Natalee Holloway’s murder suspect Joran van der Sloot has pleaded guilty to extorting $250,000 from her family in exchange for information about her death and the location of her remains.
The Alabama resident 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.
As part of his plea deal, Van der Sloot, 36, agreed to tell detectives “everything he knows” about Natalee’s disappearance, and her parents were reportedly allowed to hear his confession “in real time.”
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.
Attorney John Q. Kelly, who represented Holloway’s mother during the extortion attempt, said the plea deal was conditional on providing details about what happened to Holloway.
The hearing, attended by Holloway’s family and held a few miles from the suburb where Holloway lived, is a major development in the case that has captivated the public’s attention for nearly two decades and generated extensive reporting, books, films and podcasts has produced.
Natalee Holloway murder suspect Joran van der Sloot has pleaded guilty to extorting $250,000 from her family
The hearing, attended by Holloway’s family and held a few miles from the suburb where Holloway lived, is a major development in the case.
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 (photo) was able to find out Van der Sloot’s name after she was told that her daughter left the nightclub with him and gave his name to the police.
A large media presence gathered outside the federal courthouse nearly three hours before the hearing. Journalist Greta Van Susteren, who has followed the case from the beginning and opposed the deal, was seen entering the courtroom on Wednesday.
‘Late last night I was informed that despite Beth Holloway’s request to speak at the sentencing of Joran van der Sloot, the federal judge in Alabama denied the request; Why does the judge not want to have ALL the information about the sentence at such an important moment – she also does not receive a pre-sentence report,” the journalist wrote on X.
U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco indicated in a court order that she will hear victim impact statements, 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 which Van der Sloot allegedly sent to the Holloway Kelly family’s lawyer in 2010, the killer wrote: “I want this monkey off my back as much as I know the parents from Natalee (sic) wanting to take her home.
“If you let anyone meet me in Aruba, I will do the right thing… this situation is hurting everyone involved and will continue to do so until it is over. I will take you to Natalee, but I don’t want it to be known that the information came from me.
‘In return I would like to receive $250,000. If you are interested, I will give you more details and we can arrange it.”
Natalee Holloway, left, poses with friends Lee Broughton, Madison Whatley and Ruth McVay, left to right, in a photo taken with Natalee’s disposable camera on the beach in Aruba
Van der Sloot, 36, 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.
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 arrested weeks later, along with two Surinamese brothers, but was eventually released by the police.
Van der Sloot gave several stories about the years of that night in Aruba. Federal investigators in the Alabama case said Van der Sloot provided a false location of Holloway’s body during a recorded 2010 FBI sting that captured the extortion attempt.
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.
After the 2010 emails, Van der Sloot said Holloway was buried in gravel beneath the foundation of a house, but later admitted that was untrue, FBI agent William K. Bryan wrote in a 2010 affidavit that was filed in the case.
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.”
A judge declared Holloway dead, but her body was never found
Van der Sloot (photo September 2005) is serving a 28-year prison sentence for the murder of a Peruvian woman. Authorities transferred him from a high-security prison in the Andes to the detention center in Lima in early June 2023
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 makes it possible for a suspect who is temporarily extradited to stand 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 perseverance of many will pay off,” Beth Holloway said.