Person Of Interest

Suspect in Holloway case to be released
Attorney: Casino worker indicted on murder
charge last week
(CNN) -- A man indicted in the Netherlands
on murder charges in the disappearance of
Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba
will be released Tuesday but must remain
available for questioning, the man's attorney
said.
Guido Wever, 19, was to appear in court
Tuesday in the Netherlands, an assistant to
attorney Gerard Spong said, but an agreement
reached between Spong and Aruban prosecutor
Karen Janssen negated that hearing.
Under the conditions of the deal, Wever
remains a suspect in Holloway's disappearance.
Earlier, Spong told the Dutch television
network NOS his client was charged last
Wednesday with murder and manslaughter,
"and he is being questioned every day."
Spong said Wever was interviewed as a
witness in June, days after Holloway
disappeared on Aruba, a self-governing
Dutch protectorate in the Caribbean off the
Venezuelan coast.
"He is now a suspect, and the prosecution in
Aruba is wanting him very quickly," the lawyer
said.
Spong said he would ask the court in
The Hague, seat of government of the
Netherlands, to allow Wever to remain in
the Netherlands "because I think that we
can prove or make sure that he is not guilty."
If Wever, a casino worker on the island, is
ordered by the court to be sent to Aruba, it
would not be considered an extradition
since Aruba is a Dutch territory.
Spong said "some witnesses" have identified
Wever as a suspect, "but I think their
statements -- their testimonies -- we can
fight it easily."
Wever never met Holloway, Spong said.
"He claims that he has never seen her, and
he claims that he is completely innocent."
In a written statement, Wever's parents
said they were "appalled" about their
son's indictment.
Wever's parents described themselves as
divorced but "very good friends," and said
they "cannot believe that he could have
anything to do with the case."
They said they hoped "the girl" will be found
alive, and predicted "everything will come
out all right" for their son, whom they
described as "a caring person and very
much liked by all others."
Though "justice should be done," they said,
"we are all innocent until proven guilty.
This counts also for our son."
The parents vowed to hold the news media
accountable for any statements made about
their son without proof.
"We respect freedom of opinion and freedom
of press, but not at our personal expense,"
they said, adding they would not talk to the
news media. Wever is an acquaintance of
Joran van der Sloot, who was once a focus
of the investigation into Holloway's 2005
disappearance, a source close to the case
told CNN.
Dutch authorities have cooperated with
Aruba in the ongoing investigation.
Janssen, the chief prosecutor in Aruba,
declined comment on the arrest, but is
expected to speak to reporters Tuesday.
Under Dutch law, police can hold a suspect
for more than 100 days before filing charges.
Wever's arrest is the 10th made in
connection with the Holloway investigation.
All others held, including van der Sloot,
have been released.
Holloway -- from the Birmingham,
Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook -- was
celebrating her high school graduation
with about 100 classmates and several
parent chaperones on Aruba when she
disappeared May 30, 2005.
A search of the tiny island by Dutch
marines, the FBI and hundreds of
volunteers failed to find her.
Holloway, 18, was last seen leaving a
nightclub in the Aruba capital, Oranjestad,
with three men -- van der Sloot, then 17, a
Dutch national who is the son of an Aruban
judge, and Surinamese brothers
Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18.
The three -- who have maintained their
innocence -- were arrested the following
month but were released after a judge ruled
there was insufficient evidence to hold
them. In February, Holloway's parents,
Dave Holloway and Beth Twitty, filed a
lawsuit against van der Sloot.
In court documents, the parents accuse
him of "malicious, wanton and willful
disregard of the rights, safety and well-being
of the plaintiffs and their daughter,
Natalee Holloway."
The parents asked for unspecified punitive
damages from the young man and his father.
CNN's Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report.