Who Is Jurrien De Jong? Natalee Holloway Witness Says He Saw Joran Van Der Sloot With Body

A man claiming to be a witness to Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance came forward recently to help with the cold case. Jurrien de Jong, a 59-year-old Dutch man, told Inside Edition he watched Joran van der Sloot, the primary suspect in Holloway's case, carry her body in Aruba 10 years ago.

"I saw Natalee Holloway on the last night she was alive. I was the eyewitness," de Jong said in an interview published Monday. "I saw that Joran was chasing Natalee into a small building under construction. In about five minutes he came out with Natalee in his arms, and slammed the body of Natalee on the floor, and then he made an opening in a crawl space … I knew she was dead."

Holloway, an 18-year-old from Alabama, went missing on May 30, 2005, during a graduation trip to Aruba. Witnesses told police they saw her leave a night club with van der Sloot, then 17, the Huffington Post reported. He was questioned, let go and later imprisoned for an unrelated murder. Holloway's body was never found.

De Jong told the Algemeen Dagblad that Holloway's remains are hidden in a crawl space at the Marriott Hotel. He said he didn't get involved in the case before now because he'd been involved in drug-related activity when he saw van der Sloot and Holloway.

De Jong has remained interested in the case from afar, the NL Times reported. In the past 10 years, he has flown to Aruba three times, testified and passed anonymous messages to investigators. A Twitter account registered under his name shows 19 tweets all about the case, and he's started circulating an online petition calling for prosecutors to look into his story.

The Dutch man recently began working with Dave Holloway, Natalee's father, who said he remembered smelling decay when he visited the Marriott site. Holloway arranged for de Jong to meet with Aruban authorities. The officials found his story "implausible" at the time but have since announced they're reviewing his claims, the NL Times reported. This process could take up to two months.

"I always thought the answer was right around the corner," Dave Holloway told the Huffington Post. "Here we are nearly 10 years later and we still don't know."