Credit: Netflix

Natalee Holloway went to Aruba with her classmates in May 2005 for a graduation trip. Sounds like a stereotypical teen thing to do, right? She was 18, and she was meant to spend five days there, eventually come home and move on with her life, but instead, she disappeared. Now Netflix is bringing us a brand new documentary on it.

Vanishing is a pretty big deal, as it is, but Natalee was last seen leaving a nightclub with Joran van der Sloot, and after that, the trail just drops off. Her family keeps pushing, and investigators keep going back over the same names and the same leads. Years pass with no body and no answer anyone can hang onto.

Then, in 2023, the case witnessed a dramatic turn of events. Van der Sloot admitted to killing Natalee after she rejected his sexual advances, with the confession coming during a US extortion case linked to her disappearance and after years of rumours and people muddying the waters. That admission gave the family an answer to the questions they had been asking for about two decades now.

Now Netflix is going back through the whole story with Taken: Natalee Holloway, a three-part documentary centred on Beth Holloway and the 18 years she spent trying to find out what happened to her daughter.

What happened to Natalee Holloway?

Natalee had just graduated from Mountain Brook High School in Alabama when she travelled to Aruba with classmates, and in the early hours of May 30th, 2005, she was seen leaving Carlos’n Charlie’s with Van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, but she never made the flight home.

And from there, everything snowballed. Searches started, and the FBI got involved. Van der Sloot stayed right in the middle of the investigation, but Natalee’s remains were never found, so her family was left in this horrible cycle where every new lead might be something and then, nope, back to square one.

Then, in 2010, things got even worse because van der Sloot tried to get $250,000 from Beth in exchange for information about where Natalee’s remains were. You are talking about a mother who has spent years trying to find her daughter, and this man decides to sell her answers.

And the information? Totally worthless.

The whole thing finally came back around in 2023, when van der Sloot agreed to provide truthful information about Natalee’s disappearance as part of a plea deal in the extortion case and confessed to killing her. He pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud and received a 20-year US sentence.

What new material will Taken: Natalee Holloway reveal?

Now, after two decades of headlines, interviews and theories, you would think there is not much left to dig up here. Apparently, there is.

Netflix says the documentary includes never-before-seen footage, unreleased audio involving Natalee’s family and the FBI, along with access to investigators who worked the case, so this is not just the same timeline being dragged out again with a new title slapped on top.

Beth is also telling the story from her side, and that changes the whole feel of it because you are not just following clues and suspects anymore. You are seeing what 18 years of waiting and dead ends actually did to the family living through it, while the rest of the world watched from the outside.

When will Taken: Natalee Holloway release?

Netflix has not announced a release date. Taken: Natalee Holloway is still listed as upcoming, so yes, it is on the way, but if you were hoping to mark a date on the calendar, put the pen down for now.

As for when we actually get to watch it, come take a gander at us.