Natalee Holloway case: Joran van der Sloot expected to plead guilty

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Joran van der Sloot, the suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance in 2005, is expected to plead guilty in a federal case, according to court records that were filed on Friday.

>> Read more trending news

Van der Sloot is accused of trying to extort money from Holloway’s mother, according to The Associated Press.

A federal judge has set a plea and sentencing hearing for Oct. 18. in Birmingham, Alabama, the AP reported.

Court records obtained by the AP indicate that he intends to plead guilty to extorting money from Holloway’s mother.

Van der Sloot was extradited to Alabama from Peru. According to the AP, he is serving a 28-year sentence in Peru after he confessed to killing a woman in 2010.

Van der Sloot, 35, has been suspected in Holloway’s disappearance and death for a long time but he has never been charged in connection with her death, AL.com reported.

Holloway was visiting Aruba in 2005 when she disappeared. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot during a high school graduation trip, according to the AP.

Even though her body was never found, a judge declared her dead.

Since then, federal officials in Alabama found that he exploited fear from Holloway’s mother in 2010, AL.com reported. He reportedly said that she would never know where her daughter’s body was or what happened to her unless she paid him $250,000.

Prosecutors say that he told Holloway for a first payment of $25,000 he would take a family representative to her body. Then once the body was found and confirmed to be hers, he would collect the $225,000, AL.com reported.

Van der Sloot was indicted by a grand jury on June 30, 2010, for wire fraud and extortion charges. He was extradited on June 8, 2023. A day later, he made his first court appearance and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

An affidavit said that Holloway died after van der Sloot had thrown her to the ground when she tried to get him to stop leaving her, according to AL.com. It then said that his father who has since died, Paulus van der Sloot, helped him to dispose of Holloway’s body.

He told a family representative that she was buried in gravel remains behind a house but later admitted that he lied.