Joran van der Sloot expected to plead guilty in Natalee Holloway extortion plot
Joran van der Sloot is expected to appear in court next week to enter a guilty plea over federal charges filed against him in the United States. The 36-year-old has long been suspected in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway while the teenager was vacationing in Aruba.
Van der Sloot was charged with one count of extortion and one count of wire fraud over communication he allegedly had with the victim's mother, Beth Holloway. He has never been charged in Natalee Holloway's disappearance. Her body was never found.
Van der Sloot's case appeared on the schedule for the U.S. federal court in Birmingham, Alabama. The plea and sentencing hearing was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday
He previously said he was not guilty of the extortion and wire fraud charge during a brief hearing after his extradition to the United States from Peru. Sources close to the case told the Telegraaf that Van der Sloot will plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Terms of the deal will require him to reveal any details he has about Holloway's disappearance, and to clearly state how he attempted to extort her surviving family members, the newspaper wrote.
Holloway went missing during a high school graduation trip when she was 18. She was last seen with Van der Sloot and two others as they left a nightclub. They claimed they left the missing woman at a hotel. Van der Sloot was 17 at the time.
Van der Sloot allegedly wrote in an email in 2010 that he would tell Holloway's family where the woman's body was located in exchange for a quarter of a million dollars in cash. He also promised to say what exactly happened the night she went missing. He later said that he would take 25,000 dollars to take one witness to the location of her body, and Holloway's family could pay the remaining 225,000 dollars once her body was found.
The suspect was allegedly given 10,000 dollars in cash. Afterwards, another 15,000 dollars was wired to him in a bank transfer.
Van der Sloot was incarcerated in Peru after being convicted of murdering Stephany Flores Ramirez in 2010. He has served a portion of the 28-year sentence imposed on him there. In its agreement to extradite Van der Sloot to the U.S., Peruvian authorities required the man to be returned to their custody so he can serve the remainder of his sentence there.
