How mom keeps spotlight on the Holloway case

Michelle Kosinski Correspondent

PALM BEACH, Aruba -

It was another sunny, breezy afternoon in Aruba, when I heard a light knocking on the door of my hotel room.   

A shy vacationer named Cindy appeared, and held out a small soft-cover book. "Can you get this to Beth?" she asked, referring to Beth Holloway Twitty, by her first name only, as most people here have come to do. 

Holloway Twitty's daughter, Natalee Holloway, 18, disappeared May 30, at the end of her high school graduation trip to this Dutch Caribbean island. Extensive searches by Dutch marines, Aruban police, and some 2,000 volunteers have found no trace of her.

The self-help book was called "Why?" and Cindy said it had helped her, and she hoped it would help Holloway Twitty cope with the search for her daughter. I told her she could come back later that evening and present it in person. She did. 

Unfortunate celebrity 
Holloway Twitty is more than used to this. She has learned that there is no anonymity on this small island, and certainly none when you're at the center of a frustrating mystery that's been in the public eye for almost three months. 

One might think that the added attention of having strangers recognize her virtually everywhere she goes, and constantly approach her, would only add to the pressure, the feeling of vulnerability. For Holloway Twitty, it helps her.

She hugged the tourist with the book and thanked her. "I'm just so grateful to all of them," she said.

Sometimes, after completing a round of nighttime live television appearances, it's hard for her to walk through the lobby of the hotel without people approaching her every few feet. 

Occasionally, they want to help with the case. A young woman and her mother approached Holloway Twitty one night, and told her that the main suspect in Natalee's disappearance, Joran van der Sloot, also had tried to get her into his car after a night at Carlos and Charlie's, a local bar. That young woman later told the FBI about the same incident.

Again, Holloway Twitty was grateful. 

She knows well that staying in the public consciousness keeps her daughter’s disappearance on people's minds.          

Tourists can’t escape news of disappearance
And keeps their eyes open. Tourists talk about it. When they go shopping, they see posters offering a reward for information regarding the young woman’s disappearance in store windows. They watch the latest news on the investigation on the satellite televisions in their hotels. They go out and see the landmarks that figure into the case. They constantly ask cab drivers for the latest developments. They go hiking or diving and find themselves looking for clues.

Three weeks ago, a tourist from North Carolina called me to ask me how to get in touch with police. She and her husband had been out exploring the island, and they came across a sneaker.

They knew investigators were looking for a pair of sneakers that belonged to van der Sloot. And, they knew the sneaker they spotted probably was just something someone left behind, but they couldn't let it go. She wanted to let police know about it.

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