Convicted killer Joran van der Sloot admitted to the murder of Natalee Holloway, an Alabama teen who went missing in Aruba in 2005, said a judge on Wednesday, confirming long-held suspicions that the Dutch national was responsible.
“I have considered your confession to the brutal murder of Natalee Holloway,” Judge Anna Manasco said after reading papers submitted by Mr. van der Sloot, according to media reports.
“You have brutally murdered in separate incidents years apart two beautiful women who refused your sexual advances,” the judge said, referring to a separate case in which Mr. van der Sloot murdered a woman in Peru more than a decade ago.
Mr. van der Sloot has long been considered the prime suspect in the disappearance of Ms. Holloway. He pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of extortion and wire fraud in connection to the teen’s death, having been accused of attempting to sell information about the location of her remains in exchange for $250,000.
After she disappeared in 2005, the suspect was arrested multiple times by authorities in the island nation of Aruba. However, they released him and said there was no direct evidence that linked him to her disappearance or death.
The mother of Ms. Holloway also confirmed to the court that Mr. van der Sloot had confessed. “You didn’t get what you wanted from Natalee ... so you brutally killed her,” Beth Holloway said.
She added: “I paid my daughter’s killer money. That’s shocking. I don’t think anyone can really wrap their mind around what that means.”
Mr. van der Sloot had been serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for the 2010 slaying of another woman when he was extradited to the United States in June 2023 to face charges in the Holloway extortion case.
Mr. van der Sloot is not charged in Holloway’s death. He was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for extortion and wire fraud, but as part of his plea agreement, that sentence will run concurrently with his sentence in Peru, where he’s serving a 28-year prison sentence for killing Stephany Flores in 2010.
Judge Manasco said the plea deal required Mr. van der Sloot to provide all the information he knew about Natalie Holloway’s disappearance.
Ms. Holloway, who was 19 at the time, went missing during a high school graduation trip with classmates. She was last seen leaving a bar with Mr. van der Sloot. He was questioned in the disappearance but was never prosecuted. A judge declared Ms. Holloway dead, but her body has never been found.
The case has captivated the public’s attention for nearly two decades, spawning extensive news coverage, books, movies, and podcasts. A heavy media presence assembled outside the federal courthouse nearly three hours before the hearing.
Ms. Holloway’s family has long sought answers about her disappearance. Mr. Van der Sloot gave different accounts over the years of that night in Aruba. Federal investigators in the Alabama case said he gave a false location of Holloway’s body during a recorded 2010 FBI sting that captured the extortion attempt.
Prosecutors in the Alabama case said Mr. van der Sloot asked for $250,000 from Beth Holloway to reveal the location of her daughter’s remains. He agreed to accept $25,000 to disclose the location, and asked for the other $225,000 once the remains were recovered, prosecutors said. Mr. Van der Sloot said Ms. Holloway was buried in the gravel under the foundation of a house, but later admitted that was untrue, FBI Agent William K. Bryan wrote in a 2010 sworn statement filed in the case.
U.S. authorities agreed to return him to Peruvian custody after his case is concluded, according to a resolution published in Peru’s federal register.
