Aruba requests van der Sloot case documents, including his description of killing Natalee Holloway
Oct 23, 2023, 11:53 AM
Beth Holloway speaks to media after the appearance of Joran van der Sloot outside the Hugo L. Black Federal Courthouse Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, in Birmingham, Ala. Van der Sloot, the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance in Aruba admitted he killed her and disposed of her remains, and has agreed to plead guilty to charges he tried to extort money from the teen's mother years later, a U.S. judge said Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Butch Dill )
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/ Butch Dill )
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Aruba have requested documents from the U.S. Department of Justice in the extortion case against Joran van der Sloot, including his description of killing Natalee Holloway on the island nearly 20 years ago.
Van der Sloot, as part of a plea deal in the extortion case, agreed to describe what happened to Holloway in 2005. Van der Sloot said he bludgeoned her to death on a beach after she resisted his sexual advances and then put her body in the ocean, according to court documents.
“We have requested the U.S. Department of Justice for the court documents, transcripts and all the documents related to the investigation,” Ann Angela, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Aruba, wrote in an email. She said they will, “review and analyze them before deciding on the procedural steps to be taken against Joran van der Sloot.”
“The disappearance of Natalee Holloway, is still an open investigation in Aruba,” she wrote.
An attorney for Holloway’s father said last week it was his understanding, based on conversations with authorities, that the statute of limitations for murder has expired in Aruba. The United States does not have jurisdiction to prosecute him for the crime that happened in Aruba.
Holloway, an 18-year-old American, went missing during a high school graduation trip to Aruba with classmates. She was last seen May 30, 2005, leaving a bar with van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen and student at an international school on the Caribbean island where he grew up.
Van der Sloot, 36, pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of attempting to extort money from Holloway’s mother in 2010 in exchange for information about the location of her daughter’s body. The plea agreement included an unusual provision for van der Sloot to “provide all information and evidence” about what happened to Natalee Holloway and to let her family hear him give his account.
Under questioning from his own attorney, van der Sloot described what he said happened on the beach. American prosecutors filed an audio excerpt and transcript with the federal court. In the audio, van der Sloot said he kicked the teen “extremely hard” in the face after she kneed him between the legs to fight off his sexual advances. He said he then picked up a cinderblock.
“I smash her head it with it completely,” van der Sloot said.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the 20-year sentence in the extortion case will run concurrent with his ongoing prison sentence in Peru for killing Stephany Flores Ramirez, meaning he will serve additional prison time only if he is released before 2043. Van der Sloot will be sent back to Peru to finish his sentence there.
On Monday, he remained at an Alabama jail where he has been held during the proceedings in the United States.
Beth Holloway, Natalee Holloway’s mother, said last week that van der Sloot’s statement means he “finally confessed” and provided answers about what happened.
“Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter’s murder. He is a killer,” she said.
Dave Holloway, Natalee Holloway’s father, called van der Sloot “evil personified.” He said that after witnessing the admission, he believes van der Sloot alone killed his daughter but questioned if others helped conceal the crime.
“While I am satisfied that the defendant murdered Natalee alone, I have no doubt others provided him with aid and assistance in preventing us from being able to return Natalee home,” Dave Holloway said.
