Who Is Convicted Killer Joran van der Sloot? Details on Natalee Holloway Murder Suspect

Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba while celebrating her high school graduation in 2005. Even though her body was never found, she was declared dead in 2012 and a killer was never charged in her murder. 

Prior to her disappearance, the student was last seen leaving a bar with Joran van der Sloot — a man who was later convicted of the murder of Stephany Flores Ramírez in Peru — and is thought to be a major suspect in her murder. 

Who Is Joran van der Sloot?

Joran was 17 when he met Natalie and was arrested several times in connection to her disappearance but was never charged. The Dutchman was later convicted in 2010 for killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramírez in Peru. 

According to a transcript of his confession, van der Sloot admitted to choking and beating Stephany and noted he killed her out of anger after she found out he was suspected to be connected to Natalee’s 2005 disappearance.

He is currently serving 28 years in prison in the South American country for her murder. 

While several videos of van der Sloot confessing to Natalee’s murder have surfaced over the years, Natalee’s mom, Beth Holloway, snuck into the Peruvian prison where he was serving his sentence in 2010 and came face to face with her daughter’s alleged killer.

“She’s still looking for answers about her daughter,” her lawyer John Q. Kelly told NBC News at the time. “She wants to bring her daughter home.”

Despite Beth taking “great comfort” in van der Sloot being behind bars, she’s been determined to find out what happened to her daughter. 

“Justice is being served for Stephany Flores, thank God,” she explained in an August 2016 interview. “And he is in prison in Peru. But justice has not been served for Natalee … That would be justice to me, to see him serve prison time in the United States. That would be justice for Natalee.”

Has Joran van der Sloot Been Convicted of Other Crimes?

In 2010, Joran was indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and extortion in connection to a plot to sell information about the whereabouts of Natalee’s remains to Beth in exchange for $250,000. 

Joran was extradited to the United States in June 2023 to face his charges, to which he initially pleaded not guilty. 

He is expected to enter a guilty plea during an October 2023 hearing, and the family’s lawyer told Fox News that the plea deal is set to require van der Sloot to reveal details of how the teen died and how her body was disposed of. 

The attorney also confirmed that the search for Natalee’s body was over. 

Joran Van Der Sloot Was Attacked in Prison

The confessed killer received a brutal beatdown in Peru’s notorious Challapalca Prison in April 2024, receiving a battering by two convicts during a violent brawl after returning from the U.S., where he admitted his role in Natalee’s death. Other inmates jumped into the brawl before guards eventually intervened.

Joran suffered bruises and lacerations, but was released back into the general population after being examined by medical personnel. Sources told In Touch that it’s unclear if Joran had crossed his attackers, or if he was taken down for the murder of Stefany Flores Ramirez in 2010, the daughter of popular entertainment figure Ricardo Flores.

A spokesperson for Peru’s National Penitentiary Institute acknowledged, “A lot of people want him dead.”

Joran finally admitted to Natalie’s murder in 2023, after Aruba’s 12-year statute of limitations for murder expired.