John Walsh, meet the new sheriff in town: Beth Holloway.
Lifetime Network has given the green light to “Vanished with Beth Holloway,” a 10-episode reality series starring the mother of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama high school student who disappeared while on a class graduation trip to Aruba in 2005.
“Vanished” will look at some of the most disturbing real-life unsolved cases. Beth will host the show and talk to the victimized families.
Using the skills she acquired in her quest to solve the mystery surrounding Natalee’s disappearance, the show will put Beth on location to explain the circumstances and key moments in each unsolved case.
Beth has become a frequent TV figure, a champion of family rights and a heroic figure looking for justice in her daughter’s case.
Last September, she and a Dutch television crew sneaked into a Peruvian prison to confront Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance.
Lifetime has been undergoing a makeover in the last year or so since Nancy Dubuc, the exec credited with putting the History channel on the map with he-man shows like “Ice Road Truckers” and “Pawn Stars,” was put in charge. “Vanished” broadens Lifetime’s newfound taste for high-profile, real-life crime stories.
After “Natalee Holloway” drew 3.2 million viewers, a record for the network at the time, Lifetime proceed to make last year’s “The Craigslist Killer” and this week’s “Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy.”
The deal to bring Beth Holloway to Lifetime included production of a sequel to 2009’s “Natalee Holloway” movie.
“Justice for Natalee Holloway,” which does not have an air date yet, is set a few years after the disappearance and tells the story of how van der Sloot demanded $250,000 from Beth in 2010 to reveal the location of Natalee’s remains and how Beth and her lawyer, John Kelly, worked with the FBI to build a case against him.
However, before authorities could lock up van der Sloot, he was arrested in Peru for the alleged murder of a young woman — on the fifth anniversary of Natalee’s disappearance.
Tracy Pollan will reprise her role as Beth while Stephen Amell takes over the role of van der Sloot from Jacques Strydom, who played him in the first film.
Beth is cooperating with the production in much the same way she did for the first film.