Gerold Dompig
ON THE RECORD · 7 verbatim quotes · every quote source-verified
“He liked being the dominant one, the center of attention…he changed his story I think 40 times,”
Gerold Dompig · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04
Dompig said van der Sloot changed his story around 40 times during police questioning.
“That complicated matters seriously, because he had more visiting rights…His father being a judge in training was a problem for us, because he could give his son certain advice,”
Gerold Dompig · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04
Dompig explained that van der Sloot's father being a judge in training complicated the investigation.
“We couldn’t find forensic evidence, but we had so much publicity – so much pressure on Aruba.”
Gerold Dompig · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04
Dompig said the lack of forensic evidence combined with intense publicity put pressure on Aruba.
“We needed to find that stuff which you can use to corner the suspect. We hoped that he would start to break down,”
Gerold Dompig · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04
Dompig said police sought evidence to corner van der Sloot and hoped he would break down.
“The main thing that was lacking in this case was that we never found Natalee,”
Gerold Dompig · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04
Dompig said the main thing lacking in the case was that Natalee's body was never found.
“Normally, underaged suspects break down under interrogation. I was convinced that we were ready to try to get a confession. But Joran was very difficult to interrogate,”
Gerold Dompig · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04
Dompig said van der Sloot was very difficult to interrogate compared to typical underaged suspects.
“Everybody looking from the outside was only focused on Joran, but the investigation has a certain tactic that you first eliminated the noise. The security guard was noise. But to exclude them, we have to investigate,”
Gerold Dompig · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04
Dompig explained why police first arrested two hotel security guards before focusing on van der Sloot.