BDCi) — Natalee Holloway disappeared more than six years ago while vacationing in Aruba and now her father says it is time to declare his beloved daughter dead.
“It is my firm, however painful, belief that my daughter Natalee is deceased, and not a runaway,” her father writes.
The request papers were signed last April and filed in probate court in Alabama. Mr. Holloway points to an “exhaustive investigation” in Arbua and abroad, including a $1 million reward and the fact that officials have a “primary suspect” already identified.
Just reaching adulthood, Natalee was only 18 years old when she was pronounced missing on May 30, 2005, during a trip to the Caribbean island with classmates to celebrate their high school graduation.
Joran van der Sloot, who was a resident of Arbua at the time, was the last known person to have seen Natalee alive. He was briefly detained, but has never been formally charged for her disappearance.
Van der Sloot has since been charged with murdering a woman in Peru after she started to distinguish links to the Holloway case.
Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, who is no longer married to Dave, says she does not support her ex-husband’s decision.
“No, I want to get to the bottom of what’s going on from Dave,” she told ABC News.
By: Kristyn Fryrear Source: People, ABC News September 14, 2011
10:01 p.m. PDT