20/20 + Natalee Holloway + Joran Vandersluth

[Betsy]

Did anyone watch 20/20 last night?

Do you think that Joran is lying (again) or do you think that there is some credible evidence in his "confession"?

I would love to hear what our Dutch Ledgies have to say.

[Sarah]

Sickening.

[danax6]

This case is a major thing here. Personally, I've gotten tired of it. I know Peter de Vries is on his way to the US right now to appear on Good Morning America and Larry King, and probably Oprah as well, so I don't see this dying down anytime soon.

Whether he's lying or not... that seems to be a bigger issue in the US than here in the NL. Almost the entire country watched the show Sunday night, but pretty much everyone believes his 'confession'. I think he left some things out and twisted the story a little to make him look better and 'cooler' in front of his friend, and he might have given a different name when he mentioned his ally, but I think the big picture is like he described it.

Btw... I am not particularly fond of Joran, but I think calling him Van der Slut is a little weird. His name is Van der Sloot.

[Betsy]

^^^

What is the public opinion (in the Netherlands) of the various characters?

of Joran? of Natalee? of Patrick - the friend? of de Vries?

(If a person from a foreign country were to ask me what I think of Gerald Rivera and his credibility... I wonder if de Vries is credible or more sensational in his journalistic approach...)

[danax6]

Joran is pretty much a scumbag who lost all credibility. No one has any sympathy for him. Most suspect he actually drugged Natalee and was therefore afraid to call for help when she passed out in his arms. Instead he chose to save his own ass by having a friend dump her in the ocean, not knowing if she was even alive or not. On top of cold and heartless, he's selfish as well.

Natalee... what's there to say? Nobody knew her. If Joran's story checks out exactly as he told it, she wasn't a very smart girl, but hey, she was on vacation and having some fun. Either way, nobody deserves what happened to her. That goes without saying.

Patrick is not receiving a lot of attention. Some people wonder how he garnered all his experience in the criminal world, how he could speak 'street language' if he was just a simple business man. They think the reason he contacted Peter de Vries instead of the police is because his past isn't all that clean. But I guess that doesn't really matter.

Peter de Vries has received a lot of criticism. Plenty of people praise what he did, but some wonder how much of that was genuine emotional involvement in the case and how much of that was ratings and media attention. Also, the week leading up to the broadcast of his show, he kept claiming he had solved the case, when in truth, the case is nowhere near solved. A confession like that is not admissible in court. It still has to be linked to the evidence at hand. Also, the way it looks now, Joran will receive 6 months in prison, but he has done those already in priliminary arrest, so he'll remain a free man. Unless it can be proven that is was murder instead of disposing of a body after an accident occurred.

[Betsy]

The report mentioned how Joran threw a glass of wine in de Vries's face...was much made of that in the Dutch press? motive?

The report described Joran as a playboy...would you agree?

The magazine reports (which I read shortly after Natalee was reported missing) portrayed Joran's father as *untouchable*, a member of the higher class and that his parents were "above the law". Is this the same perception the Dutch have of them? That they never disciplined Joran...that they were rich and his upbringing was to let Joran do whatever he wanted to do.

Just curious.... And thanks Vanessa for humoring me by answering. After seeing that report, the story has been on my mind today.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by Betsy

The report mentioned how Joran threw a glass of wine in de Vries's face...was much made of that in the Dutch press? motive?

Yeah, it got some attention. Peter put him on the spot during that show, and he resents authority to begin with, so he wasn't amused. He thought it would look 'cool' if he showed him who was boss, according to him.

The report described Joran as a playboy...would you agree?

He obviously has no respect for women, calls them whores and what not else, and turned picking up American tourists into a hobby. He claimed he scored a new 'chick' every week. People close to Joran say he brought a lot of women to his little shack in his parents' backyard.

The magazine reports (which I read shortly after Natalee was reported missing) portrayed Joran's father as *untouchable*, a member of the higher class and that his parents were "above the law". Is this the same perception the Dutch have of them? That they never disciplined Joran...that they were rich and his upbringing was to let Joran do whatever he wanted to do.

Not sure what you're asking, because 'being above the law' and being a bad parent are two different things. Joran's father has been in the news a lot, because everyone suspects him of covering for Joran, abusing his power. The fact that he was able to get Joran a cell phone while he was in jail is just a small example of that.

Joran does come across as a very spoiled brat. I don't know much about him other than that.

[shackin'up]

I agree with Vanessa. More than 7 million people watched the show. We have 16 million inhabitants, so you can say that threequarter of the adult dutch watched the show. Including my girlfriend. I was listening to the new Black Mountain-album on headphones, which is amazing and the equally beautiful new double-album by the Drive By Truckers. A lot more interesting stuff than the story of a sick young man without a concience brought by a sick older man that thinks that justice can be televized without a fair trial. The public opinion is 100% against Joran and everybody thinks this is a confession. But there is ziltch proof. And I still believe that one is not guilty until the opposite is proven true. I'm sick of these mediatrials that just feed the underbelly of society. De Vries is a selfabsorbed crimikicker. But when he's trying to start a political party (which he tried to no success) or talks about soccer, it's a man with interesting ideas. But when it comes to his passion for mediatrials I could shoot him in a second.





gerald

[skcin]

I take it as a confession. Why the hell would someone make something like that up "to tell him what he wants to hear?" I agree with Vanessa, she probably had a seizure or something & he panicked. But, then again, couldn't he have left her on the beach & anonymously called the police? Why dump her body in the ocean? Jesus.