In a court appearance today in Alabama, nearly twenty years after Natalee Holloway's disappearance, Joran van der Sloot, who has long been associated with her unsolved case, pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud, as announced by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Joran van der Sloot, now 36 years old and serving a 28-year murder sentence in Peru for confessing to the killing of another student, Stephany Flores RamÃrez, was brought to Alabama in June, facing one count of extortion and one count of wire fraud related to Natalee's case.
In a federal courtroom in Birmingham, van der Sloot admitted to both charges today, acknowledging that he had extorted money from Beth Holloway, Natalee's grieving mother, who had made multiple trips to Aruba in her quest to uncover the truth about her only child, who went missing during her 2005 graduation celebration.
The extortion case dates back to a 2010 grand jury indictment, where prosecutors alleged that van der Sloot had extorted around $25,000 from Beth in exchange for information about the location of Natalee Holloway's remains and the circumstances of her death. He also attempted to secure an additional $225,000 upon confirming the identity of the remains. However, he never led Beth to Natalee's body.
Natalee was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot during a high school graduation trip to Aruba on May 30, 2005. Although van der Sloot, then 17, was arrested multiple times in connection with the 18-year-old's disappearance, he was never formally charged. In 2012, Natalee was legally declared deceased, but her body has never been found.
Exactly five years after Natalee's disappearance, van der Sloot confessed to beating, choking, and smothering 21-year-old Stephany to death in his Lima hotel room. He reportedly told investigators that Stephany had seen an online message accusing him of Natalee's disappearance, leading to the violent confrontation.
Peru agreed to the "temporary surrender" of van der Sloot to face trial in Alabama before returning to Peru to complete his sentence, as stated by U.S. federal prosecutors this summer. His U.S. sentence will run concurrently with his Peruvian sentence, but if he is released from prison in Peru ahead of schedule, he will serve the remaining portion of his 20-year U.S. sentence, as reported by AL.com.
Van der Sloot is expected to remain in prison until 2043 and must also pay Beth Holloway $250,100 in restitution. Attorneys representing van der Sloot did not respond immediately to requests for comment from PEOPLE.
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