( CNN ) -- An Aruban police dive team will search the site where an underwater photograph was taken that might show human remains , a spokeswoman for the Aruban prosecutor said Saturday . The picture has renewed interest in the nearly 5-year-old Natalee Holloway case . Officials first heard of the picture , taken in October by a vacationing American couple , on Thursday , Ann Angela , a spokeswoman for Aruban prosecutor Peter Blanken , said . `` We have received the picture , and the diving team of the Aruban police will start doing preliminary work at the spot where we believe it was taken , '' Angela told CNN . She declined to identify the location , saying authorities want to avoid attracting onlookers during the search . The picture has raised the notion that , if it shows human remains , they could be those of Holloway , an 18-year-old Alabama high school student whose 2005 disappearance while on a graduation trip to Aruba was widely publicized . Holloway was last reported seen leaving a bar in the capital of Oranjestad on May 30 . CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the photo nor confirm whether it shows human remains . Holloway 's mother , Beth Twitty , declined to comment on the photo . The photo was taken by a Pennsylvania woman using a disposable film camera during the first stop on her Royal Caribbean cruise . Three months after snapping what she said she thought were pictures of colorful fish , Patti Muldowney and her husband said they realized that one picture contained what they believe appear to be human remains . `` When I looked at that photo , I said , 'By darn , that certainly does look like a skeleton , ' `` John Muldowney told HLN 's `` Nancy Grace '' on Friday . `` You can see the skull . You can see where the eye sockets were . You can see where the chin was . `` It 's lying flat on its back . And its arms are cradled around . You can almost see fingers . And then on the one sleeve it looks like some kind of maybe clothing that 's deteriorating . '' The couple , who took the photo to police and the FBI , said it was taken near a shipwreck . The FBI said Friday that it is investigating . `` The photo has been made available to all elements of the FBI that are involved in this foreign police cooperation case , '' Mike Kortan , assistant director of the FBI 's office of public affairs , said in a statement . `` Investigative leads are being pursued and the effort is ongoing . '' The main suspect in the Holloway case , Joran van der Sloot , remains free . Van der Sloot has made alleged confession-like statements in TV interviews , one of which involves dumping Holloway 's body in the ocean after she suffered a seizure on the beach . Aruban judges have ruled there is n't enough evidence to arrest him . Whether the object in the photo is human remains is still up for debate . In underwater burials , it is typical for arms , legs and other extremities to be dispersed and for lighter bones to be carried away from heavier bones by fish , wildlife and water , according to Heather Walsh-Haney , a forensic anthropologist . `` It looks as if there 's something that may be on top of the skeleton , '' Walsh-Haney said of the image in the photograph . `` That would certainly bode well for preserving the center of the mass of the body and keeping most of it there . '' Dr. Marty Makary , a physician who serves on the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and School of Medicine in Baltimore , Maryland , said he sees mixed signs , some indicating the image may not be a skeleton . `` What I do n't like about the photo is there 's no spinal cord or vertebral column , '' he said . `` In fact , below this roundish skull-type profile you see a curvature which does n't really represent a normal spinal column . '' CNN 's Tracy Sabo and Philip Rosenbaum contributed to this report .
Picture has renewed interest in case of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway . Couple took underwater photo near shipwreck during cruise stop in Aruba . The Associated Press contributed to this report. Holloway disappeared during senior trip to Aruba in 2005 ; no arrests have been made .