Twelve years after his teenage daughter, Natalee Holloway, disappeared while on a class trip to Aruba, Dave Holloway is once again holding out hope that the case may finally be solved after some new details came to light.
After the investigation stalled a few years ago, the desperate father took it upon himself to uncover the mystery behind his daughter's disappearance, and his quest is featured on Oxygen's six-part series The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
"This series gives viewers rare access to Dave Holloway's gut-wrenching search for answers," Oxygen executive Rod Aissa tells PEOPLE in a statement. "He embarks on an immersive journey full of twists, turns and, most considerably, a new lead that could deliver justice for Natalee once and for all."
Since the documentary premiered on August 19, Dave and private investigator TJ Ward have been pursuing some very promising leads, and it seems like they're on the brink of solving the case with the latest development.
Dave and TJ found a man who is supposedly the friend of the prime suspect and convicted murderer, Joran van der Sloot, and he had some shocking information to provide.
On the fifth episode of the true crime show, the man identified as John Ludwick told the pair that he helped van der Sloot with getting rid of Natalee's body, ensuring they left no traces behind.
Ludwick opened up about his involvement after an informant provided evidence that he assisted van der Sloot. He claimed that in 2010 the alleged killer enlisted his help in unearthing the 18-year-old's remains after realizing that the investigators were getting close to finding the body. He was given $1,500 as compensation for his assistance.
The gruesome plan, according to Ludwick, was to burn the remains, but since cremation is illegal in Aruba, they spent hours crushing the bones beforehand so they wouldn't be recognizable as human.
"The idea was to crush everything to the point where it wasn't recognizable as her bones or skull or anything like that," Ludwick said. "The only thing that got burned was the skull to burn the hair fibers," he continued. "It was doused in gasoline in a fire pit in a cave."
Ludwick also added that the crushed bones were mixed with those of a dog so they wouldn't be identifiable.
"I feel bad that if I had an opportunity for them to recover the remains, that I let that slip through the cracks," Ludwick replied after TJ asked him how he felt about his actions today. "Now they're never "” they're never going to be able to bury her ... I was obsessed with my friendship at the time, and I was under the influence of heroin at the time. I was not clear-headed."
This new discovery contradicts an earlier development that skeletal fragments found back in August may be Natalee's. Tests confirmed that they belong to a Caucasian of European descent, but the gender couldn't be determined at the time. DNA tests are underway, but results will not be available for a few more weeks.
The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway airs on Saturday at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET on Oxygen.