Oranjestad, Aruba – A judge on Thursday ordered the release of a Dutch teenager who has been jailed for nearly three months in the disappearance of an Alabama honors student and said he would be freed this weekend, the youth’s father and attorney said.
Paul van der Sloot said that the judge ruled there was no reason to hold van der Sloot’s son, Joran, 18, any longer on suspicion of murder but that the youth remained a suspect in the sexual assault of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway.
In a statement, the prosecutors office declined to comment on the ruling, saying it hasn’t received all of the decisions from the judge.
Joran van der Sloot was arrested June 9 along with two friends, Surinamese nationals Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Deepak Kalpoe, 21, on suspicion of involvement in Holloway’s disappearance. The Kalpoe brothers were released on July 4 but were re-arrested last week.
A judge ordered Satish Kalpoe to remain jailed another eight days, said government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said, without giving further details. The judge was still to rule on whether to continue holding or release Deepak Satish.
Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen May 30 leaving a bar with the Kalpoes and van der Sloot, hours before she was to end a vacation celebrating her graduation. No one has been charged, and extensive searches have produced no sign of her.
