The remains of Natalee Holloway were mixed with a dog’s to make it tougher to identify her according to new information revealed in a mini-series on the Alabama teen’s disappearance more than 12-years-ago.
Holloway’s father Dave Holloway, and investigator T.J. Ward have revealed secret recordings with Joran van der Sloot’s best friend John Ludwick during the series ‘The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway,’ on Oxygen where he tells them about the remains, and what happened to them.
‘I can take you where I … I got the remains,’ the friend, John Ludwick, said according to the NY Post. The admission was caught by an informant wearing a mic so that Natalee’s father Dave and private investigator Ward could hear it for themselves.
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Missing: Natalee Holloway, 18, vanished while on a trip with friends to the Carribean getaway destination in Aruba to celebrate her high school graduation on May 30, 2005 (Pictured right on a night out on the island)
A tip from from an informant named Gabriel, a former roommate of Joran van der Sloot’s best friend John Ludwick alleged van der Sloot killed Natalee and his father Paulus helped him dispose of the body (Paulus and Joran in December 2007 after the young man was released from custody)
Source: An informant called Gabriel (right) met 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 a discovery of the bone fragments
Involvement: Dave Holloway and private detective TJ Ward have been to Aruba and are now waiting for the tests on the remains
According to Ludwick’s claims during the secret recordings, Jordan Van der Sloot buried Natalee up a hill in the desert and threw dog bones on top of her to throw authorities off.
Ludwick then claimed in the recordings he was later paid to take the remains to a crematorium and scatter the ashes.
‘It didn’t happen to my kid,’ Ludwig said. ‘Could have thrown it into the ocean, could have flushed it down the toilet. I don’t give a s–t.’
Van der Sloot, the longtime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance, allegedly had a sexual relationship with Ludwick, who says he all accepted $1,500 from Van der Sloot to dig up the teen’s remains and take them to be cremated.
The recordings of Ludwick transpired after information from an informant named Gabriel told Holloway and Ward that he knew the man who claimed to have carried out Van der Sloot’s request to move Natalee’s buried remains.
However since the episode aired, Holloway has said while promoting the series, that they have discovered what is human remains in Aruba and they are in the process of DNA testing them to see if they are in fact Natalee’s.
Human remains found at a site in Aruba where Holloway may have been buried belong to a young woman of eastern European descent, according to preliminary tests, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Suspect: Joran van der Sloot (pictured left with John Ludwick) is now in prison in Peru for murdering another young woman, but the evidence of informant ‘Gabriel’ (right) could bring new hope of solving the mystery of Natalee Holloway
A saliva sample of Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway is undergoing tests to see if the remains have a mitochondrial match
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 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.
The full DNA test results will determine whether the bone fragments belong to Natalee or not.
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.
‘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.
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
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
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.
‘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 poster which was prepared and released by the Holloway family after their daughter Natalee went missing in 2005
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 these remains came from the informant Gabriel, a former roommate of Joran van der Sloot’s best friend John Ludwick.
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 Ludwick had previously told him that Natalee 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.
The information Ludwick previously told Gabriel did not match up with what Ludwick told Gabriel during the taped conversations about Van der Sloot mixing Natalee’s remains with dog bones.
Dave announced while appearing on Today that he followed up on the original information Ludwick gave Gabriel, 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.
‘We had information that took us to a spot where remains were found. And we took those remains and had those remains tested. 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’.