Joran van der Sloot, indicted in Natalee Holloway disappearance, will be extradited from Peru to US
Joran van der Sloot, indicted in 2010 on extortion and wire-fraud charges in connection with the disappearance in Aruba of Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway, will be extradited to Alabama to face the federal charges in Birmingham.
Peru today issued an executive order allowing the temporary extradition of van der Sloot to the United States.
The Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the extradition.
Once he arrives in the U.S., Van der Sloot will be arraigned in federal court in Birmingham.
“The Government of Peru is committed to justice, the rule of law, and international legal cooperation. At a time when there is increasingly greater cross-border transit of people, our institutions are keeping up to ensure that criminals are brought to justice,” a statement from Peru read.
“We will continue to collaborate on legal issues with allies such as the United States, and many others with which we have extradition treaties,” said Edgar Alfredo Rebaza, Director of the Office of International Judicial Cooperation and Extraditions of the National Prosecutor’s Office.
Van der Sloot, a Dutch national from Aruba, is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2005 murder of Lima college student Stephany Flores.
Van der Sloot was arrested in the Holloway disappearance but never charged with her death.
The 18-year-old visited Aruba on a high school graduation trip in May 2005, along with 130-plus of her graduated classmates from Mountain Brook High School.
For several days, the teens – of legal drinking age in Aruba – sunned and snorkeled during the day, and at night donned their sundresses for dinner and partying at Carlos’ N Charlie’s, which at the time was located in downtown Oranjestad, a decent cab ride from the high-rise district.
The group often ended up at Excelsior Casino, which was connected to the Holiday Inn where the Mountain Brook group stayed.
On their last night, Natalee and her friends met van der Sloot, who lived with his family in the nearby Montana neighborhood and attended the Aruba International School.
She was last seen about 1 a.m. getting into a gray Honda with van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers as they left Carlo ‘N Charlie’s.
On their last night, Natalee and her friends met van der Sloot, who lived with his family in the nearby Montana neighborhood and attended the Aruba International School.
She was last seen about 1 a.m. getting into a gray Honda with van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers as they left Carlo ‘N Charlie’s.
Natalee was scheduled to fly home on May 30 but failed to show up when the group met in the lobby to leave for their flight.
Natalie’s family flew to Aruba immediately.
They, along two Aruban policemen, went to the van der Sloot home looking for Holloway.
Van der Sloot initially denied knowing Natalee Holloway, but later said they drove to the California Lighthouse area of Arashi Beach because Natalee wanted to see sharks, before dropping her off at her hotel around 2 a.m.
Van der Sloot said Natalee fell down as she got out of the car but refused his help. He said she was then approached by a man in a black shirt similar to those worn by security guards as the young men drove away.
The search continued for years, but to no avail.
In the Alabama charges, the U.S. Attorney’s office and FBI said that on May 15, 2010, van der Sloot extorted $15,000 as a partial payment, wired from Birmingham to the Netherlands.
The total amount he was to be paid was $250,000. The information that van der Sloot has provided to that unnamed individual was false, federal authorities said.
Federal authorities in Alabama contend van der Sloot exploited the fear of Holloway’s mother, Beth, that she would never find her daughter’s body or know what happened to her unless she paid him $250,000.
Van der Sloot faces one count of wire fraud and one count of extortion in connection with a FBI investigation that started in April in Birmingham.