Almost two decades after Natalee Holloway vanished in Aruba, the man long suspected in her death has confessed to killing the Alabama teen in grisly detail, court documents reveal.
Joran van der Sloot’s confession was publicized shortly after he pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to extorting and defrauding Holloway’s family.
Joran van der Sloot’s confession was publicized shortly after he pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to extorting and defrauding Holloway’s family.
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00:00 Almost two decades after Natalie Holloway vanished in Aruba, the man long suspected
00:10 in her death has confessed to killing the Alabama teen in grisly detail, court documents
00:20 reveal.
00:23 Joran Vandersloot's confession was publicized shortly after he pleaded guilty in federal
00:33 court Wednesday to extorting and defrauding Holloway's family.
00:42 He was accused of trying to sell information about the location of Holloway's remains to
00:50 her mother, Beth Holloway, in exchange for $250,000.
01:01 It's over.
01:04 Joran Vandersloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder.
01:14 He is the killer, Beth Holloway said Wednesday.
01:21 After 18 years, Natalie's case is solved, she said.
01:30 He gave a proffer in which he finally confessed to killing Natalie.
01:38 In a proffer, a defendant offers information they know about a crime, often as part of
01:48 a plea deal.
01:52 Vandersloot, 36, admitted to killing the teen with a cinder block on an Aruban beach after
02:03 she rejected his sexual advances, according to a transcript of an interview with his attorney.
02:15 Vandersloot said Holloway kneed him in the crotch after he tried feeling her up, and
02:25 he responded by kicking her in the face and bludgeoning her with the cinder block.
02:34 He then decided to push her off into the ocean, according to the interview transcript.
02:46 Holloway's body has never been found.
02:51 In 2012, an Alabama judge signed an order declaring her legally dead.
03:03 The deaths of Holloway in 2005 and Stephanie Flores, a Peruvian woman, in 2010, whom Vandersloot
03:17 previously admitted to killing, prompted Judge Anna Monasco to sentence Vandersloot to 20
03:29 years on the federal charges.
03:33 "I have considered your confession to the brutal murder of Natalie Holloway," Monasco
03:43 said Wednesday.
03:45 "You have brutally murdered, in separate incidents years apart, two beautiful women who refused
03:57 your sexual advances."
04:02 After reading Vandersloot's proffer, the judge said Holloway's body would never be found.
04:15 Vandersloot had been arrested multiple times in connection with Holloway's death.
04:23 He was subsequently released by Aruban authorities, who cited a lack of direct evidence.
04:35 He's currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of Flores.
04:48 In 2021, Vandersloot was convicted of trafficking cocaine into his prison and was sentenced
05:00 to an additional 18 years in Peru, according to a sentencing memorandum.
05:11 Because Peruvian law prohibits prison sentences from exceeding a total of 35 years, unless
05:21 given a life sentence, the defendant is currently scheduled for release from prison in Peru
05:31 on or about June 10, 2045, 35 years after his original arrest in Peru, the court document
05:46 states.
05:49 But Peruvian officials allowed his temporary release to the US in June to face the extortion
05:59 and wire fraud charges.
06:04 Vandersloot was expected to return to Peru to finish his murder sentence in the Flores
06:14 case before returning to the US to serve time for the federal charges.
06:24 But Wednesday's plea agreement says his 20-year US federal sentence will be served concurrently
06:35 with his sentence in Peru.
06:39 In other words, it appears unlikely Vandersloot will return to the US to serve prison time.
06:51 18 years of mystery and misery
06:58 Holloway was visiting Aruba on a high school graduation trip when she vanished in 2005.
07:10 The 18-year-old was last seen leaving a nightclub with Vandersloot and two other men, brothers
07:21 Deepak and Satish Kalpo.
07:27 The three men were arrested in 2005 but were released due to insufficient evidence.
07:39 They were re-arrested and charged in 2007 for involvement in the voluntary manslaughter
07:49 of Natalie Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalie Holloway resulting in her
08:00 death, Aruban prosecutors said at the time.
08:08 But a few weeks later, an Aruban judge ordered Vandersloot's release, citing a lack of direct
08:18 evidence that Holloway died from a violent crime or that Vandersloot was involved in
08:28 such a crime.
08:31 The Kalpo brothers were also released.
08:37 Why Vandersloot was charged in the US
08:44 While US officials don't have jurisdiction over the criminal investigation in Aruba,
08:54 a federal grand jury in Alabama indicted Vandersloot for an alleged plot to sell information about
09:05 Holloway's remains to her family.
09:10 According to the indictment, Vandersloot's scheme took place between March and May 2010.
09:23 He was indicted in June 2010 on charges of extortion and wire fraud.
09:34 In the weeks between the extortion and indictment, Vandersloot killed 21-year-old Flores on May
09:45 30, 2010, in his hotel room in Peru.
09:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]