WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Lawyer: Previous suspect doesn't know person detained in Aruba

Lawyer: Previous suspect doesn't know person detained in Aruba

(Oranjestad, Aruba-AP) April 17, 2006 - A lawyer for a Dutch youth detained previously as a suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway said Monday that his client does not know the latest person arrested by Aruban authorities.

 Joseph Tacopina, a US lawyer for Joran van der Sloot, says the detention of a person identified by authorities only as "GVC" is good news for his client. He says it suggests the investigation is heading in a new direction.

Some media outlets have reported the detainee's name in varying forms, but Aruban authorities decline to confirm his identity. Tacopina says his investigators have been in contact with Aruban authorities. He says "GVC" was detained because police recovered a T-shirt belonging to him with what he calls "relevant forensic information" from the south side of the Dutch Caribbean island.

The lawyer says he does not know details about the forensic information or how it related to the disappearance of Holloway. The vacationing teen was last seen leaving a bar with three young men May 30th, the final night of her high school graduation trip to Aruba.

Aruban authorities have released few details on the latest development. Over the weekend, they said only that the detained man is 19 years old and has the initials "GVC."

Van der Sloot, now a college student in the Netherlands, has long maintained that he left Holloway on a beach near her hotel and denies any wrongdoing.

Posted 11:53am by Bryce Mursch