Fox News 'On the Record' host Greta Van Susteren got the family's tough story about what they were told concerning the disappearance of Bud Larson and the circumstances. Mary Larson is Bud's sister-in-law. I found a
video link.
Greta: Natalee Holloway has been missing for ten weeks. But she is not the only American missing in Aruba. Thirtynine year old Willard 'Buddy' Larson disappeared in 1999 during a windsurfing trip. He left his hotel ****** windsurfing equipment and was last seen walking down an Aruba beach. Joining us live in Seattle was (!) Buddy's sister-in-law Mary Larson. Welcome, Mary.
Mary: Hi, Greta.
Greta: Mary ..ah.. was your brother-in-law traveling alone in Aruba?
Mary: Yes, he was. He had been there two years prior to when he took this trip ..ah.. to windsurf and he .. really enjoyed the windsurfing there ..the fact that it was a small, quaint little island and was looking forward to going back for another trip.
Greta: Allright. Take me through what it is the family knows. He arrived in Aruba and ..ah.. what happened after he arrived?
Mary: He arrived late that ..ah.. one night when the hotel ..ah.. had been closed but he was given a room number to check in to, which he did, ..ah.. The following morning he got up to go get his rental equipment which was already prepayed for in the package he had purchased .. and when he got to the rental place they told him they didn't have the equipment he had wanted .. so ....I guess from what we understand a (!) argument ..ah.. took place because that's his whole reason for going there was to windsurf and so he left the rental ..ah.. store, walked down the beach and that was the last they saw of him. The room that he had checked in to was not the correct room ..ah.. so they .. maid had gone in there. His bag had not been packed .. his passport was there .. so they took his bag, his passport to the office and was going to wait for him to return to give him the correct room. He never returned.
Greta: Ah..
Mary: The clerk .. I'm sorry.
Greta: Go ahead.
Mary: The clerk then called the police to let them know that he did not come back to claim his ..ah.. bag or to check back in and they did not respond ..ah.. After the couple who ..ah.. left the room that he was originally in ..ah.. left the maids went in to clean it and they moved the cur.. cushion underneath one of the chairs and there was his wallet. Evidently he had hidden the wallet there that had his money, his ID, his credit cards, everything in it. So when he walked down that beach he didn't ... he had nothing ..
Greta: In terms of ...
Mary: .. on him.
Greta: In terms of the person he had to fight with, was this in broad daylight, did other witnesses fight?
Mary: No, it wasn't a fight. It was an argument over the fact that the clerk there at the rental place did not have the equipment he had prepayed for in order to windsurf.
Greta: Yeah, allright ..ah.. did.. I assume that the family got involved in a search ..ah.. *** that you never .. I mean .. you haven't heard any .. anything from you brother-in-law. Were the authorities helpful to you?
Mary: The authorities were totally negligent in the way that they handed my ..ah.. handled my brother-in-law's case. We .. only found out about his disappearance when my sister-in-law called the hotel when he did not return ..ah.. for the day when he had to be back for work and the clerk was even surprised and said: 'You mean the police have not contacted you?'. Because they had been trying to get the police involved in .. to finding what happened to their guest who never returned.
Greta: So what happened? Nothing, I mean did just you..you.ah...you haven't heard a thing in ..since 1999?
Mary: No, we have not ..ah.. My husband and two of the brothers flew down there to try to find them ..ah.. this was after being told by our local FBI agents that there was nothing they could do ..ah.. they had no jurisdiction there so .. Three of them flew down there and ..ah.. it was a complete and utter joke the way they were running them around the island having them chasing a ghost. It was like 'Oh, we see him over here, we see him over there' and ..ah.. of course .. It was a joke, it was a big joke.
Greta: And, of course, nobody has heard from 'Buddy' Larson since that time. But if anyone has heard, of course, or seen or know anything about him they should call the authorities. Mary, thank you.
****** Word not totally audible or comprehensible.
Transcription by Rei Beaumanner.
Source material Copyright 2005 Fox News Network.
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