Natalee Holloway 'Dead,' But Is The Family's Search Ever Truly Over?
Missing teen Natalee Holloway has been declared legally dead, but what does this mean for the Holloways and is the family's search ever truly over?
On Thursday Probate Judge Alan King of Alabama granted Holloway's father Dave Holloway's request to declare her legally dead, according to PEOPLE.com.
Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway, has been consistently vocal in opposing her former husband's "petition for presumption of death for persons missing for more than five years," and critics have questioned why.
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Natalee, who was 18 at the time of her disappearance, vanished during a high school graduation trip to Aruba and her mother Beth has visibly struggled with the acceptance of her disappearance from day one.
Under U.S. law a person missing for seven years or more can be declared "dead in absentia", although the number of years varies between states.
Once a missing person is declared legally dead, law enforcement end all active searches for him/her, and some critics question whether mourners can ever truly have closure if a missing person is never found.
When Beth initially opposed Dave's request, many assumed that the grieving mother was still struggling with her daughter's appearance and was perhaps unwilling to give up hope.
"Beth's position is that if there's that one sliver of hope that she can carry in her heart that Natalee might be alive somewhere, she wants to do that." Beth's attorney, John Q. Kelly previously told PEOPLE.com.
The author of 'Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live With Unresolved Grief,' Dr. Pauline Boss, a professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota, previously explained a term she called ''ambiguous loss'' to The New York Times in relation to 9/11 and lost loved ones.
''Without knowing if the missing person will come back, the grief process is frozen and so is the coping process,'' Boss previously said.
Critics argue that Boss' theory can be applied to any missing person's case, and the theory could explain Beth's reluctance to have her missing daughter declared dead.
Kelly later clarified that the main reason for Beth's opposition to her daughter being declared dead was her missing persons television show "Vanished."
"Her life's commitment now is working with other families with missing family members. She would lose her credibility with them if she were to give up hope for her own daughter. How could she tell them to give up hope?" Kelly explained.
In May 2011, Beth was finally able to accept that her daughter was likely dead, after evidence revealed former suspect Joran van der Sloot may have murdered her.
"For me to hear that Joran had murdered another young woman, I think that's when it all came into perspective for me as to who this young man was, and he's a violent - he's a killer," Beth told CBS news.
