Sunday, December 9, 2007

Another Dead End in a Cold Case

Less than a month ago, news reports included developments in Aruba, where the three young men who were the original focus of the investigation into the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway had been taken into custody.

Today, those three young men are once again free, once again because a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to hold them any longer under Aruba law.

The chief prosecutor, Hans Mos, sounded optimistic last month that charges would be brought in the case and asserted confidently that there was no need, under Aruba law, to have a body in order to prove that someone was dead.

Today, however, Mos sounds anything but confident.

Mos says he does not expect to find Holloway's remains and he believes that it would be "very hard" to prosecute a suspect without them.

"We promised the suspects that after December 31, we will not pursue the case," Mos said Friday. "This investigation should end at a certain point."

What needs to end is the seemingly endless harassment of Holloway's family.

Aruba is not very big. Searches of that tiny island have failed to produce any evidence of a corpse since the teenager disappeared in May 2005.

It's time for Aruba to acknowledge that its officials haven't been smart enough or resourceful enough to bring closure to this case -- and allow Holloway's family members to grieve and move on with their lives.

Enough is enough for all concerned.

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