Natalee Holloway Killer Joran van der Sloot's Second Murder 'Could Have Been Prevented' If FBI Sting Hadn't Failed, Journalist Claims
A new report claims the FBI botched an operation to arrest Joran van der Sloot for the murder of Natalee Holloway.
July 31 2026, Published 11:45 a.m. ET
A botched sting by the FBI allowed Natalee Holloway's killer, Joran van der Sloot, to literally get away with murder, according to famed journalist Greta Van Susteren.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the Newsmax TV personality claims to have unearthed evidence that shows a second murder committed by van der Sloot might have been prevented.
Greta Vansusteren Comes Up with Plan to Capture Natalee's Killer.
Holloway was 18 when she disappeared in Aruba.
Holloway disappeared during a high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005. The 18-year-old had last been seen alive on May 30, leaving a bar with three others, one of whom was van der Sloot, a 17-year-old student from the Netherlands. Her body was never recovered.
Van der Sloot was always a focus of the investigation and was arrested more than once as a suspect in her disappearance, but was never charged due to lack of evidence.
In a post on her personal Substack, Van Susteren, who covered the disappearance extensively at the time, came up with a plan to trap van der Sloot, explaining the idea was to offer him money in exchange for information on what happened to Holloway.
Van der Sloot met with Holloway's lawyer, John Q. Kelly, but refused to spill any details until he got paid. The pair agreed on a sum of $25,000 for what he knew, with Natalee's mom, Beth, wiring him $100 as a test run.
"That $100 wire opened the door to charging Joran with extortion and wire fraud, charges that would carry significant jail time in the US and would allow him to be extradited to the US for questioning regarding Natalee Holloway’s disappearance," Van Susteren wrote.
A Plan Fails to Come Together
Van der Sloot had long been the focus of investigations.
As Van Susteren explained, "The plan for the sting was laid out in an email request outlining the costs as well: It was to have Kelly give Joran the money, then Kelly would fly out, while Aruban authorities would receive a 'tip' as to the location" and take over from there.
But the plan backfired due to an apparent lack of communication.
"Instead, both the US Attorney for Northern Alabama and the FBI in Birmingham, AL allowed him to flee, with Beth Holloway’s money, which they made no attempt to recover," Van Susteren added. "Then, for 16 years, they tried to cover up their failures."
FBI Was '15 Minutes' Away From Busting Joran Van Der Sloot
A lack of communication allowed him to leave the island and escape to Peru.
She continued: "All an FBI agent had to do was to swear out a complaint ON THE TELEPHONE to the US Magistrate in Birmingham, Alabama. That would take 15 minutes."
"Dispatching a follow-up Interpol Red Notice would have stopped Joran from entering another country, including Peru, at a border checkpoint. He would have been detained, and the United States would have been notified," she added.
Joran Van Der Sloot Kills Again
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He finally confessed to the killing after murdering another woman.
Instead, van der Sloot flew to Peru with the Holloways' money. It was during his time in Peru that he killed college student Stephany Flores.
The 21-year-old was reported missing on May 30, 2010, exactly five years after Holloway's disappearance. Days later, Flores was found dead of bludgeoning and asphyxiation in van der Sloot’s hotel room in Lima.
Two years later, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to killing Flores and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. He remained behind bars in Peru until 2023, when he was finally extradited to the U.S. to face the now decades-old wire fraud and extortion charges in the Holloway case.
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to those charges as part of a plea agreement, which included his confession to killing Natalee.
