Patrick van der Eem#Book

{{Infobox person

|name = Patrick van der Eem

|image =

|caption =

|birth_name = Patrick Paul van der Eem

|birth_date = 1973

|birth_place = Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles

|death_date =

|death_place =

|resting_place =

|parents = Leon van der Eem

| relatives =

|spouse =

|children =

|nationality = Dutch

|employer =

|alma_mater =

|known_for = Peter R. de Vries undercover video

|occupation = Drug dealer, writer

|awards =

|signature =

|footnotes =

}}

Patrick Paul van der Eem (born 1973 in Curaçao) is a Dutch Antillean and convicted drug dealer known for his part in the undercover television report about Joran van der Sloot that was produced by Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries.{{cite news|url=http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2008/06/holloway_tapes_van_der_eem_use.php|title=Holloway tapes: Van der Eem used cocaine|publisher=DutchNews|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-06-24}} The program set a Dutch television viewing record and renewed attention in the ongoing investigation of the 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

Background

Patrick van der Eem is the son of Leon van der Eem, a former operator of nine McDonald's franchises. The younger van der Eem was convicted twice on drug charges and has been blocked from entering the United States because of his criminal record. According to van der Eem in 2008, he had only received traffic tickets since his last drug offense in 1995. In 2003, van der Eem opened a Pirtek franchise which repairs hydraulic hoses. A company spokesperson stated that van der Eem's 7-person organization is the best operated in the Benelux region.{{cite news|url=http://www.nrc.nl/nieuwsthema/holloway/article1888358.ece/Patrick_van_der_Eem_mag_VS_niet_in|title=Patrick van der Eem mag VS niet in|newspaper=NRC Handelsblad|language=Dutch|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-02-07}}

Van der Eem has a visible scar on his left cheek which he says is a "boca grande" inflicted on him by criminals in retaliation for being an informant. However, he had told his CEO Martin Melkert that the scar was the result of a car accident.{{cite news|last=Van Van der Eem|first=Patrick|url=http://patrickvandereem.nl/stories/mijn-boca-grande/|title=Mijn Boca Grande|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608234130/http://patrickvandereem.nl/stories/mijn-boca-grande/|archive-date=2008-06-08|url-status=dead}}

Joran van der Sloot undercover video

Image:Joran van der Sloot Aruba mugshot.jpg]]

On February 3, 2008, SBS 6 aired a program produced by de Vries in which one time Dutch suspect Joran van der Sloot discusses his knowledge of the Natalee Holloway case with van der Eem while riding in a car which contained hidden cameras. Van der Sloot is seen in the tape smoking marijuana. Van der Eem later said that he regularly used cocaine in front of van der Sloot over a seven-month period to retain his trust. The broadcast was watched by 7 million viewers in the Netherlands and was the most popular non-sports program in Dutch television history. Van der Eem was paid €25,000 for his work on the undercover report.{{cite news|last=Sennitt|first=Andy|url=http://static.rnw.nl/migratie/www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/080204-natalee-holloway-tv-redirected|title=When TV gets a bit too close to reality|publisher=Radio Netherlands Worldwide|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-04-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608023236/http://static.rnw.nl/migratie/www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/080204-natalee-holloway-tv-redirected|archive-date=2010-06-08}}

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, van der Eem said that he first met van der Sloot in a Dutch casino in Nijmegen. Without introduction, he said, "Hey murderer!" in Papiamento, the language of Aruba, to gain van der Sloot's attention.{{cite news|last=Cuomo|first=Chris|author2=Francescani, Chris|url=https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/2020/story?id=4236425|title=Meet the Man Who Got Van Der Sloot to Talk About Holloway's Disappearance|publisher=ABC News|pages=1–4|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-02-04}} Van der Eem said that he was "totally convinced Joran is telling the truth" in the recordings.{{cite news|last=Cuomo|first=Chris|author2=McHugh, Rich |author3=Sterns, Olivia |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/exclusive-man-van-der-sloot-tapes/story?id=4255249|title=Exclusive: Man Behind the Van der Sloot Tapes|publisher=ABC News|pages=1–2|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-02-07}} Van der Eem said that ABC paid US$830,000 to secure the rights to broadcast the program in the United States.

Aruban prosecutor Hans Mos said that he took the "very impressive" taped account "very seriously" and that he would reopen the investigation.{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/04/natalee.holloway.suspect/|title=Van der Sloot on video: No sleep lost over Holloway's dumped body|publisher=CNN|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-02-05}}{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-02-04-vandersloot_N.htm/|title=Aruba prosecutor: Tape admissible|newspaper=USA Today|agency=Associated Press|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-02-04}} However, the evidence was deemed insufficient to warrant re-arrest. Although the taped confession appeared damning, van der Sloot argued that he was lying to impress van der Eem, who he believed to be a drug dealer.{{cite news|url=http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2008/02/van_der_sloot_not_arrested_in.php|title=Van der Sloot not arrested in Natalee case|publisher=DutchNews|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-02-15}}

{{blockquote|When you can do something which others can't, the FBI, the CIA, the police... Everyone was looking and Patrick finds. Then you feel yourself to be a tough guy.|Patrick van der Eem}}

Media coverage of van der Eem

Early in March 2008, van der Eem himself was secretly taped after giving an interview for the Aruban television program Un Dia den Bida (One Day in Life) with John Anthony "Poentje" Castro. Van der Eem continued talking candidly, under the assumption that cameras had been turned off. Van der Eem disclosed that he had been a friend of van der Sloot for years, contradicting his statement on the de Vries program that he had just met van der Sloot in 2007. Van der Eem said that he expected to become a millionaire from his involvement in the Holloway case. He said that he knew the person who supposedly disposed of Holloway's body and that van der Sloot had asked him for two thousand euros to buy the man's silence. According to Dutch news service Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau, van der Eem, who had signed a book deal, "was furious" after learning of the taping and "threatened" the interviewer, who sought legal advice. Castro was requested by the Aruban Justice Department to refrain from broadcasting any material that could compromise the Holloway case.

Castro himself was assassinated in front of his own home in December 2010. The police have had no success in linking this cold case to van der Eem.

In December 2008, van der Eem was arrested in Arnhem, Netherlands for attacking his girlfriend with a crowbar and driving erratically while evading police.{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2821675/__Van_der_Eem_in_cel_na_mishandelen_vriendin__.html|title=Van der Eem in cel na mishandelen vriendin|newspaper=De Telegraaf|language=Dutch|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-12-18}} He claimed to be under the influence of drugs at the time and was sentenced to 30 hours of community service.{{cite news|url=http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/04/van_de_sloot_mole_beats_wife_w.php|title=Van de Sloot mole beats wife with crowbar|publisher=DutchNews|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2009-04-28}}

Book

{{Infobox book|

|name = Overboord: hoe ik Joran van der Sloot aan het praten kreeg

|image =

| image_size = 193px

|caption =

|author = Patrick van der Eem
Elizabeth E. Byars

|cover_artist =

|country = Netherlands

|language = Dutch

|genre = Autobiography, true crime

|publisher = TM (FMB uitgevers)

|release_date = June 25, 2008

|pages = 320

|isbn = 978-90-499-0079-3

|oclc = 233591424

|italic title = no

}}

Van der Eem collaborated with author Elizabeth E. Byars to write Overboord: hoe ik Joran van der Sloot aan het praten kreeg (Overboard: how I got Joran van der Sloot to talk), an autobiographical non-fiction book that was first published in Dutch on June 25, 2008, by TM, an imprint of FMB uitgevers.{{cite news|url=http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/entertainment/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2008/06_juni/24/entertainment/0624_1030_boek_patrick_van_der_eem.xml|title=Van der Eem snoof bij Joran in auto|publisher=RTL Nieuws|language=Dutch|access-date=2010-09-10|date=2008-06-24}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bol.com/nl/p/nederlandse-boeken/overboord/1001004005992784/|title=Overboord, Patrick van der Eem|publisher=Bol.com|language=Dutch|access-date=2010-09-10}}{{Better source needed|date=June 2017|reason=WP:CIRCULAR}} The book became a best seller in the Netherlands and was later published in English as an eBook under the title Disposed: One Man's Journey to Uncover the Truth.{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EHF1MU|title=Disposed eBook: Patrick van der Eem, E.E. Byars|date=18 August 2008 |publisher=TallyRank |access-date=2010-09-10}} De Vries wrote the introduction to the book in which van der Eem covers his past as a drug addict and dealer and recounts his experience with van der Sloot with transcripts of the undercover video.{{cite book|last=Van der Eem|first=Patrick|author2=Byars, Elizabeth E.|title=Overboord: hoe ik Joran van der Sloot aan het praten kreeg|date=July 2008|publisher=TM (FMB uitgevers)|isbn=978-90-499-0079-3|oclc=233591424|language=Dutch}}

{{blockquote|Joran is telling the truth about what happened to Natalee... she died in his arms on the beach that night.|Patrick van der Eem}}

Trivia

In December 2008, van der Eem was briefly arrested after being reported for the abuse of his girlfriend with a crowbar. In August 2009, he was arrested in Aruba for failing to pay his Radisson Hotel bill and threatening the personnel. It was alleged that he had also failed to pay his bill in three other hotels. It was also reported he was in possession of cocaine.Patrick van der Eem opgepakt, SpitsNieuws, 25 augustus 2009

In June 2011, van der Eem was arrested during a traffic police check on the A12 highway in the Netherlands.[http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/10083724/__Van_der_Eem_ingerekend__.html Patrick van der Eem ingerekend], De Telegraaf, 24 juni 2011

In the 2009 American television show ‘Homeland Security USA’ S01E05, van der Eem is featured where he is refused entry into the US because of his criminal past.

2013 Sentencing

On May 3, 2013, van der Eem was sentenced by the Arnhem District Court to serve twelve months in prison. The reason for his punishment was his co-perpetration in a ram-raiding in Oosterbeek stealing ski clothing with a value of approximately €30,000 as well as handling stolen goods by using a stolen Volkswagen Caddy for a covert transport of the clothes.[http://zoeken.rechtspraak.nl/detailpage.aspx?ljn=BZ9309 LJN: BZ9309, Rechtbank Arnhem, 05/720002-13], Rechtspraak.nl (3 mei 2013){{Cite web |date=2013-05-03 |title=Jaar cel voor Patrick van der Eem |url=https://nos.nl/artikel/502822-jaar-cel-voor-patrick-van-der-eem.html |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=nos.nl |language=nl}}