It's hard enough that Elizabeth "Beth" Ann Holloway has had to live through the last 13 years not knowing what really happened to her daughter, Natalee, but now she's facing a legal battle against a large network.
Natalee disappeared on May 30, 2005, while on a school graduation trip to Aruba. The 18-year-old Mountain Brook High School student was declared dead seven years later, but her body was nowhere to be found.
In 2017, the missing teen's father, Dave, was desperate to solve his daughter's mysterious case, so he teamed up with a private investigator, TJ Ward. Their quest was the subject of a six-part series on the Oxygen network titled The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
"This series gives viewers rare access to Dave Holloway's gut-wrenching search for answers," Oxygen executive Rod Aissa told People in a statement. "He embarks on an immersive journey full of twists, turns and, most considerably, a new lead that could deliver justice for Natalee once and for all."
During one of the episodes, it was revealed that a set of remains belonging to a Caucasian of European descent was found. Since Natalee's body was supposedly moved from the original burial location and cremated by the suspect, Joran van der Sloot, and his friend John Ludwig, only bone fragments were discovered. Tests were immediately ordered to determine whether or not the skeletal fragments belonged to Natalee
"We've chased a lot of leads and this one is by far the most credible lead I've seen in the last 12 years," Dave told Today.
In October, after weeks of testing, forensic scientist Dr. Jason Kolowski has some more answers. Unfortunately, the bone fragments are not a match for Natalee.
The investigation required Natalee's mother to submit a DNA sample that could be used to check if it matches the remains. However, things did not end as expected, and now, Beth is taking legal action against Oxygen.
According to celebrity news website TMZ, Beth is suing Oxygen because of the false claims they made over her daughter's whereabouts.
She believes that she was tricked into giving her DNA when the reality is that they never found a body. Beth is reportedly "horribly embarrassed" and would've never taken part in the show had she known that they were more interested in the ratings than giving her family closure.
She described the series as a "pre-planned farce" and also filed a lawsuit on behalf of her daughter using a legal theory called "outrage."
Beth's stance on how the events unfolded is very different from Dave, who was the one that struck the deal with Oxygen.
In a previous interview with InTouch, Dave said he was only interested in the new findings because it could be a "real, plausible lead," and that he wouldn't involve his family, including his ex-wife, Beth, unless it was legitimate.
He recalled his previous involvement in the pursuit of another lead back in 2015, to further drive his point home.
"How many of those things can you go through? I swore to myself "” right then "” that I would never involve my family and lay out their emotions on a lead ever again. And when this one came up, I briefly mentioned it and I slapped my mouth," he said. "I said, "˜Look, no matter what, I can't bring my family into this and expose them to another potential devastation.' So T.J. and I kept it among ourselves, and I said to myself, "˜If anyone is going to take the fall for this, it's going to be me. I'm not going to allow my family to even know about this and eve get involved emotionally only to be crushed again.'"
It's unclear whether or not Beth's lawsuit also named Dave since details surrounding the court case are scarce.
