New Arrest In Natalee Holloway Case

Police on the caribbean island of Aruba have arrested 19-year old Geoffrey Van Cromviort in the case of the disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway, reports CBS News. Van Cromviort's sister is a police trainee.

Since Holloway vanished almost a year ago, at least three other people have been detained and released without charge.

The arrest left many on this Caribbean island to wonder whether the arrest marked a real breakthrough in the almost year-old case.

Antonio Carlo, attorney for Dutch national Joran van der Sloot, who was arrested last year but then released for lack of evidence, said he hoped the new arrest would shed light on what happened to Holloway, an honors student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who disappeared on May 30. It was the final night of the 18-year-old's high school graduation trip to this Dutch Caribbean island.

"My client has from the beginning maintained his innocence, and I think the sooner this case is resolved, the better," Carlo told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home, adding that he did not know the name of the suspect.

"We will wait and see what comes of this arrest," he said.

Holloway's father, Dave Holloway, said Sunday he has been informed of the arrested person's identity but did not recognize the name.

"We're hopeful that something will come out of it," Holloway told CNN.

Holloway was last seen leaving an Aruba bar with van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. Van der Sloot has said he left Holloway on a beach near her hotel after they had kissed.

Mariaine Croes, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office, said Saturday that Aruban authorities were not prepared to disclose why Van Cromviort was arrested or how the arrest was linked to the Holloway case.

Dave Holloway said he was still suspicious of van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers.

"I still think that these three original suspects still know more than what they told us," he said.

Former FBI agent Harold Copus, who was hired to investigate the case by the U.S. television program, the "Dr. Phil" show, said that law enforcement officials in Aruba should be given time to present their evidence about the new suspect.

"There have been so many missteps in this case," Copus said from Las Vegas on Sunday night. "Let's wait to see the evidence that's gathered and how does that tie in to the known facts of Natalee's disappearance."

In the course of the investigation, at least three other people were detained without being charged.

In recent weeks, Aruban police have searched sand dunes on the northern coast of the island. Dutch Marines, the FBI and hundreds of volunteers have previously searched for Holloway.