Lead Suspect in Natalie Holloway Case Moved to New Prison Ahead of Extradition to US – Morning Call

By Mauricio Muñoz and Gabriela Molina (Associated Press)

LIMA, Peru (Associated Press) – The principal culprit in the 2005 disappearance of American student Natalie Holloway has been arrested near the Peruvian capital prior to pending extradition to the United States on charges related to her disappearance. He will be transferred to prison, authorities said Saturday.

Dutch national Joran van der Sloat, who was serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of a Peruvian woman, approved his extradition to the United States in May.

Van der Sloot’s attorney, Maximo Artes, said his client was taken overland from Chalaparca Prison in the southern Andes of Peru to Piedras Gordas Prison outside Lima.

INPE (National Prison Institute) said in a statement on Saturday: “In the coming days, INPE (National Prison) will release this convicted man to the Peruvian International Criminal Investigation Department for the purpose of extradition from the FBI to US authorities. It will be handed over to the police organization (Interpol).”

Altes said his client would be transferred to the United States once the bureaucratic formalities were completed and van der Sloat received a medical examination. Peruvian officials did not confirm that day, although they speculated that the handover could take place on Tuesday.

Van der Sloat has agreed to be extradited to the United States to stand trial on racketeering and wire fraud charges related to the Holloway case, his attorney said.

When asked by the Associated Press why his client agreed, the lawyer cited the highest-security Chalaparka Prison, saying, “He’s in the worst prison in the world.”

By comparison, “all US prisons are like five-star hotels,” he says.

Artes said that according to the treaty between Peru and the United States, van der Sloat has been temporarily extradited to the United States for one year to face legal proceedings, with an additional one year extension if delayed. He said it could be extended for another year.

“Once this is over, he will have to be deported to Peru,” Artes said. He will spend “up to two years in the United States.”

Artez said his client denies the charges of extortion and fraud.

Holloway, who lived outside Birmingham, Alabama, was 18 when she was last seen on a trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba with classmates. She disappeared mysteriously after spending a night in a nightclub with her friends, sparking her years of news coverage and countless real-crime podcasts. When she was last seen, she had just stepped out of a bar with van der Sloat, who was a student at the island’s international school.

Van der Sloat was identified as a suspect and detained several weeks later along with his two Surinamese brothers. Holloway’s body was never found and no charges were filed in the case. A judge later pronounced Holloway dead.

A federal lawsuit filed against van der Sloat in Alabama accuses van der Sloat of trying to blackmail the Holloway family in 2010 in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It originates from A grand jury later charged him with one count of wire fraud and one count of extortion, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Also in 2010, van der Sloat was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephanie Flores, who was murdered the next day, five years after Holloway’s disappearance.

Peruvian prosecutors have charged van der Sloat with murdering illustrious business student Flores with intent to rob her after learning she won money at a casino they met. bottom. According to her police, her men beat her in her hotel room, strangled her, and killed her “violently” and “brutally”. He pleaded guilty in 2012.

Van der Sloat married a Peruvian woman in July 2014 in a ceremony held in a high-security prison. He was transferred from prison after reports that he enjoyed privileges such as television, internet access and cell phones, and accusations that he had threatened to kill the director.

A 2001 treaty between Peru and the United States allows suspects to be temporarily extradited to face trial in the other country. The law requires that the prisoners be “returned” after judicial proceedings against them have been completed “according to conditions set by both countries.”