Natalee Holloway suspect Joran van der Sloot pleads not guilty to extortion

Joran Van Der Sloot, the Dutch man charged in connection with the disappearance of US student Natalee Holloway in 2005, pleaded not guilty to fraud and extortion today in his first trial on US soil.

Dutch Van der Sloot, now 35, was a 17-year-old international student on the island of Aruba when 18-year-old Natalee disappeared on a school trip in May 2005.

He was offered a translator in court today, but told the judge, “It really isn’t necessary.”

Natalee’s mother Beth sat in the third row as he pleaded not guilty.

No cameras were allowed in the federal courthouse today.

Van der Sloot was immediately considered a suspect in 2005 because he was seen leaving a bar with Natalee.

Over the years, he has been taken into custody several times in connection with the case, but the charges have never stuck.

In 2010, he was indicted on suspicion of racketeering and wire fraud after allegedly offering Natalee’s mother the location of her body in exchange for $250,000.

Before federal authorities could take him into custody, he left the city and fled to Peru, where he killed Stephany Flores. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

It wasn’t until May this year that he began extradition to the US to be charged with Natalee’s disappearance.

Van der Sloot was extradited yesterday from Peru, where he is serving a 28-year prison sentence for the murder of another woman.

Today at 11 a.m. today, he faced a judge at the Hugo Black federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama.

Prior to that appearance, Holloway family attorney John Q. Kelly appeared NBC’s Today show.

“She is overwhelmed by the whole situation, she had a whole spectrum of emotions.

“On the one hand she was ecstatic that he’s on American soil, but it’s still like pulling a scab off an old wound. You always hurt there. He’s a painful reminder of what she’s been through,” he said of Natalee’s mother, Beth.

Kelly met Van der Sloot twice in 2010 when he tried to blackmail Beth.

‘[He is] big guy, quite an ominous presence, all business about money. That’s all he cares about, that’s all he wants to talk about.

‘[He is] cold, heartless and has absolutely no sympathy, empathy, no feelings whatsoever for Beth, her family or what they have been through.

“He just wants the money,” he said.

He added that Van der Sloot is the only key to finding Natalee’s body.

“He’s going to have to decide at some point whether he wants to get some fresh air outside the prison, down the street, or not.”

When he was charged this week, Van der Sloot was already serving a 28-year sentence in a Peruvian prison for the murder of another woman. His lawyer says he intended to fight extradition.

DailyMail.com previously revealed its plans to claim that Holloway’s mother approached him and offered him money in exchange for information about where her body might be.

Today’s court hearing marks the first time the Holloway family has come face to face with him in court.

Yesterday, Beth, Holloway’s mother, said she was “overcome with mixed feelings.”

“As a mother who has tirelessly pursued justice for the abduction and murder of my precious daughter, I stand before you today with a heart both heavy with grief yet lifted by a glimmer of hope.

For 18 years I lived with the excruciating pain of losing Natalee.

“Every day is filled with unanswered questions and a desire for justice that has eluded us every step of the way.

“But today … I’m hopeful that some semblance of justice will finally be served.”

Holloway was last seen alive leaving a bar with Van der Sloot, who was a student at an international school on the island.

In 2012, Van der Sloot pleaded guilty in Peru to the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, a business student from a prominent Peruvian family. She was murdered in 2010 five years after Holloway’s disappearance.

Van der Sloot married a Peruvian woman in July 2014 ceremony in a maximum security prison.

He was transferred between Peruvian prisons following reports that he enjoyed privileges such as television, internet access and a cell phone, and allegations that he had threatened to kill a director.