This May, the girl America has come to know as Natalee Holloway, will have been gone for three years. In the wake of her disappearance in Aruba, it's safe to say that nearly every parent with a teenager (and plenty without) collectively caught their breath -- in hopes she would be found safely. As many of us know, that has not happened. Her body has never been found, and no one has been charged in her death.

As I wrote this blog, an ABC special featuring new information into the man suspected in her death was wrapping up. It detailed a Dutch crime reporter's attempt to get the prime suspect in Natalee's death to confess that he does, in fact, know more than he has ever admitted to police. The hour and a half long special kept me from doing laundry and going grocery shopping; two tasks that were on the to-do-list, that will have to wait until tomorrow. 2

0/20 aired the Dutch reporter's undercover videotapes that show a man named Patrick befriending suspect Joran Van der Sloot over a period of time. Joran admits that police would probably never find a body, and if they did, he would be in deep trouble. He says Natalee started convulsing on the beach in Aruba that fateful night, and instead of calling an ambulance for help, he called a friend who put her on a boat and rode out to sea; where he dumped her overboard.

I was enthralled as I watched the video unfold. There were subtitles to translate exactly what Joran was saying to Patrick, but you could still see how smug he was acting as he recounted what happened...like it was as natural as brushing your teeth at night. He even said at one point that he was able to go home the night he left her on the beach, KNOWING that someone was going to dispose of her body, and simply go to bed with no difficulty.

I guess it makes me wonder how a person can become so detached, so disrespectful of human life. If these events did unfold as Joran says they did, how could a person live for two and a half years without cracking under pressure? Without feeling even the slightest bit of guilt? ABC also interviewed Natalee's mother, Beth, in the 20/20 special. They got her reaction as she saw the undercover tapes for the first time. You could literally see relief as she responded to what she heard. I think she hit the nail on the head when she said it wouldn't matter what happened to Joran now, because "the world will be his judge and jury and that is punishment enough for him...to be in his own living hell."

As a news viewer, those tapes spoke mounds for this man's lack of complete integrity. Since these tapes have hit the airwaves, Joran has since recounted much of his admission of involvement, saying he made up the story to Patrick. Whether that proves to be true or not, I think that recording will certainly be damning evidence, in a cold case that has gone on for far too long. I think America wants justice for the person responsible for what happened to a young girl who had so much ahead of her. Joran Van der Sloot clearly has plenty of dirty laundry (figuratively) to air out for investigators. And because of such good network television, my dirty laundry (literally) still sits in the hamper.

What do you think of the Natalee Holloway story? Have you followed it all these years? Let me know your opinions...