Natalee Holloway Prime Suspect Joran van der Sloot Set to Be Extradited to the U.S., Family Confirms
May 10 2023, Published 10:28 p.m. ET
The prime suspect in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway is set to be extradited to the United States, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Holloway was an 18-year-old student from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, when she went missing during a senior class trip to Aruba in 2005.
Beth Holloway, Natalee's mother, confirmed that Joran van der Sloot is scheduled to be turned over to U.S. custody from Peru.
Beth Holloway
The news was a long time coming for the Holloway family, who have grieved the loss of their daughter for nearly two decades.
"Almost exactly eighteen years later, her perpetrator, Joran van der Sloot, has been extradited to Birmingham to answer for his crimes," Beth said in a statement.
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The suspect was currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, 21.
Peruvian authorities agreed to temporarily extradite van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen, to the United States for prosecution in connection to Holloway's disappearance.
Daniel Maurate Romero, the Peru Minister of Justice and Human Rights, said the suspect will face "prosecution in the United States for the alleged commission of the crimes of extortion and fraud, to the grievance of Elizabeth Ann Holloway."
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The Dutch citizen became a prime suspect in Holloway's case after reports claimed that the Mountain Brook High School student was last seen alive with van der Sloot, when the two allegedly left a bar together.
After Holloway was seen with van der Sloot, she failed to safely return to her group and missed her return flight home on May 30.
Despite the around-the-clock media attention and an exhaustive search effort from her friends and family, the teenager's body was never found.
Holloway was officially declared deceased in 2014.
Years after Holloway was believed to have crossed paths with the suspect in Aruba, another horrific tragedy occurred.
According to police, van der Sloot confessed to killing the 21-year-old Peruvian woman five years to the day that Holloway disappeared.
Law enforcement claimed that the suspect told authorities that after Flores discovered his connection to the missing American teenager on his laptop, he murdered her in a blind rage.