Judge weighs bid to declare missing Ala. teen dead - CBS News
Her father, Dave Holloway, became teary eyed and his voice cracked during a court hearing as he asked Probate Judge Alan King to bring legal closure to the case, even though Holloway's ex-wife, Beth Holloway, objects. She was in California to give a speech, but her attorney, Charlie DeBardeleben, said, "Beth is horrified" by her ex-husband's efforts and she doesn't want her oldest child declared dead.
"There is always a glimmer of hope, especially when there is no hard evidence she is dead," the lawyer said.
Friday's hearing was the first of two necessary to declare a missing person dead. DeBardeleben asked the judge to delay Friday's hearing for 30 days to allow the mother to attend, but the judge said she had more than two weeks' notice that it was going to occur.
If the probate judge rules the process can proceed, the next step will be to run legal notices in a newspaper to allow anyone to come forward with evidence that Natalee Holloway is alive at age 24. If no one does, the judge would hold another hearing in about three month, where he could declare that she is presumed dead.
The Holloways divorced in 1993. Natalee Holloway was raised by her mother in Mountain Brook, a wealthy Birmingham suburb, and spent every other weekend with her father, an insurance agent in Meridian, Miss.
Dave Holloway described in court how he saw his daughter for the last time at her high school graduation in Mountain Brook in May 2005. Then she left with her classmates for Aruba. She was last seen leaving a bar on the Caribbean island about 1:30 a.m. on May 30, 2005.
Holloway recounted the extensive searches by land, sea and air and how no sign of his daughter was found.
His attorney, Karen Hennecy, asked, "''Dave, do you believe Natalee is alive today?"
"No," he answered quietly.
Holloway said he based his conclusion partially on statements by the primary suspect, Joran van der Sloot, that he had seen her die.
Van der Sloot is not charged in her disappearance, but he is imprisoned in Peru where he is accused of killing a 21-year-old woman in May 2010.
Holloway testified that he was surprised by his wife's objection and called the FBI agent in charge of the investigation Thursday night to make sure the agency still considered it a homicide case. Holloway said he told the agent, "'I need to know right now has anything changed?' He said it has not."
He also pointed out that he and his ex-wife signed affidavits in 2007 saying that they presumed their daughter was dead and they gave those affidavits to Aruban authorities in hopes it would result in charges being filed.
If Natalee Holloway is ruled dead, her father could use her $2,000 college fund for her younger brother, Matt, and could stop paying for hospital insurance for her, attorney Mark White said.
During the searches in 2005, Dave and Natalee Holloway were united in their search for information about their child. The court hearing Friday demonstrated how their relationship has changed.
DeBardeleben complained that Dave Holloway never told his ex-wife that he was seeking a declaration of death, and she learned about it when a process server "posing as a fan" delivered legal papers to her in Georgia while she was at a speaking engagement.
Dave Holloway said he learned about his wife's objections from a statement she released to the media Thursday.
DeBardeleben acknowledged there is "no communication back and forth."
24 Sep, 2011--
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