On May 30th, 2005, 124 students and 7 chaperones from Mount Brook High School in Birmingham, Alabama,

were set to return home from a graduation trip to the island of Aruba, formerly known as Netherlands Antilles.

Half of the students were booked for an early flight and the other half, including a young woman named Natalie Holloway, were booked for a 3 p.m. flight back to the United States.

The students in the second group were supposed to be packed up and in the hotel lobby at 10 a.m.

to catch a bus to the Queen Beatrix International Airport.

When Natalie's hotel roommate and good friend Ruth McVeigh woke up and didn't see her, she assumed

her friend had stayed in a different room. The students had taken full

advantage of the island nightlife and Ruth thought it likely that Natalie didn't want to wake her when she came in late.

It wasn't uncommon for students to crash in whichever room they ended up in at the end of the evening.

But by the time it was nearing 10 o'clock and Natalie was nowhere to be found, she started to panic.

Ruth had been asking other friends if they had seen Natalie, but none of them had.

When it was clear that Natalie hadn't returned to the hotel the night before, Ruth notified

the teachers that were chaperoning the trip.

The teachers rounded up the other students and asked when the last time they had seen Natalie

was.

One of the students said he had seen her the previous night in a silver car with some guys.

Another student said they also saw Natalie in the backseat with a tall white guy.

The Americans reported the missing young woman to hotel security and then the chaperones told

Natalie's friends they needed to get on the bus to the airport.

They didn't want to leave without Natalie, but one of the chaperones, Paul Lily, offered to stay behind and

wait for the missing girl.

Natalie's luggage and passport were still at the hotel, so she would definitely have to return

...