We burned Natalee Holloway's skull in a cave: suspected murderer's friend

Joran van der Sloot and friend John Ludwick ground missing American teen Natalee Holloway's bones to dust and burned her skull in a cave on Aruba, Ludwick confesses in the fifth episode of a documentary on Holloway's disappearance, RTL Nieuws reports.

The then 18-year-old Natalee Holloway disappeared in 2005 while on holiday with friends on Aruba. She was last seen with Joran van der Sloot, who is currently serving a 28 year long prison sentence in Peru for the murder of Stephanie Flores. No trace of the American teen has ever been found.

The documentary, titled The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway, follows the teen's father Dave Holloway and private detective TJ Ward as they investigate her disappearance. According to RTL, Ludwick's roommate turned out to be one of TJ Ward's informants. The roommate secretly recorded Ludwick telling him that Van der Sloot paid him ,1500 dollars to help dig up Holloway's body. When the roommate confronted Ludwick with the footage, he agreed to make a statement for the documentary.

According to Ludwick, he and Van der Sloot dug up Holloway's remains, ground the bones to dust and burnt her skull in a cave on Aruba. "We sprinkled it with gasoline and threw it into the fire", he said. Pieces of bone Dave Holloway and TJ Ward found on the island, are currently in a DNA lab for investigation. The results are expected by early October.

This DNA study is outside the official investigation into the girl's disappearance. The Public Prosecutor is doubtful that the pieces of bone will reveal any information, according to RTL. Earlier this year, the police and judiciary on Aruba conducted an investigation on the basis of information received from Dave Holloway, but that investigation did not find anything connected to Natalee Holloway.