EXCLUSIVE: Joran Van Der Sloot Witness Thought Murder Madman Had Been Kidnapped - Read His Statement
June 26 2010, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
A guest at the hotel where Joran van der Sloot killed Stephany Flores Ramirez has revealed he thought the murder madman had been kidnapped.
Elton Garcia, who played poker with van der Sloot and Flores, was one of the first people to worry about the pair’s disappearance.
EXCLUSIVE: Joran Van Der Sloot Witness Thought Murder Madman Had Been Kidnapped; Read The Documents
In a witness statement obtained by RadarOnline.com, the 40-year-old entrepreneur and resident of Uruguay told police he became concerned when van der Sloot didn’t attend a planned dinner on June 1.
Having heard reports that Flores was missing, he assumed she'd been kidnapped and told investigators he thought van der Sloot "could be kidnapped as well.”
He told the Atlantic Casino supervisor, Katy, that he was concerned and suggested she check surveillance video.
Garcia told police, “She informed me that she (Stephany) played with Joran on the same table and that they also left the casino together.”
When Garcia returned to the Lima hotel after the dinner van der Sloot failed to turn up to, hotel staff told him about the murder.
Not wanting to see the Flores’ body, Garcia identified her to detectives through a photo.
He was also showed surveillance video of the couple arriving at the hotel and van der Sloot later leaving alone.
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Garcia told police he met Flores in the first week of May while playing poker at the Casino Fiesta in Lima.
He saw her on three other occasions at the Fiesta and the Atlantic City casino in the weeks leading up to her May 30 murder.
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On one occasion when they played at the same table, Flores gambled 30 Peruvian soles ($10) against 400 other players in a poker tournament and won 2000 soles ($707).
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