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Three suspects escorted to Aruba beach

F-16s to join search for missing Alabama teenager

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PALM BEACH, Aruba (CNN) -- Investigators took the three suspects in the disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway to a beach Sunday morning to check out their accounts of the night the girl was last seen, a government spokesman said.

Police took the three suspects to a stretch of beach near a Marriott hotel in separate sessions between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said.

"Investigators wanted to make sure that their stories matched," he said.

The suspects -- Deepak Kalpoe, 21; his brother, Satish, 18; and their friend Joran Van Der Sloot, 17 -- were still being interrogated Sunday afternoon, the spokesman said.

Holloway, 18, was last seen early in the morning of May 30 after leaving a nightclub with the Kalpoe brothers and Van Der Sloot.

The Kalpoe brothers and Joran Van Der Sloot initially told prosecutors they dropped Holloway off at the Holiday Inn where she was staying. But police said that story fell apart under questioning.

The Kalpoes' mother said one of her sons admitted lying to protect Van Der Sloot and said he and his brother took the Dutch youth and Holloway to a beach and dropped them off.

Anita Van Der Sloot also said her son changed his story and admitted being alone with Holloway on the beach, saying he left her there because she wanted to stay there.

The Kalpoe brothers and Van Der Sloot have been in police custody since June 9, and a hearing is scheduled early this week to determine whether they can be held an additional 60 days.

No formal charges have been filed against any of them, and lawyers for all three have said their clients are innocent.

Holloway, from Mountain Brook, Alabama, a Birmingham suburb, was celebrating her high school graduation with about 100 classmates and several parent chaperones when she disappeared.

Several hundred people have been involved in the search, and Dutch marines will dispatch a pair of F-16s outfitted with heat-seeking equipment to aid in the search starting Wednesday, an Aruban government spokesman said.

Also scouring the island are Texas search specialists who arrived last weekend.

Paul Van Der Sloot, Joran's father, was arrested June 23 but released three days later.

Aruba's chief prosecutor Karin Janssen said the elder Van Der Sloot and his wife interfered in the case by asking a friend of their son who was questioned by police what he had told them.

According to Janssen, Van Der Sloot also spoke about the case with his son and the two other suspects "some days after" Holloway was last seen.

"They were speaking about the situation that if you don't have a body, there is no case," Janssen said.

When investigators -- who learned about the conversation during their questioning of one of the Kalpoe brothers -- asked Paul Van Der Sloot about the comment, Janssen said the father told them he had only been speaking about such a situation "generally."

CNN has tried unsuccessfully to contact Paul Van Der Sloot and his wife, Anita, as well as attorneys representing Paul and Joran Van Der Sloot.

Three other individuals -- two security guards and a party boat disc jockey -- also were arrested and later released during the investigation.

CNN's Tracy Sabo contributed to this report.

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