Natalee Holloway Case Finally Solved 18 Years After Disappearance
Natalee Holloway and her mother, Beth
Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch national who has long been suspected of involvement in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, has reportedly confessed to her murder.
According to CNN, the suspect was in an Alabama courtroom on Wednesday, Oct. 18, for related charges when he also opened up about her death.
“I have considered your confession to the brutal murder of Natalee Holloway,” Judge Anna Manasco told him, calling him out for another murder that occurred in 2010 for which he is currently serving a 28-year sentence in Peru. According to the judge's statement, both murders followed the women rejecting van der Sloot's "sexual advances."
According to documents reviewed by TMZ, van der Sloot said he and Holloway, who was just 18 at the time, were kissing in the sand when she told him to stop "feeling her up." When he continued to do so she kneed him in the crotch, after which he stood up and kicked her in the face hard enough to knock her out. He reportedly found a cinderblock nearby and "smash[ed] her head in with it completely" before dumping her body in the water.
He's not being charged in her death, though, as Alabama does not have jurisdiction over the case. Instead, he was extradited to the United States to stand trial on charges of extortion and wire fraud, which he has pled guilty to.
van der Sloot attempted to defraud Holloway's family when he requested $250,000 in exchange for information about the location of her remains several years after her disappearance, though he has denied responsibility up until now.
The teen went missing in Aruba on May 30, 2005, during a trip with her classmates to celebrate their high school graduation. She was last seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot and two other men—brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe—in the early morning hours, and all three have been arrested multiple times in Aruba in connection with her death, though there has never been sufficient evidence to convince them.
Though her body has never been found, she was declared dead by an Alabama judge in 2012.
Per CNN, van der Sloot will return to Peru to complete his sentence there before returning to the US to begin the next sentence. It's unclear at this time if officials in Aruba can or will use his confession to reissue charges against him for Holloway's murder.
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