Joran van der Sloot, the 36-year-old Dutch killer and primary suspect in the 2005 disappearance and suspected murder of Alabama student Natalee Holloway, will be extradited from Peru to face justice in the U.S.
Years after the 18-year-old Holloway vanished in Aruba, van der Sloot murdered a 21-year-old Peruvian woman named Stephany Flores.
He was indicted on charges of extortion and wire fraud in a federal court in Alabama in 2010 after allegedly trying to squeeze cash out of Holloway’s family in exchange for the location of her remains.
Peru officials announced late Wednesday that they would temporarily transfer custody to the U.S.
NATALEE HOLLOWAY SUSPECT JORAN VAN DER SLOOT TO BE EXTRADITED TO US, BETH HOLLOWAY SAYS
Here’s a timeline of events:
Holloway, an 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, flew to Aruba with a large group of friends ahead of their high school graduation.
On May 30, some friends went out to a nightclub and met van der Sloot, also 18 at the time. He and Holloway were seen leaving the bar together.
Holloway failed to make her flight home.
The Dutch national and two of his friends, brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe, were early suspects.
Police arrested van der Sloot but eventually released him due to a lack of evidence. Police eyed the suspects again in 2007 after uncovering “new facts” but wound up releasing them once more.
Holloway’s remains were never found.
Stephany Flores, 21, was a business student from a wealthy Peruvian family who crossed paths with van der Sloot on May 30, 2010 – five years to the day after Holloway’s disappearance. She wound up dead for it.
Van der Sloot later claimed he killed her in a fit of anger after she learned about his connection to Holloway’s disappearance. They had met earlier in her father’s casino in Lima, and he beat her to death in his hotel room the following morning.
In June 2010, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama announced an indictment on extortion and wire fraud charges against van der Sloot for allegedly trying to sell information about the whereabouts of her body to her family.
EXCLUSIVE: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT DISMISSES NEW WITNESS: ‘HE IS PLAYING WITH [FAMILY’S] PAIN
He wanted $250,000 – $25,000 up front and the rest upon the positive identification of her remains, court documents allege.
After receiving $10,000, according to prosecutors, he led the family’s lawyer John Q. Kelly to a site he claimed Holloway’s remains were buried.
He lied, according to the indictment. The body was not there and still has not been found.
Read the 2010 indictment (Mobile users go here)
In January, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to Flores’ murder and received a 28-year prison sentence.
Peru authorities this week announced they would temporarily release him from custody to face charges in the U.S.
In the same week of January, a judge also granted Holloway’s father’s request to declare her legally dead.
Dave Holloway wanted to halt payments on her health insurance and free up funds from her college savings account to use for her younger brother.
In a ceremony held inside his prison in Peru, van der Sloot married Leidy Figueroa, who was 24 years old and seven months pregnant at the time.
He told her he wanted to marry her all over again once his sentence was up, The Associated Press reported at the time.
Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, announced the extradition in a statement, and Peru officials later confirmed they had agreed to transfer him to U.S. custody temporarily to face justice.
“Almost exactly eighteen years later, her perpetrator, Joran van der Sloot, has been extradited to Birmingham to answer for his crimes,” she said.
Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Peru’s ambassador to the U.S., said he hopes “this action will enable a process that will help to bring peace to Mrs. Holloway and to her family, who are grieving in the same way that the Flores family in Peru is grieving for the loss of their daughter.”
Van der Sloot’s defense lawyer Maximo Altez told The Associated Press Wednesday he plans to fight extradition.
Holloway would be 36 years old today.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
