Investigators in Aruba have questioned whether Natalie Holloway's killer's chilling confession is true, saying there are some details that “don't add up.”
Prosecutors said Joran Van der Sloot's confession about the 2005 murder of the high school student contains contradictions that are “not logical.”
Van der Sloot, 36, confessed as part of a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering and wire fraud after attempting to take money from Holloway's parents in exchange for information about her remains.
The Dutchman told how he beat 18-year-old Holloway to death with a concrete block and dumped her body in the ocean after she rejected his sexual advances.
But now prosecutors have poked holes in his account, saying the geographic features of the Aruban beach where the murder took place would generally mean her body would have washed up again.
Investigators into the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba have questioned the confession of her killer Joran Van der Sloot.
Joran van der Sloot eventually confessed to killing Natalee Holloway in 2005 after they met at a bar in Aruba as part of a plea deal for wire fraud and extortion after he tried to defraud her family of $250,000 in exchange for information about her residence
“It is true that there is a reef that normally keeps things from getting into the sea,” the researcher told the Messenger.
'It's about thirty meters from the coast. You have to go past it to make sure something doesn't wash up on the beach again. But he says he didn't do that.'
Van der Sloot described with sickening detachment how he caved in Holloway's face before wading up to his knees and pushing her body into the sea.
Police also never found the murder weapon or remains, despite an extensive search the day after Holloway went missing.
“We have not seen any blockage,” the researcher added. “No blood, and nothing to lead us to believe that's how she died.”
Van der Sloot, who has admitted to being treated for “sociopathic tendencies,” was forced to reveal everything he knew about the murder as part of the plea deal.
US authorities also subjected him to a polygraph test, which he passed 'with flying colours'.
But his testimony contradicts an account he gave to a friend via email in 2010, in which he claimed that his father rented a boat two days after the murder to “take care of business,” suggesting that the body was hidden before being dumped further out. sea.
Investigators questioned the killer's story of how he beat Holloway to death and dumped her body in the sea, as the murder weapon was never found and they expected the body to wash up.
Van der Sloot confessed to the murder while serving another 28 years in prison for the brutal murder of another student, 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramirez, whom he attacked in Peru five years after Holloway's murder.
Beth Holloway said Van der Sloot's confession means the family has 'finally reached the end of this never-ending nightmare'
His confession ended years of torment for the Holloway family, who have sought answers since her disappearance on May 30, 2005.
A judge declared her dead, but her body was never found.
The teen's mother, Beth Holloway, described the immense relief the family felt after Van der Sloot was given a 20-year prison sentence in an Alabama court for his racketeering crimes.
“This confession means that we have finally reached the end of this endless nightmare,” she said outside the courthouse.
The killer was framed after he attempted to swindle $250,000 from Holloway's mother Beth Holloway in exchange for information about her remains.
Van der Sloot was extradited from Peru for the hearing where he is already serving 28 years for the murder of 21-year-old student Stephy Flores in 2010.
The Lima student's murder occurred exactly five years after Holloway's.
Van der Sloot will serve his second sentence in the same prison where he is currently held, but technically has no time for the murder.
Despite doubts about the veracity of his confession, the murder has now crossed the border in Aruba, so that Van der Sloot can be charged again.
“There are some things that don't make sense,” the researcher said, “it just doesn't make sense.
'There's nothing more that can be done,' but I'll always wonder.'