Murder victim. An 18-year-old graduate of Mountain Brook High School in Birmingham, Alabama, she traveled to the Caribbean island of Aruba with 125 members of her Senior Class. On Monday, May 30, 2005, she did not show up for her flight back to the United States. Natalee's mother Beth Twitty immediately flew to Aruba on a private jet, and an extensive search by sea, land, and air was immediately launched by lead investigator Gerald Dompig, the local police, volunteer residents, and the Dutch Marines. Witnesses said Natalee was last seen leaving Carlos 'N Charlie's Nightclub in a car with local residents Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. The three men originally told authorities that they dropped off the Alabama honors student at the Holiday Inn where she was staying, but their story has changed many times since the early days of the search. No trace of Natalee was ever found and she was declared legally dead on January 12, 2012. Her parents had never given up hope that they would find her. Her mother has been to Aruba and kept her story in the media since Natalee's disappearance in 2005. On December 18, 2007, Aruban prosecutors announced that the case would be closed without any charges being brought against any of the then-suspects. In February of 2008, Beth said that she is now convinced her daughter is dead. On October 18, 2023, lead suspect Joran van der Sloot pled guilty in U.S. Federal Court to extortion and wire fraud. He finally confessed to the crime of murdering Natalee as part of a plea bargain for concurrent sentences instead of consecutive sentences (he had also murdered Stephany Flores in Peru in 2010). Van der Sloot gave a proffer in which he admitted that he kicked Natalee in the face and bludgeoned her to death with a cinder block at night on an Aruban beach after she kneed him in the crotch and rejected his sexual advances. He then carried her to the beach and pushed her body into deep water. The current and tide unfortunately swept her remains out to sea, where she was never found. The United States has no statute of limitations for murder, but Aruba has a twelve-year statute of limitations for this crime. Because of this, Van der Sloot can no longer be tried for Natalee's murder. He escaped prosecution in Aruba due to insufficient evidence (no witnesses, no video surveillance footage after the parties left the nightclub, no body, and no forensic evidence). Immediately following Van der Sloot's admission of guilt, Natalee's mother was interviewed by the press on the courthouse steps in Birmingham, Alabama. She said, "Today, I can tell you with certainty, that after 18 years, Natalee's case is solved. Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder; he is the killer. As far as I'm concerned, it's over, and that is getting justice for Natalee."