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Prosecutor: 'No doubt' Natalee Holloway is dead

  • Story Highlights
  • Prosecutor: "We have enough evidence to prove the girl is not alive anymore"
  • Two brothers will remain in jail at least eight days
  • NEW: Joran van der Sloot arrives back in Aruba from Holland
  • They were last people seen with Alabama teenager before she vanished in 2005
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ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) -- There is enough evidence to prove Natalee Holloway is dead -- even if the Alabama teenager's remains are never found, Aruba's chief public prosecutor said Friday.

Natalee Holloway disappeared while on vacation in Aruba with classmates in 2005.

"There's no doubt in my mind that she's dead ... I think we have enough evidence to prove the girl is not alive anymore, even without a body," Hans Mos said.

"You don't need a body under our law to prove someone is dead. And any day that passes now is just more evidence that she is not alive anymore."

Joran van der Sloot, 20, arrived in Aruba late Friday, and is sheduled to appear before a judge Monday. He was flown with a police escort back to the island from the Netherlands, where he was attending college.

An Aruba judge Friday ruled authorities can continue to hold two other suspects in Holloway's disappearance -- Deepak, 24, and Satish Kalpoe, 21 -- for at least eight more days.

The brothers were arrested Wednesday in Aruba. Van der Sloot, the son of an Aruban judge, was arrested in the Netherlands the same day.

The three men apparently were the last people to see Holloway alive after she left a bar in Aruba. View a timeline of the case »

They are charged with "involvement in the voluntary manslaughter of Natalee Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway, resulting in her death."

All three have maintained their innocence.

Dutch investigators taking a fresh look at the case found some new evidence that led to the re-arrests, Mos told CNN.

The investigators used advanced techniques to re-examine existing information, including cell phone records and text messages exchanged the night Holloway disappeared. They found some discrepancies, Mos said.

As part of their work, investigators returned to the homes of the suspects to try to re-create transmissions.

The team also discovered that some existing evidence was improperly analyzed, he added.

Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers have been in jail since their arrests Wednesday. They previously had been arrested in the case in 2005, but a court released them, citing insufficient evidence.

Mos said his office will decide next Thursday whether to ask the judge to keep them in jail for an additional eight days. With a judge's approval, the men can be detained for eight days at a time while investigators continue to develop the case.

Meanwhile, van der Sloot will face a judge on Aruba on Monday who will decide whether there is enough evidence to detain him for eight days.

Van der Sloot's jail-time countdown began the day of his arrest. The prosecutor's office said it will request another eight-day stretch.

An attorney for van der Sloot said his client was bitterly surprised by the turn of events, because he felt he had left the incident behind him. The man has been attending college in the Netherlands. Video Watch what's expected to happen to the three suspects »

Natalee Holloway was on vacation in May 2005 with about 100 classmates celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School near Birmingham, Alabama.

Van der Sloot and the Kalpoes were the last people seen with Holloway as she left Carlos'n Charlie's nightclub in Oranjestad, Aruba, about 1:30 a.m. on May 30, 2005. The men have maintained they had nothing to do with her disappearance. She has not been found.

The high school group had planned to leave Aruba the next day, and Holloway's packed bags and passport were found in her hotel room after she failed to show up for her flight.

The Kalpoes have told police they dropped Holloway and van der Sloot off near a lighthouse at a beach on the northern tip of the island after they left the nightclub.

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

On Thursday, she told The Associated Press by telephone that investigators had recently questioned her family and the Kalpoe family.

"I think it's ridiculous after 2½ years to be doing this," she told the AP.

She told CNN on Friday she had no comment on her son's latest arrest.

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Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway, said her ex-husband, Dave Holloway, has hired divers who will use sonar equipment from a benefactor to search for the girl's remains in deep water surrounding the Caribbean island.

Aruba's criminal justice system is based on Dutch law and the Napoleonic code, legal experts say. In Aruba, authorities can make an arrest if they have reasonable suspicion that someone knows about or is involved in a crime. Magistrates investigate cases, and judges determine a suspect's guilt or innocence. There are no jury trials. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN's Phil Black, Eric Marrapodi and Kimberly Segal contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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