Dutchman Joran van der Sloot Extradited to the USA for Natalee Holloway Case

Dutchman Joran van der Sloot was this week extradited to the United States from Peru. There he is serving a 28-year prison sentence for the murder of another woman.

18-year-old Natalee Holloway was last seen on the Caribbean island nation of Aruba on May 30, 2005, leaving a bar with two or three men. Among them was the local Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, who was then 17 years old.

The American teenager was on holiday with classmates to celebrate her graduation from high school when she disappeared, and her disappearance has never been solved.

Although van der Sloot is referred to as a suspect in the case, he is not charged with either the disappearance itself or for injuring Holloway.

He was brought in early for questioning in the case, but was later released, writes Reuters.

The 35-year-old is still behind bars – in Peru. Here, in 2012, he was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the murder of the 21-year-old Peruvian student Stephany Flores in 2010.

She was the daughter of a local, wealthy businessman, and was found dead in Sloot’s hotel room in the country’s capital Lima, writes CBS.

Charged with extortion and false statement

On Thursday, Sloot was extradited to the United States. There he stands accused of having tried to pressure the mother of Natalee Holloway for money in exchange for showing her where her daughter’s remains were buried. He is also accused of making false statements in the case.

On Friday, he appeared in court in Birmingham, Alabama, where he pleaded not guilty.

• According to US prosecutors, Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, was contacted by Sloot through his lawyers in March 2010.
• Sloot is said to have said he would reveal where Natalee’s remains were buried in exchange for US$250,000. 25,000 of these had to be paid in advance.
• Beth Holloway’s attorney John Q. Kelly pretended her mother would agree to the deal, writes ABC. He donned wiretapping gear and met Sloot at a hotel in Aruba that year. Here, Sloot is said to have received $10,000 in cash, while Beth Holloway transferred $15,000 to his account.
• According to the indictment, Sloot will then have changed his explanation. He is said to have explained that he lifted Natalee Holloway, but that she should have asked to be put back on the ground. He is said to have thrown her off him so that her head hit a rock.
• Sloot is said to have then taken the lawyer Kelly to a house in Aruba and explained that his father – who was now dead – had buried Holloway in the foundation wall. This turned out not to be true.
• A few days later, Sloot traveled to Peru.

The parents: 18 years of pain

According to Ap, the Peruvian authorities have approved that van der Soot will be held in custody in the United States until the trial is over, before he will be transported back to Peru.

If he is convicted in the case, he will be returned to the United States after the sentence in Peru is completed in 2038, writes NBC News. There he risks up to 40 years in prison.

– For 18 years I have lived with the indescribable pain after losing Natalee. Each day has been filled with unanswered questions and a longing for justice. Today, I hope we can finally achieve something resembling a sliver of justice,” said mother Beth Holloway, who was present in court Friday, in a statement reported by ABC News.

– Although I am filled with mixed emotions, I am sure that this was an important step towards holding someone accountable and, hopefully, justice, says the father Dave Holloway.