The disappearance last Thursday of the US vice consul to Curacao in the Dutch Antilles has prompted a huge search on the island and the waters surrounding it. Local authorities on the island, which lies 40 kilometres off Venezuela’s coast, are being assisted by both the Dutch Royal Navy and the US Navy in a bid to find further clues as to 49 year old James Hogan’s disappearance.

Mr Hogan took his regular walk on Thursday evening and was reported missing by his wife on Friday morning after he failed to return home. A preliminary search by  police found no trace of Mr Hogan

Over the weekend a passer-by found some abandoned clothes in the vicinity of Baya Beach area, some ten kilometres away from the Hogan’s family home. Traces of blood were found on the clothes and the area surrounding the place where they were found. The clothes matched a description given by Mr Hogan’s wife, according to Ludmilla Vicento, spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office.
 

DNA tests
The NFI [Dutch Forensic Institute] is now carrying out tests to see if the blood found on the clothes matches Mr Hogan’s DNA.
 

Mrs Vincento told Radio Netherlands:
 

"No FBI agents are involved at this stage but US agencies may become active here if we invite them. The Netherlands have sent a couple of specialist detectives with search dogs."

Radio Netherlands correspondent in the Dutch Antilles Rene Roodheuvel said that the search was widening by the day.

“The police are in constant contact with the consulate. There happened to be an American ship in the harbour which is helping with the investigations, providing men and helicopters for the search. The investigation itself is being handled locally by police and the district attorney.”

Missing person
So far it’s being treated as a missing persons case, says Mr Roodheuven, but with every day that passes, fears are growing for Mr Hogan’s safety.

Inevitably, comparisons have been drawn with other disappearances or deaths of foreign nationals in the Dutch Antilles. US teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared without a trace on the island of Aruba in 2005, prompting massive media coverage. In 2008 Dutch trainee nurse Marlies van der Kouwe was killed on the island of Bonaire.

Rene Roodheuvel says that police are trying to learn from mistakes that were made in previous missing persons cases. 

“They are trying to be as transparent as possible. They learned from the Nathalie Holloway case…mistakes were made and they will try to prevent that from happening again.”