Young Natalee Holloway, just 18 when she disappeared while on vacation with friends in Aruba, is almost definitely dead. It's a heartbreaking fact, but it's a fact. It has been six years and there is still no trace of the young girl who disappeared while on her high school graduation trip. Now, her father is asking the courts to officially recognize what so many others have likely deduced.

It's a sad but necessary development in the case. It comes just one day after one of the main suspects in her disappearance, Joran Van der Sloot, confessed to murdering another girl in Peru. Poor Stephany Flores had no way of knowing what he was capable of given he was never tried in Aruba. The fact is, if he had something to do with her disappearance, something no one has ever been able to prove, then it's likely Holloway has been long dead.

For Holloway's parents, maybe this could provide the closure they so desperately need. It's hard to imagine what they've been through.

Holloway's mother Beth had said last fall that she didn't want her daughter declared dead yet, so it's her father who is petitioning the court. And while I feel for Beth Holloway, her recent decision to go ahead with the death declaration seems much wiser for her psyche. It won't ever be easy and she will grieve for her daughter every day for the rest of her life, but at least she can move into grieving and out of wondering. It won't fix everything, but at least it's a move toward closure.

For the family, it would be "nice" if the judge would grant their request at the hearing later on Thursday. Of course, nothing will take away the sting of losing their child, but at least a death certificate would provide something.

They may never have a body to bury. The likelihood is minimal that remains would be found this long after a girl disappeared on an island. Still, this is something. They can have a memorial and get a piece of paper that could at least move the grief process along.

There are also likely legal and financial reasons that Holloway's father would want his daughter's death officially acknowledged. But the emotional ones are likely the most important in the end. Anyone who has lost someone close to them needs time to grieve, but Holloway's parents have been on a roller coaster ride since day one.

If they can't get anyone convicted and they can't find a body and they can't get any answers, then at least they can have this. This poor family needs peace and maybe this will help in some small way.

It's a tragedy no parent ever wants to imagine.

Do you think she should be declared dead?