BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Joran van der Sloot was convicted of murdering a Peruvian woman in 2010. Now he has confessed to the 2005 slaying of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, according to a federal judge in Alabama who accepted his guilty plea in an extortion case targeting her family Wednesday.
Van der Sloot, a 36-year-old Dutch national, shared horrifying details that described the young woman’s final moments. He acknowledged that he crushed her head with a cinderblock and dragged her to the ocean when she refused his sexual advances on an Aruba beach in 2005, according to a transcript of his confession, Fox News Digital reported.
As Holloway declined his advances, he became angry and grabbed the cement block, which became the murder weapon.
“I smash her head in with it completely,” he said during an Oct. 3 interview. “Her face basically, you know, collapses in. Even though it’s dark, I can see her face is collapsed in.”
After brutally bashing Holloway’s skull, he said he dragged her into knee-deep water before pushing her body out to sea. Afterward, he said he walked home.
Holloway was on a senior trip to Aruba in May 2005 when she vanished. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, and he remained the primary suspect for years, but her remains were never found. Seven years later she was declared dead.
Although van der Sloot was briefly in custody, he was later released due to a lack of evidence and avoided prosecution. However, he was later convicted of murdering a Peruvian woman and is serving a prison sentence for the 2010 homicide.
Earlier this year, van der Sloot was extradited to the U.S. regarding an extortion plot involving the Holloway family.
Federal prosecutors said he attempted to extort the Holloway family in March 2010 and May 2010, for $250,000, with $25,000 upfront for the information and the balance to be paid once Natalee Holloway’s body was positively identified.
However, van der Sloot lied to Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, about the location of her daughter’s remains, according to prosecutors.
Although the Dutch native was never held accountable in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, he is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for the 2010 murder of a Peruvian citizen, 21-year-old Stephany Flores.
After van der Sloot was accused of murdering Natalee Holloway in 2005, he traveled to Peru and met Flores at a Lima casino owned by her father, Law Officer reported.
Van der Sloot admitted to killing Flores, saying he murdered her on May 30, 2010, in a fit of anger after she found out he was connected to Natalee Holloway’s disappearance.
Federal prosecutors in the U.S. filed the extortion charges against van der Sloot in 2010, but Peruvian officials didn’t agree to temporarily release him into American custody until May of this year.
“You have brutally murdered, in separate incidents, years apart, two young women who refused your sexual advances,” Judge Anna Manasco told van der Sloot in court on Wednesday, according to Fox.
Manasco referred to the extortion and fraud charges as “heinous” since the murderer knew the information he was selling was bogus and simply wanted to make a profit from a grieving family.
As part of the deal in the U.S., federal prosecutors have agreed not to use his confession against him for any other purposes.
Van der Sloot offered an apology to Holloway’s family in court and further agreed to assist law enforcement and her relatives regarding her disappearance and submit to a polygraph test.
However, after years of torment, Beth Holloway chastised her daughter’s killer as she offered a powerful victim impact statement. She said van der Sloot taunted her family and caused indescribable pain. She teared up at times, said she lost her job, teaching license and tenure while searching for answers about her daughter’s disappearance, Fox reported.
Finally, Beth Holloway turned to her daughter’s killer and said, “You look like hell.”
Despite his confession, the mother asked the judge to give him the “maximum sentence.”
“I implore this court to give (van der Sloot) the maximum sentence possible and make financial restitution,” she said.
When the dramatic hearing concluded, Beth Holloway spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.
“After 18 years, Natalee’s case has been solved,” she said. “Joran van der Sloot is the killer.”
WATCH BETH HOLLOWAY’S STATEMENT
Van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with credit for time already served in U.S. custody after his arrival in June. The court will allow his sentence to run concurrently with his prison sentence in Peru. Should he be released from Peruvian custody prior to the end of his sentence in the U.S., he will be required to serve the balance.
He is also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,100, and is forever refused admission into the U.S. Lastly, he also waived his right to appeal the conviction and sentence.
Judge Manasco then directed the U.S. Marshals to remove van der Sloot from American soil as soon as possible.
Natalee Holloway would have turned 37 this coming Saturday.
