Natalee Holloway’s murder suspect Joran van der Sloot is expected to plead guilty to trying to blackmail her parents – in a deal in which he is expected to reveal how the American student died and how her body was disposed of.
Van der Sloot, 35, is accused of promising to lead Natalee’s relatives to her body in exchange for $250,000 in 2010. Nearly twenty years after the student’s disappearance, Van der Sloot plans to plead guilty on Wednesday .
Natalee was 18 when she disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba during a trip with school friends in 2005 and was last seen with the Dutchman. Her disappearance has never been solved.
“(The settlement) was conditional on Mr. Van der Sloot disclosing details of how Natalee died and how her body was disposed of,” Holloway family attorney John Q. Kelly told NBC on Sunday News.
Van der Sloot was extradited from Peru in June to Birmingham, Alabama, where he was serving a 28-year prison sentence after confessing to killing Stephany Flores in 2010.
Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in the disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway in 2005, will be extradited to the US on Thursday.
Holloway’s body was never found and no charges were filed in the case. A judge declared Holloway dead in 2012
“It (the plea deal) was conditional on Mr. Van der Sloot revealing details of how Natalee died and how her body was disposed of,” Holloway family attorney John Q. Kelly said.
Holloway was last seen leaving a bar with Van der Sloot, who was a student at an international school on the island at the time. Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and arrested weeks later, along with two Surinamese brothers, but was eventually released by the police.
The mysterious disappearance led to years of reporting and countless podcasts about true crimes. Van der Sloot was identified as the main suspect and was held for questioning, but no charges were filed in the case.
A judge declared Holloway dead, but her body was never found.
The racketeering charges are the only charges that have ever linked the Dutch citizen to Holloway’s disappearance. Although he is not charged with murder, he remains the prime suspect in the case.
Prosecutors allege he contacted the teen’s mother and asked for $25,000 to reveal the location of her daughter’s body.
He then reportedly demanded another $225,000 if the body was found, and through a sting operation, Van der Sloot initially selected a house that he claimed her body was buried in.
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
Natalee Holloway was 18 when she disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba while traveling with school friends
In later emails, the suspect admitted to lying about the location, an FBI agent alleged in an affidavit.
The killer’s lawyer in Peru, Máximo Altez, had previously told DailyMail.com that Van der Sloot planned to make the extraordinary accusation that it was actually Natalee’s mother, Beth, who approached Van der Sloot to offer money if he would take her to her daughter’s body.
Altez explained that his client is a “sick person” and a “compulsive gambler” who “needed the money to play at the casino.”
In 2010, the same year he was indicted on racketeering charges in the US, 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 murdered five years later. Holloway’s disappearance.
Peruvian prosecutors say 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 “cruelty” and “cruelty,” then beat and strangled her in his hotel room. He pleaded guilty in 2012.
A 2001 treaty between Peru and the US allows a suspect to be temporarily extradited to stand trial in the other 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 perseverance of many will pay off,” Beth Holloway said.