Joran van der Sloot has finally confessed to the murder of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway 18 years ago, revealing that he fatally struck her with a cinder block and then dumped her body in the water after she resisted his sexual advances. Van Der Sloot, 36, received a 20-year prison sentence for extortion and wire fraud.
This was part of a plea agreement where he agreed to confess to the details of how he killed Holloway, a recent high school graduate, on the Caribbean Island of Aruba in 2005. The confession came after he put Holloway's parents in torment by sending them disturbing emails in which he offered to reveal the location of their daughter's body in exchange for $250,000.
Confessing His Crime
Van der Sloot made the shocking confession on Wednesday in an Alabama courtroom with Holloway's parents present. "You changed the course of our lives and you turned them upside down," her mother, Beth Holloway, said as she stood a few feet from van der Sloot.
"You are a killer and I want you to remember that every time that jail cell door slams."
Van der Sloot provided details on how the encounter unfolded. He recounted how he started kissing Holloway on the beach after a date at a local bar, according to court documents obtained by The New York Post.
"I start feeling her up again and she tells me no. She tells me she doesn't want me to – to feel her up," he told his attorney, according to the docs.
"Uh, I insist. I keep feeling her up either way."
Following the American teen's resistance and reaction, she kneed Van der Sloot in the crotch, infuriating him.
He admitted to retaliating by kicking her "extremely hard" in the face, causing her to lose consciousness.
Van der Sloot then grabbed a nearby cinder block and brutally assaulted the victim by "smashing her head in with it completely."
He then carried her lifeless body into the water, wading until he was knee-deep, and then pushed her out to be carried away.
Detailing the Murder
The Dutch national was extradited from Peru to the US for sentencing, where he is currently serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores. In 2010, he smothered her to death in a hotel room. His US sentence would run concurrently with his existing sentence in Peru.
District Judge Anna M. Manasco told the killer: "You have brutally murdered two women who refused your sexual advances ... You knew the information you were selling was an absolute lie."
Holloway, who was 18 years old at that time, vanished during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, capturing extensive public attention and concern over her disappearance.
She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot. Dutch authorities in Aruba arrested van der Sloot twice on suspicion of murder, but due to insufficient evidence, he was ultimately released.
In a collaborative effort with the FBI through a sting operation, Holloway's parents wired a portion of the requested money to van der Sloot in 2010. However, he proceeded to provide false information regarding the location of Holloway's remains.
Before facing arrest in the extortion case, van der Sloot relocated from Aruba to Peru, where he later became involved in the murder of Stephany Flores.
In 2012, van der Sloot was imprisoned in Peru after confessing to the brutal assault, strangulation, and suffocation of Flores, a 21-year-old Peruvian business student in 2010.
During his sentencing, Holloway's mother, Beth, testified in court. She conveyed that van der Sloot had murdered her daughter when she rejected his sexual advances. Afterward, he went home and watched pornography.
Van der Sloot, donning an orange jumpsuit, spoke to the court before receiving his sentence and apologized to the Holloway family.
"I would like to take this chance to apologize to the Holloway family, to apologize to my own family, to say I hope the statement I provided brings some kind of closure to everyone involved," he said in court. "I am no longer that person I was back then, I've given my heart to Jesus Christ."
The hearing, which took place a few miles from the suburb where Holloway lived and was attended by her family, marked a significant development in a case that held the public's attention for nearly two decades. The disappearance of Holloway led to widespread news coverage, and inspired books, movies, and podcasts, making it a widely known and discussed case.
