Greta Van Susteren (interviewer) and  Joran van der Sloot Televised March 1, 2 and 3rd 2006

(Begin interview)

Interviewer:  Joran, what's it like for you here in Aruba? 

Joran van der Sloot:  For me in Aruba, it's great. I mean, it's the place where I grew up. It's the place I love. It's... you know, it's a wonderful island. 

Interviewer:  Have people been treating you well here? I mean, what's been the impact of your arrest and your release, and now you're off in school? 

Joran van der Sloot:   Oh, everyone here has always treated me well. I mean, everybody knows what's going on, probably more than the people in the States do. And everyone here has always treated me with respect and treated me right. 

Interviewer:  So when you walk down the street, people say things to you here? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Well, of course, you know, it's not fun that everyone on the street notices you. I mean, you want to just to be able to walk and no one notice you and for it to be normal, but I can't change anything about that now. It's like that already. So I just, you know, try to adapt and it and do the best I to for that. 

Interviewer:  Has Aruba been affected by Natalee's disappearance? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I think it has been affected, been affected quite a lot, and that's one thing that hurts me a lot. I mean, the Aruban people did everything, everything to try and... to try and solve this case. They did. They sent F sixteen jets from Holland over to take pictures. They've interrogated, I don't know how many people. They have dive teams from all over the world have come to dive into the oceans and look in the oceans. They sent the whole marines to search the entire island. 

I mean, the government, the Aruban government, even gave all the people that work for the government a day off to go search the island. I mean, a lot has been done, and everyone just wants to get this case solved and get it done with. That's what everybody wants. 

Interviewer:  Is that what you want? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Of course, that's what I want. That's the one thing that will clear me, and that's the one thing that will clear anyone else involved with it that doesn't deserve to be. 

Interviewer:  Why did you agree to talk to us? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I agreed to talk to you because I thought it was important to hear another side of the story, as well. I look at it in one way that, you know, there's one side of the story, there's another side of the story, and then there's the truth. And I'm telling you the truth and everything that happened and not just one side from the story. I'm not going to tell you I'm a good person. I'm not going to tell you that I'm an angel or that I've done good things, no, because it's not like that. But I'm here to tell the truth and to let people know what happened and exactly what went on. 

Interviewer:  How old are you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I'm eighteen now. 

Interviewer:  What's the impact been on you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Well, I mean, I was arrested at seventeen and it's... I always felt myself that I was... you know, that I was a lot older, but... that's what I've always felt for myself. But I mean, of course, it has... it's had... it's had a lot of impact on me, too. I spent ninety days in jail. And it's had a lot of impact on everyone, on my family, on Aruba. It's had an impact on everyone I love. 

Interviewer:  What impact on your mother and father? Is there a way to describe it? 

Joran van der Sloot:  There's no way to describe that. That's the worst thing there is. I mean, for me to see my mom and my dad, that's horrible. I mean, they didn't deserve any of this. I know it was my fault that they came into... that they were brought into this. And it's part of their life, too, now, and there's nothing that I can do to make that better towards them. But that's horrible for them. 

Interviewer:  Have you watched Beth Holloway Twitty on TV at all, or do you think about the impact on her and her family? 

Joran van der Sloot: I mean, I've seen... I've seen so much stuff on TV and on the Internet and... I mean, like I probably said from the beginning, I don't hold any grudges against her at all or her family at all because if they... I mean, if I were in their position and there was some kid that was with someone I loved last, I mean, and all this happened, he lied to the police, you name it, I mean, I'd be... I'd be pissed. I'd be... I'd probably go to that kid, and you know, I'm someone that I'd probably beat him up until he tells me everything he knows. 

And I mean, I think they've gone about this in a wrong way in a lot of senses, too. But that they blame me, I don't blame them for or hold any grudges against them for at all. 

Interviewer:  In terms of going about it in the wrong way, what... in which way is it the wrong way that they've done this? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I think they've done a lot of things that have hurt a lot of people that don't deserve to be hurt, a lot of people that are really good. I mean, one example is boycotting an island. That's something you can't do. I mean, Aruba's done everything, everything to try and solve the case. And that's something that really bothers me, that you could just go on TV and say, I'm going to boycott an island and get a government to agree to that, that's something that I really... I think that's absolutely wrong. 

I mean, the Aruban people are great people. They've done everything, everything to try and solve this case, and that's something that just really... you know, it... that pisses me off. That they go towards me and blame me is something I can understand. But to go towards my family and my friends and Aruba and everyone I love, that's something that really hurts me.

Interviewer:  Take me back to May twenty-ninth. Do you remember when you first saw Natalee? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I remember... I remember when I first saw her. I went there, I went to the casino, the Excelsior casino at the Holiday Inn, to play a free poker tournament. I remember walking in there and sitting at a... playing a... first playing a poker tournament, then afterwards, when I was done, going to a blackjack table and sitting down. And I remember her and her friends coming up to the table. They sat down. They wanted to play blackjack. 

And I didn't even notice Natalee from that beginning, from that (unintelligible). I didn't even pay any attention to her. There was a friend of hers that was sitting next to me that said she'd lost... she'd lost a hundred dollars or a hundred and twenty dollars of her father's money, and she wanted to win it back. And I said, You know what? I'll help you. I'll help you try and win back your money. I'll tell you when to hit and when to stay. And that's what I did. 

You know, we were just talking socially. It was just... it was just... it was just talking with nothing... nothing else involved. And then they ended up asking me if... they ended up telling me it was their last night and asked if I wanted to go to Carlos 'n Charlie's. 

Interviewer:  Had you been to Carlos 'n Charlie's before? You know the place? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I know the place. I went there on weekends a lot. It's just... it's a place where I know... it's fun place. It's a place where people go and hang out and have fun. I mean... 

Interviewer:  You say a free poker game. What does that mean, for those who don't know what that is here? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It's a... it's just... it's a tournament, you know, of poker, Texas hold 'em poker. It's a... they just have tournaments here that people play. And at the end, if you win a tournament, you win money. 

Interviewer:  Were you there earlier with your father that day, or had he left or... 

Joran van der Sloot:  My father doesn't like casinos at all. He doesn't want me playing in casinos at all, either. But I convinced him to come that day to the casino and play that tournament because he... because it was a free tournament. I said, I have the chance... I want you to come with me and you can just play one time and see how it is. So you see, you know, why I go play, too, because it's just a social thing. It's a... it was a fun thing to do. 

And yes, so my dad had come with me. And halfway through, he... because my mom at the time was in Holland, halfway through, he had to go back home to my little brother because he was home alone. And I took his place at the poker tournament because I had lost earlier. So I went in and I took his place and I played for him. 

Interviewer:  So you were there alone. You didn't... later on, you caught up with Satish and Deepak, but at that point, you were there alone, playing poker? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I was there alone. I was there alone, playing cards. 

Interviewer:  Anything catch your attention about Natalee or her friends, anything you recall? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, no, nothing... nothing to catch my attention. They seemed like normal girls. I mean, I talked to them... I talked to them normally. I mean, they... yes, nothing of them was out of the ordinary at all. 

Interviewer:  Interested in any of them at... at the poker table? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Interested? No, not really. I was more talking... the girl that was sitting next to me, I was... I thought she was pretty and I was talking to her. And when I went... what the point was for going to Carlos 'n Charlie's was I wanted to actually meet up with her. 

Interviewer:  Do you remember her name? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't... I didn't remember it, but I remember it now because I heard it afterwards. I think her name was Kathleen. 

Interviewer:  So about what time... did you leave the blackjack table first, or did the young women, the girls from Mountain Brook, leave the table first? 

Joran van der Sloot:  When she'd won back... Kathleen, who was sitting next to me, when she'd won about a hundred dollars, me and her friends convinced her to go cash the money. So that's when they went to go cash... they went to go cash their chips. 

Interviewer:  So did they all leave together, sort of like a herd of girls, do you remember? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I think they left in a group. They all stayed together. 

Interviewer:  Did they... 

Joran van der Sloot:  And I remember afterwards going into... right behind that casino is a little bar, and I remember watching... walking in there. And there was a baseball game on TV, and again, the group of girls was sitting there. And they said, Oh, yes, don't forget to come out tonight. And I told them that on Sunday, it wasn't a good night to go out. It wasn't fun. It wasn't... and... but they said, You know, if you want to come, come. And I ended up deciding that, yes, I might as well go and have fun. 

Interviewer:  Were you drinking at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, at that point, I wasn't drinking. I'd had a drink at the... during the poker tournament, but at that point, I hadn't taken a drink. They were drinking, however. 

Interviewer:  Could you feel the effect of that one drink, at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, not at all. 

Interviewer:  Ok. Ok. And were they acting like they had been drinking quite liberally and freely? Could you tell whether they were? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, yes, they were drinking liberally and freely, but I mean, I think they had every right to. I mean, they had graduated. They just finished their high school. You know, they'd just been... they'd finished their high school, and I think they had every right to come to Aruba and have... and you know, and celebrate their graduation. I mean, they worked for that their whole life. And I've met tons of people that do the same thing. 

And I mean, one problem I might have seen with it is the drinking age in the United States is twenty-one, and the drinking age in Aruba is eighteen. And you know, I've met a lot of people that when they're... you know, whose parents don't let them drink or do anything like that, and when they... you know, when they come to Aruba and they get a chance to drink, they go... you know, they go overboard, and that's something that's... that's bad, something that shouldn't happen. 

Interviewer:  About what time did you walk out of the Holiday Inn casino for the evening? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't remember exactly what time it was. 

Interviewer:  Can you give me an estimate? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was probably ten, I think... nine, ten. 

Interviewer:  And they were already gone at that point, do you remember? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, they were sitting in a bar behind the casino. 

Interviewer:  And where did you go when you left the casino? 

Joran van der Sloot:  And I called another friend of mine and asked him if he wanted to go out, and he said he had to work the next day, so he couldn't go out. And at that point, I called my dad and asked him if he could pick me up. And he said he'd pick me up at the McDonald's, so I walked over to the McDonald's, where he picked me up and took me home. 

Interviewer:  So it's a cell phone call to your house. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, a cell phone call to my house. 

Interviewer:  Any reason why the McDonald's? Did you get something to eat or... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, because I wanted to get something to eat, too. I hadn't eaten anything. So I got something to eat at the McDonald's. 

Interviewer:  How far is the walk from Holiday Inn to McDonald's, about? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Five minutes, probably. 

Interviewer:  So you got to the McDonald's. Was your father already there, or did you wait for him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, he wasn't there yet. I got something to eat, and while I was eating it, he arrived. 

Interviewer:  Any idea what time he arrived? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. Probably ten minutes after I called him, twenty minutes after I called him. 

Interviewer:  At the point where you called him, were you intending to go to Carlos and Charlie's at that point? Had you made up your mind? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I'd made up my mind that I was going to go there, and I'd also made up my mind that I wasn't going to tell him that I was going to go there because I know he would have said no. He would have said that I couldn't go. So I had made up my own mind that I was going to go out without him knowing. 

Interviewer:  How were you going to do that? Did you... at that point, had you called anybody else besides the one friend that turned you down? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. Then walking... when I kept walking, I called Deepak and I asked him if he wanted to go out. And he said, Sure. Sure, I'd like to go out. I don't have to work the next day until three in the afternoon, so of course. 

Interviewer:  How old is Deepak? How much older is he than you are? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Deepak's twenty-one. 

Interviewer:  How do you know him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I met him a long time ago through a friend of mine. And now... and since then, we've been friends... never best friends or anything like that, but you know, we've... we hung out together and sometimes we went out together and stuff like that. 

Interviewer:  What's a long time ago to you, in terms of... you're only seventeen, at this point. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I know that. 

Interviewer:  So what's a long time ago? 

Joran van der Sloot:  From that point, that day, I think three months earlier, two months earlier I'd met him. 

Interviewer:  So he was a friend of three months. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, three or four months... 

Interviewer:  Did you know Satish at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I met... I met Deepak first, and then I met Satish. 

Interviewer:  But you knew Satish before that night... 

(CROSSTALK) 

Joran van der Sloot:  Before that night, I had-met him before, yes. 

Interviewer:  What... so where... where'd you ever gone with Deepak? I mean, what kind of stuff did you guys do? How well do you know him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  You know, we hung out together sometimes. We'd go out to Carlos and Charlie's together sometimes, but I don't know him that well. 

Interviewer:  Did he go to school with you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, he didn't go to school with me. 

Interviewer:  So he wasn't a classmate. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, he wasn't a class... 

Interviewer:  And neither was Satish? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  Do you know where they went to school? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, they went to a local school, and I went to the international school here. 

Interviewer:  Did Deepak... Deepak had a job at... when... this was a year ago. Where was he working? 

Joran van der Sloot:  He was working at an Internet cafe. 

Interviewer:  Had you ever called him sort of late at night or ten o'clock at night, eleven o'clock at night before and said, Let's go out? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Oh, yes. I'd done that before, you know, because I don't have a car. I don't... didn't have a driver's license and I'm not allowed to drive. So if I want to go out, yes, I'm dependent on... on friends, that... you know, that have a car. So I'd give him a call sometimes, or another friend of mine, you know, Let's go out. 

Interviewer:  What's the driving age here? 

Joran van der Sloot:  The driving age is eighteen. 

Interviewer:  So did any of your classmates... I take it your classmates at the international school didn't have a driver's license. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, some... a couple kids in my class went, because I was in my senior year. A couple kids of them had a driver's license, but not all of them, no. 

Interviewer:  So when you're walking from the Holiday Inn to the McDonald's, you made the phone call. Deepak says he'll go out. Did you make sort of the plans how you were going to... you know, where's he going to pick you up because you didn't want your father to know? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I have an apartment in my house, so it's, like, away, kind of away from the house. And I called him, and he just came into my room with his brother. I didn't know at that point his brother was coming with him. But he came at that point in my room with his brother, and I was just printing out some work for school for the next day that I had to hand in. And I just finished that up. So I came into my room, and then they were there. 

Interviewer:  So they came through the gate. I mean, they actually... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, they just... 

Interviewer:  ... came through the gate... 

Joran van der Sloot:  ... walked through my... through my gate and went into my room. 

Interviewer:  They didn't drive through the gate, so your father wouldn't have noticed that. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no. Whenever friends come by, they park their car right outside the house. 

Interviewer:  So about what time do you think or estimate that they arrived at your house? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Probably, I don't know, eleven forty-five, twelve. 

Interviewer:  How far away does Deepak live from you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  About twenty minutes, I think. 

Interviewer:  By car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  By car. 

Interviewer:  From your house... if you're going to drive from your house to Carlos and Charlie's, about how long does that take? 

Joran van der Sloot:  About fifteen minutes, I think. 

Interviewer:  Did you tell Deepak that night that you had met these... these... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I told him... that's exactly... that's exactly what I told him. I told him I met a couple of girls, and they asked if I wanted to go out. So that's... yes, that's what I plan to do. 

Interviewer:  You tell him anything else about the girls, whether or not you thought they'd be fun or they'd be, you know, something that Deepak might want to hook up with, or Satish might want to... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Oh, no, no, no. No, no. 

Interviewer:  No details? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No details.

Interviewer:  When they picked you up, did you go straight from your home to Carlos and Charlie's? 

Joran van der Sloot:  When they picked me up, we went straight there, straight to Carlos and Charlie's. 

Interviewer:  When you arrived at Carlos 'n Charlie's, any idea about what time it is? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was probably, you know, twelve-fifteen, I think, twelve-thirty maybe. 

Interviewer:  How late does it stay open? 

Joran van der Sloot:  That night it was open until one a m. 

Interviewer:  Is that usual? I mean, every... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Every... during weekdays, it's open until one a m, yes. 

Interviewer:  And were the girls from Mountain Brook already there? 

Joran van der Sloot:  They were already there. I walked in, and I... when I walked in, I saw one of them on the left-hand side and she just said... she said, Hi. And I said, Hi, back. And then I walked in with them and was going to go to the bar with them and get a drink. And that's when... right when I walked in, I saw Natalee was standing on the dance floor. She was dancing, and she screamed at me to go dance with her. She was dancing on the stage. There was, like, a podium there. 

Interviewer:  Did she know your name? Did she know you well enough to know your name at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I don't think she knew my name. She just screamed to me to go dance with her. And at that point, I didn't. I went to go get a drink with Deepak and Satish. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Where... the one that you sat next that you thought was attractive at the casino, did you see her there? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I saw one of her friends there. 

Interviewer:  So she never appeared anyplace that you remember that night. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, maybe that I did see her, but I don't think I spoke to her. 

Interviewer:  What... you went up to the bar and got a drink. What were you drinking? 

Joran van der Sloot:  A yard is a drink you can there, and, yes, that's what we got. 

Interviewer:  So, drink number two is separated by several hours. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Ok. What happened next with... 

Joran van der Sloot:  So next, we walked down again to the stage. We were just looking at people... the people who were dancing on stage. And then again, she said to me to... she told me to go dance with her, and I said no. 

Interviewer:  Do you dance? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Sometimes, yes, but not really dancing. 

Interviewer:  Ok. 

Joran van der Sloot:  I'm not really a dancing person. And then she came down off the stage and grabbed me by my hand and said, Come with me. And she took me to the bar, which is on the other... on the left-hand side. And she jumped on the... she jumped on the bar, so sitting on the bar. 

Interviewer:  Sitting or lying down? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Sitting first, and then she said, Are you going to take a jelly shot off me? 

Interviewer:  What is that? 

Joran van der Sloot: It's just something... a jelly shot is what you put on your belly button, or a body shot, I mean, and then you... you take it off... off of the belly button. 

Interviewer:  And you did that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  And I did that. 

Interviewer:  What was that... what were you drinking then in the shot, do you remember? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't have no clue what it is. 

Interviewer:  Is there a way to describe her, I mean, and whether she seemed or appeared to be, you know, drinking? Did she seem to be drunk? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Oh... she'd been drinking, but she wasn't drunk. I mean, she knew what she was doing. And you know, all the people there were drinking, as well. I mean, that's just... that's normal when you go out and have a drink with your friends. 

Interviewer:  Any interest in her, at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  At that point, when she got my hand and took me to the bar, yes.

Interviewer:  So what happened next? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Well, so next, then she said Ok, so let's take another shot, is what she told me. So she wanted to take a shot with me. But it was probably close to one a m there then, and the bar was closing. So I said, Ok, well, we can go to the other bar. And then I asked her, What do you want to drink? And she's, like, Whatever. So she said, yes (unintelligible) What do you suggest. And I said, Baccardi one fifty-one. That's a shot I normally take with my friends. And we took a shot together. And after that, we just were talking a while. And I saw Satish, and Satish said... said, Let's go. And then... Deepak, I don't know where he was. I didn't see him in Carlos and Charlie's after that. 

Interviewer:  How old is Satish, at this point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  How old is... 

Interviewer:  Yes, how old is he then, at... this night? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I think he was eighteen or nineteen. I don't know. 

Interviewer:  So he's an adult, too, I mean, legally can drink, Satish can? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Was he drinking? 

Joran van der Sloot:  The only drink I seen him (unintelligible) was that one we got together. 

Interviewer:  Could you feel the alcohol, at this point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, not at all. 

Interviewer:  At any time throughout the night, could you feel the alcohol at all that you drank? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  How tall are you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Probably six four or six three. 

Interviewer:  How much do you weigh?

Joran van der Sloot:  Two twenty, I think. 

Interviewer:  Ok, so you're big. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Uh-huh. 

Interviewer:  Ok. 

Joran van der Sloot:  ... if I had a big house or not. And then... then she said... I said, So you want to see my house? And she's, like, yes. 

Interviewer:  At what point did you leave Carlos 'n Charlie's? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, when it was... when it was closing, when everyone started leaving and you saw the groups of people leaving. 

Interviewer:  Were they throwing you out and turning the lights on and off? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Oh, no, no, no, no, no. 

Interviewer:  Or what was the sign that it was time to go? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, it was just, yes, it was just they turn off the music and they turn off everything and it was just time to go, yes. 

Interviewer:  Had you made any agreement or arrangement with Natalee at that point to leave with her or anything? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, not at all. That came very spontaneously. She's like, "Ok, you want me to go with you?" And I was like "Ok." And I saw her go up to some of her friends. I don't know what she said to them. And then, yes, then we... then we ended up leaving. The plan was to go to my house. 

Interviewer:  Any other conversation with her before you left Carlos 'n Charlie's, remember anything that you guys talked about, said, or anything? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Not really. It was more like, no, just your normal, casual talk. 

Interviewer:  Did she say where she was from, for instance? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, she said that she was from Alabama and she said... she said she wanted to become a doctor and, yes... 

Interviewer:  Did she ask you about yourself? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, she asked me about myself too. 

Interviewer:  What did you tell her? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I told her I was nineteen, when I was actually seventeen, but, yes. 

Interviewer:  Did you say where, you know, your plans or anything like that what you wanted to do? I mean was there that much of a dialog between you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Not really. I mean I never really got to actually know her. I really didn't actually ever get, you know, to know her like you know a friend or you know someone like that. It was just casual talking. You know a little about each other and that's all it was. 

Interviewer:  Was it the kind of bar situation where it's loud, you're talking over loud music or could you ever, was it... could you have a conversation? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was loud music but you could have a conversation. 

Interviewer:  So, what time do you think you stepped foot out of Carlos 'nCharlie's? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Probably, yes probably one a.m. 

Interviewer:  Did you walk... you walked out with Natalee? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I walked out with her. 

Interviewer:  And she had your hand or you had her hand? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, we had each other hand and Satish was there as well with us.

Interviewer:  Where was Deepak? 

Joran van der Sloot:  He was waiting at his car. 

Interviewer:  Any reason why he went out ahead? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. You have to ask him that. 

Interviewer:  Is he sort of, I mean a guy who enjoys the bar scene? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. Again, you'll have to ask him that I mean. 

Interviewer:  How about the girls, they like him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. You'll have to ask him that. 

Interviewer:  But when you were out with him or something did he talk to them? Was he friendly? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, he didn't talk to them. He didn't really talk to any of them. 

Interviewer:  How about Satish did he? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  How far was the car parked from Carlos 'nCharlie's? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was parked right behind it. 

Interviewer:  So, Deepak's at the car. Satish is in front of you?

Joran van der Sloot:  Satish was with us. 

Interviewer:  With you and then you and Natalee holding hands walked to the car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Any discussion between Carlos 'nCharlie's and the car between you and Satish or you and Natalee? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, just between me and Natalee. We were speaking English to each other and I asked her if she wanted to go back to her hotel and that's when she said that she wanted to... she asked me if I -- if I had a big house or not and then... then she said... I said to her, "Do you want to see my house?" And she's like, "Yes, I want to go to your house." 

Interviewer:  All right, so the plan I assume was that, I mean you were interested in her at least I assume, correct me if I'm wrong, that you would take her back and have some sort of relationship with her at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Ever talk about it, about whether you were going to have sex or anything like that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, not actually talk about it, no, but not like she said no. "Do you want to have sex?" No, it wasn't anything like that. 

Interviewer:  That was your intention and you were hopeful that was her intention? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Did she ever say anything at all sexual to you at that point walking to the car, any hints, anything? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, it was just we were holding hands and we walked to the car. 

Interviewer:  When you got to the car who drove? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was Deepak driving the car. 

Interviewer:  It's his car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It's his car. 

Interviewer:  He likes his car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I think so.

Interviewer:  I hear that he paid a lot of attention to his car. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I think so too. 

Interviewer:  Does he let Satish drive it? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, sometimes. Yes, Satish drives it sometimes. 

Interviewer:  What kind of car is it? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It's a Honda Civic, a gray one. 

Interviewer:  Had you driven in it before? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no. 

Interviewer:  You'd never been in his car before? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Oh, drove with him, yes. 

Interviewer:  Yes, yes. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Driven it myself, no. 

Interviewer:  Ok but you'd been in the car. 

Interviewer:  So you leave Carlos 'nCharlie's and your intention was to head to your house. Did you actually head to your house? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, we did. We actually did end up heading to my house because that's what she was... that's what she wanted to, so I was fine with it. And then during the car ride she was... she had her hand on my... on my leg and I had my hand on her leg and we were both in the back. We were kissing each other and so I took (unintelligible) in a... in a positive not in a bad way. 

Interviewer:  Did you ever actually make it to your house? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, we did. We actually did stop in front of my house. We got to my house and then, yes then I... then she said she wanted to go see sharks. 

Interviewer:  Why sharks? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I have no idea why she wanted to go see sharks and so I was laughing and telling her there's no sharks. 

Interviewer:  Did you actually go into your house with her? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no, no. We never even got out of the car there. 

Interviewer:  She had no interest in going into your house? She didn't say anything? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, at that point she wanted... she wanted to go see sharks is what she said and then she came with a strange story that her mom was Hitler's sister or Hitler's sister's daughter and she was sorry to me for that because... because I don't know if she thought I was German or something and I'm like "I'm Dutch, so I don't really care about anything like that." And I asked, "You're joking right?" And she said, "No, no, no, no, I'm serious. I'm serious." 

Just another example of that is, you know, that's a strange story. That makes absolutely no sense. Why would you say something like that if it's not true? But there's actually police reports of one of her friends that says she told her the same thing. 

Interviewer:  Now, the whole time you're in the car driving from Carlos 'nCharlie's, stopping for a short time at your house and talking to Natalee, did Deepak and Satish join in the conversation? Are they talking? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Not really. We had music on. There was one remark she did make like she told me, she asked me if they were my slaves because they were driving around but Deepak and Satish never ended up hearing that. I told them that afterwards. So, yes, she said in Alabama we consider black people slaves.

Interviewer:  All right, so you drive from your house and where is your next, where is the next point you stop the car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  The next point we stopped the car was at the beach where we ended up going to. We were driving. The point was to drive to her hotel then but we drove... we drove right by that and she said, yes, because she didn't want to go to her hotel. She wanted to go see sharks. 

Interviewer:  About how long did it take from the point of your house to drive to the beach? 

Joran van der Sloot:  That probably takes around five minutes. 

Interviewer:  Did you drive past her hotel at that point or just drive right to the beach? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, we drove past her... past her hotel and then took the road right next to her hotel. 

Interviewer:  And so when you go to the beach you then move down to the Marriott is that right? You went farther north of the Marriott? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, the Marriott is right next to it. 

Interviewer:  Had you ever been to the Marriott beach before? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, tons of times, lots of times. 

Interviewer:  I guess as a kid you played soccer there right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I played soccer on the beach there. I went with my friends to the beach there. I mean I've been there probably a thousand times. 

Interviewer:  Why that beach? I mean there's an awful lot of beaches in this... on this island, why that beach? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Because we were driving towards her hotel. That's just... and that was just the one place I wanted to get out. 

Interviewer:  Had you ever been to the beach before with Deepak and Satish? 

Joran van der Sloot:  With them alone, no. 

Interviewer:  So where did you park? 

Joran van der Sloot:  If you drive by right by the last Marriott Hotel so we took a left and you can drive right to the end of the road there and we stopped there, so you're basically still at the hotel and that's where... where we got out of the car and I told Deepak that "I'll call you later to pick me up" and he said "Ok," and he left and we walked on the beach. 

And, I mean there were people there. There were couples there on the beach as well. I mean we walked by other couples. It's not... that beach is... it's a very busy beach. There's a lot of people there even at nighttime. 

Interviewer:  On the beach you weren't directly in front of the Marriott, you were a little bit north of the Marriott is that right, you call it the Marriott beach but you weren't directly in front of the hotel? 

Joran van der Sloot:  At that point, we were basically almost directly in front of the Marriott Hotel. 

Interviewer:  Did you cut through the hotel to the beach? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no. You didn't really cut because you're right at the... the right side of the Marriott Hotel, all the way at the right. She didn't really cut through... through the hotel but you were walking on the hotel property where there's beach chairs and all that stuff. 

Interviewer:  So, Satish... I mean Deepak just dropped you off. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  And he was willing... he indicated he was willing to come back and pick you up at some point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  He didn't mind? He wasn't going to go home and sleep for an hour and be annoyed by your call? He didn't indicate like, "Don't wake me up" or anything like that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  He had no complaints at all? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  What was your intention at that point to have sex with her? 

Joran van der Sloot:  That was my, yes, that was my intention, yes. That was my first intention. 

Interviewer:  And where did you think Deepak and Satish were going? 

Joran van der Sloot:  At home. 

Interviewer:  You thought they'd go all the way home and come back and get you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, it's not that far of a drive. 

Interviewer:  Why would they do that for you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. They're friends I think, yes. They would have done that. 

Interviewer:  Had they ever done that before for you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  That, no, but I don't have a... I don't have a car, so how else would I have gotten home? I mean I could have paid a taxicab to have gotten home but, no, they said... he was fine with that. He said "That's fine." He would pick me up and bring me home. 

Interviewer:  So you got out of the car. Did you have sex with Natalee? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no, not... 

Interviewer:  How come? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Well, we got at the beach. We walked up. I took off my shoes. We walked to the... to the ocean and that's where we sat down as well. That's where I left my shoes and then we started walking. And I asked her, you know, let's... we can walk toward your hotel because there were a lot of people there too. And she wanted to walk the other way, so towards the... starting to go towards the lighthouse.

And, so we started walking... walking in that direction, more towards the fisherman's hut and, yes, we were holding hands, talking and kissing, just having a good time. 

Interviewer:  Do you have any idea what time you actually got out of Deepak's car? Can you estimate that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I can't say exactly when. I don't know exactly when. The only thing I can say for sure is when I was home because that's... you know you said it yourself to me that the most important thing is to look at facts and, you know, those are facts that you can actually say what time you got home, by video footage what time you left Carlos 'n Charlie's. Those are things you can actually, you know, actually really prove. 

Interviewer:  All right, well let me jump ahead. What time did you get home so we have this time frame? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was three thirty-five (3:35) I think, or three twenty-five (3:25) and we had...... I had ABC look at the pieces there. Well, they had the pieces too, so that's one thing I can be sure of. 

Interviewer:  Are you able to... are you able to estimate how long you were on the beach with Natalee? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, it was probably an hour, maybe not even an hour. 

Interviewer:  So, besides walking north in the direction away from her hotel what else were you doing? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Nothing really just holding hands and talking about, yes, everything. 

Interviewer:  What was her condition? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, to me she seemed like she had... she had something to drink but she seemed fine. You know she knew... she knew what she was doing. 

Interviewer:  What did you guys talk about?

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, we talked about... she said about that she was going to school and she didn't want to leave Aruba because she loved it so much. She was... she thought it was the best place in the world and, yes, that's stuff we talked about. 

Interviewer:  What kind of stuff were you saying? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I told her that... I lied to her that I was nineteen. I said that I was going to go study in the states at St. Leo (ph) University and, you know, I was just... we were just having casual talk talking about stuff. 

Interviewer:  So you never had intercourse right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, never. 

Interviewer:  How come? I mean that was your intention and... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Well, I mean when... when actually at the point that it did get down to that I didn't have a condom with me and I've heard... I've heard people say "Oh, that's strange. Oh, that makes absolutely no... no sense. Any eighteen year-old, or seventeen year-old then, when he doesn't have a condom, would have sex anyway." And I mean that's the truth though. 

I didn't have a condom with me, and that's why I didn't have sex with her, because I won't have sex with a girl without a condom. I mean I've never... I've never done that before and I'm never going to do that either. It's just something that... that I've always kept myself to. That's important for me too. 

Interviewer:  Did you discuss that with her at all? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, that's what I told her then that I... that I wouldn't have sex, that I didn't have a condom and I wouldn't have sex without a condom. I usually have one in my wallet I always carry around with me in my wallet and I didn't have one with me then. 

Interviewer:  And what was her reaction to all this? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, she understood that and she didn't want to do it without a condom either. 

Interviewer:  So, but there was some sort of... I mean you had some sort of sexual contact at some point is that right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Was that in the car or was that on the beach? 

Joran van der Sloot:  That was on the beach too. 

Interviewer:  And at this point Satish and Deepak they're long gone in the car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Other people walking on the beach? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, there was... the time that I started walking the other direction there was only one couple that I walked by because most of them were at the actual Marriott Hotel. At that (unintelligible), there was only one couple that I actually walked by. 

Interviewer:  What was it that was sort of the... why did you leave, I mean what happened? Did the conversation end or how did you happen to leave? 

Leave the beach. At some point you and Natalee separated according to you is that right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  How did that come about? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Well, I mean I had... I had to go to school the next day. I was close to my exams to do my final exams and, you know, the bus was picking me up at six forty a m I mean I had to go home and I didn't want my dad to go into my room and see I'm not there or anything like that, so I mean I had to go home. So, yes, at one point I told her, you know, it's time to go back to your hotel and she was just like, "No, let's stay here. Let's look at the stars." She was just saying, you know, "Stay here with me. Just stay here with me the whole night. Tomorrow I have to go back anyway" and, you know, that's... that's what we were talking about. 

Interviewer:  And what did you say? I mean how does the conversation go back and forth between the two of you on this? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, so she was asking me to stay and I told her I really had to go so, you know, for me to bring her back to her hotel and then I said at the end, I said "Ok, well I'm going to call Deepak to come pick me up." And so, I walked right there. 

There's the fisherman's hut. There's a little... because there's a lot of wind there on the beach, so I walked right next to that and that's where I called him from. And I... I asked him... I asked him to come pick me up. Then it was his brother that came to pick me up but I asked him to come pick me up. 

Interviewer:  Do you know where... so you actually, you had actually called him and reached him on your cell phone? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, on a cell phone. 

Interviewer:  And said "Come pick me up," and what did he say? 

Joran van der Sloot:  And he said, "Yes, Ok. Ok, sure." He said he was on his computer talking to friends. 

Interviewer:  So, at... so about how much later did Satish show up driving his car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Probably fifteen minutes later, ten minutes later. 

Interviewer:  Deepak wasn't there? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  He wasn't in the car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, wasn't in the car. 

Interviewer:  Did you see Deepak at all again that night? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no until the next day, that night. 

Interviewer:  Did Satish pick you up in his car or his mother's car? 

Joran van der Sloot:  In Deepak's car. 

Interviewer:  So, it's the same car that dropped you off? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Did you say "Where's Deepak"? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, that was... of course that was the first reaction when I... when I came there. I walked over and I sat in the car and I was like, you know, "Where's Deepak"? He said, "Oh, he's at home on his computer." And that's when I, you know, I told him, you know, the girl's still on the beach and, you know, she wanted me to stay there with her and, you know, I want to go. I want to go home. What do you do? 

And he reacted like, you know, Ok (unintelligible) "Let's go, you know, let's go fast and let's leave, you know, like, you know, not really caring about her. Let's just go and leave her there." And, I was like, "Ok" so (unintelligible) we really went without even saying goodbye to her or without even really seeing her and telling her at that point that we were going to go. 

Interviewer:  Did Satish ever get out of the car when he picked you up? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no, no. Never. He stayed behind the wheel the whole time. 

Interviewer:  Did you point in the general area where Natalee was? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I said that (unintelligible) right there, and that... you know, that... you know, he said, yes, let's screw it. Let's... let's go home. 

Interviewer:  So about how far away was Natalee, at that point, from the car when Satish picked you up? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Probably 300 yards. 

Interviewer:  So about 900 feet. I mean... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  ... quite a distance. I mean, at least... I mean... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, there's... I don't know... I didn't even know it was... 

Interviewer:  So you couldn't see her, basically. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, you couldn't see her. I don't know if it was that far, actually, because you have a road that goes there, along with the beach, where he drove by. And his car is kind of fixed up, and you know, his muffler from this car is really loud, so it made a lot of noise. So that's the first thing I heard when he came with his car. That's the first thing I heard was the muffler from the car making sounds. So I actually... I knew... I knew he was coming. 

Interviewer:  So when you were with Natalee... you were actually with Natalee when you heard the sound of the muffler? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  What did you say to Natalee, at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  At that point, I was with her still at the beach, and I told her that I had to take her... to take her back to her hotel, that really... she really had to go back to her hotel because I really had to go... I really had to go to school the next day. And she was just, like... she thought that I would stay there with her, and that's what she... and that's (unintelligible) probably what I... what I should have done. That's the one thing that I did... that I did wrong, you know, to leave her there without her... without actually saying I was going to leave her there. And yes, it just... 

Interviewer:  You left without your shoes. How do you... how do you explain that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  We walked onto the... on the beach in the beginning, and where we sat down there, then, I had taken off my shoes. And because, when you walk in, it was the exact same shoes that I'm wearing now. 

Interviewer:  Same kind? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, exactly. 

Interviewer:  Or those aren't the shoes? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no. Those aren't the shoes... 

Interviewer:  Those are the same kind. 

Joran van der Sloot:  ... but those are the exact same kinds. 

Interviewer:  All right. 

Joran van der Sloot:  The same size, too. And... no, and so when I was on the beach, I had taken them off there, not to get sand into them. And that's where... you know, where we... were we started walking the other way. I always thought we'd go back, and that's where I'd left my shoes. And then the point in the car when we said, You know, we're going to leave, then, yes, we just left and I didn't really care about my shoes anymore. 

Interviewer:  You hadn't realized... I mean, in order to... I mean, to walk that 900 feet that's... you know, you're walking through the sand and a little bit on pavement, where the car is, right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, it's just sand, and then it comes right to the pavement. So no, I knew I didn't have my shoes with me. That's (unintelligible)

Interviewer:  It didn't bother you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It didn't bother me. I mean, when he said... I wasn't planning on leaving right away. It was that action that took place there that we're, like, Ok, you know, let's go. And then that's when we left. 

Interviewer:  Did you... you didn't say to Satish, Look, I got to go get my shoes? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, that's when... of course, I should have, but no. 

Interviewer:  Did Natalee take off her shoes? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't remember. I think she had sandals on. I don't know. I think she was wearing... yes. yes, she did. 

Interviewer:  She did. 

Joran van der Sloot:  She had her... yes, she left her sandals there, too. 

Interviewer:  Did she walk in the water with you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  We didn't walk in the water, we walked on the beach the whole time. 

Interviewer:  Ok. So you took them off because you didn't want to get sand in, not because you didn't want to get them wet. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. No, no, no, because I didn't want to get sand in them. 

Interviewer:  And so it wasn't the least bit peculiar to you that you left the shoes behind and got in the car?

Joran van der Sloot:  Of course... well, of course, it was peculiar, but I mean, it wasn't like — I didn't really care about them at that point. I was... it was more (unintelligible) the conversation moment, like, You know, let's go. Let's... you know, Let's go because he was, like, yes, you know, screw her Let's go home. And I knew if I would have gone back, she would have been, like, again, Let's go... let's go back. Let's stay here... blah, blah, blah. 

And at that point, when I called him between that, there was actually a point where I'd picked her to... you know, in a joking way, Like, Ok, then I'm going to take you back to your hotel, if you don't want to go back. And she said, No, put me down. And so I put her down again. And then I was just talking to her, and yes, I explained to her why I had to go home. And she was, Oh, you know, please stay with me. Please stay with me until the next day. 

Interviewer:  Did you think it was unusual that Deepak didn't come back and pick you up? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No (unintelligible) because he was... he told me he was on his computer. 

Interviewer:  What was the... there was a discrepancy at some point - - I mean, there've been a lot of reports. It's sort of hard to figure out what is and what isn't... that at one point, you said Deepak gave you a ride home. And it changed to Satish. Can you explain that? Or is there not a discrepancy? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Well, there is a discrepancy there, and I did at one point say that Deepak took me home. But that was at the more point from (unintelligible) we'd always said when we were at our house talking that we'd keep... that we'd keep Satish's little brother out it as much as possible when we'd actually made up the story to say that we dropped her off at the Holiday Inn. 

Interviewer:  Why did you want to keep Satish out of it? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I didn't want to. That's what Deepak wanted. He said, yes, you know, whatever, you keep... you know, We'll keep my little brother out of it, and that... yes. That's what we agreed on.

Interviewer:  So what... you got home about 3:30, is that right? Is that what you told me, 3:30 you got home? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, something like that. I got home a little earlier, but that's when the message that you logged onto your computer, you know, and you went on your e-mail and you went to the Web sites you went to, and yes, that's when all that is registered. 

Interviewer:  Was that... so that was computer to computer? Is that the... it wasn't text messaging to text messaging? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, it was logging onto your... 

Interviewer:  Computer. 

Joran van der Sloot:  ... your MSN messenger at home. 

Interviewer:  Did... when you sent that message off to Deepak, did he respond? 

Joran van der Sloot:  He did respond, and then I had sent something back to him, and then he didn't respond back again after that. 

Interviewer:  But he responded by computer, not by some other hand- held device or anything like that. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, by... by computer. I did message him. When I got home, I messaged him that I got home. And then he said... and he messaged me back, Ok. 

Interviewer:  And then you said what? You sent him another message, which said what? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, that was on the computer afterwards. And then we were on the computer, and then I... you know, I was just, like, Hey, what's up? I logged on there, there to the computer, because I got home. I went into my kitchen to get something to eat and something to drink. And then I was going to go to sleep. And then I just wanted to go on line and check if any of my friends were on line, if anyone to talk to. And yes, that's when I typed something to him. He responded once. I typed something back, and he didn't respond, and then I went off line. 

Interviewer:  Did he indicate... did your computer indicate he was still on line when you sent that second message? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Oh, I don't know. I don't know. 

Interviewer:  Because you don't have that ability on your program? It wasn't instant messaging? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I think he was... he was on line, but that doesn't mean he necessarily was in front of his computer. 

Interviewer:  Right. But I mean, did it say he was on line? I mean, he may not be in front of the computer, but when you sent that second message back... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. Yes. 

Interviewer:  ... you thought he was on line, but he never responded. 

Joran van der Sloot:  He was. He was. Yes, he was. 

Interviewer:  Ok. Did he ever respond to that second message? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  An hour or two hours, three hours later? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. No, because then I... I turned off the computer and I'd gone to sleep. 

Interviewer:  Do you know... do you have any idea what he did after he answered the first message? Did he ever tell you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, never really talked about that after that. I never got a chance to talk to any of my friends or any of them, really, after that. 

Interviewer:  So you don't know if he went to sleep or he got back in his car. You don't know. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I mean, I can't say anything that I don't know anything about.

Interviewer:  All right. So when was the next time you saw Deepak? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was the following night at 12:00 at night. 

Interviewer:  Where? 

Joran van der Sloot:  At the casino again. 

Interviewer:  The same casino. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no, we went to another casino, the Radisson casino, and we were playing a poker tournament that night, as well. 

Interviewer:  Did he give you a ride, or did you meet him there? How did that work out? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Oh, he called me and... and... he called me from his work and he's, like, Where are you? And I said, I'm at the Radisson with some friends, because I was there with some friends, playing poker. And he said, Ok, I'm coming to you. And so then, yes, he came there. 

Interviewer:  Had you ever hung out with him two nights in a row before? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Two nights in a row? Never, really, because he works a lot and... yes. 

Interviewer:  When you met up with him on the night of the 29th, the night going into Natalee's disappearance, when was the most recent time before that that you'd spent time with him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  The most recent time before that? 

Interviewer:  Yes. 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't remember exactly when it was. 

Interviewer:  More than a week or two weeks? Any idea? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, it was probably a week. 

Interviewer:  So this was... so when he called you the second night, on the night of the 30th, to meet you at the Radisson, that was something different, the two nights in a row where you guys were together. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Sorry? 

Interviewer:  That was something different that you guys were together two nights in a row, that he would call you the second night. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. I guess so. It wasn't really anything. He just called me, asked me where I was, and I said I was at the Radisson. And that's where he came to. Then when we actually... when he came there, and I just finished up and then we were going to play blackjack at another casino. And so we went outside of the... we went out of the... out of the casino and stepped into his car there. And that's exactly when I got a phone call from my dad saying, There's people here in front of their house looking for their daughter. 

Interviewer:  Up until getting that phone call from your father, did Deepak say anything to you unusual or anything that stands out in your mind? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, not really. 

Interviewer:  Did he act any... any... did he actually like he always acted? I mean, was everything normal? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, everything was. Yes. Actually, no one... no one knew anything. Everyone — everything... everyone just acted normal. I mean, it was just, you know, I went to school the next day. I just went to school, I took... I took an exam that day and I did well on the exam. I went the next day, and everything was just normal. Just nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Interviewer:  But that's for you. I'm just trying to figure out with Deepak, if, I mean, it was unusual that you are with him two nights in a row, that he calls you. And I'm trying to figure out, you know, whether or not he was acting unusual, in your mind, between the time he arrived at the casino at the Radisson and the time your father called. Anything out of the ordinary? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary, no. 

Interviewer:  What was he doing in the casino while you were gambling, between at the time he arrived and the time your father called? 

Joran van der Sloot:  He was just standing there, watching. 

Interviewer:  Had you ever been to a casino with him before? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Not... yes, one time before that, I think. And just two of my friends over there, as well. They were playing, too, so he was just standing there, watching us. 

Interviewer:  Well, when he arrived at the Radisson, did he come over and talk to you and say, Hi, I'm here? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, he was... he was just standing there watching us the whole time because I was at the table playing. You can't actually go in there and go talk to people. So... 

Interviewer:  Did he nod at you, like, Hi, I'm here? I mean, anything when he arrived (unintelligible)

Joran van der Sloot:  No, at one point, I saw him standing there, and then that's when I noticed he was there. 

Interviewer:  And there was no of communication between the two of you? You're playing, he's standing over at the... wherever he was standing?

Joran van der Sloot:  No. No. 

Interviewer:  So you get the phone call from your father. Were you at the table when you got the call? 

Joran van der Sloot:  When I got the phone call? No, we were... I... we'd actually left already, and we were going to the car to go to another casino, and that's when we got that phone call. 

Interviewer:  Where were you planning to go? 

Joran van der Sloot:  We were planning to go to, in town, the Excelsior casino there. Or not the Excelsior... the Crystal (ph) casino there. 

Interviewer:  All right. So when you're standing at the car, did he say anything to you all? Did he ask you about the night before? Did he discuss the night before? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, he didn't... he didn't ask me anything. 

Interviewer:  Never mentioned it at all. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Never mentioned it at all. 

Interviewer:  Do you find that unusual or not? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Joran van der Sloot:  It's just normal. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Ok. So your father... so what did your father say in the phone call? 

Joran van der Sloot:  In the phone call? Yes, he called me and he said, There's people here in front of the house looking for their daughter. 

Interviewer:  Did you know who they meant, who the daughter was, at that point? 

Joran van der Sloot:  At the point, when I got that phone call, I was, like, you know, (DELETED) what if it's that girl from last night, you know, the girl from the beach? That was my first reaction. 

Interviewer:  Did you actually say that to Deepak, or did you think that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I thought that. And then that's when... you know, when I hung up, I said, Ok, we're coming... we're coming home. And so then I... when I hung up the phone, I was, like... I was, like, you know, (DELETED), and I talked to Deepak and then I just told him what my dad just said on the phone. And he was, like... he was, like, (DELETED), too. And then that's when we... that's when we made up a story to say, you know, that we didn't... that we dropped her off at the Holiday Inn. 

Interviewer:  Whose idea was it to make up the story, yours or Deepak's? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It was... it was kind of both ours. I mean, I was, like, Oh (DELETED), you know? What if something happened to her? You know, what if she went in the ocean? Or you know, what if anything happened to her? You know, that... you know, that was my first reaction. That was... that was my first normal reaction. And then... yes, so then Deepak was then... he said, Ok, I'll call my brother and I'll say that we dropped her off at the Holiday Inn. 

Interviewer:  Did Deepak act like he was trying to help you out or he was trying to help himself out, at that point? You got... do you have any sense of that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. It seemed at that point like he was trying to help me out. 

Interviewer:  That had more of the issue because you were the last? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Did you have any thoughts that he might know more? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  No thought at all. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, never. Definitely not at that point. 

Interviewer:  All right. So did he provide any sort of encouragement? I mean, in that ride from the Radisson to your house, what was Deepak saying? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, he called his brother and he said... he said to his brother (unintelligible) that, Well, we're going to, you know... we're going to say the girl from yesterday... we're going to say we dropped her off at the hotel. And you know, so if anyone calls you, you know, say that. 

And then when we got home — I mean, there was... when we got home, there wasn't anyone there. We got home, there was no one there. And then I called my dad, and, like, Where are you? And they're, like, Oh, yes, we're on the way to you, to go to the casino. And then I was, like, Ok, but we're at home. (unintelligible) Ok, stay there. We're coming to you. So they came back to us. 

So I saw a van pull up, and a police car. And you know, they jumped out of the... people jumped out of the car and a whole group came up to us and was, like, you know, What — what happened to my daughter? Where is she? You know, What did you do to her? You know, they... really, you know, screaming, going (unintelligible) Deepak, they were saying, Oh, we're the FBI, telling us they were FBI agents. We saw videotape footage of you and... in the casino with her, talking to her. 

And you know, just, they were... you know, at that point, you were, like (unintelligible) Oh, you know, (DELETED), like, I have to go... you know, that's why we... that's why we lied. We were, like, you know, under so much pressure, you don't know what to do at that point. 

Interviewer:  On the drive to your house, why do you think you needed to lie? Why did you not think it was enough to say, I left her on the beach? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Of course, I... of course, that's what we should have done. I mean, that was the biggest, biggest mistake very, probably biggest mistake of my life. But I mean, at that point, it's just... you weren't... I wasn't thinking that, you know... I probably wasn't thinking clearly, like, something... you know, you're thinking, Oh, something bad might have happened to her, you know? You weren't (unintelligible) thinking clearly. I didn't want to have anything, you know, to do with any of that. You just wanted to get away from it as... you know, as fast as possible. 

Interviewer:  Did Deepak say anything to you in the car, like, you know, What happened to her or Where was she? Did he ask you questions at all? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, not at all. 

Interviewer:  He had no questions of you about... about you and Natalee and where you'd been and what are you doing? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. Not one. 

Interviewer:  Do you think that... looking back at that, does that strike you as unusual or not? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. 

Interviewer:  No idea. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  So you arrive home. And now, your father had gone to the Wyndham Hotel to look for you, is that right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I think so. 

Interviewer:  Do you know why he went to the Wyndham and not the Radisson? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Because that's... that's where the... I don't know. I think that's where we said we were because that's where the car was parked. 

Interviewer:  So is the Wyndham next to the Radisson? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It's a couple hotels farther up. 

Interviewer:  Ok. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Like, that's where... that's when we were driving. That's where the car was at the point when they called us. 

Interviewer:  So when you arrive at home, you're there first. Nobody else is there. Then the van pulls up. When you're standing there, were you having any conversation with Deepak at all while you're waiting to figure out what's going on? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I mean, when we... when we got there, it was, basically, the story came up, you know, all out of... all out of itself, you know? It was basically making up a lie, you know, as we go along. I mean... 

Interviewer:  So you hadn't made up the lie about the two black guys and her stumbling. Had you... had you... 

Joran van der Sloot:  I didn't make up any of that. I mean, we were there, and they said, Ok, well, then let's go to the Holiday Inn. And you know, we got in the car with... with the police officers and they went in the van. And then we went there. I mean, that's the only... just... me and Deepak, we didn't get a chance to talk to each other at all about it to actually make up, you know, a story. So it was basically making it up as we go along. 

I mean, and we got out... and we got out, and then Deepak said, Oh, yes, there were two security guards there that saw her... that saw her when she got... when she stepped out of the car. And that's what... that's what he told the police. And I was, like, you know... that's what... now, if you also look back at that, you're, like... I mean, that's... that's horrible. They got arrested and held for 10 days because of this. That's really... I mean, that's something that you know, I can't forgive myself for, either. 

When I was at the police (unintelligible)in Nord (ph), I had this... one of the guys was next to me. And you know, he was always happy. He was always singing and talking about his... about his wife and his kid. And I was in the cell next to him. And I was talking to him, too, you know? He was really, you know, a nice guy, and you felt so guilty that it was your fault that, you know, he got arrested. That's something, you know, you feel horrible for. 

Interviewer:  So the story with the two guards who got arrested, or security guards, that was Deepak's story, and you went along with it. It is that essentially right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, but that's still not... you know, that's not... that doesn't mean anything. I just felt, you know, horrible that they got arrested, too. I mean, at that point, you're really only thinking about yourself (unintelligible) and now you got to tell the truth or you're even more... you know, you're even more screwed. You're more in trouble. 

So you know, it was more like, you know, at that point, you didn't really care about them. You're more caring about, you know... about yourself. And you know, when I talked to that guy later on, when he was in the cell next to me, you know, you felt... I felt like... I felt like (DELETED), and I felt so bad because he was really, you know, a nice guy to talk to. He was singing. Everyone else that was there, you know, he was keeping them happy there and telling stories. He was really a... you know, a good guy. He was really a nice guy. 

Interviewer:  Was the story made up... just so I have the right idea. Was that made up when you went back to the Holiday Inn? Is that when the story was made up? Or is that when Deepak said that to the police? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  So, that was in the middle of the night essentially and you're all driving back to the Holiday Inn for you to point out where you last saw Natalee essentially? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  Where are you in the car and where is Deepak? 

Joran van der Sloot:  We were in the car with police. When we were in the police car I was with him and they couldn't officially do... do anything either. I mean I don't know why they were there because, you know, after someone... you can only do something after someone is missing 48 hours, so really just parents, you know, worried about their daughter that came and were asking questions. That's what it was. 

Interviewer:  How... did you talk to Deepak at all at any time? Have you talked to him about the fact that you guys made up this story like in the days that followed or anything? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, of course. In the days that followed we were at my house. They came to my house probably once ever two days and we talked about it by the pool. And I mean I don't know how many times I said, you know, you know, we never knew it would get this far that she'd be missing for so long. I mean we couldn't know anything like that. 

I mean we talked about it too, you know. Should we go to the police and tell them the truth anyway? We'll probably get in trouble but, you know, I mean we... we thought about that too. I mean it's not like anything bad, I mean. 

Interviewer:  Was either one of you saying, no let's keep to the story? I mean was Deepak saying, no let's keep to the story or were you saying that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, in the end we had to (unintelligible) you know we have to keep to the story. We thought we were going to be in big trouble. 

Interviewer:  Where was... was Satish part of this discussion or just you and Deepak? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, Satish was there a couple times. One time Deepak came just by himself. 

Interviewer:  What was Deepak saying? Did he give you any more? Like was he... tell me what he was like in those days following. 

Joran van der Sloot:  He was just, you know, he was normal how he normally is. 

Interviewer:  Was he worried? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Worried, I don't know. You'd have to... you'd have to ask him. I can't answer questions that are... that are, you know, you can ask him about. 

Interviewer:  Did he appear though, I mean like did he appear worried? I mean did you observe him or just anything unusual about him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  Did he say anything that sort of stuck in your mind at all since then? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, not really. 

Interviewer:  Did he say anything about, you know, adding more to the story? Was he ever suggesting anything? 

Joran van der Sloot:  He never suggested adding... adding more to the story. I mean that story we made up that one time is the one we told the police the first time as well because, yes, I mean we thought about, you know, Ok, you know, tell the truth. 

But at some point we were like, oh, she probably just went with someone else or probably just ran away and, you know, we never thought something bad, you know, could have happened or might have happened, never, you know. 

Interviewer:  Did Deepak ever say... did you ever confront Deepak about it or ask him like, you know, did you go back or anything like that (unintelligible)? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I never once asked him. I never once asked him that. 

Interviewer:  Were you ever curious whether that could have happened or not? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, I mean of course like at points like now you're thinking what could have happened. I mean I knew him and he was a, you know, he was a good guy from everything I know then but, you know, at points where you're seeing now that your statements aren't the same that's not something that's normal. 

I mean I wouldn't know why they wouldn't admit that, you know, his brother picked me up. I don't know why they both wouldn't say that. That's just something that... that for me that's mind boggling for me I mean. And they're saying also that we went to the lighthouse when we never even went to the lighthouse. 

And, even statements from the security guard that was at the lighthouse said a car never went to the lighthouse at all. I mean that's, you know, that's mind... for me that's mind boggling. 

Interviewer:  After you were arrested, I think you were arrested on the 9th is that right, 9th of June? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I think we were... yes. 

Interviewer:  Ok, and I think there's a declaration, and correct me if I'm wrong, of the 13th of June. It's in Dutch and I've seen a translation. I can't read Dutch. But I think that it says that you say that Deepak murdered Natalee is that wrong? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, that's not. I never said anything like that. 

Interviewer:  Never said that. 

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, no one, I mean you're talking about it very openly now and, you know, people don't know what it was like in those... in those interrogations where they interrogate you from 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. I mean it's from 8:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night. 

And, you know, they scream at you. They put pictures in your face. You know they do everything. I mean the police did everything to try and solve, try and solve this case. They put us under, you know, so much pressure. 

I mean they tell you, you know, oh yes, remember Deepak and Satish are brothers. They're going to make up a story against you. I mean at some point you go, your mind goes so... so, you know, crazy that you just probably you want to say, "Ok, I did something" just so you can go back, you know, to your cell and sleep or it wasn't an easy time at all. 

Interviewer:  Well, I take it, I mean you never said you did it in any of these declarations. 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, no. 

Interviewer:  Ok, you never said that. Did you ever in any of these declarations say that Deepak did anything wrong? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I never said anything, that they did anything wrong. 

Interviewer:  Never said anything? 

Joran van der Sloot: Never. 

Interviewer:  Either one of them? 

Joran van der Sloot: No. 

Interviewer:  Did the police ever say to you anything about Deepak and Satish? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I mean the police themselves, you know, I think they always felt that we were... we were guilty I think and I still think most of the police here do think that. And, you know, they will always put... they put so much, you know, pressure on us and, you know, interrogating us for hours at a time, lying to you, I mean coming into the room saying, "Ok, we found... we found her body and your fingerprints on it (unintelligible)." 

Interviewer:  They said that to you? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, and I mean what at that point all I could do was laugh because, you know, it's just, you know, I don't have anything to do with that. I mean the part you did wrong was... was leaving a girl on the beach and lying to the police. I mean that's... you can't go back now and change all that. I can't go back and change any of that. 

Interviewer:  Now, did you ever tell the police anything about or the interrogators about Deepak or Satish, whether it be true or false? I mean correct it here but did you ever say anything about them? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I never said anything strictly bad about that is that what you mean? 

Interviewer:  Yes, did you ever say anything at all to the police that either A is true or B is untrue now so that we can sort of straighten out what was said in the interrogations and what was not? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean at one point I even told the police that Deepak and Satish had dropped me off at my... at my house and that they are the... and they left with Natalee alone. 

Interviewer:  That was false, right? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, of course. 

Interviewer:  Ok. 

Joran van der Sloot:  But I mean at that... you know, you were like, the police was telling you, oh yes, Deepak and Satish are trying to make up a story against you. They're trying to get you, you know, they're trying to get you screwed and just at that point (unintelligible). 

Interviewer:  Did you ever say anything back though, anything, anything accusatory about one of them? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I never said that they... because I don't know. I mean I know what it feels now to be accused of something you didn't do. 

Interviewer:  Right. 

Joran van der Sloot:  And right now I can't... I can't say that... 

Interviewer:  I understand that now but I understand that now. But last summer when you were in custody, I understand that now that you feel that way but when you were in custody last summer was there anything that you said about them, whether it's true or false that accused them? 

Joran van der Sloot:  That accused them, just, no. I said that they, they dropped me off at my house and that they drove away with the girl, which wasn't true. 

Interviewer:  Ok. 

Joran van der Sloot:  And, but to accuse them directly, no, I never said anything like that. 

Interviewer:  So you never said that Deepak assaulted her or anything like that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. 

Interviewer:  Never said that you thought it might have happened or anything like that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I mean a lot of things, a lot of... the police talk to you a lot and off the record too. I mean they turn off the camera and, you know, they keep you in a... in a room and just like it's a very thin room there at the police station and they'd come in the room and talk to you and, you know, they'd... they'd talk to you for a long time. And they talk to you there off the record too. I mean they did... they even sent special interrogation people from Holland over to come and interrogate us. 

Interviewer:  What day were you released or what... do you remember when it was when you were released? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I think it was the 4th of September. 

Interviewer:  Have you had any conversations with Deepak or Satish? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I haven't said one word to them. 

Interviewer:  Text message? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Nothing. I've had... 

Interviewer:  Phone call? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Nothing. I haven't had any contact with them ever since then. 

Interviewer:  Are you curious to talk with them? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I don't want to talk to them anymore. 

Interviewer:  Why? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Because I mean if you... I mean the reason I was held there also for 90 days was that they wouldn't, you know, they didn't... at the end they didn't come out with a true story either. They didn't say that they picked me up and they dropped me off at home. 

Interviewer:  Why do you think they didn't say that? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. I mean it could be... it could be that, I mean like I said I'm not... I'm not someone that right now can go and accuse someone else because I lied myself. I mean I can't go do anything like that but it could be a reason that they, you know, they just wanted to go home because I had that same feeling too. I just wanted to go home and go to my family. And I just wanted to, you know, get on... get on with my life, I mean. 

All that 90 days you spent there was, you know, wasn't easy at all. It wasn't a fun, good time at all and you just want to go home at some point like that. I mean you know you didn't do anything illegal. You know you didn't do anything wrong and you just want to go home.

Interviewer:  We don't know Deepak and we don't know Satish. How do you describe each one of them? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, yes, they're nice guys too. I mean from what I... the times I spent with them they're nice guys too I mean. There's nothing that I... 

Interviewer:  Nothing unusual about them? 

Joran van der Sloot:  That I find unusual about them, no. 

Interviewer:  Are you suspicious in any way of either one of them? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean at one point, I mean of course you start thinking, you know, why wouldn't someone say that they... that they, you know, they dropped you off at home, I mean? I was mad. I mean I was really, you know... one time they put us together in the same room and, you know, we were like, of course you get mad about that. 

You get... you get frustrated like why, why won't you tell it? I mean why won't you just come forward and tell the truth now. We always agreed. That's what we agreed on, if something, you know, if it gets so far we have to tell the truth and then to not come out and tell the truth at all. 

Interviewer:  What did they say? 

Joran van der Sloot:  They just... either they didn't say anything or they said that, yes, we didn't... we didn't... we didn't pick you up. 

Interviewer:  But they wouldn't say that to the police, I mean wouldn't correct it with the police? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean they haven't. They haven't told the police that, no. 

Interviewer:  Do you know the DJ for the Tattoo, the party boat? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, that's another thing that, you know, we talked about that I wanted to talk to you about too. I mean that's... like I even feel, I feel horrible for too. I mean he was just trying... trying to help. I don't know the guy. I've never met him before. 

Interviewer:  You don't know this guy? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know this guy and I never talked to him before in my life. 

Interviewer:  Do you know if Deepak knows him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know if Deepak knew him. All that happened this one day he called me and he said, you know, "I got the jackpot" and I was like "Yes, what happened?" He's like, "Oh, don't worry. I'm going to come... I'm going to come to your house and tell you." 

And then he came to me and he said that someone had come up to him and said that he saw us, that he'd seen us drop the girl off at the Holiday Inn and that he would... and that, yes, if there was anything he'd testify to that to police. That's what Deepak told me. So, I was like, you know, Ok. That's great. 

Interviewer:  So, Deepak was adding to the lie essentially coming up with a corroboration of the lie, the Holiday Inn's lie. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, you know, he talked to the... I don't know what - - I wasn't there when he talked to Steve Croes. I don't know what went along with him but, you know, he just talked to Deepak and he came, yes, and that Steve Croes ended up saying that he saw us dropping Natalee off at the Holiday Inn. And they talked for... I mean they held him for ten days too. I mean that's — that's not... that's not fun to be in jail at all. They talked to him for ten days. 

Interviewer:  But he had... but he had lied. I mean they caught him in that lie. 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, and then by that time we changed our declaration already. I mean, I mean he lied, yes. 

Interviewer:  So, I take it that Deepak told you that between May 30th and June 9th... 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. 

Interviewer:  ...told you the story about the Tattoo boat. Did you ask him how he knew the guy? 

Joran van der Sloot:  No, he told me he didn't know the guy. 

Interviewer:  The guy just spontaneously came up to him? 

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, at work. That's what he told me. The guy (unintelligible) came up to him at work and told him that. 

Interviewer:  I assume you thought that was odd. 

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. I don't know. I mean I don't know if that's true or not. I never met the guy before. 

Interviewer:  What was it like for you in jail? 

Joran van der Sloot:  It wasn't, I mean, I mean they treated me really well there when I was there. I mean all the people there were great. Also, you know, the security guards and everyone was really, really supportive, really good but, I mean of course it's not fun to be in jail I mean. 

You know you don't have your, you know, you don't have your freedom to walk, to do what you want to do. I mean now you take things that you probably took for granted in the past, like you know, I had so much time to just think about everything and think about life and, you know, everything that you were doing that was, you know, not right, that it was, you know, wrong. 

I mean now those things that you took for granted, just walks on the beach or walks in the park or talk with your friends, I mean, now when I have the chance to do stuff like that it's... I look at it in... in a better way. I mean life's super... super fragile. 

I mean for the... I mean it's... you know I look at life in a way, different way now and now I just want to live every day, you know, to its fullest and just, you know, see how... how, you know, important life really is. I had a long time to think about what you did was wrong and shouldn't have. 

You know lying to the police was... was wrong, stupid, just oh, and you know everything was just, everything that you did, everything that you did, you know, I had a long time to think about all my friends and about my... about my girlfriend. I mean I had a girlfriend at the time too. I mean, you know, you go to... you got to think about all that stuff. 

And you're like, you know, what, you know what are you doing? Because it was... it was a normal... it was a normal thing for us to do, you know, go to our friends, go to the beach, talk to American tourists, you know, then go out with them and have a good time and, you know, nothing... nothing ever bad has ever happened. I mean it's happened probably 20, 20 times nothing has ever gone wrong. 

And this is something it's — everyone wants to find out what happened and I think people need to find out what happened for everyone's sake, you know, just to get this closed with and get this moved on with. And I mean I don't care if someone thinks badly of me now. I mean that's really... I really don't care about that anymore. 

What I care about is that a lot of stuff that's going on that's just wrong. I mean you can't go... you can't go on and boycott an island. I mean that's... you can't. With me that's super wrong. I mean people like Jamie Skeeters who will take a tape, who will tape someone without them knowing and go there and actually — and edit a tape in a way that is someone saying something they didn't say that's... that's sick. That's something you can't, I mean why would you go and set someone up for something, you know? Why would you go and do that? That's not even normal. 

Segment aired March 3, 2006 

Joran van der Sloot:  We talked about it a little earlier, too, about what happened at John F. Kennedy airport, I mean, that I arrived there, you know, to go to do an interview with ABC. We walked out the... I got my bags to walk out of the plane. I didn't know that there was someone on the plane there with me.

Interviewer:  Didn't know that.

Joran van der Sloot:  No. But they handed me... they handed me a paper. I didn't know what they were handing me. I said, you know, Thanks. And he stepped back and had a little disposable camera with him.

Interviewer: Did you see him take your picture?

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. He took two pictures, and I saw him... I saw him take those pictures. And then when we walked out, there were two customs guys (unintelligible) Oh, there he is. And they... yes, they took me and my friend and they put us in the... they put us in this room where we had to wait for three hours while... with no explanation of why they were holding us or, you know, nothing like that. Nothing like that got explained to us.

Finally, I saw an older gentlemen walk by and I asked, you know, What's going on? And they said, Oh, yes, we have to wait for a phone call to be able to let you go. And he did... and he finally let me have a phone call. And then, yes, in the end, this Delta woman came up to me and said, you know, When you go out, someone from ABC is waiting for you on the left- hand side. So you know, just go with him. And then she comes back and says, Oh, I can't tell you anything anymore. It's out of my hands.

And I walk out there, and there's this... there's this Bo Dietl and this whole group of people with all their... with their cameras and everything. We walk out. I mean, the — he comes up to me and he tries to give me papers, and the guy from ABC threw a jacket over my head and said, Come on, let's go.

And so we're walking. He's — he threw the ABC guy on the... on the ground, the producer. He threw him on the ground, with everyone... you know, everyone there watching and filming... filming it. He was screaming, you know, Welcome to America. Welcome to America, you know, Punk, where'd you hide her body? Where'd you hide her body? And you know, he was... he was screaming all that.

I think one... at one point, when I saw him throw... throw the producer on the ground, I went to step up. I wanted to know... I was, like, you know, What are you... what are you doing? You can't just throw this guy on the ground. I mean, I didn't know who Bo Dietl was. I mean, I didn't know who he was. But then I was thinking, you know, That's all he wants me to do. He wants me to react to him, to do something to him. And yes, that's all he wanted. That's all it would have taken for them to put just that little piece of video on the whole news, and that would have been it.

But I mean, then we went to the taxicab. We put the bags in the taxi. And again, he came, tried to stuff the papers down my jacket. And I took the papers out of my jacket and I threw them on the floor. I mean, I'd already gotten the papers on the plane. And yes, he threw... he threw the ABC producer on the ground again.

And then it's just something again... this whole case is about lying. I mean, that's really what it's all been about. Then why would you not... I mean, I've seen... I've seen Bo Dietl on your show and on other shows, too, saying he didn't throw the ABC producer on the ground. I mean, come forward and show the videotape, then, you know? It'll all been about lying. It's all been about, you know, everything like that. Then why would you go on TV and lie about something like that, too? That's just something that... I mean, there were a lot of people there that saw that. The taxi driver saw that. Everyone saw it. The (unintelligible) producer from "Nova" was there, he saw that. I mean, a lot of people saw that happen, too. And that's just something — why would you... if everything's about lying, and what they think they're doing is right, then why would you go on TV and lie?

Interviewer:  What... one of the things in this lawsuit that you mention is there's the accusation that you are essentially... that you're a... that you're a predator of some sort, that you've had these relationships with three other American young girls that have gone bad. Do you want to respond to that?

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, that's something that... everything in that lawsuit is (DELETED). That's something that, you know...

Interviewer:  That is not true?

Joran van der Sloot:  All those accusations are... nothing in there is true at all. And I mean, they're going to have a hard time. I don't know how they're going to prove that, if nothing of that is true. I mean...

Interviewer:  Have you ever been accused by a girl...

Joran van der Sloot:  Never. Never.

Interviewer:  ... or something... never?

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, you can talk to any girl I've ever been with, and they can say I always treated them in the right way. I mean, I never laid a finger on a girl without her wanting to. I've never done anything like that before ever with any girl.

Interviewer:  What's the anger management stuff, though? At some point, correct me if I'm wrong, that you were getting some sort of... you know, that... were you going to some courses or classes or something? Was there a problem with that?

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I never went to any.

Interviewer:  Nothing like that? Never been an anger issue?

Joran van der Sloot:  No. Never. No.

Interviewer:  That's just all made up?

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes.

Interviewer:  Totally... totally fiction?

Joran van der Sloot:  Totally made up.

Interviewer:  Ok.

Joran van der Sloot:  Totally fiction.

Interviewer:  In terms of the lawsuit, any sort of thoughts on what are going to do about it, or is it too soon?

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know, you know? I mean, it's going to... it's going to... I want to... there's nothing I'd rather do than go there and defend myself against that lawsuit. There's nothing I'd rather do. But I mean, they have... they have John Q. Kelly as their lawyer, and it's going to cost probably $100,000 to go there and defend yourself. It's money I don't have. It's money, you know, my dad doesn't have. It's not going to be easy to... you know, to go there into a U.S. court and go defend yourself. But there's nothing I'd rather do. If I have to get on a plane and go there and defend myself alone, without a lawyer, I mean, I'll go do that. I'm going to go defend myself against that. I mean, those accusations are sick, and I had nothing — I didn't do anything of the kind in there. There's nothing I'd rather do than go there and defend myself.

Interviewer:  Beth Holloway... what's your thought feeling about Natalee's mother?

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, like, we... like we talked about before, too, I don't have any... I don't have any bad... I mean, not regrets, I mean, I don't think badly of her. I mean, if my daughter... or I don't have a... I mean, if my daughter was missing, or my brother or my mother, you know, if someone was missing that I loved, and there was some kid with them last, you know, I'd probably feel... and everything's that's here in the media, I'd feel that way, too. I mean, I'd be... I'd be pretty upset, too.

But the things... the actions she's taking are wrong. Those are... the things she's doing is wrong. This is something that doesn't belong... this isn't supposed to go through the media. This is something that, you know, a lot of emotions are involved from a lot of people, and this is something that, you know... that should be handled outside of the media. This is something that shouldn't be done through the media.

This is something that, you know, if... I've always said... I've always said, and I said it to ABC, too, but they never put it in their piece... that if Beth Twitty or Dave Holloway were to say, Joran, I want to come to Holland and talk to you, I mean, I'll invite them into my house. I'll answer any questions they have. I mean, I'll understand if they don't... you know, if they're mad at me, I mean, I can understand that all. I can understand if they hate me, or they despise me. I understand all that, all.

But when I was in jail, I signed the paper for them to come talk to me, and then my lawyers and my parents said, No, you can't... you can't talk to them because they can come out saying anything, that you said anything. And you know, I've always — I've always wanted to talk to them. And I know they might not listen to me, and you know, they don't... they might not believe me. But I'll talk to them and tell them anything they want to know, answer any of their questions, do anything of that.

I mean, I think the actions they're taking are definitely wrong, The things that they are doing from outside of (unintelligible) thinking I had something to do with them, that's... I don't blame them for that at all. I mean, like I said, if I was... if I was looking at this from the outside, I'd think I had something to do with it because, you know, a lot of stuff happened that's just weird, that just doesn't make sense, either.

But what is important is that the actions, the other actions they're taking, I think, are just wrong. I don't agree with them at all.

Interviewer:  How do you describe yourself?

Joran van der Sloot:  Myself? I'm just... you know, I'm someone that... I'm very outgoing. I like... you know, I think... I love doing sports. Most important thing for me now is my school. I mean, that's all I have going for me, in Holland. I mean, that's the most important thing for me now. That's what I'm really concentrating on. And yes, I mean, I get along with people really well. I talk to people really well. And you know, I've never had anyone with me that, you know, didn't seem to like me.

Interviewer:  And your dreams are, at this point, to do what?

Joran van der Sloot:  I'm studying international business management at my school. And yes, my dreams are just to finish that study, and you know, go on with my life. And I just hope this get solved, for everyone, for everyone involved. For everyone's sake, I really hope that this get solved. And like I said, I mean, I'll use every second of the time that I get to talk. I mean, just if anyone knows anything, just please, please go forward to the police and tell them everything that you know. I mean, it's just so important.

Interviewer:  What's your theory? What do you think happened?

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, I'm not going to... I mean, I have 20 of my own theories. I mean, I've thought so many things that could have happened. I mean... but I'm not going to... all people have done is speculate. That's all people have done, and that's wrong. I mean, so I'm not going to go on and speculate and say what I think happened, either.

Interviewer:  Think it's going to be solved?

Joran van der Sloot:  I think it'll be solved. I think...

Interviewer:  Why?

Joran van der Sloot:  Because there's... there's... I mean, it has to be solved, for everyone involved. I think Aruba is doing everything they can to solve it, and I think it will be solved. I really believe deep down inside that it'll be solved.

Interviewer:  Any way to describe your experience over the last year and this sort of ongoing...

Joran van der Sloot: Well, it's been... I mean, I was 17. I'm 18 now. It's been, like, a good experience for me. I, you know, look at life in a way... different way now. I mean, I don't take things for granted anymore that I take for granted. And I changed my lifestyle a lot, as well. I mean, I've looked at all this stuff, and I mean, it's just so much (unintelligible) You feel like you have a whole, you know, load on you, as well. And at night... I mean, we've talked before, too, that you say, you know, it seems like you never sleep. I mean, this is part of my life, too. This is something that... you know, it's a big part of my life, and I want to get this case... I want this case to get solved, too, so I can move on with my life.

Interviewer:  Is Natalee dead or alive?

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't know. I mean, there's nothing...

Interviewer:  What do you think?

Joran van der Sloot:  There's no evidence at all to prove anything, not to say that she's alive and not to say that something happened to her. I mean, deep down... deep down inside, I don't think... I don't think that she's alive anymore. But I mean, there's every... anything... anything could have happened. Anything could have happened. I mean, I really don't know.

Interviewer:  You had something else you wanted to add.

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes. I wanted to say, like, what a lot of people don't understand is the differences between the actual legal systems, the American legal system and the Dutch legal system. If this would have happened in the States, I would have never ever even been arrested, would have never even been questioned. So I mean, now, at the end, if I look at it, I mean, now that you're playing, you know, (unintelligible) telling everyone exactly what happened, and you know, just trying also to get, you know, people to, you know, listen to what happened, maybe someone knows something. They hear me asking them if they know something, and they come forward.

If this would have happened in the United States, no one would have been arrested and no one... no one... they wouldn't have even been able to arrest someone in this case. There's absolutely not any... any evidence of anything, not of any foul play, not of anything like that. There's not any evidence to show that she's alive. There's not evidence to show that something happened to her. I mean, the only... you know, there's not any evidence at all in the entire case. I mean, it's something that I can't... you can't understand yourself, either.

Interviewer:  When you left her that night, were there any people around who might have seen something? You make the plea for people to come forward. Did you see anybody in the immediate area?

Joran van der Sloot:  No, that's exactly what I said. I mean, there were couples there on the beach. I mean, you know, please, come forward. You know, talk to the police. There was a couple that walked by when we were there on the beach. I mean, it's not... it's not like it's a deserted beach. It's a crowded area where there's a lot of people. You know, just come forward and talk to the... you know, tell the police everything you know. It's just very important.

Interviewer:  Is there any piece of information or any person who you think the police need to talk about, who they haven't spoken to?

Joran van der Sloot:  No. I don't know... I don't know anything about that. I only know what... what... you know, what I did, what I had to do with, and I can't speak for anyone else. And I don't know anyone else that I think they should go talk to. I don't know.

Interviewer:  And no other piece of evidence or, like, you know, surveillance or phone calls or e-mails or anything else?

Joran van der Sloot:  No. They have all the surveillance and they have all the phone calls and all the... all that stuff they have. And you know, that's all... that's all been looked by them, as well. (unintelligible) all that's... you know, that can help solve this case is, you know, the person that knows something to come forward and talk to the police. I mean, it's just important for everyone, so everyone can move on with their life.

Interviewer:  Are you willing to talk more to the police, to Karin Janssen, if they ask you?

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I'm not... I'm not going to talk to the police anymore. I mean, I've — they put me through a lot, as well, you know? And they were trying to solve the case, but I don't trust the police anymore, either. I don't trust the police here anymore, either.

Interviewer:  How about the prosecutor, Karin Janssen?

Joran van der Sloot:  No, I think she has a personal... you know, I don't think... I think she took this case personal from the beginning, and she didn't like me at all. And I mean, you know, I won't talk to anyone, any of them.

Interviewer:  So how do we sort of move forward, if they want more information from you, if they think that'd be beneficial in some way?

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, I don't know. I mean, I've told them everything I know, and that's all... that's all I can do. And it's up to them now to solve the case, for them to do everything they can to solve the case so just everyone, you know, this can get solved and everyone can just get on with their life.

Interviewer:  Treated fairly or unfairly by the system here?

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, that's... you know, that's a hard question to answer because now that, you know, since you've been... you know, you lied... you lied to the police, I mean, how can you say... if anything, those days in jail, when I thought about it, I deserved those. I mean, it's all been a learning experience for me, too. If anything, I deserved those days in jail because... just for being so... yes, so stupid, so... you know, just thinking about yourself. And I think, if anything, that, you know, my father being in the legal system worked against me.

Interviewer:  Why?

Joran van der Sloot:  I don't think... they took it harder on me because of that.

Interviewer:  In terms of hard, which way?

Joran van der Sloot:  Not treating you, you know, fairly, not treating you in the way they should have... they should have treated you because even the police did a lot of things that police shouldn't do during interrogations. I mean, everyone has the view that the police, you know, treated us in a different way because of that, but that's definitely not the case. I mean, we weren't treated well by the police at all. I mean, not in any way, not in any aspect.

Interviewer:  How? Give me an example.

Joran van der Sloot:  I mean, one of the police officers hit me during interrogations. When he took me out of the room, he said, (DELETED) the cameras, and he hit me. I mean, they would come to talk to me in rooms, you know, when there's no... when there's no cameras and they're not taping everything. They'd come and talk to me, and you know, fill (ph) your whole... almost make you... you know, make you go crazy. You know, they yell stuff at you, say stuff to you and... you know?

Interviewer:  The interrogation started at what time of day usually?

Joran van der Sloot:  At the beginning. I mean, (unintelligible) the beginning, sometimes they'd interrogate from 8:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night.

Interviewer:  Under what conditions?

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes, in a room with a videocamera on you and two interrogators in the room.

Interviewer:  So they'd turn off the camera, and one hit you when they turned the camera off?

Joran van der Sloot:  They'd... that happened one day, when they'd hit me. And when they went back... when I went back to the actual... back to the jail right away, I had the... of course, I had the doctor look at it. I had everyone there, the social worker look at it, and they all saw that and put up their reports. And when I got back to the actual jail there, everyone's, like, you know, What happened to you? And you know, that's something... again, I mean I can understand the police frustration, too, because, you know, we lied to them, and they don't know what to do next, either. I mean, I can understand that frustration, too, but to go hit someone doesn't solve anything.

Interviewer:  How badly were you hit? Where... how were you hit?

Joran van der Sloot:  I was hit... I was just... I was sitting in a chair, and I was hit with an open hand across the head.

Interviewer:  Any other way that you were mistreated while you were in jail?

Joran van der Sloot:  When I was in jail, no. I mean, the people there... that were there in jail with me were also, you know, great. I mean, they were... you know, I got along with everyone there, and I wasn't treated badly there. The guards were... always treated me well. I mean, I wasn't treated there bad in any way, either.

Interviewer:  Other than the lie about the Holiday Inn and the two guards (unintelligible), did you lie to the police at all?

Joran van der Sloot:  That's what I said to you about that, that Deepak Kalpoe and Satish dropped me off at my house. That's (unintelligible)

Interviewer:  So two lies, essentially.

Joran van der Sloot:  Yes.

Interviewer:  Any other lies?

Joran van der Sloot:  Any other lies? No.

Interviewer:  Know anything else about this?

Joran van der Sloot:  No.

Interviewer:  Nothing about what happened to Natalee?

Joran van der Sloot:  No.

(Interview ends)