Will Natalee Holloway’s body ever be found?

This article contains mentions of sexual assault and physical harm, including murder; please take care while reading.

Natalee Holloway went missing on May 30, 2005, in Aruba, while on a high school graduation trip with 124 of her classmates from Mountain Brook High School in Alabama. The five-day trip was a celebration for friends and teachers alike, but when Holloway didn’t meet with her friends at the airport to fly home on the morning of May. 30, those closest to her knew something was wrong.

Holloway’s disappearance immediately became a topic of worldwide public interest. Her friends last saw her, with Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, in a vehicle outside of a restaurant and bar called Carlos ‘n Charlie’s. It didn’t take long for the three men to be questioned about Natalee’s disappearance. During the criminal investigation by local authorities in Aruba, police arrested Van der Sloot twice and the Kalpoe brothers three times, were but there wasn’t sufficient evidence at the time to keep them in custody.

Meanwhile, the parents of Natalee Holloway made public statements to the press — and reached a rapt international audience watching the events unfold — in which they expressed concern that police in Aruba weren’t doing enough to ensure that those responsible for their daughter’s disappearance were brought to justice. And as time went on, the likelihood dwindled of Natalee being found alive. And as time has worn on since, Natalee’s body has never been found.

And while one might think that van der Sloot would stay out of trouble following the events of the night Holloway disappeared, he maintained a high media profile for many reasons. But for those who’ve followed the case since the beginning, hope never faltered that the day would come when van der Sloot would finally be found guilty for Natalee’s murder. In fact, he actually admitted, on video, that Holloway died the morning she disappeared, though he would go on to retract that statement, claiming instead that he hadn’t killed her, but had sold her into sexual slavery.

For years, Holloway’s story hung in the balance, and at her father’s request, she was declared legally deceased in January 2012. The next big step in the case moved forward in June of 2023, when van der Sloot was extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for charges associated with Holloway’s murder, including wire fraud and extortion, and made a plea deal that finally held him accountable, albeit imperfectly.

Onlookers hoped this plea deal development would finally give her family solace, as they could at least, and at last, learn what happened to Natalee, whose body was never recovered to tell the tale.

Will Natalee’s body ever be found?

In short, it sure doesn’t look like her body will ever be found. CNN reports that as part of the legal proceedings of the plea deal, van der Sloot has effectively confessed to killing her. Regarding her body, van der Sloot testified that in the early morning hours of May 30, after bludgeoning her to death, he released her into the ocean.

“Uhm, afterwards, I don’t know what to do. I half, uh, half pull and half walk with her into the ocean to about my knees… I push her off into, into the, into the, into the sea. Then I get out. I, I walk home.”

While van der Sloot’s confession hopefully brings some closure to the Holloway family, may it be her name and story that we remember, and not that of the man who took her life. Holloway’s mother has said she now considers the case resolved, and that is truly what matters to her friends and loved ones.