Energizing a case that had seemed to go cold, Aruban police are reportedly looking into the possibility that the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway last spring could be linked to alcohol or drugs, CBS reports.
Witnesses have come forward who say the then 18-year-old Holloway had drugs in her possession and was drinking heavily on May 30, the day she disappeared, Gerald Dompig, deputy chief of police for Aruba, told CBS's 48 Hours Mystery for a program scheduled to air Saturday.
"We feel strongly that she probably went into shock or something happened to her system with all the alcohol – maybe on top of that, other drugs, which either she took or they gave her – and that she ... just collapsed," Dompig says, according to a transcript obtained by the Associated Press.
Following her death a cover-up may have taken place, Dompig adds, also specifying that witnesses did not observe Holloway taking drugs, just that she had them in her possession.
"After 10 months of investigation, including hearing many witnesses, we have strong indications that Natalee has died," Dompig tells AP, suggesting that the fatality could have come in a nonviolent way – such as shock or due to the effects of drugs and alcohol.
Holloway was last seen leaving a bar with Dutch national Joran van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. No one has been charged in her disappearance.
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