ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP):
POLICE RELEASED a 19-year-old man yesterday after arresting him nine days ago in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway - but the Aruba public prosecutor's office said he remained a suspect.
In a statement, the prosecutor's office also said yesterday that a 20-year-old man with the initials E.B. was arrested in the Holloway case on Saturday and was released after six hours of interrogation. No details were provided.
Geoffrey van Cromvoirt, the 19-year-old who was arrested on April 15, is suspected of "criminal offences that may be related to the disappearance" of Holloway, prosecutors said.
"He has been released because the grounds for his detention are no longer there. He remains a suspect," the prosecutor's office said without elaborating.
Van Cromvoirt's family and his defense attorney has said he had nothing to do with Holloway's disappearance and is not connected with anyone previously detained in the investigation.
The 19-year-old was also detained on suspicion of drug offences.
Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was 18 when she vanished on May 30 _ the final night of her high school graduation trip to this Dutch Caribbean island.
Authorities have arrested seven people in connection with Holloway's disappearance and then released them for lack of evidence.
Dutch marines, the Aruban Coast Guard, the FBI and hundreds of volunteers have searched the island and coastal areas for Holloway, to no avail.
AP-NY-04-24-06 1459EDT
