Natalee Holloway — Teenager Vanishes on Last Night of Aruba Senior Trip

On May 30, 2005, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway disappeared on her last night in Aruba while on a high school graduation trip with classmates from Mountain Brook, Alabama. Security footage from a casino showed her leaving a bar called Carlos'n Charlie's late at night with three young men—Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. The Kalpoe brothers and Van der Sloot, then 17, claimed to have dropped Natalee near her hotel. She never arrived. An extensive search of the island and surrounding waters involving multiple countries failed to find any trace of Natalee or her remains. Investigators in Aruba made several arrests but no charges that led to conviction in connection with Natalee's disappearance. Joran van der Sloot emerged as the primary suspect and was repeatedly questioned. In 2010, Van der Sloot murdered Stephany Flores in Peru on the five-year anniversary of Natalee's disappearance. He was convicted of that crime in Peru and sentenced to 28 years. In 2023, Van der Sloot was extradited to the United States and pleaded guilty to extortion related to the Holloway case, in which he had demanded money in exchange for information about Natalee's remains. He did not plead guilty to her murder. Natalee has never been found and no one has been charged in her disappearance.