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GREEN, Ohio - The sight of her daughter's neatly packed clothes, unusable cell phone and passport on an abandoned hotel bed in Aruba will always be with Beth Holloway Twitty.
"I was so glad to see that passport," Twitty said. "Seeing it told me she was still on that island. Maybe I could find her."
Last year, Twitty's personal search for her daughter, Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, ended without resolution.
Now, as she awaits details about a new arrest in the disappearance, Twitty wants to make sure other teens travel with Natalee in mind.
"It's too late for Natalee. But it's not too late for you," she told about 700 students at Green High School Thursday afternoon. " ...You could be Natalee, and I could be your parent."
Twitty spoke in a darkened auditorium, a spotlight allowing her to read to the hushed juniors and seniors. Freshmen and sophomores watched from their classrooms on television sets.
Most students already knew the story. Natalee was last seen leaving a bar with three young men on May 30, 2005, the final night of her vacation.
The men were initially jailed in Natalee's disappearance, but later were released when a judge ruled the evidence insufficient.
The girls they befriended, including 18-year-old Natalee, had graduated from high school just days earlier.
"I look at these young adults, and all I see is Natalee and her friends," said Twitty, whose trip was made possible by the the Summit County Sheriff's Office.
Later Thursday, she spoke at the University of Akron's Student Union Theatre.
Her visit follows a sonar search off the island and the arrest Monday of Geoffrey van Cromvoirt, 19, in connection with the disappearance.
"Maybe we're getting closer to the answers," she said. "I'm encouraged."
Standing before projected images of her daughter and last summer's search efforts, Twitty pleaded that teens learn to protect themselves.
Even though Natalee was an honor student who had a full scholarship to attend the University of Alabama, Twitty believes her own naive confidence became her undoing.
For two months, Natalee's mother said, she searched Aruban crack houses and brothels, posted fliers and followed tips.
Twitty has formed the nonprofit International Safe Travels Foundation to distribute information both she and her daughter could have used, including how governments work and areas to avoid in foreign countries.
More than anything, though, she hopes fellow parents will use Natalee's story to discuss travel safety with their kids.
"I can't tell you what it's like walking past her bedroom door every morning," she said.
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(c) 2006, Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
