Birmingham, AL, November 28, 2007: The work of Birmingham forensic psychiatrist Andrew G. Hodges, M.D., has been identified by Dave Holloway as at least a portion of the new “material” cited in media accounts surrounding the re-arrest of three suspects in the disappearance of his daughter, Natalee Holloway.
Holloway also gives Dr. Hodges credit for the direction an imminent underwater search for Natalee’s body will take. On his most recent trip to Aruba, Holloway said, “I spoke with the lead prosecutor on the case and we had a suspicion that a boat may have been used (to dispose of Natalee’s body) – you know Joran (van der Sloot, one of the suspects) mentions that in one of his statements.”
“I would say I had a very, very strong suspicion she was in the ocean,” Holloway added, “and based upon what (Dr. Hodges) has come up with now – based on what he’s come up with independently – it’s confirmed my suspicion that she’s out in the ocean. But (Dr. Hodges) was able to come up with a lot more detail (on the probable location) than anyone could ever dream of. So I was very, very impressed with what he came up with and that he was able to tie all three of (the suspects) together…”
Using his “forensic thoughtprint” method, Hodges compiled a forensic profile of what he believes happened to the Mountain Brook teenager following her disappearance from an Aruban nightclub during a senior trip to the island in May 2005.
The profile, detailed in Hodges’ most recent book, Into the Deep: The Hidden Confession of Natalee’s Killer, was published in September. Dave Holloway said he forwarded it to Aruban authorities within 24 hours of reading it. Within weeks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Hodges, at the request of Aruban officials, to authenticate the work and qualify his profile for their legal system. They also asked him for an original copy of the e-mail on which the profile is based.
Hodges’ profile is based primarily on information he decoded from an e-mail written by suspect Deepak Kalpoe to an American acquaintance within five days of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance. Kalpoe, his brother Satish and friend Joran van der Sloot were the last people seen with Natalee. The three were re-arrested in late November and are being held on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter based on “new material.”
Hodges’ “thoughtprint decoding” technique identifies “thought patterns” that enable investigators to read between the lines of literal communication and find clues through the subconscious, the part of the mind which, according to Hodges, cannot lie and therefore is always confessing.
In analyzing Kalpoe’s e-mail, Hodges’ found numerous patterns indicating not only the girl’s death, but her sexual assaults prior to dying, the participants in the acts and the likely dumping of her body into deeper waters off the Aruban coast than have been searched to date. Now, Natalee’s father – encouraged by Hodges’ detailed profile – plans to search those waters for his daughter’s body with the help of Tim Miller’s Texas EquuSearch and Louis Schaefer with Underwater Expedition.
“I think this thing probably would not have gone forward without all of these confirmations including Dr. Hodges’ research. In fact, that information has been provided to the Arubans as part of the evidence file,” Holloway explained. “A lot more information came out in his profile than we ever imagined.”
