Human remains found at a site in Aruba where missing teenager Natalee Holloway may have been buried belong to a young woman of eastern European descent, according to preliminary tests, DailyMail.com can reveal.
The breakthrough, made during the early stages of DNA testing, means the Holloway family – which has eastern European heritage- may be one step closer to finding out the agonizing truth behind their daughter’s disappearance.
The initial finding is still to be confirmed by further testing.
Natalee, 18, from Mountain Brook, Alabama vanished on Aruba on May 30, 2005 while on a trip to celebrate her high school graduation.
She was last seen by her classmates leaving a nightclub with Joran van der Sloot – a then 17-year-old Dutch honors student living on the tropical island. No trace of her body has ever been found.
Now her father Dave Holloway believes the discovery of human remains – the result of a tip-off investigated by his private investigator TJ Ward – could be the lead they have been waiting for this past 12 years.
Missing: Natalee Holloway’s disappearance on Aruba led to a massive search in its immediate wake, but after 12 years there are still no answers. The discovery of what scientists say are bone fragments could help the Holloways’ search for the truth
Reconstruction: The new Oxygen documentary follows Dave Holloway’s trip to Aruba, which included a dig at a spot on the island where bone fragments were found. It showed footage reconstructing what vand der Sloot and Ludwick were alleged to have done
Source: An informant called Gabriel (right) mat Dave Holloway (left) after making secret recordings of John Luwdick in which he apparently confessed to helping dispose of Natalee’s body. The information led to the trip to Aruba and the discovery of the bone fragments
Suspect: Joran van der Sloot is now in prison in Peru for murdering his wife, but the evidence of informant ‘Gabriel’ could bring new hope of solving the mystery of Natalee Holloway
The full DNA test results, which will determine whether the bone fragments belong to Natalee or not, are expected to be returned within two weeks, a source close to the case has disclosed.
The discovery is part of ‘The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway,’ a docuseries currently running on Oxygen.
The series follows the journey of her father and Ward in the wake of the tip-off.
A source close to the production told DailyMail.com: ‘The nature of these remains means further testing is required before anything can be confirmed.’
DailyMail.com has also learned that Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway provided a saliva sample to assist in the testing.
A source with knowledge of the testing said: ‘So far all the indicators are that these bone fragments are the human remains of a young female, consistent with someone of eastern European descent.
‘This is in line with what the investigators would expect when it comes to Natalee’s family’s lineage.
‘There’s still more testing to complete, but it should be wrapped up in less than two weeks and then the Holloway family will know for sure.
‘It will be agonizing if Dave and Beth are told this is their daughter, but after 12 years of searching for answers it will be a huge deal for them – it might finally bring them closure.’
The source says experts are conducting a mitochondrial DNA test (mtDNA test) on the remains at a reputable, undisclosed lab in the US.
The mtDNA test traces a person’s matrilineal or mother-line ancestry using the DNA in his or her mitochondria – a structure that sits inside the human cell.
This type of DNA is passed down by the mother unchanged, to all her children, both male and female.
If the mtDNA inside the bone fragments matches that in the saliva provided by Beth Holloway, that will be conclusive evidence that Natalee’s remains have been found.
The information that led investigators to the remains came from an informant named Gabriel, a former roommate of Joran van der Sloot’s best friend John Ludwick.
Friends: John Ludwick (left) and Joran van der Sloot were best friends when Natalee Holloway disappeared. Now he has been taped apparently confessing to helping van der Sloot dispose of her body after she died. In his version of events she had been drugged by van der Sloot
Innocent fun: Natalee was with friends celebrating her high school graduation when she vanished. The straight-A student had a scholarship for college
Previous effort: In 2005 Joran van der Sloot was taken in handcuffs to locations near where Natalee Holloway was last known to have been seen, but was not charged due to lack of evidence
Van der Sloot – who is currently in prison in Peru serving a 28-year sentence for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores Ramírez – has long been a suspect in Natalee’s disappearance.
Gabriel told Dave Holloway that, according to Ludwick, his daughter was buried in a park near her hotel on the island – a sequence of events that marked one of the biggest breaks in the 12-year history of the case.
Ludwick apparently told Gabriel that van der Sloot disposed of Natalee’s body with help from his father Paulus, a judge on the island, after the teen choked to death on her own vomit soon after she was given a drink that had been spiked with GHB. Paulus has since died.
Van der Sloot revealed his actions to Ludwick, who then repeated the information to Gabriel while the two were living together in recent years.
Involvement: Dave Holloway and private detective TJ Ward have been to Aruba and are now waiting for the tests on the remains
Dave announced last week while appearing on Today that he followed up on that tip, and soon after remains were found.
‘We did an 18-month undercover investigation with an informant who was friends with an individual who had personal knowledge from Joran van der Sloot,’ said Dave.
‘And had information that took us to a spot where remains were found. And we took those remains and had those remains tested. And they just returned last week they are human remains.’
Dave said he is being careful however to not rush to any conclusions.
According to Aruba Public Prosecutor Dorean Kardol, the discovery never happened.
He told the Huffington Post that ‘no human remains were found’ in the area Dave pointed out.
‘During an investigation by police in an area indicated by Mr. Holloway, we found remains, but they were found to be from animals,’ Kardol said.
Dave has long been a critic of the investigation into the disappearance of his daughter conducted by the Aruban authorities and slammed the prosecutor’s comments as ‘misleading’.
He maintains that they have the remains and have a report from the lab showing they are human.
The discovery is part of ‘The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway,’ a docuseries currently running on Oxygen.
A preview of the second episode, which will air at 7pm on Saturday, reveals that viewers will now see the great lengths Gabriel had to go to in order to get his informant to repeat the story while he was wearing a mic so that Natalee’s father Dave and private investigator TJ Ward could hear the admission for themselves.