not only means well, but he does well, and his attitude and his actions speak for himself.

DIMOND: Very interesting.

Dan Horowitz, let`s you and me cozy up here, do a little Monday morning quarterbacking. Say it`s Monday morning, you are the defense attorney, and -- on television and it will then go worldwide.

Your client, Joran Van der Sloot is heard saying something like, "I had sex with her, she died, gosh, with a friend, I got rid of the body." What in the world do you do?

DAN HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Diane, that`s a good question and I have been sitting here thinking about it. If he insists on denying that he made the statement or denying that he meant it, you`re in trouble as a defense attorney. But what if, just what if, and I feel for the Holloway family, I despise Joran Van der Sloot. But what if he`s telling the truth and she died and she died accidentally? She died maybe by vomiting from drink too much. She aspirated her own vomit. A lot of people do die like that.

DIMOND: Right.

HOROWITZ: And then like the coward he is, like the coward he is, he panicked and disposed of her body. If that`s the truth, that`s what you go with.

DIMOND: You know, Dan, I cannot interview you about a suspected murder like this without thinking of your own personal tale and it`s got to come rushing back to you and I wonder if you would want to get involved in a case like this as a defense attorney again, would you?

HOROWITZ: You know, I choose very carefully who I represent and I don`t represent anybody I don`t like and I don`t represent people where I don`t have faith in the validity and the honesty of my case. If he really tried to save her and then he just panicked, that`s a lot different than a man who stood by and watched her die and then selfishly disposed of her body.

So if the fact was that he desperately tried to save her, did everything he could and when it was too late, he panicked, yes, I`d represent him. If he stood by and let her die, the hell with him.

DIMOND: That`s a very thoughtful response from you, a man who lost your wife to a horrible violent crime.

Let`s go out to the telephone. Janet is calling from Michigan. Hi, Janet.

JANET, FROM MICHIGAN: Hi, Diane. It`s good to see you again.

DIMOND: Well, thanks.

JANET: I was just wondering if there is a statute of limitations in cases of murder in Aruba.

DIMOND: Oh I don`t know. Let`s go out to the prosecutor.

Remi, what do we know about that? Do you know the international law?

REMI SPENCER, FMR. PROSECUTOR: Well, I`ll tell you that I have done a lot of research trying to discover exactly what the statute of limitations would be in Aruba for a crime like this. And I`ll tell you, even speaking with Van der Sloot`s attorneys directly, there is no clear-cut answer. But what I can tell you is that Hans Moss, the prosecutor in this case, did make assurances to defense counsel that this case would be wrapped up, the investigation would be wrapped up by December 31st, 2007.

And then at the 11th hour, we all know about those second arrests and Joran Van der Sloot was brought back to Aruba and ultimately released because whatever new evidence they claimed they had, they didn`t have. And now, here we`ve got new evidence which will allow them to go forward with a case against Joran Van der Sloot if they have the evidence. They won`t be barred at this point by any statute of limitations.

DIMOND: Right.

Now, Pat Brown, you`re a profiler, you have so many wonderful years of experience in this. At what point does it become the prosecution beaten up on poor Joran Van der Sloot? This is the third time now, you know, leave him alone.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "KILLING FOR SPORT": Well, Diane, I think the prosecution knows darn well what happened and then gave a great defense story, but this was not an accidental death. With Joran having daddy as a judge and the standing he has in this community, if she just laid on the beach and died from overdose of alcohol or whatever, he would call daddy and say, my god, this girl just passed out and died on me.

DIMOND: And you would think. You would think.

BROWN: Yes. But he said she wanted sex and he didn`t, which I don`t buy and sometimes a person who`s a psychopath says what - which is the victim and the attacker routine there. So I think he wanted sex, she didn`t, and she died suffocating in the sand when he pressured her into it, pushed her down to have sex with her. And he knows darn well that`s what happened.

DIMOND: You know.

BROWN: .which is why he had to get rid of that body.

DIMOND: .my logical brain says you`re exactly right, but hey, you`re the profiler.

BROWN: But of course, we don`t yet that.

DIMOND: That`s right.

BROWN: He`s still innocent, isn`t he?

DIMOND: And he is presumed innocent.

BROWN: Exactly.

DIMOND: And that`s just a theory.

BROWN: That`s just a theory of mine. I don`t know that he did that.

DIMOND: Exactly. Let`s go to the phones one more time. Florence is in California. Florence?

FLORENCE, FROM CALIFORNIA: Hi, Diane, nice (INAUDIBLE), you`re a terrific journalist yourself.

DIMOND: Thank you. Oh thank you.

FLORENCE: I wanted to ask you -- my question may have been answered, but given the circumstances we have now, the supposed circumstances, and given the fact that we have of that night from the bar and all of that, what could the possible cause of death have been?

DIMOND: Oh, Marty, Marty Makary, Dr. Makary, jump in on this. What do you think? I mean if, if, this whole hour is replete with ifs, if Van der Sloot said he had sex and she suddenly died, what might she have died from?

DR. MARTY MAKARY, PHYSICIAN, PROF., PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV.: Well, let`s remember. Ninety percent of people that die, when they`re unconscious and alcohol is involved, die from, as mentioned earlier, aspiration of the vomitus(ph). Ten percent will die from some sort of head injury from trauma, from imbalance or some kind of outside circumstance. So common things being common, those tend to be the cause of death in this situation.

DIMOND: Yes. And at this point, you can`t imagine any forensics coming into this case, can you? No body will likely be recovered?

MAKARY: If it was in the water, any DNA or biological evidence has likely washed away thoroughly.

DIMOND: Yes. That`s bad news. Thanks a lot, doctor.

Well, tonight, it`s APB, all point bulletin for special moms and dads. If you know a parent who is an inspiration to others and deserves to be recognized, get your camcorder and go to CNN.com/Nancygrace. Click on "i- Report" to enter them in the "Extraordinary Parent Contest."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you`ve got the suspect`s own voice, those are words that are very, very hard for the suspect to make disappear. So that tape is going to decide whether or not we finally have an answer and if we do, there could be some kind of charging decision made, not necessarily for any form of homicide.

They have also talked about lesser things, it could be anything from false statements to illegal conduct in disposing of the remains of a human being. But I think it would be both premature to say that charges are going to be brought and very premature to say that this young man is out of the woods yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: I`m Diane Dimond in tonight for Nancy Grace.

So there`s this Dutch investigative reporter, his name is Peter Devries. He claims that he has explosive new evidence that solves the case of Natalee Holloway. The evidence, according to some published reports that cannot be confirmed by CNN have Joran Van der Sloot confessing to someone that he caused her death or at least that he was there at the time that Natalee Holloway died and he got some unnamed friend or friends to help him dispose of her body.

You know what, Joe Leiberman at "America`s Most Wanted," it`s kind of pathetic, isn`t it? If this does turn out to be true, that investigative reporters are solving cases and not cops and prosecutors?

JON LEIBERMAN, CORRESPONDENT, AMERICA`S MOST WANTED: Yes. I mean, look, it is. It`s unfortunate that it`s going to take this. It`s unfortunate that everything at this point in this case is riding on what we see Sunday night from these undercover tapes.

I mean, look, we were down there with the Holloway family searching, John Walsh, our host, and our staff searching for Natalee for the past two and a half years. And I mean, to think, like you say, that it comes down to what this reporter in a hidden camera investigation had to get out of Joran Van der Sloot, it`s very unfortunate.

DIMOND: Let`s flip it, though, Joe, and remind everybody that what this reporter is claiming he has is hidden camera video, reportedly not taken by him but some third party who got close to Van der Sloot, I`m guessing some sort of hot babe, and got him talking about it. So what`s the voracity of something like that?

LEIBERMAN: Well, it`s very interesting. I mean, look, there`s several -- it`s being characterized as a confession, but as you know, there are varying types of confessions. Did he confess, as you said to -- as these unconfirmed Dutch reports say that she died after having sex and then he helped dispose of the body?

DIMOND: Right.

LEIBERMAN: Or did he confess simply that he knew about what happened, somebody told him about what happened? I mean there are varying degrees of confessing. And frankly it is going to be hard to build a homicide case against this guy. At the most, though, what I hope comes out of Sunday night is that Beth and her husband Dave get some relief.

DIMOND: Oh amen. Amen to that. It`s not -- Remi Spencer, the former prosecutor`s time to pull up the armchair. It`s Monday morning. We`re going to quarterback now, Remi. Somebody comes to you, an investigative journalist, with a piece of tape like that, it could solve your case that`s been on your hot plate for a long time.

But how do you deal with something like that. A third party bringing it to you, bringing it to him, what`s the chain of command on something like that?

SPENCER: Well, chain of custody.

DIMOND: Custody rather. Yes.

SPENCER: Sure. That`s certainly a very important issue. When you`re in a courtroom and you`re trying to get a judge to allow you to admit this kind of evidence, if there is anything that comes close to resembling a confession by Van der Sloot on this video, the prosecutor will and he should investigate further and do everything within his power to make sure that justice will be served.

Now this may not be enough to convict Van der Sloot. But it may be enough to continue this investigation to find out what really happened. Because we have to be honest about this, if he is truthful and if he is to be believed, and that is that he had sex with Natalee Holloway, she died, he panicked, he put her in the ocean, we have to ask ourselves, what makes sense? What does an innocent, reasonable person do in circumstances like that?

DIMOND: Well - I`ll answer that question, you call the cops and you call them right away and you don`t throw a body in the ocean. I mean that`s my opinion and that`s what I would do.

Let`s go out to the phones here before we run out of time. Doreen in Maryland.

DOREEN, FROM MICHIGAN: Hi.

DIMOND: Hi, Doreen. What`s your question?

DOREEN: Hi, Diane. I`m so glad you took my call.

DIMOND: Thanks.

DOREEN: If this is genuine evidence, it`s not new evidence, it was filmed a long time ago, why did this reporter wait so long to bring this forward after the case has been opened, closed, opened, closed. My heart goes out to the Holloways. They have got to get some kind of closure and I don`t think they`ll ever find her body.

Sylvia Brown said something on one of "Montel" shows about her body being in the water.

DIMOND: Well, it doesn`t take a genius to guess that, though, Doreen, I mean Aruba is surrounded by water and that`s probably but Tracy Sabo is our CNN senior producer. She`s been breaking a lot of information on this story.

Tracy, what do we know about when this tape was taken? I don`t think it was taken a long time ago was it?

SABO: No. It`s our understanding perhaps that these recordings might have taken place over these last several months. But as of just one week ago, that was when these recordings were presented to the prosecutor and primarily for the purpose of getting a reaction from him on camera for this television show.

DIMOND: Right.

SABO: So one must keep all that in mind when you look at kind of how this evidence was presented to the prosecution.

DIMOND: Exactly. And you know, Van der Sloot has been arrested twice, held in jail for a number of days each time, but never charged with anything, so let`s keep that in mind.

I want to go to Bethany Marshall as we end this section and ask you what I asked Pat Brown about the mindset of this young man and his family, too. Here we go again. How does he handle this?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR, "DEALBREAKERS": Well, first of all, who says I had sex with her and then she died? If indeed that is what he said, usually they have.

DIMOND: My question.

MARSHALL: Well, they usually have a theory about why the person died. The throwing of the wine in the reporter`s face I think is extremely significant. People who commit homicide, although I don`t know if he did in this case, they often have problems in the prefrontal cortex. That`s the braking system in the brain, it puts the brakes on bad behavior, and then when they talk about the crime, you might begin to think about is this a form of reliving the homicide, if indeed that was it was.

DIMOND: Oh, interesting.

MARSHALL: Like O.J. Simpson writing, "If I Did It," there`s a reliving of the crime and the contentiousness towards his wife or even Son of Sam, he would go back to the scene of the crime and masturbate where he killed people. I`m not trying to say Van der Sloot is completely in that deranged camp. But.

DIMOND: Right. Watch as he stands up here, everyone, and the reporter is in the bottom left. And Bethany is right, I mean this is a very aggressive move. He picks up wine and he tosses it and nearly blinds this man. Right there. You see it? It took him many minutes to try to regain his sight again. That is a very aggressive move.

Bethany Marshall, you`re exactly right. You`re looking at a video there from Michelle Paw and Whitman. It was on a Dutch broadcast or MPS. And so Joran Van der Sloot knew that this journalist was looking into him. He had questioned his honesty there at the taping of that show. And what does he do at the attend? He picks up wine. What television studio has a wine on the set? And throws it.

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DIMOND: Time now for a look back on the stories and the people making the rest of the headlines this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: We keep talking about why aren`t Mexican authorities finding him? Why are they dropping the ball? The reality is he`s our problem. He`s our problem. I can`t even write a check at the grocery store without three types of ID. And this guy crosses the border apparently with a fake ID, Meg?

MEG STRICKLER, INTERNATIONAL LAW ATTY, EXTRADITION EXPERT: How did he get across the border? He`s a wanted fugitive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Britney Spears is back in a mental ward. It was d'j... vu all over again. A police convoy the length of a football field escorts the 26-year-old mom to UCLA`s medical center. I hadn`t checked the calendar. It felt like January 3rd all over again.

GRACE: Not one, not two, but possibly three attacks in the same area linked to Brianna Denison.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say they have made a DNA match between Brianna Denison`s kidnapping and a sexual assault in December in the same area.

LIEUTENANT ROBERT MCDONALD, RENO POLICE DEPARTMENT: He has a shaved pelvic region. He`s muscular, but not a body builder. He`s very strong.

GRACE: A 3-month-old baby boy found tossed to the side of the road. The father cannot be found.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are we so sure that the husband has not met an ill fate? This could be just a carjacking gone bad.

GRACE: A carjack then you throw - hit the baby in the baby and throw it out the window and keep the man? Right.

Drew Peterson gets a death threat. Why won`t your guy take a lie detector?

JOEL BRODSKY, ATTORNEY FOR SUSPECT DREW PETERSON: In the context that they want to submit this lie detector test in that venue is no more accurate than flipping a coin. It`s a 50-50 shot, it doesn`t matter.

GRACE: OK.

BRODSKY: .if you`re telling the truth or not. So why is.

GRACE: OK. I got it. I got the answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Go, Nancy.

Well, tonight, let`s stop to remember Army Staff Sergeant John Linde, 30 years old of New Jersey, killed in Iraq on his second deployment. Linde was a member of a military police unit that provided security for top officers in his brigade. Linde graduated from Union Hill High School where he was on the wrestling team. He wanted to be a law enforcement officer after the military.

Linde is survived by his wife Vilma, their two daughters, Victoria and Erica, and his father.

John Linde, an American hero.

Thanks to all of you and all of our guests this evening. I`m Diane Dimond, filling in tonight for Nancy. She`ll be back here on this seat on Monday. And remember to watch Nancy Grace Weekend at the same time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Good night, everybody.

END