The prime suspect behind Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance is expected to be extradited to the US on Tuesday, sources close to her family say.
Joran van der Sloot, who was serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, left the maximum-security Challapalca prison on Saturday and will land in Lima, the capital of the country, at noon local time. country. , sources said ABC.
He will be held in a prison in Lima before being extradited to the US, where he will be taken to Birmingham, Alabama, to face racketeering charges.
He is accused of promising to lead Natalee’s family to her body in exchange for $250,000 in 2010.
Natalee was 18 when she disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba during a trip with school friends.
Van der Sloot, a Dutchman, is serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old student Stephany Flores. According to his lawyer, he was recently beaten by fellow inmates
Natalee Holloway, 18, went missing in 2005. The teen had been on a graduation trip to Aruba with her high school classmates in Alabama
The teenager was last seen leaving a nightclub with Van der Sloot and two of his friends. Her body was never found and she was declared legally dead in 2012.
Van der Sloot was indicted by a grand jury in 2010 for wire fraud and racketeering, each carrying a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors in the US allege that Van der Sloot contacted Ms Holloway asking for $25,000 to disclose the location of her daughter’s body – and then another $225,000 when the remains were discovered.
During a recorded sting operation, Van der Sloot pointed to a house where he said Holloway was buried, but in later emails he admitted lying about the location, an FBI agent said in an affidavit.
But last month, DailyMail.com revealed that Van der Sloot will protest his innocence and make the extraordinary accusation that it was actually Natalee’s mother, Beth, who approached Van der Sloot to offer money if he took her to the body of Natalee. would bring her daughter.
His lawyer, Maximo Altez, said his client wanted extradition to clear his name.
“He was living his life in Aruba and got a call from Beth Holloway, who cheated on him,” he claimed.
She said, “Joran, tell me where the body is and I’ll give you $250,000.” He never asked for money, she offered it.
“She even gave him advances and he never asked the rest. He only got $25,000.”
Altez explained that his client is a “sick person” and “compulsive gambler” who “needed the money to play at the casino.”
He claimed Mrs Holloway was ‘taking advantage of him’.
Ms. Holloway’s attorney, John Q. Kelly, declined to comment on the allegations.
Natalee’s body was never found and she was declared legally dead in 2012
Van der Sloot faces extradition to the US for extortion after allegedly promising to lead Natalee’s family to her body in exchange for money. But his lawyer has now claimed it was Natalee’s mother, Beth (pictured), who approached him to offer cash
Van der Sloot, with whom Natalee had been the night of her disappearance, was detained as a suspect in the case, but was eventually released
In 2012, Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to the 2010 murder of a young Peruvian woman
Van der Sloot has changed his account of what happened to Natalee several times.
When questioned, Van der Sloot is said to have first claimed that he dropped Natalee off at a hotel, before later stating that he had left her alone on a beach.
In his 2007 book, The Case of Natalee Holloway: My Own Story about her Disappearance on Aruba, Van der Sloot admitted to lying to the police and apologized to the Holloways.
He wrote, “I understand that my past lies have seriously damaged my credibility.”
He maintained his innocence, explaining that he left an intoxicated Natalee on the beach, where he said she wanted to “look at the stars.”
In 2010, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was murdered five years after Natalee’s disappearance.
Peruvian prosecutors accused van der Sloot of killing Flores, a business student from a prominent family, in order to rob her after learning she had won money at the casino where the two met.
They said he killed her with “cruelty” and “cruelty,” beating and then strangled her in his hotel room. He pleaded guilty in 2012.
Natalee’s body was never found and she was declared legally dead in 2012
Natalee can be seen on casino security footage shortly before her disappearance sitting at a table with van der Sloot
It comes after DailyMail.com revealed that van der Sloot ditched his wife of eight years for a “prettier and younger” girlfriend accused of smuggling him drugs into prison.
The killer married 33-year-old accountant Leidy Figueroa in a private ceremony at Piedras Gordas Prison in July 2014, when Leidy was seven months pregnant with their daughter Dusha.
But van der Sloot filed for divorce about a year ago after starting a relationship with Eva Pacohuanaco.
The 24-year-old Peruvian was accused of helping him smuggle nearly 300 grams of cocaine and 140 grams of marijuana to another prison in Juliaca, according to reports in Peru.
It gave the Dutchman an extra seven years in his sentence for the murder of Flores.
Last month, Altez claimed that Van der Sloot had been severely beaten by fellow inmates and had since been transferred to the prison’s medical corridor.
He must be released in 2038.