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Aruba pond drained in search for teen

Sources: Gardener saw suspects the night girl disappeared

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PALM BEACH, Aruba (CNN) -- Investigators in Aruba said Wednesday they expect to finish draining a catch basin "within 24 hours" for clues that may lead them to missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway.

The pond is next to a racquet club and across the road from the beach where two brothers told police they dropped off Holloway and their friend early May 30, the day she disappeared.

A spokesman at the scene told CNN the pumping began about 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Searchlights guided firefighters overnight as they pumped at least 3,600 gallons of water a minute, or 2 inches an hour. Officials expect the task to be completed Wednesday night or Thursday.

The catch basin did not contain water when Holloway disappeared, but Hurricane Emily filled it with rain when it brushed the island last week. After the basin is drained, authorities expect to dredge the bottom.

Law enforcement sources close to the investigation told CNN a local gardener gave them information last weekend that made them want to search the pond for Holloway's body.

Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and his brother, Satish, 18, are still considered suspects in Holloway's disappearance despite being released from jail.

They told police that after leaving a nightclub they drove Holloway, 18, and Joran van der Sloot, 17, to the beach about a quarter-mile north of the Marriott Hotel and left them there.

All three were taken into custody June 9, but the two brothers were released July 4.

In a sworn statement, the gardener claims to have seen the Kalpoe brothers and Van der Sloot sitting in a darkened car near the racquet club about 2:30 that morning, the sources said.

The sources said that while the gardener did not specifically mention the pond, it is being drained because of its proximity to where he said he saw the car with the three males.

Van der Sloot's mother has said her son told her he was on the beach with Holloway but left without her because she wanted to stay.

No one has been charged in the girl's disappearance. Van der Sloot, the son of an Aruban judge who at one point also was briefly detained, remains in jail.

An appeals court judge is expected to rule on two motions -- one from Van der Sloot to disallow use of his DNA samples and a second to prevent local law enforcement from sharing evidence with the FBI.

Holloway was on a post-graduation class trip to Aruba with classmates from the Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook when she disappeared.

On Monday, Holloway's mother announced a reward of $1 million for her safe return. (Full story)

CNN's Susan Candiotti, Eric Marrapodi, Darryl Trimm and Bethany Chamberland contributed to this report.

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