The prime suspect in the disappearance of an American high school student on a class trip to Aruba nearly two decades ago will be brought back to the United States to face charges related to the case, according to Peruvian authorities.
Natalee Holloway was 18 years old when she vanished, having last been seen leaving a bar with Joran van der Sloot on May 30, 2005. Her body was never found, and she was declared legally dead in 2014.
Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, is currently serving a 28-year-old prison sentence in Peru after being convicted of murdering a 21-year-old Peruvian student in 2010. His temporary extradition to Birmingham, Alabama, was authorized by Peru’s government on Wednesday.
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“The Government of Peru is committed to justice, the rule of law, and international legal cooperation,” a statement read, according to AL.com. “At a time when there is increasingly greater cross-border transit of people, our institutions are keeping up to ensure that criminals are brought to justice.”
Van der Sloot was twice arrested in Holloway’s disappearance but never charged in her death. He is being flown to the U.S. after prosecutors alleged he attempted to scam someone out of $250,000 in exchange for a promise he’d lead them to Holloway’s body in 2010. He was charged with extortion and wire fraud, and an arrest warrant was issued by the FBI.
Joe Tacopina, the lawyer who unsuccessfully represented former President Donald Trump in a civil rape and defamation case this month, was representing Van der Sloot from New York at the time. He told AL.com that his client had been “falsely accused of murder once before.”
“The fact is he wears a bull’s-eye on his back now and he is a quote-unquote usual suspect when it comes to allegations of foul play,” Tacopina added.
Shortly after he was charged, Van der Sloot traveled to Peru, where he met and killed the college student, Stephany Flores, on May 30, 2010—five years to the day of Holloway’s vanishing.
The victim of the $250,000 scam was not identified when the charges were announced, but they were said by authorities to be from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway’s hometown. Several days later, however, CNN reported that the victim was Holloway’s mother, Beth, citing Interpol documents.
In a statement on Wednesday, Beth Holloway thanked the Peruvian authorities, Flores’ family, and U.S. law enforcement, among others. “I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years,” Holloway said. “She would be 36 years old now.”
“It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
