Natalee Holloway FBI Files Raise New Questions Over Joran van der Sloot Receiving $25K During Investigation — Just Weeks Before He Killed Another Woman

Natalee Holloway FBI files have raised questions over killer Joran van der Sloot receiving $25,000 just weeks before he murdered another woman, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

In 2005, Holloway disappeared during the 18-year-old's high school graduation trip in Aruba, and just five years later, van der Sloot agreed to give investigators information about the teen's remains in exchange for cash.

After van der Sloot allegedly told an attorney for the Holloway family that he was ready to provide key information about the graduate's disappearance, Holloway's mother, Beth, reached out to law enforcement authorities in Alabama, which led the FBI to get involved.

The FBI then set a sting operation and reportedly provided van der Sloot with $25,000. According to private investigator Bo Dietl, van der Sloot said, "he pushed Natalee Holloway, her head hit a rock," and buried her body "near a construction site near their house. The information, however, proved to be false."

"He's lied so much, we don't know," Dietl, who was working with the Holloway family, said at the time.

It is believed van der Sloot used the money he snagged from the grieving family to travel to Peru, where he met Stephany Flores. The 21-year-old was then found dead in a hotel room.

While federal prosecutors had charged van der Sloot with extortion and wire fraud over the money-making scheme, he was not arrested and was able to travel to Peru.

"The FBI f----- that case up," private investigator T.J. Ward, who spent years investigating the notorious case, previously raged. "The FBI should've arrested him right then and there, but they said, 'We want to keep an eye on him before arresting him.' Then he somehow got away from the FBI agents and took off to Peru with the $25,000."

Despite the backlash, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office denied they fumbled the case, and claimed the investigation was not developed enough to support charges before van der Sloot left for Peru.

They noted the lack of an arrest was "not due to any fault on the part of the FBI or the U.S. Attorney's Office."

The now 38-year-old eventually pleaded guilty to extorting and defrauding the Holloway family. He also confessed to murdering Holloway in his 2023 confession. According to van der Sloot, he was left upset after his attempts to seduce the young woman were rejected while walking on a beach in Aruba.

Van der Sloot, just 17 years old at the time, claimed he then had beaten Holloway after she kneed him in the crotch. After kicking Holloway "extremely hard" in the face, van der Sloot noticed a "huge" cinder block lying in the sand.

"I take this and uh, yeah, I smash her head in with it completely. Uh, yeah, her face basically, you know, uh, collapses in," he detailed in court documents.

In 2023, van der Sloot received a 20-year sentence for wire fraud and extortion, but avoided consequences for Holloway's murder as part of the plea deal.

He is also serving a 28-year sentence at Challapalca, a prison in Peru, after confessing to killing Flores on May 30, 2010. Both sentences are running concurrently.

In December 2025, van der Sloot reportedly attempted to take his own life after he was discovered with a blanket around his neck. He has since labeled Challapalca "the toughest prison in the world."