BIRMINGHAM, AL — Natalee Holloway’s mother is suing Oxygen Media, and claims that they misled her into believing that they had discovered what could be her daughter’s remains, and duped her into provided a sample of her DNA.
Related: Shocking Discovery! Natalee Holloway’s Father Finds Human Remains In Aruba
Beth Holloway filed the lawsuit on February 2 in federal court in Birmingham, according to AL.com. She is asking for $35 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
In the lawsuit, Holloway states that when the network approached her about doing a series related to Natalee’s 2005 disappearance, they claimed that they had found human female remains that could be her daughter’s. She also claims that she was duped into giving them a DNA sample that was later used without her permission on the show “under the guise of conducting a legitimate search for Natalee.” But Holloway now says that no such remains were ever found, and that the show was “a farce.”
Oxygen aired the six-part series The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway in late summer 2017. In the show, Natalee’s father, Dave Holloway, and private investigator T.J. Ward traveled to Aruba and described the discovery of bone fragments. Dave Holloway called the alleged discovery his most credible lead in more than 12 years.
Related: Natalee Holloway: The Top 5 False Leads & Hoaxes In The Investigation
In the 44-page suit, Beth Holloway claims that the defendants — Oxygen Media and Brian Graden Media — knowingly made false declarations that they had discovered that Natalee was raped, how Natalee died, where she was buried — and that her remains had been “doused in gasoline in a pit fire” and her crushed bones were mixed with a dog’s bones before being “cremated.” Holloway was made to listen to horrific and gruesome descriptions of what the network was claiming happened to her daughter, and “all the while, defendants knew that their gruesome depictions of Natalee’s death and desecration were lies,” the suit reads.
The suit reads:
“Rather than being an unscripted and true-crime documentary as defendants portrayed to Beth and their viewers, defendants’ series was preconceived and written in advance…the series was not a real-time or legitimate investigation into new leads…the series was a pre-planned farce and its publication was outrageous.”
Related: Human Bone Fragments Found In Aruba Do Not Belong To Natalee Holloway
In October 2017, it was announced that the remains weren’t Natalee’s — and, in fact, out of the four individual bone samples tested, only one was found to even be human. According to the claims in the lawsuit, “defendants knew at the outset that they had not discovered, and would not, discover, Natalee’s remains.” However, Beth Holloway was not informed of the lack of success of the investigation at the outset, and had to follow along, watching the show along with the viewers, to find out the result.
Joran Van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were reportedly the last people to see Natalee alive. The Kalpoes continue to live and work in Aruba, and Van der Sloot is serving a 28-year sentence for murdering Stephanie Flores. He also faces charges in Alabama for extorting $25,000 from Holloway.
Related: WATCH: Did Joran Van Der Sloot Confess To Murdering Natalee Holloway On Hidden Camera?
No one has ever been charged with Natalie’s murder.
Watch the “Natalee Holloway: Lost in Paradise” episode of Investigation Discovery’s Vanity Fair Confidential on ID GO now!
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Main photo: Natalee Holloway [Wikimedia Commons]
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