Natalee Holloway Suspect Joran Van Der Sloot to Be Extradited to U.S. This Week to Face Extortion and Wire Fraud Charges
Natalee Holloway suspect Joran van der Sloot will be sent to the United States this week after losing his extradition appeal in Peru, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a sudden development to come nearly 20 years after Natalee, then-18, went missing in May 2005 while on a trip in Aruba, the main suspect in her disappearance is set to be extradited to the U.S. on Thursday.
Van der Sloot’s imminent extradition on Thursday comes after the 35-year-old Dutch citizen lost an extradition appeal per the ruling of the Peruvian Supreme Court earlier this week.
Van der Sloot reportedly filed a "habeas corpus application against the citizen extradition process,” according to ABC News, and on Monday the suspect refused to sign the “laissez-passer” that would allow him to be extradited.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, van der Sloot remains the main suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway.
The 35-year-old faces wire fraud and extortion charges in the U.S. stemming from accusations he tried to sell information connected to the case.
Natalee, who was last seen driving off with a group of young men, including van der Sloot, was on a high school graduation trip in Aruba when she went missing in May 2005.
Although van der Sloot was detained in connection to Natalee’s disappearance, he was ultimately released in 2005. He was then indicted five years later by an Alabama grand jury for allegedly attempting to extort the Holloway family in 2010.
According to federal prosecutors, van der Sloot contacted Natalee’s mother, Beth, in March 2010 and offered to reveal the location of the missing teen’s body in exchange for $250,000 with $25,000 of the cash paid upfront.
John Kelly, Beth Holloway's attorney, executed a recorded sting operation and met with van der Sloot in an Aruba hotel to hand off $10,000 of the initial $25,000 while Natalee’s mother wired the remaining $15,000 to the suspect’s bank account.
Van der Sloot claimed he accidentally killed Natalee after her head hit a rock when he slammed her body down. He also claimed he took the teen’s body to his now-deceased father’s house and Natalee’s body was buried in the home’s foundation.
Shortly after van der Sloot’s claims were deemed “worthless” by Kelly and prosecutors investigating the case, the suspect fled Aruba for Peru.
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Meanwhile, van der Sloot was serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for the May 30, 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores.
Natalee’s mother announced in May that the authorities were in the process of extraditing van der Sloot to Alabama to “to answer for his crimes.”
"Almost exactly eighteen years later, her perpetrator, Joran van der Sloot, has been extradited to Birmingham to answer for his crimes," Beth Holloway said last month.