She's Dead, Suspect Said in Chat

Though the case has been closed in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway, one of the men detained in her suspected murder wrote in an internet chat room that she was dead shortly after she vanished, an Aruba prosecutor has revealed. That evidence was used last month to rearrest three suspects in the Alabama high school student's disappearance. But a judge ruled it was not enough to hold them, CNN reports. 

"The fact that she's dead is not good," one of the suspects wrote. The computer information was only retrieved recently with the aid of technology not previously available to authorities. Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were released again just weeks ago. Other witnesses at the new hearing to charge them indicated the suspects were hiding information. Holloway's body has not been found. She was celebrating graduation with her class on the island trip. (More Natalee Holloway stories.)