Oranjestad, Aruba ? The attorney for two former security guards arrested in the disappearance last month of an Alabama honors student said Tuesday his clients were being investigated for murder and kidnapping.

The men have not been charged in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, and authorities have not said she was a victim of foul play. Earlier in the day, police said they had not ruled out accidental death in the case.

A judge was to determine today whether authorities have enough evidence to continue to hold the two men, who deny any connection to the high school graduate, said defense lawyer Chris Lejuez.

“They both say that during the time” of the disappearance, “they were not at the (girl’s) hotel and they don’t know this girl,” Lejuez told The Associated Press.

Lejuez said judicial authorities told him of the murder and kidnapping allegations as he met with his clients.

Meanwhile, police and the FBI kept up a search for Holloway, but a lack of any solid leads was hindering progress after nine days, according to several officers.

A car decorated in Mountain Brook, Ala., in support of missing teen Natalee Holloway, is shown Monday. Holloway vanished May 30 during a five-day trip to Aruba with more than 100 other classmates celebrating their high school graduation.

A search involving more than 700 volunteers on the southeastern tip of Aruba – where the two suspects were arrested Sunday – yielded no leads Monday. More than 4,000 civil servants who had been given the day off and encouraged to volunteer in the search effort returned to work Tuesday.

Holloway’s parents said they had not received any request for ransom or any other evidence that she had been kidnapped in this Dutch Caribbean territory.

In an interview with The Associated Press, they thanked the people of Aruba for helping in the search.

“The support is phenomenal,” said her mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, 44.

Holloway has been missing since May 30, when she vanished while on a five-day trip with more than 100 classmates celebrating their high school graduation on this Dutch Caribbean island. Seven chaperones accompanied them.

Authorities had not ruled out any possibilities, including that Holloway may have drowned, Atty. Gen. Caren Janssen said. Two divers among the eight FBI agents in Aruba have been searching the waters surrounding the island, Comemencia said.