Joran van der Sloot, the now 36-year-old man long believed to be responsible for Natalee Holloway's death in Aruba in 2005, pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Birmingham, Al., federal courtroom to wire fraud and extortion charges. As part of the plea deal, van der Sloot agreed to tell Beth Holloway how her daughter died and where her body was stashed. Natalee, 18, went missing on a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island. Van der Sloot was the last person to be seen with her. Though he was a suspect from the beginning, Aruba authorities never managed to build a case, NPR reports.
Federal prosecutors in Alabama charged van der Sloot with extortion and wire fraud in 2010, while he was in prison n Peru for a killing a college student, Stephany Flores, in his hotel room in Lima. The U.S. government said van der Sloot had attempted to get $250,000 from Beth Holloway in exchange for information and details in Natalee's death. Beth Holloway said Wednesday, "I can tell you with certainty that after 18 years, Natalie's case is solved as far as I'm concerned," she told reporters outside the courthouse. "It's over, it's over. Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder. He is the killer." Holloway said he bludgeoned her after she rebuffed his sexual advances and dumped her body in the ocean. Addressing van der Sloot, she said, "You are a killer and I want you to remember that every time you hear that cell door close." A judge sentenced van der Sloot to 20 years in a U.S. prison. First he will complete serving time in Peru for the murder of Flores.
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