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Joran van der Sloot is the now twenty-year-old young man suspected of being involved in the 2005 disappearance and probable death of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Since being released by Aruban authorities with no formal charges pending against him, Joran has presented at least three different versions of what happened that night to Natalee on a dark, deserted Caribbean beach in the wee hours of the morning.
His most recent public "confession" to Greta Van Susteren on her cable television show On the Record recounted delivering and selling Ms. Holloway to some mysterious stranger, who, after giving him ten-thousand dollars in cash, forced her into a boat headed for Venezuela. Prior to this account, he told an acquaintance who was actually an undercover investigator using a concealed video camera, that Natalee suffered some kind of seizure while engaging in sexual behavior with him on the beach, appeared to have died, and that a "friend" put her into a boat and dumped her body at sea. His first explanation following his initial arrest in Aruba was that he and his friends had dropped Natalee off near her hotel after their romantic encounter on the beach, and had no idea what happened to her.
Psychologically speaking, the fascinating question here is why Joran continues to publicly make such conflicting confessional statements, only to contradict them soon after. Is he deliberately trying to muddle matters? Does he have some compulsive, unconscious need to confess? To expiate his guilt? Is his behavior comparable to that of filicide suspect Casey Anthony? Are they both pathological liars? (See my previous post on the Casey Anthony case.) Or was Joran telling the truth about "selling" Natalee for ten-thousand dollars to some middle-aged South American? I tend to doubt it. I suspect Natalee, like Casey Anthony's missing daughter Caylee (whose skeletal remains have now been discovered and positively identified) is dead. But how? And why?
It appears Natalee had been partying hard all week and drinking heavily with her friends on her last night in Aruba prior to her scheduled return to the U.S. According to Joran, she came on to him at a nightclub and they left there together for a romantic interlude. What happened next? Had she also imbibed or been offered a substance such as cocaine or methamphetamine by Joran on the beach? Without a body, we cannot know. But if she had ingested cocaine or some other stimulant, could this conceivably have caused heart failure or a fatal seizure? Possibly. Indeed, severe alcohol intoxication alone is sufficient in certain cases to cause death. Did Natalee have any history of cardiac disease or seizure disorder, as for example, in the tragic case of John Travolta's adolescent son Jett's recent death in the Bahamas?
I assume there are threads of truth in the conflicting stories Joran has told, much like those embedded in the apparent prevarications of murder defendant Casey Anthony. My best guess is that Natalee's death was probably unintended and accidental. Joran likely contacted his friends, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe in a panic. But I strongly suspect he might have also contacted his father, Paulus--then an attorney in Aruba, now a sitting judge--who may have advised him that if there is no body, there could be no legal case. The body was quickly disposed of at sea in all likelihood, with the help of friends and/or his father. The subsequent elaborate cover-up of this evil deed has been perpetuated ever since with the seeming complicity of the Aruban justice system with which Joran's father is so intimately associated. Both the Kalpoe brothers and Joran's father have been released and legally cleared of any wrongdoing by the Aruban authorities. Yet the case is not officially closed, and investigation is said to be ongoing.
But, for now, this is all just a matter of speculation. No one really knows what happened to Natalee that night except Joran. And perhaps his accomplices, whomever they may be. But if she truly died accidentally, having suffered a seizure or drug overdose or heart attack, why would he not have immediately contacted the police or an ambulance? What was he so afraid of? Perhaps he feared a scandalous episode such as this would damage his father's legal career. Or that he might be found by authorities to have some culpability in her accidental demise. Or were his actions and motives much darker, desperately designed to save himself from sexual assault or murder charges? We may never know.
While I have no professional involvement in this matter, if I were consulted as a forensic psychologist in such a case, I would wonder what his behavior that night and since says about this cocky young man? It would be easy to call him narcissistic, as some have. But then, most boys his age tend to be somewhat narcissistic. It can also be argued that his actions demonstrate a total disregard and disrespect for the victim, Natalee, and her family. Would he have reacted the same way had a male acquaintance died on the beach that night instead of Natalee? Was his troubling response based to some extent on his sexual objectification or even misogynistic hostility toward women? Quite possibly. Or is his disturbing behavior indicative of sociopathy, psychopathy or dyssocial personality: an impressive capacity to con or lie convincingly, glibly, even charmingly; interpersonal manipulativeness; grandiose disregard for the law and rights of others; and apparent absence of conscience or remorse? As in the case of Casey Anthony, in order to meet formal diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder, such behavior would had to have been present to some degree prior to fifteen years of age. In a forensic evaluation of such an individual, obtaining a detailed history of his or her behavior during childhood and especially adolescence would be essential diagnostically. Such a history could be acquired in part from the person being evaluated, but would need to be augmented and verified (or not) by collateral sources such as parents, siblings, school records, juvenile criminal history, etc. In addition, I would also want to carefully explore Joran's substance abuse history, which could shed some light not only on what may have happened to Natalee, but Joran's state of mind that fateful night.
But there is no current suspect charged in Natalee's disappearance. No defendant to be forensically evaluated. Joran has been released from jail and is no longer living in Aruba. He is a free man. The sad and mystifying case of missing teenager Natalee Holloway remains unresolved. There is not even any proof that a crime was committed. A vivacious young girl from Alabama celebrating her high school graduation on her final night in Aruba, and wanting to do so with this seemingly sophisticated, charming Aruban boy. How could she have foreseen the terrible consequences? Of course, he was a total stranger to her. Strangers can't always be trusted. Pseudoinnocence makes us more susceptible to evil. But even in mature and experienced adults, sound judgment can be impaired by drugs, drink, rage or sexual lust. In the shocking film Fatal Attraction (1987), a married man (Michael Douglas) has sex with a stranger (Glenn Close), and as a result almost loses his life and that of those he most cherishes. Romance can be dangerous. Love is risky business. Safe sex is an oxymoron. Intoxicants can kill. While the truth may never be known, what transpired that romantic, starry, balmy, alcohol-drenched tropical Aruban night could well have been yet another tragic case of fatal attraction.
