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FBI, Aruban authorities to test hair in search for missing girl

From Susan Candiotti
CNN

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Natalee Holloway with her mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, on Holloway's high school graduation day in May.

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Aruba

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- The FBI and Aruban authorities plan to test strands of blond hair found on a piece of duct tape to see if it belongs to Natalee Holloway, a missing Alabama teenager, a law enforcement source told CNN.

A park ranger found the tape Sunday on Turtle Beach and turned it over to authorities, the source said.

Aruban investigators were sending a sample to a lab in the Netherlands and shared it with the FBI. It was not known when the hair would be sent to the FBI's crime lab in Quantico, Virginia.

One of the goals of the tests will be to determine if the hair is that of Natalee Holloway, the blond 18-year-old who has been missing since May 30.

It is not known how large the piece of tape is, or how much hair was found on it. The hair was described as blond.

Aruban authorities continue to hold Joran van der Sloot, 17, in connection with the investigation into Holloway's disappearance. He has denied harming Holloway and has not been formally charged.

Holloway was seen leaving a night club with Van der Sloot and two other men the night she disappeared.

She was part of a group of about 100 classmates and parent chaperones from the Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook, who were in Aruba to celebrate their high school graduation.

Van der Sloot's mother has said the teen told her that he was on the beach with Holloway but left her there because she wanted to stay.

The Associated Press reports that police took Van der Sloot back to the beach Saturday as part of their investigation. (Full story)

No one has been formally charged in the case.

The island has been searched by hundreds of volunteers, including a team from Texas EquuSearch, a group that also brought in dogs and side-scan sonar equipment.

Earlier this month, the Dutch air force sent three F-16 reconnaissance jets equipped with lasers and special cameras to aid in the search.

The aircraft made several passes over the island in hopes of finding some clue to Holloway's disappearance, but they were unsuccessful. (Full story)

Aruba is a protectorate of the Netherlands.

Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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