The search for Natalee Holloway

On Dec. 30, off the coast of Aruba, divers from the Aruban police force and the research vessel Persistence were about to make a crucial dive on a promising target in the search for Natalee Holloway.

The researchers had discovered a fish trap about 90 feet below the surface in almost the exact spot search expert Tim Miller had theorized Natalee’s body might be.

Team leader Tim Trahan suited up to join the Aruban police divers. As Tim Miller wished him well, the divers hit the water and the ROV was sent down to capture what would happen for everyone watching on board.

(On the boat)

Brandon: We have visual on divers and target.

Slowly the divers worked their way down to the trap.

They had been instructed to give a thumbs up or thumbs down.

The atmosphere in the survey room was tense, and nerves were raw as Miller, the Aruban authorities and the crew of the Persistence waited for word of what exactly was in the trap.

The divers approached the target and signaled above. And then...

(On the boat)

No it's thumbs down.

Negative, not it.

Crushing disppointment.

(On the boat)

Tim Miller: Divers coming up right now. I don't know it looked as promising today as it did last night or before.

Miller: Nothing?

Trahan: No.

Chris Hansen: That had to be a crushing blow.

Tim Miller: It was a crushing blow.

Now Tim Miller had to deliver that same crushing blow to Natalee’s parents.

Chris Hansen: How hard is it for you to dial their numbers and tell them that this in fact is not the break in the case we-- we hoped for?

Tim Miller: Probably one of the hardest calls I ever made. Probably one of the hardest … probably should have never made the first one. But everything looked right at the time.

Natalee’s father was at home in Mississippi when the call came.

Chris Hansen: What was it like for you to, once again, have a setback?

Dave Holloway: That's probably about the time that-- the chest pains intensified to an extreme. I mean, how many times can I take this?

Beth Holloway: You know, it's a disappointment. But, you have to look at the magnitude and the sacrifices being made even to get to that point.

Chris Hansen: You didn't know these folks before this happened. What do they represent to you now?

Dave Holloway: They represent heroes to me.

To be sure there was no relevant evidence, material from the trap was given to the FBI. For the Holloways, though, another wild ride began.

This bizarre story originated in the central American nation of Nicaragua.

It happened last month, when Natalee’s father Dave received a message from a man who called himself Marcos. He said he had important information about where they could find Natalee's body.

Dave Holloway: He said, "I’d done some wrongs in my past," and he said, "This is my way of making all of my wrongs and all of my sins and doing something right."

Dave was skeptical, but the phone and e-mail messages continued.

In them was a wild tale involving drug runners who said that on the night Natalee disappeared someone had paid them to take her body and dump it at sea.

They agreed but instead they took her remains with them to Nicaragua and hid them on a remote strip of the Atlantic coast.

Dave Holloway: It was a little bit far-fetched for me.

Chris Hansen: What did he want in return?

Dave Holloway: He told us he didn't want anything. And that is what part I started believing in this guy. I said we've got a reward out here.

In January, Dave Holloway asked Tim Miller to head to Nicaragua to arrange for a meeting...and to Miller's surprise, Marcos showed up.

Marcos: I didn't live an, um, exemplary life. I did a lot of wrong things and maybe this is just one way of trying to even up the, the score a little bit.

Marcos wouldn't allow his face to appear on camera, but he agreed to talk to Miller and even officials from the US embassy.

Chris Hansen: And what was the person from the embassy's take?

Tim Miller: The person from the embassy said, "You know what? I think we may have something here."

Together, Miller and Marcos came up with a plan: Marcos would take a GPS receiver to the location and leave it there. Miller, accompanied by local officials would follow the signal to th

Video   Holloway team searches the deep Feb. 22: ‘Why would somebody stoop that low?’ asks Natalee Holloway’s father after following a tip from a mysterious caller. Dateline NBC

e location and begin to dig.

The next morning Miller's phone rang. It was Marcos. The search, he said, had been a success. But there had been a change in plans. He had the body and would bring it to them in Managua.

Marcos: Tonight before the sun is up, we will be in Managua.

Tim Miller: He says that she was wrapped in a blanket and her body fell apart. He said, "but we had to put her in two ice chests." And he actually said, "call Mr. Holloway right now and tell him I’ve got Natalee."

Chris Hansen: So what do you do?

Tim Miller: I did not call Dave Holloway to say I have the body.

Chris Hansen: You've been down that road before.

Tim Miller: I’ve been down that road before.

Chris Hansen: Did you believe him?

Tim Miller: This time, I believed him.

But after waiting all night for Marcos to appear at the arranged location -- nothing.

Marcos never appeared again and Tim Miller and Dave Holloway are convinced Marcos pulled off an incredibly cruel hoax.

Dave Holloway: How would somebody stoop so low to do something like this?

Chris Hansen: How hurtful is that, when somebody does that to you?

Dave Holloway: Very hurtful. In fact, that was -- it's a wonders I’ve not had a major heart attack and died, you know.

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