ORANJESTAD, Aruba (CNN) — Three more men were arrested Thursday in the investigation into the disappearance of Alabama 18-year-old Natalee Holloway in Aruba, bringing the suspects in custody to five. Authorities said the latest three arrested were the last people seen with Holloway, who was on a high school graduation trip. She was seen leaving an Oranjestad nightclub, Carlos 'N Charlie's, with them about 1:30 a.m. on May 30, they said. The men told police they visited a beach with Holloway before taking her back to her hotel, the Holiday Inn, about 2 a.m. Holloway, from the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, has not been seen since then. She was visiting the Caribbean island off Venezuela with about 100 classmates and parent chaperones to celebrate graduation.
One of the three men arrested is the son of an Aruba judge, formerly a senior official in the public prosecution service. The other two are brothers of Surinamese origin, ages 18 and 19. Police were conducting searches of their homes following the arrests. Under the Dutch judicial system, which Aruba follows as a protectorate of the Netherlands, people are arrested on suspicion of a crime but not formally charged until later. Authorities did not say what charges the three may face. Police were investigating any possible tie between the three arrested Thursday and two men arrested Sunday in connection with the case. According to police statements, at least one of the three told authorities that as Holloway was getting out of their car at her hotel, she stumbled and one of the three helped her up. Walking to the hotel, she stumbled a second time, the statement said, and a "dark-colored" man wearing a black T-shirt and carrying a radio helped her. A hotel employee who has reviewed surveillance tapes from the morning of Holloway's disappearance said they don't show any sign of the teenager. A judge ruled Wednesday there was sufficient evidence to continue detaining two men arrested Sunday -- Abraham Jones, 28, and Mickey John, 30 -- while the investigation continues. Jones' attorney, Chris Lejuez, said his client is accused of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and capital kidnapping, or kidnapping resulting in death. Relatives of the two maintain they are innocent. John's mother, Ann, said Wednesday that Holloway disappeared from the island's glitzy west end and that those arrested Thursday are from well-to-do families, while her son and Jones are from immigrant families on the poorer, industrial east end. Lejuez said he knew of no connection between Jones and John and the three others arrested. Of the latter, he said, "The public has been screaming for their arrest for quite some time now." Authorities have not said whether they believe Holloway is dead, and her relatives, who are in Aruba, have said they are clinging to hope that she is alive. A search was to resume Thursday. Jones and John were security guards working at the Hotel Allegro, which is near the Holiday Inn where Holloway was staying. Lejuez said neither was working the night she disappeared. The two went before the judge Wednesday, but prosecutors did not provide much of the evidence against them, Lejuez said. The two can remain jailed for up to four months, but such detainment requires more appearances before a judge, and the amount of evidence prosecutors must cite to hold them grows larger, the lawyer said. "I don't see any reason to keep them," Lejuez said. "I have no reason to believe they have enough evidence to charge them." | 
