Court documents reveal that nearly two decades after Natalee Holoway vanished from Aruba, the man Joran Van der Sloot who was long suspected of her murder has confessed in detail to the brutal killing of the Alabama teenager.
Joran van der Sloot’s confession was made public shortly after he entered a guilty plea in federal court on Wednesday for extorting and defrauding the Holloway family.
He was accused of attempting to sell information on the location of Holloway’s remains to her mom, Beth Holloway, in exchange for $250,000
Van der Sloot admitted killing the teenager with a cinderblock on an Aruban island after she refused his sexual advances.
Van der Sloot claimed that Holloway had kneed him after he “felt her up,” to which he then responded by kicking in her face and bludgeoning her with the cinderblock.
According to the interview transcript, he ” pushed” her into the ocean.
Holloway has not been found. In 2012, a judge in Alabama signed a court order declaring Holloway legally dead.
Van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years in prison for federal charges after the deaths of Holloway, a Peruvian, and Stephany Flores in 2010. Both women were killed by van der Sloot, who had previously confessed to their murders.
Manasco told reporters on Wednesday that he had “considered your confession” to the brutal murder of Natalee Holloway. You have brutally murdered two beautiful women who rejected your sexual advances in separate incidents, years apart.
FBI agents arrive in Peru to transfer Joran Van der Sloot as suspect in the Natalee Holloway Case. The judge said that Holloway’s corpse would never be discovered after reading van der Sloot’s argument.
Van der Sloot was arrested several times for Holloway’s murder. Aruban officials released him after citing a lack of direct evidence. He is currently serving 28 years in prison for the 2010 killing of Flores.
According to a sentencing memo, van der Sloot, convicted in 2021 of trafficking cocaine to his prison, was sentenced to 18 additional years in Peru.
The court document says: “Because Peruvian Law prohibits prison sentences exceeding 35 years in total (unless given a lifetime sentence), the Defendant will be released from prison in Peru at or around June 10, 2045. (35 years after he was first arrested in Peru).”
In June, Peruvian officials released him temporarily to the US to face extortion charges and wire fraud allegations.
Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot was driven out of a Peruvian jail to be deported to the US on June 8. Martin Mejia/AP
Van der Sloot had been expected to return to Peru and finish his sentence for murder in the Flores Case before returning to the US to serve the time on federal charges.
The plea agreement on Wednesday states that his 20-year US Federal sentence will be served concurrently with his sentence in Peru. It is unlikely that van der Sloot would return to the US for prison.
18 Years of Mystery and Misery
When she disappeared, Holloway had been visiting Aruba for a graduation trip in 2005.
Natalee’s father reveals new information. The 18-year-old was last seen leaving the nightclub with van der Sloot, two brothers, Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Klpoe.
Three men were arrested but released in 2005 due to insufficient evidence. The three men were arrested again in 2007 and charged with “voluntary manslaughter or serious bodily injury to Natalee Hollay, which resulted in her death,” Aruban authorities said.
Aruban Judge van der Sloot was released a few days later, citing the lack of direct proof that Holloway was killed in a violent crime or that van der Sloot had been involved. The Kalpoe Brothers were also freed.
Why joran van der Sloot has been charged in the US
A federal grand jury in Alabama indicted Van der Sloot for an alleged plot to provide information to Holloway’s family about her remains.
According to the indictment, van der Sloot’s scheme occurred from March to May 2010.
In June 2010, he was charged with extortion, wire fraud, and other crimes.
In the weeks that followed the extortion attempt and the indictment of van der Sloot, Van der Sloot killed Flores in his Peruvian hotel room on May 30, 2010.
