As long-awaited answers are finally beginning to come to light, Joran van der Sloot has admitted under oath to the killing Natalee Holloway.
Holloway, who was born in Mississippi before moving to Mountain Brook, Ala., was 18 when she disappeared during a senior trip to Aruba in 2005. Last seen leaving a nightclub on the Caribbean island with van der Sloot, her case has captivated podcasts, books, and even movies.
After years of van der Sloot going back and forth on confessions – including in February 2016 when he was videoed by an undercover reporter while in jail for a separate murder to killing Holloway too – the Dutch citizen came clean once and for all on Wednesday as part of a plea deal.
Van der Sloot told officials that he killed Holloway with a cinderblock on the beach in Aruba after she refused his sexual advances. He then dumped her body in the ocean before going home to watch pornography. To back up his confession, he passed a polygraph test.
“I have considered your confession to the brutal murder of Natalee Holloway,” U.S. Judge Anna Manasco said after reading van der Sloot’s proffer. “You have brutally murdered in separate incidents years apart two beautiful women who refused your sexual advances.”
Van der Sloot was extradited to the U.S. earlier this year on charges of extortion and wire fraud after he was accused of having lied to Holloway’s mother, saying he would reveal where her daughter’s body was for $250,000.
His guilty plea to defrauding and extorting money from Beth Holloway will result in 20 years behind bars to run concurrently with his current sentence stemming from the 2010 murder of a Peruvian woman.
“For 19 years, you denied killing Natalee Holloway. Your lies have caused indiscernible pain. You have finally admitted you murdered her,” Beth said to van der Sloot through an emotional impact statement after he attempted to apologize. “You are a killer and I want you to remember that.”
