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    Natalee Holloway



    Natalee Ann Holloway (born October 21, 1986) disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An American student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip.[3] Her disappearance caused a media sensation in the United States.[4]

    Holloway was scheduled to fly home later on May 30, but failed to appear for her flight.[5] She was last seen by her classmates outside Carlos'n Charlie's, a Caribbean chain restaurant and nightclub in Oranjestad,[6] in a car with locals Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. When questioned, the three men said they dropped her off at her hotel and denied knowing what became of Holloway.[7] Upon further investigation by authorities, Van der Sloot was arrested twice on suspicion of involvement in her disappearance and the Kalpoes were each arrested three times. Due to lack of evidence the three men were released without charge after each arrest.[8][9]

    With the help of hundreds of volunteers, Aruban investigators conducted an extensive search for Holloway. Special Agents from the FBI,[10] fifty Dutch soldiers and three specially equipped Dutch Air Force F-16 aircraft participated in the search.[11][12][13] In addition to the ground search, divers examined the ocean floor for evidence of Holloway's body.[14] The searches were unsuccessful, and according to Aruban authorities she is most likely dead.[15][16] On December 18, 2007, Aruban prosecutors announced that the case would be closed without any charges sought against the former suspects.[17][18] The Aruban prosecutor's office reopened the case on February 1, 2008, after receiving video footage of Joran van der Sloot, under the influence of marijuana, making statements that Holloway died on the morning of May 30, 2005, and that he disposed of her body.[19] Van der Sloot later denied that what he said was true, and subsequently gave Greta Van Susteren an interview (the contents of which he later retracted) in which he stated that he sold Holloway into sexual slavery.

    Holloway's family has criticized Aruban investigators throughout the search for a perceived lack of progress in finding her. The family also called for a boycott of Aruba, which gained Alabama Governor Bob Riley's support but failed to gain widespread backing

    Background

    Natalee Ann Holloway was the first of two children born to David Edward ("Dave") and Elizabeth Ann Reynolds ("Beth") Holloway in Clinton, Mississippi.[1] Her parents divorced in 1993, and she and her younger brother Matthew were raised by their mother. In 2000, Elizabeth Holloway married George "Jug" Twitty, a prominent Alabama businessman, and Natalee moved to Mountain Brook, Alabama.[22] Holloway graduated with honors from Mountain Brook High School. She was a member of the National Honor Society, her school dance squad, and was a participant in other extracurricular activities.[23][24] According to her family, Holloway was to attend the University of Alabama on a full scholarship,[25] where she planned to pursue a pre-med track.[26] At the time of the disappearance, Dave Holloway was an insurance broker in Meridian, Mississippi, while Beth Twitty was employed by the Mountain Brook School System.[22][27] Jug Twitty began divorce proceedings on December 29, 2006, stating the two have "such a complete incompatibility of temperament that the parties can no longer live together"

    Disappearance

    On Thursday, May 26, 2005, Holloway and 124 fellow graduates of Mountain Brook High School, located in a wealthy suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, arrived in Aruba for a five-day, unofficial graduation trip.[23][29] The graduates were accompanied by seven chaperones.[30] According to teacher and chaperone Bob Plummer, the chaperones met with the students each day to ensure nothing was wrong.[31] However, Jodi Bearman—the chaperone who organized the trip, stated, "the chaperones were not supposed to keep up with their every move".[30][32] Police Commissioner Gerold Dompig, who would head the investigation from mid-2005 until 2006, described the behavior of the Mountain Brook students, stating there was "wild partying, a lot of drinking, lots of room switching every night. We know the Holiday Inn told them they weren't welcome next year. Natalee, we know, she drank all day every day. We have statements she started every morning with cocktails—so much drinking that Natalee didn't show up for breakfast two mornings".[30] Two of Holloway's classmates, Liz Cain and Claire Fierman, "agreed that the drinking was kind of excessive".[33]

    Holloway was last seen by her classmates leaving the Aruban bar and night club Carlos'n Charlie's[34] around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, May 30.[35] Holloway left with 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch honors student living in Aruba and attending the Aruba International School,[36] and his two Surinamese friends, 21-year-old Deepak Kalpoe[37] and 18-year-old Satish Kalpoe,[37] in Deepak Kalpoe's car.[8][38] Holloway, who had been scheduled to fly home later on May 30, did not appear for her return flight,[5] and her packed luggage and passport were found in her Holiday Inn room.[8][30] Aruban authorities initiated searches for Holloway throughout the island and surrounding waters but did not find her

    Investigation

    The investigation into Holloway's disappearance began shortly after she missed her flight home. The island of Aruba and the surrounding waters were extensively searched, especially in the month following Holloway's disappearance, though searches have continued. Ten individuals have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in Holloway's disappearance; however no charges have been filed against anyone, and there are no suspects in custody.

    Early investigation

    On May 30, 2005, immediately following Holloway's missed flight, Jug and Beth Twitty traveled to Aruba with friends by private jet.[7] Within four hours of landing in Aruba, the Twittys presented the Aruban police with the name and address of Van der Sloot as the person with whom Holloway left the nightclub.[7] Beth Twitty has stated that Van der Sloot's full name was given to her by the night manager at the Holiday Inn, who supposedly recognized him on a videotape.[25] The Twittys and their friends, with two Aruban policemen, went to the Van der Sloot home looking for Holloway. Van der Sloot initially denied knowing Holloway's name, but he then told the following story, with which Deepak Kalpoe, who was present, agreed:[30] Van der Sloot related that they drove Holloway to the California Lighthouse area of Arashi Beach because Holloway wanted to see sharks, before dropping Holloway off at her hotel around 2:00 a.m.[39] According to Van der Sloot, Holloway fell down as she exited the car but refused Van der Sloot's help.[39] He stated that she was then approached by a dark man in a black shirt similar to those worn by security guards as the young men drove away

    Searches for Holloway began soon afterwards. Hundreds of volunteers from Aruba and the United States joined the search. During the first days of the search, the Aruban government gave thousands of civil servants the day off to participate in the search.[10] Fifty Dutch marines conducted an extensive search of the shoreline.[11] Aruban banks raised $20,000 and provided other support to aid volunteer search teams.[13] Beth Twitty was provided with free housing, initially at the Holiday Inn where she stayed in her daughter's former room,[40] and then at the nearby Wyndham Hotel, where she stayed in the presidential suite.[30]

    Reports indicate Holloway did not appear on any security camera footage from her hotel's lobby during the course of the night;[41] however, Beth Twitty has made varying statements as to whether the cameras were actually working that night. According to an April 19, 2006, statement made by her, the security cameras at the Holiday Inn were not working the night Holloway vanished.[41] Twitty has made other statements indicating that they were working, and has stated so in her book.[42][43] In any event, according to Police Commissioner Jan van der Straten, initial head of the investigation until his 2005 retirement, Holloway did not have to go through the lobby to return to her room.[44]

    The search for physical evidence was extensive and, on occasion, subject to false leads; for example, a possible blood sample taken from Deepak Kalpoe's car was tested but determined not to be blood.[45]

    There was heavy involvement by American law enforcement from the early days of the investigation. United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated to reporters that the United States was in constant contact with Aruban authorities. Another State Department official indicated, "Substantial resources are being applied to this as they [Aruba officials] continue to ask for more".[46]

    2005 arrests



    On June 5, Aruban police detained Nick John and Abraham Jones, former security guards[47] from the nearby Allegro Hotel[6] which was then closed for renovation,[48] on suspicion of murder and kidnapping.[49] The initial reason for their arrests has never been officially disclosed; however, according to news accounts, the Van der Sloot and Kalpoe statements may have been a factor in the arrests.[50][51] Reports also indicate that the two former guards were known for cruising hotels to pick up women, and at least one of them had a prior incident with law enforcement.[52] John and Jones were released on June 13 without being charged.[37]

    On June 9, 2005, Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering Holloway.[53] Aruban law allows for arrest on serious suspicion from investigators; to continue holding the suspect in custody, an increasing evidentiary burden must be met at periodic reviews.[49][54] According to Dompig, the focus was on these three suspects from the "get-go".[33] Dompig stated that surveillance of the three began three days after Holloway was reported missing, and included surveillance, telephone wire taps, and even monitoring of their e-mail.[33] Dompig indicated pressure from Holloway's family caused them to stop their surveillance prematurely and to detain the three suspects.[33]

    As the investigation continued, on June 11, David Cruz, spokesman for the Aruban Minister of Justice, indicated that Natalee Holloway was dead and authorities knew the location of her body.[55] Cruz later retracted the statement, saying he was a victim of a "misinformation campaign".[55] That evening, Dompig alleged to the Associated Press that one of the detained young men admitted "something bad happened" to Holloway after the suspects took her to the beach, and that the suspect was leading police to the scene.[55] The next morning prosecution spokeswoman Vivian van der Biezen refused to confirm or deny the allegation, simply stating that the investigation was at a "very crucial, very important moment".[55]

    On Friday, June 17, a fourth person, later identified as disc jockey Steve Gregory Croes, was also arrested. Van der Straten told the media that "Croes was detained based on information from one of the other three detainees".[32] On June 22 Aruban police detained Paulus van der Sloot, Joran van der Sloot's father, for questioning; Paulus van der Sloot was arrested that same day. Both Paulus van der Sloot and Croes were ordered to be released on June 26.[37]

    During this period the remaining detained suspects' stories changed.[37] All three suspects indicated that Van der Sloot and Holloway were dropped off at the Marriott Hotel beach near the fishermen's huts. Van der Sloot stated that he did not harm Holloway, but left her on the beach.[56] According to Satish Kalpoe's attorney, David Kock, Van der Sloot called Deepak Kalpoe to tell the latter that he was walking home, and sent him a text message forty minutes later.[37]

    At some time during the interrogation Van der Sloot detailed a third account, that he was dropped off at home and Holloway was driven off by the Kalpoe brothers.[30] Dompig discounted the story, stating:

    This latest story [came] when [Van der Sloot] saw the other guys, the Kalpoes, were kind of finger-pointing in his direction, and he wanted to screw them also, by saying he was dropped off. But that story doesn't check out at all. He just wanted to screw Deepak. They had great arguments about this in front of the judge. Because their stories didn't match. This girl, she was from Alabama, she's not going to stay in the car with two black kids. We believe the second story, that they were dropped off by the Marriott.[30]

    On Monday, July 4, following hearings before a judge, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were released, but Joran van der Sloot was detained for an additional sixty days.[57]

    Continued search, suspects rearrested and released again

    On July 4, the Royal Netherlands Air Force deployed three F-16 aircraft equipped with infrared sensors to aid in the search, without initial result.[10][12] In March 2006 it was reported that satellite photos were being compared with photographs taken more recently (presumably from the F-16s) in an attempt to find unexpected shifts of ground that might be Holloway's grave.[58]

    A small pond near the Aruba Racquet Club close to the Marriott Hotel beach was partly drained between July 27 and July 30, 2005, after an individual ("the gardener"[59]) came forward. According to Jug Twitty, the gardener claimed to have seen Joran van der Sloot attempting to hide his face, driving into the Racquet Club with the two Kalpoes on the morning of May 30 between 2:30 a.m. and 3 a.m.[60] Nancy Grace described the gardener as "the man whose testimony cracks the case wide open".[61] Another individual, "the jogger",[30] claimed to have seen men burying a blonde-haired woman in a landfill during the afternoon of May 30.[62] The police had searched the landfill in the days following Holloway's disappearance.[62] The landfill was searched three times after the jogger's statements, including a search by the FBI with cadaver dogs.[63] The searches were fruitless.[30]

    On July 25, 2005, the reward for Holloway's safe return was increased from $200,000 to $1,000,000, with a $100,000 reward for information leading to the location of her remains.[64] Following Holloway's disappearance, a reward of $50,000 had been established for her return.[24] In August 2005, the reward for information as to her remains was increased from $100,000 to $250,000.[65]

    The FBI announced that Aruban authorities had provided it with documents, suspect interviews, and other evidence. A group from the Aruban police and prosecutor's office traveled to the FBI central laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, to consult with American investigators.[64] After a piece of duct tape was found with strands of blond hair attached to it, samples were tested both at a Dutch lab and at Quantico.[66] The FBI subsequently announced that the hair was not Holloway's.[67]

    The Kalpoe brothers were rearrested on August 26 along with another new suspect.[14] According to his lawyer, 21-year-old Freddy Arambatzis was suspected of taking photographs of and having physical contact with an underage girl, an incident which allegedly occurred before the Holloway disappearance and in which Arambatzis's friends Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers were supposedly involved. Van der Sloot's mother, Anita van der Sloot, stated, "It's a desperate attempt to get the boys to talk. But there is nothing to talk about".[68] While no public explanation was then made for the Kalpoe rearrests, Dompig later said that it was an unsuccessful attempt to pressure the Kalpoe brothers into confessing.[30]

    On September 3, 2005, all four of the detained suspects were released by a judge despite the attempts of the prosecution to keep them in custody, on the condition that they remain available to police.[69] Subsequently, on September 14, all restrictions on them were removed by the Combined Appeals Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.[70]

    In the months following his release, Joran van der Sloot gave several interviews, expanding upon his version of events, most notably a lengthy interview for On the Record which aired over three nights in March 2006. During the interview, Van der Sloot indicated that Holloway wanted to have sex with him, but he did not because he did not have a condom.[71] Van der Sloot stated that Holloway wanted them to stay on the beach, but that he had to go to school in the morning. According to Van der Sloot, he was picked up by Satish Kalpoe at about 3:00 a.m., leaving Holloway sitting on the beach.[72] In August 2005, David Kock, Satish Kalpoe's attorney, stated that his client had gone to sleep, and had not returned to drive Van der Sloot home.[73] Van der Sloot stated he was somewhat ashamed to have left a young woman alone on the beach, albeit by her own request, and related that he was not truthful at first because he was convinced Holloway would soon turn up.[72]

    The FBI and Aruban authorities interviewed (or in some cases, re-interviewed) several of Holloway's fellow graduates in the United States in January 2006.[74] On January 17, 2006, Aruban police searched sand dunes on the northwest coast of Aruba in search of Holloway's body, as well as areas close by the Marriott beach.[75] Additional searches took place in March and April 2006, without result.[76]

    Shortly before leaving the case, Dompig gave an interview to CBS correspondent Troy Roberts, which was broadcast on March 25, 2006. In that interview, Dompig stated that he now believes Holloway probably died from self-consumed alcohol and/or drug poisoning, was not murdered, and that someone later hid her body. Dompig also stated that Aruba had spent about $3 million on the investigation, about 40% of the police operational budget.[33] Dompig indicated that there is evidence that points to possession (though not necessarily use) of drugs by Holloway.[15][77] Members of her family have denied drug use by Holloway.[78]

    On April 11, 2006, Dave Holloway published his book recounting the search for his daughter, co-authored with R. Stephanie Good and Larry Garrison, Aruba: The Tragic Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise.[22][79]

    2006 arrest of new suspects, the Dutch take over the investigation

    On April 15, 2006, Geoffrey von Cromvoirt was arrested by Aruban authorities on suspicion of criminal offenses related to dealing in illegal narcotics that, according to the prosecutor, might have been related to the disappearance of Holloway.[80] At his first court appearance, his detention was extended for eight days. However, Von Cromvoirt was released on April 25, 2006.[81] In addition, another individual with initials "A.B." was arrested on April 22, 2006, but was released the same day.[81]

    On May 17, 2006 another suspect, Guido Wever, the son of a former Aruban politician, was detained in the Netherlands on suspicion of assisting in the abducting, battering, and killing of Holloway.[82] Wever was questioned for six days in Utrecht. While initially Aruban prosecutors sought his transfer to the island, he was instead released by agreement between the prosecutor and Wever's attorney.[83]

    At Aruba's request the Netherlands took over the investigation. A team of the Dutch National Police started work on the case in September 2006 following receipt of extensive case documentation in Rotterdam.[84] On April 16, 2007, a combined Aruban–Dutch team began pursuing the investigation in Aruba.[84]

    2007 rearrests and re-releases

    With Aruban investigators citing what was described as newly discovered evidence, Joran van der Sloot and Satish and Deepak Kalpoe were rearrested November 21, 2007, on suspicion of involvement in "manslaughter and causing serious bodily harm that resulted in the death of Holloway".[9] Van der Sloot was detained by Dutch authorities in the Netherlands, while the Kalpoe brothers were both detained in Aruba.[9] Van der Sloot subsequently returned to Aruba and was incarcerated.[9]

    In November 2007, Dave Holloway announced a new search for his daughter, probing the sea beyond the original 330-foot (100 m) depths in which earlier searches had taken place.[95] That search, involving a vessel called the Persistence, was abandoned due to lack of funds at the end of February 2008 with nothing of significance found.[96]

    On November 30, 2007, a judge ordered the release of Satish and Deepak Kalpoe, despite attempts by the prosecution to extend their detention.[97][98] The two brothers were released on the following day.[99] The prosecution appealed the Kalpoes' release. That appeal was denied on December 5, 2007, with the court writing, "Notwithstanding expensive and lengthy investigations on her disappearance and on people who could be involved, the file against the suspect does not contain direct indications that Natalee passed away due to a violent crime".[100] Van der Sloot was released without charge on December 7, 2007, due to lack of evidence implicating him as well as a lack of evidence that Holloway died as the result of a violent crime. The prosecution indicated it would not appeal.[101]

    On December 18, 2007, prosecutor Hans Mos officially declared the case closed, and that no charges would be filed due to lack of evidence.[102][103] The prosecution indicated a continuing interest in the Kalpoes and Joran van der Sloot (though they are now no longer legally suspects), and alleged that one of the three, in a chat room message, had stated that Holloway was dead. This was hotly contested by Deepak Kalpoe's attorney, who stated that the prosecution, in translating from Papiamento to Dutch, had misconstrued a reference to a teacher who had drowned as one to Holloway.[104] Attorney Ronald Wix also stated, "Unless (Mos) finds a body in the bathroom of one of these kids, there's no way in hell they can arrest them anymore".[105]

    2010 charges against Van der Sloot, new discovery

    Around March 29, 2010, Van der Sloot allegedly contacted John Q. Kelly, legal representative of Beth Twitty, with an offer to reveal the location of Holloway's body and the circumstances surrounding her death for an advance of US$25,000 against a total of $250,000.[128] After Kelly notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation, they arranged to proceed with the transaction.[129][130] On May 10, Van der Sloot allegedly had $15,000 wire transferred to his account in the Netherlands, following the receipt of $10,000 in cash that was videotaped by undercover investigators in Aruba.[131] Authorities state that the information that he provided in return was false because the house in which he said Holloway's body was located had not yet been built at the time of her disappearance.[132] On June 3, Van der Sloot was charged in the U.S. District Court of Northern Alabama with extortion and wire fraud.[133] U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance obtained an arrest warrant and transmitted it to Interpol.[134][135] Van der Sloot was indicted on the charges on June 30.[136]

    On June 4, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, authorities raided and confiscated items from two homes in the Netherlands, one of them belonging to reporter Jaap Amesz who had previously interviewed Van der Sloot and claimed knowledge of criminal activities by Van der Sloot.[137] Aruban investigators used information gathered from the extortion case to launch a new search at a beach, but no new evidence was found.[138] Dave Holloway returned to Aruba on June 14 to pursue possible new clues.[139]

    Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez, a 21-year-old business student, was reported missing in Lima, Peru on May 30, 2010 and was found dead three days later in a hotel room registered in Van der Sloot's name.[140] He was arrested on June 3 in Chile and was deported to Peru the next day.[141] On June 7, 2010, Peruvian authorities said that Van der Sloot confessed to killing Flores Ramírez after he lost his temper because she accessed his laptop without permission and found information linking him to the disappearance of Holloway.[142] Police chief Cesar Guardia related that Van der Sloot told Peruvian police that he knows where Holloway's body is and offered to help Aruban authorities find it.[129][143] However, Guardia stated that the interrogation was limited to their case in Peru, and that questions about Holloway's disappearance were avoided.[144] On June 11, Van der Sloot was charged in Lima Superior Court with first-degree murder and robbery.[145] On June 15, Aruban and Peruvian authorities announced an agreement to cooperate and allow investigators from Aruba to interview Van der Sloot at Miguel Castro Castro prison in Peru.[146] In a September 2010 interview from the prison, Van der Sloot reportedly admitted to the extortion plot, stating: "I wanted to get back at Natalee's family — her parents have been making my life tough for five years."[147]

    On November 12, 2010, tourists found a jawbone on an Aruban beach near the Phoenix Hotel and Bubali Swamp.[148] Aruban prosecutor Peter Blanken stated that a preliminary examination by a forensic expert on the island determined that the bone was from a young woman.[149] The jawbone reportedly included an intact tooth that would be compared against Holloway's dental records.[148] A part of the bone was sent to The Hague for DNA profiling by the Netherlands Forensic Institute.[149][150]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalee_Holloway

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    I wish we could go to Peru and snatch up Joran van der Sloot.

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    Peruvian murder trial for van der Sloot set for January

    Joran van der Sloot will stand trial beginning January 6 on robbery and murder charges related to a 21-year-old woman's death, a Peruvian court announced Friday.

    The timetable from the Superior Court of Lima came days after a panel of judges ruled against having the Dutch national face an even more stringent slate of charges, as the victim's family members had requested. Instead, he will face the original charges levied against him -- which, if he is convicted on all counts, could lead to a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

    Van der Sloot is accused of killing Stephany Flores in his Lima hotel room last year. Police say he took money and bank cards from her wallet and fled to Chile, where he was arrested a few days later.

    He was charged in September with "qualified murder" and simple robbery, which carry sentences of 28 years and two years, respectively.

    The victim's family asked a three-judge panel for a charge akin to aggravated murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

    The panel ruled against the family and in favor of prosecutors' original indictment.

    Van der Sloot's defense attorney, Luis Jimenez Navarro, then told InSession that the judge's decision was a major victory for his client. If van der Sloot is found guilty and sentenced to the maximum penalty, under Peru's jail reduction credits, he might serve only a third of the term. As of early next month, van der Sloot will have spent 18 months in Peruvian prison.

    Jimenez has previously said that his client could confess to a charge of simple homicide.

    Despite the panel's decision, the Flores family has remained hopeful that van der Sloot will face more serious charges. A family attorney said that because of the way the justice system works in Peru, the charges could change once the trial begins.

    Van der Sloot was once the prime suspect in the case of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, who vanished while on a graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba. He was arrested twice but never charged in connection with Holloway's disappearance, which is still unsolved.

    He also faces extradition charges to the United States. In June 2010, a federal grand jury in Alabama indicted van der Sloot on charges of wire fraud and extortion after allegations surfaced that he tried to extort $250,000 from Holloway's mother. He was given a total of $25,000, and authorities believe he used that money to travel to Peru and participate in a poker tournament, where he met Flores.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/25/wo...van-der-sloot/

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    Van der Sloot pleads guilty to killing in Peru

    LIMA, Peru -- After Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday to the 2010 murder of a Peruvian woman he met at a Lima casino, his lawyer argued that the killing was tragically triggered by fallout from the very event that originally brought his client notoriety.

    The "persecution" suffered by Van der Sloot after the unsolved disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway five years earlier scarred him psychologically with a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder, defense attorney Jose Jimenez told the three female judges who are to sentence his client Friday.

    The young Dutchman has been the prime suspect in the Holloway case since she disappeared on Aruba five years to the day before the killing of the 21-year-old Peruvian woman, business student Stephany Flores.

    With the evidence against him in the Peru killing strong, Van der Sloot entered a guilty plea Wednesday at his lawyer's urging, hoping for a reduced sentence.

    "I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad," the 24-year-old defendant said, showing no emotion in a brief admission of guilt in fractured Spanish. He did not use the Dutch translator provided for the proceeding.

    Prosecutors are asking for a 30-year prison sentence under charges that carry a 15-year minimum.

    Van der Sloot, physically imposing at well over 6 feet tall, bowed his head minutes later as his lawyer argued that he killed Flores in a "severe emotional reaction to extreme psychological trauma" related to the Holloway disappearance, "something he says he never did and for which no evidence at all exists."

    Van der Sloot did not exhibit signs of remorse, and he briefly smiled while conferring with Jimenez before leaving the courtroom.

    The judges have 48 hours to render a sentence and the presiding magistrate, Victoria Montoya, said the panel would reconvene Friday to do so.

    Van der Sloot's trial opened last week but was adjourned until Wednesday after he asked for more time to decide how to plead. He said then that he did not accept the aggravated murder charges the prosecution sought.

    Van der Sloot, who wore faded jeans and an untucked light-blue button-down shirt, had confessed to the May 30, 2010, killing long ago.

    He told police shortly after the murder that he killed Flores in a fit of rage after she discovered his connection to the disappearance of Holloway on his laptop while they played poker online.

    The defense says it was manslaughter, for which the minimum sentence is 5 years.

    Police forensic experts disputed that claim and a lawyer for the victim's prominent family contends Van der Sloot killed Flores in order to rob her.

    Prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder and theft.

    The prosecution maintained Van der Sloot killed Flores with "ferocity" and "cruelty," concealing the crime and fleeing to Chile, where he was caught two days after Flores' rotting body was found.

    He took more than $200 in cash plus credit cards from the victim and made his initial getaway in her car, leaving it in a different part of Lima, prosecutors say.

    "Van der Sloot is far too cold and calculating," Peru's chief homicide detective at the time, Miguel Canlla, told The Associated Press shortly after the killing.

    The coroner's report said the killer elbowed Flores in the face, thrusting her against a wall and drawing blood.

    "She begins to defend herself and he starts beating her and then grabs her by the neck and strangles her," Canlla said. "He takes off his shirt and then asphyxiates her (with it)."

    The length of the Van der Sloot's sentence is at the judges' discretion, said court officials and a leading Peruvian criminal attorney, Luis Lamas.

    In Peru, convicts can become eligible for parole after serving half their sentences if they work or study.

    The attorney for the family of the victim, Edwar Alvarez, has argued for life in prison and deemed a sentence reduction unacceptable.

    "In the court record, this man has submitted to psychological examinations and they have concluded that he is a psychopathic person," he told reporters. "What judge would give a psychopath a penal benefit?"

    The victim's father, circus impresario and former race car driver Ricardo Flores, attended the opening of the trial but not Wednesday's hearing.

    Reached by phone before Van der Sloot's plea, he said he could not bear to even watch the proceedings on TV.

    "This matter hurts us," he told The Associated Press.

    Ricardo Flores told the AP on Friday that the family, as a party to the trial, had planned to introduce testimony from friends of his daughter and casino employees proving that she won $10,000 there and that Van der Sloot had learned of it. He said the casino had videotape of his daughter cashing in the chips.

    Video taken at the Atlantic City Casino, where the victim met Van der Sloot, shows the two leaving together, and closed-circuit images from the downmarket TAC Hotel shows the pair entering his room together and Van der Sloot leaving alone hours later, bags packed.

    To hide the crime after killing Flores, Van der Sloot left the hotel, bought two cups of coffee, and asked a hotel employee to open his room when he returned, prosecutor Jose Santiesteban said in the trial's opening argument.

    Van der Sloot continues to be dogged by the case of Holloway, a 19-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, disappeared during a high school graduation trip in 2005 to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where Van der Sloot grew up.

    She was last seen leaving a nightclub with him. Her body has never been found.

    The case received a storm of media attention and the tall, garrulous Dutchman became a staple of true-crime TV shows. In several interviews, he described himself as a pathological liar, and in one clandestinely taped conversation he told a Dutch TV reporter he was involved in Holloway's disappearance.

    Van der Sloot's trip to Lima may have been funded by continued fallout from that case.

    U.S. officials, who indicted him on extortion and fraud charges days after the Flores killing, say Van der Sloot had extorted $25,000 from Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, by offering to lead her attorney, John Q. Kelly, to Holloway's body in Aruba.

    After meeting with Kelly there, without delivering on his offer, Van der Sloot flew to Lima on May 14, 2010, they say. Two weeks later, Flores was killed.

    Ricardo Flores said he doesn't believe Van der Sloot is contrite over his daughter's death and wants the defendant to experience greater deprivation.

    That could include being extradited to the United States to stand trial there once he's been sentenced in Peru.

    In a statement Wednesday, Kelly said that after Van der Sloot is sentenced "we anticipate that U.S. authorities will move quickly to bring him to Alabama to face pending federal charges, and to answer for his past conduct in Aruba."

    Peru's Foreign Ministry says it has no U.S. extradition request for Van der Sloot.

    U.S. authorities have requested his arrest through Interpol "should he be released on the charges there" so he could be brought to Alabama, for trial, said Peggy Sanford, a spokeswoman the U.S. Attorney's office in Birmingham, Alabama.

    No members of Van der Sloot's family have attended the trial.

    His lawyer said his client's mother, Anita, did not want the media attention. The defendant's father, a prominent lawyer, died of a heart attack at age 57 in February 2010.

    Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/worl...#ixzz1jFWoc662

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Related

    Nancy Grace Angrily Cuts Mic Of Joran van der Sloot Friend: ‘Take Him Off The Screen!’

    In a contentious interview, HLN’s Nancy Grace cut off the mic of Joran van der Sloot friend John Ludwick after he blamed Sloot’s victim for her murder. “You are saying that the murder victim who endured a brutal beating a super human strangulation where her neck bone was crushed, the room covered in blood, her clothes ripped off of her postmortem and left that way to be found, it’s her fault?!” Grace exclaimed incredulously. “Sir, you know what, cut his mic, John Ludwick, I reserve this for very very few people, but you sir, are a fool. And what you have said sets victims rights back, hmmm, maybe a couple hundred years, take him off the screen, I don’t wanna look at him anymore!”

    RELATED: Watch Nancy Grace Freak Out Over Mere Mention Of Casey Anthony’s Lawyers


    “She put herself in the situation Nancy!” Ludwick argued. “As soon as she found out who he was, she should have left, she shouldn’t have started an argument and fighting with him, and being in an isolated area…If I was a woman and I was in her situation I surely wouldn’t have stood around to ask him that question, I would have got out of there.”

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/nancy-grace-cuts-mic/

  6. #6
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judge says he’ll sign order declaring Natalee Holloway, teen missing in Aruba, legally dead

    An Alabamba judge signed an order Thursday declaring Natalee Holloway dead, more than six years after the American teenager vanished on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

    Judge Alan King signed the order at the end of a hearing in a Birmingham courtroom that was attended by the missing woman’s divorced parents, David and Beth Holloway.

    David Holloway told the judge in September he believed his daughter had died and he wanted to stop payments on her medical insurance and use her $2,000 college fund to help her younger brother. Thursday’s hearing was scheduled before a suspect questioned in Holloway’s disappearance, Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Peru to the 2010 murder of a woman in Lima.

    Natalee Holloway disappeared on a high school graduation trip to Aruba on May 30, 2005. The 18-year-old was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot early that day. Her body was never found and the case garnered intense media scrutiny and international attention.

    King acted on a petition by David Holloway to have the missing 18-year-old declared dead.

    The teen’s mother originally objected, but her lawyer, Charlie DeBardeleben, said she subsequently changed her mind once she understood her husband’s intentions. Natalee Holloway’s parents were divorced in 1993 and Beth Holloway sat in the back row of the courtroom, mostly staring at her hands in her lap during the hearing Thursday afternoon.

    She declined comment, but her attorney said, “She’s ready to move on from this.”

    Mark White, an attorney for Dave Holoway, told the judge just before he announced his decision, that there was no evidence that Holloway was alive.

    “Despite all that no evidence has been found Natalee Holloway is alive,” he told the judge, noting that exhaustive searches, blanket international media coverage and even the offer of rewards had turned up nothing new.

    King had ruled in September that Dave Holloway had met the legal presumption of death for his daughter and it was up to someone to prove she didn’t die on a high school graduation trip. He had set the hearing now to allow some months for anyone to come forward.

    Dave Holloway said he had expected to hear the judge would declare his daughter dead because he had no doubt about that.

    “We’ve been dealing with her death for the last six and a half years,” he said.

    He added that the judge’s order closes one chapter in a long story, but added: “We’ve still got a long way to go to get justice.

    Authorities have long worked from the assumption that the young woman was dead in Aruba, where the case was officially classified as a homicide investigation.

    That investigation remains open, though there has been no recent activity, said Solicitor General Taco Stein, an official with the prosecutor’s office on the Dutch Caribbean island.

    “The team that was acting in that investigation still is functioning as a team and they get together whenever there is information or things are needed in the case or a new tip arrives,” Stein said in a phone interview Thursday.

    In Peru, Van der Sloot, 24, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the murder of a 21-year-old woman he met at a Lima casino. Stephany Flores was killed five years to the day after Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old from the wealthy Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, disappeared. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot.

    Shortly after Flores’ death on May 30, 2010, van der Sloot told police he killed the woman in Peru in a fit of rage after she discovered on his laptop his connection to the disappearance of Holloway. Police forensic experts disputed the claim.

    Dave Holloway said he hopes van der Sloot gets the 30-year sentence sought by Peruvian prosecutors.

    “Everybody knows his personality. I believe he is beyond rehabilitation,” Holloway said.

    Attorneys said both parents said they hope van der Sloot’s next stop is Birmingham, where he faces federal charges accusing him of extorting $25,000 from Beth Holloway to reveal the location of her daughter’s body. Prosecutors said the money was paid, but nothing was disclosed about the missing woman’s whereabouts.

    “I expect to see him in Birmingham,” Dave Holloway said.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...vsP_story.html

  7. #7
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    Update:

    Joran Van der Sloot, the confessed murderer of a woman in Peru who has long been suspected of some sort of involvement in the death of American teenager Natalee Holloway, will fight extradition to the US.


    Van der Sloot currently sits in prison in Peru, serving out a 28-year prison sentence for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel. The Dutch man was sentenced back in January for the murder- a murder that occurred five years to the day Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba and sparked off worldwide interest in the American teen’s still-unknown fate.

    In the years since Holloway vanished and presumably was killed, Van der Sloot has been continuously suspected and never cleared in her disappearance. But until the murder of Flores, he was free to walk and talk about Holloway’s case- and Joran Van der Sloot wasn’t entirely shy about leading and misleading her fraught loved ones about when her fate was asked about.

    In what must have been a heartbreaking turn for the parents of Natalee Holloway, they turned over $25,000 to the then-free man after he promised to lead them to the location of the teen’s body. Joran Van der Sloot accepted the money from the girl’s grieving family, but never came through with the information, prompting the call for extradition to the US on fraud charges.



    Lawyer for Joran Van der Sloot Maximo Altez explains that if his client is not extradited, he will likely walk free again after serving one-third of his 28-year sentence for murdering Flores, a crime to which he confessed. If he is extradited to the US, Van der Sloot will probably be forced to serve the entire term. Altez adds:

    “It’s not good for us if Van der Sloot goes to the United States because everyone hates him there and the members of the jury will thus be biased. We will defend ourselves with all the legal remedies possible.”

    And some free extra info:

    van der Sloot was the target of a national crime show in the Netherlands. A friend agreed to use a wire and set up video camara's in his car. Van der Sloot actually confessed to the crime but the confession didnt hold up in court and there was no other evidence to start a criminal case. There might be actual footage on youtube of this, ill see if i can find it.

    And an opinion:
    Maybe the lawyer has a point. Is it possible to find unbiased jurors in this case? No doubt in my mind he did it, but according to the law the jury should not be biased. This guy is probably a psychopath and should be in jail for the rest of his life so i could support the end result but not the way we got it

    Edit: Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR-fZt4SRFo&feature=fvst
    Last edited by Unsub; 05-09-2012 at 06:23 PM.
    Love your enemies...they hate it

  8. #8
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    Joran van der Sloot, convicted killer and Natalee Holloway disappearance suspect, to wed behind bars in Peru
    The 24-year-old is reportedly planning to marry while serving a 28-year sentence in a Lima prison for the murder of Stephany Flores

    Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance and a convicted killer, may tie the knot behind bars in Peru.

    The 24-year-old is reportedly planning to marry while serving a 28-year sentence in a Lima prison for the murder of Stephany Flores, according to Peruvian tabloid Peru 21.

    Van der Sloot's defense attorney was named by the paper as a source - but he denied the report.

    "As far as I know, he's not going to get married," Maximo Altez told the Daily Beast. "They cited me as the source, but I'm just in charge of his legal issues, and I don't participate in his private life."

    Van der Sloot is the main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, who vanished while on a trip to Aruba with schoolmates in 2005. Holloway, an 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen leaving a nightclub with then-17-year-old van der Sloot.

    The Dutchman pleaded guilty in 2010 to the murder of Flores, a 21-year-old Peruvian woman he met while gambling in Lima.

    Authorities found the business student stabbed to death in van der Sloot's hotel room.

    Van der Sloot is currently petitioning the Third Penal Court of Lima for an annulment of his sentence, which is due to end in June 2038.

    He is arguing that that the sentencing is inappropriate since his previous attorney told him that he would only receive 15 years in prison if he pleaded guilty and his "psychological" issues weren't taken into account.

    "He should have been charged with manslaughter, not aggravated homicide," Altez said.

    Van der Sloot apologizes for the murder of Flores in one of two handwritten letters, addressed "To Whom It May Concern," according to Reuters.

    "I ask God every day that Stephany's parents can find it in their heart to forgive me," he writes.

    But he also describes himself as a victim, writing that his "rights have been constantly abused."

    Van der Sloot faces charges in the U.S. for trying to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway's mother, Beth, after he said he'd reveal Natalee's whereabouts if Beth paid him, CNN reported.

    He must finish serving his sentence in Peru before he can be extradited to the U.S.

    Holloway was never found and has since been declared dead.

    Authorities believe that van der Sloot may have used $25,000 in extortion money he received from the FBI to take a vacation to Peru in 2010 when he met Flores.

    Van der Sloot is believed to have killed Flores when she learned of his connection to Holloway.

    Van der Sloot called the murder "horrendous" in one of the letters.

    "I took the life of a Peruvian girl who I met at the casino. Drunk and drugged out of my mind I took her back to my hotel room where I snapped," he wrote.

    He stole cash and credit cards from Flores before fleeing to Chile, sparking an international manhunt that ended with his arrest.

    Source
    No murder can be so cruel that there are not still useful imbeciles who do gloss over the murderer and apologize.

  9. #9
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    I wish we could go to Peru and snatch up Joran van der Sloot.
    I'd be shocked if he isn't killed or attacked in that Peruvian prison. Unless of course he can serve his entire sentence in solitary!

  10. #10
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    Peru agrees to extradite van der Sloot to U.S.

    Twenty-six years.

    That's how much time will pass before the prime suspect in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway faces the American justice system.

    Peru has agreed to extradite Joran van der Sloot to the United States, but only after he finishes serving a 28-year murder sentence, the Peruvian news agency Andina reported. The Peruvian court system sentenced him in 2012.

    In the U.S. he's been indicted on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud. American authorities accuse him of extorting money from Holloway's mother by offering bogus information about her daughter's disappearance.

    Holloway, an 18-year-old from Alabama, was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving a nightclub on Aruba with van der Sloot and two other men.

    She'd gone to the Caribbean island with 100 classmates to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.

    Holloway's body has never been found and she was declared legally dead in 2012. Nobody has been charged in her disappearance.

    The courts in Peru convicted van der Sloot in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room. The judges gave him a sentence two years short of the 30-year maximum.

    Investigators have said they believe van der Sloot, a 26-year-old Dutch national, killed Flores after she found something related to the Holloway case on his computer while visiting his hotel room.

    Van der Sloot confessed to robbery in addition to murder, admitting that he stole Flores' belongings, including more than $300 in local currency, credit cards and the victim's van as a means to leave the country. He fled to Chile and was arrested a few days later.

    Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/national/Peru-a...#ixzz2vYVpwhJU
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