Bone found on Aruba beach tested for link to Natalee Holloway

Dutch forensic experts are testing a piece of bone found on a beach in Aruba to determine if it is linked to the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway.

The bone fragment was discovered on the beach near the Phoenix hotel in Aruba, one of the locations mentioned in confessions by long-time suspect in the disappearance, Joran van der Sloot. The experts are first going to test the bone to see if it came from a human, before they attempt to match it to Holloway’s DNA.

According to USA Today, the location of the bone fragment matches a spot van der Sloot claimed several times to have been near with Natalee just before she disappeared:

Aruban Joran Van der Sloot, then 17, has been questioned several times by police on the Dutch island and has acknowledged being with Holloway near the Phoenix hotel the night she disappeared, but denies that he killed her.

The location of Holloway’s body has been one of the enduring mysteries in the case, and van der Sloot is currently incarcerated in Peru on charges related to the murder of Stephany Flores Tatiana Ramirez.