Natalee Holloway murder suspect Joran van der Sloot’s is expected to plead guilty today to trying to extort her family in exchange for information about her death, claiming he would ‘take them’ to her body if he received $250,000.
The Alabama resident was 18 when she disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005 during a trip with school friends and was last seen with the Dutch citizen. Her disappearance has never been solved.
Van der Sloot, 36, was extradited to Birmingham, Alabama in June from Peru, where he was serving a 28-year sentence after confessing to killing Stephany Flores in 2010.
Attorney John Q. Kelly, who represented Holloway’s mother during the alleged extortion attempt, said the plea deal was contingent on van der Sloot providing details about what happened to Holloway.
The hearing, which will be attended by Holloway’s family and held a few miles from the suburb where Holloway lived, could be a key development in the case that captivated the public’s attention for nearly two decades, spawning extensive news coverage, books, movies and podcasts.
Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway, will be extradited to the U.S. on Thursday
Holloway´s body was never found, and no charges were filed in the case. A judge declared Holloway dead in 2012
Natalee’s mother Beth (pictured) was able to track down the name of van der Sloot after being told her daughter left the nightclub with him, and gave his name to the police
A heavy media presence had begun assembling outside the federal courthouse nearly three hours before the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco indicated in a court order that she will hear victim impact statements, either submitted in writing or given in court, from Holloway’s mother, father and brother before sentencing van der Sloot.
In emails seen by The Messenger and allegedly sent by Van der Sloot to Holloway family lawyer Kelly in 2010, the killer wrote: ‘I want this monkey off my back just as much as I know Natalees (sic) parents want to bring her home.
‘If you have someone come meet me in Aruba, I will do the right thing… this situation hurts everyone involved and will continue to do so until it’s over. I will take you to Natalee but I do not want it to be known the information came from me.
‘In return I want to receive 250,000$. If you are interested I will give you more details and we can arrange it.’
Holloway was last seen leaving a bar with the convicted killer, who was a student at an international school on the island at the time. Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and detained weeks later, along with two Surinamese brothers, but was eventually let go by police.
Van der Sloot gave different accounts over the years of that night in Aruba. Federal investigators in the Alabama case said van der Sloot gave a false location of Holloway’s body during a recorded 2010 FBI sting that captured the extortion attempt.
Natalee Holloway, left, poses with friends Lee Broughton, Madison Whatley, and Ruth McVay, left to right, in a photograph taken with Natalee’s disposable camera on the beach in Aruba
Van der Sloot, 36, was extradited to Birmingham , Alabama in June from Peru, where he was serving a 28-year sentence after confessing to killing Stephany Flores in 2010
A judge declared Holloway dead but her body has never been found
Van der Sloot (pictured in September 2005) has been serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of a Peruvian woman. Authorities in early June 2023 moved him from a maximum-security prison in the Andes to the detention facility in Lima
A judge declared Holloway dead but her body has never been found.
The extortion charges are the only charges to have ever linked the Dutch citizen to Holloway’s disappearance. While he is not charged with murder, he remains the chief suspect in the case.
Following the 2010 emails, Van der Sloot said Holloway was buried in the gravel under the foundation of a house, but later admitted that was untrue, FBI Agent William K. Bryan wrote in a 2010 sworn statement filed in the case.
The killer’s attorney in Peru, Máximo Altez, had previously told DailyMail.com that van der Sloot planned on making the extraordinary accusation that it was actually Natalee’s mother, Beth, who approached van der Sloot offering money if he took her to her daughter’s body.
Altez explained that his client is a ‘sick person’ and ‘compulsive gambler,’ who ‘needed the money to play at the casino’.
In 2010, the same year he was indicted in the U.S. for extortion, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, a business student from a prominent family who was killed five years to the day after Holloway´s disappearance.
Peruvian prosecutors said van der Sloot killed Flores while trying to rob her after learning she had won money at the casino where the two met.
They said he killed her with ‘ferocity’ and ‘cruelty,’ beating then strangling her in his hotel room. He pleaded guilty in 2012.
A 2001 treaty between Peru and the U.S. allows a suspect temporarily extradited to face trial in another country.
Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, said the family is ‘finally getting justice for Natalee’ in a statement released after Peruvian authorities agreed to the extradition.
‘It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off,’ Beth Holloway said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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