Joran van der Sloot Admits to Murdering Natalee Holloway, Says Mother

On Oct 18, 2023

TL/DR –

Joran van der Sloot has confessed in a Birmingham federal court to the 2005 murder of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Long suspected of involvement in Holloway’s disappearance, van der Sloot had also pleaded guilty to extorting Holloway’s mother, Beth. Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for a separate murder, and his newly incurred convictions will run concurrently with his existing sentence.

In a recent emotional hearing in Birmingham’s federal court, Joran van der Sloot confessed to the 2005 murder of Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

The Dutch national, long suspected in Holloway’s disappearance and death, had also pleaded guilty to extorting Natalee’s mother, Beth. “You finally admitted that you murdered her,” Beth Holloway stated in court.

Van der Sloot was seated with his attorney in an orange jumpsuit as the hearing commenced. Upon being asked if he wished to plead guilty, he affirmed, additionally acknowledging the risk of perjury charges if he lied.

“I hope the statement I provided brings some kind of closure to everyone involved,” van der Sloot expressed, apologizing to the Holloway family and his own. He declared himself a Christian, claiming he is no longer the person he was back then.

Van der Sloot signed the plea agreement, fully accepting the terms of the deal. His sentences will run concurrently with each other and with his existing sentence in Peru.

A timeline of the Natalee Holloway case

Judge Anna Manasco, who presided over the case, deemed van der Sloot’s actions as a “brutal murder,” based on his confession and the “disposal and destruction of her remains.”

Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of Lima college student Stephany Flores. His Peru sentence expires in 2045, after which he will serve the remainder of his U.S. sentence for Holloway’s murder.

According to federal authorities, van der Sloot exploited Beth Holloway’s fear with the promise of revealing the whereabouts of her daughter’s body for $250,000. The information he provided was false.

As part of the extortion, van der Sloot emailed an unnamed representative of Beth Holloway, offering to reveal the whereabouts of Natalee’s body and the details of her death. He demanded an initial payment of $25,000 to disclose the location, with the rest to be paid upon the recovery of her body.

Federal authorities assert that after receiving payment, van der Sloot lied about the location of Holloway’s remains. His false leads resulted in him being charged with extortion. He was extradited to Alabama in 2023 and booked into the Shelby County Jail.