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Former Aruba suspect looks for answers

Mickey John, held in connection with the Holloway case, talks with Joe Scarborough
/ Source: msnbc.com

On Tuesday's 'Scarborough Country' program, Mickey John, one of the two security guards who were arrested in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, but later released, spoke with Joe Scarborough about his arrest and a conversation he had in jail with one of the suspects who remains in custody.

To read an excerpt of the conversation between Scarborough, John and John's lawyer, Noriana Pietersz, continue to the text below. To watch the video, click above.

Joe Scarborough: I want to ask you about your arrest, about being thrown into jail and -- and why that happened.  But the first thing I want to ask you is about an interesting conversation you had with suspect Deepak Kalpoe.  What did he tell you about Natalee while you were in jail? 

Mickey John: Well, Deepak came to San Nicolas police station Thursday, come to Friday morning.  I saw him on Friday morning.  He introduced himself as Deepak.  So, we had been talking. 

You know, when somebody come in new, you always ask them things about yourself and what are they here for.  He said his name was Deepak and he was here for the missing girl case. 

Scarborough:  And what did he tell about that night? 

John: Well, let me go in details. I ask him if he saw the guy on the news.  He said yes. He saw the guy on the news. I asked him if he knew the guy.  He said no.  I asked him if he knew where the guy is from.  He said the guy is from Grenada. So, right then, I knew he was talking about me.  So, I decided to ask him a few questions.


Scarborough: What did he have to say about Natalee? 

John:  Well, he said the story that Natalee had been dropped off at the Holiday Inn was all made up.  He said the girl has never been dropped off at the Holiday Inn.

He said in fact they took the girl from Carlos `n Charlie's, drove to the lighthouse.  He, Deepak, was driving the car.  His brother was sitting next to him in the front.  Natalee was sitting in the back seat, behind Deepak.  And the Dutch guy was sitting in the back seat behind his brother.  They drove to the lighthouse. 

He didn't say to me what took place at the lighthouse.  But he said, on his way back, they dropped the Dutch guy off and Natalee close to the Marriott Hotel.  He went home.  He went online on his computer.  And he said, like an hour after, the Dutch guy sent him an e-mail, like a message on his telephone, on his cell phone, saying that, when he got home, he would communicate with him online also.  So, apparently, the Dutch guy was still out when he sent him the message. 

Scarborough:  And that story sounds completely different from what we heard from these statements that they gave to the police immediately after the arrest. ...where they said they dropped her back off at the hotel.

Let's talk about your story for a second.  You know, I personally could not believe you got arrested.  They had no evidence on you.  From everything we heard, you had never even met this young woman.  Tell me, what -- what excuse did the police give you, did the Aruban authorities give you for throwing you in jail in such a high-profile case? 

John:  They didn't give me absolutely no excuse at all, until this very moment, no excuse.  They didn't explain to me why I've been taken into custody, no excuse at all. 

Scarborough:  Did they ask you questions when you were in custody?  I mean, the whole world saw your face.  They saw you taken out of your home like a common criminal, thrown into jail.  Did they ask you about Natalee?  Did they say, 'Did you see her that night?'  Did they ask you about the crime? 

John:  Yes.  They asked me if I knew her.  I said I didn't know her.  They asked me if I see her.  I say, I never saw her before.  And I was not at the Holiday Inn at the time they said the incident had been taking place.  I was in my bed sleeping, apparently, because I had to be working at 6:00 the following day -- 6:00 a.m. 

Scarborough:  Do you think this happened because the main suspect in this case, Mr. Van Der Sloot, has political connections on the island? 

John:  Well, I wouldn't emphasize most on that.  I wouldn't say that.  I don't know much about that.  I just mean that they are trying to set somebody up, and which I was very unfortunate and my other colleague.  We are both unfortunate.

Scarborough: Ms. Pietersz, obviously, tonight, you have got to be pleased that your client is free.  But, at the same time, are you getting any answers from
authorities on why they arrested him? 
 
Noriana Pietersz, Attorney: Until this moment, not really ... Last Sunday, I spoke with the prosecutor in charge of the case.  And she even told me that she was still investigating on my client.  But, after I spoke with my client, after speaking with him every day -- and the only investigation that has been done, according to my client and as far as I know of, is the fact that they took his statement the first day they brought him in under police custody, which was Sunday. 

And now Monday again, they took a statement.  And, after that, nothing else happened.  Then the confrontation with one of the suspects who has been held in one or two cells next to him.  And that was on his own insistence. 

Scarborough:  And that is on his own.  And, of course, the police officers, using the information that your client gave the world, conducted another investigation today. 

You know, I understand it is a small legal community down there.  I understand it is hard to criticize other attorneys. 

Pietersz:  Yes. 

Scarborough:  But to those of us in America, this seems so obvious that for 11 days they let the prime suspect run free, simply because he was politically connected.  Are you willing to say that that may have played a role on your suspect landing in jail, instead of the main suspect who was seen with this young woman leaving the bar the night she disappeared? 

Pietersz:  You know, I have heard a lot of rumors about some strategic plan or something like that.  I don't want to believe so, because, even according to the Aruban law, it is not allowed to take in an innocent person as a suspect, whereas you might have some other suspect walking out  there. 

And that was the case with my client.  Three -- three people were heard as witnesses.  They were witnesses from the beginning.  And then according to their statements, they got my client.  And, after all, it happened that he wasn't even a suspect. 

Scarborough: They owe you answers.  They owe your client answers.  And they certainly owe the family of Natalee Holloway a lot of answers.

To watch the entire interview, please click the video clip above. Watch 'Scarborough Country' each night at 10 p.m. ET on MSNBC.