Dutch national Joran van der Sloot confessed to killing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway during a court hearing Wednesday, following a federal plea deal.
According to Al.com, van der Sloot, who’s currently in Alabama to face extortion charges, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Anna Manasco in Birmingham. As part of a plea deal arranged prior to the hearing, the defendant also confessed to killing Natalee in 2005, while she was on a trip to Aruba with friends.
Natalee was 18 years old at the time of her death.
“I would like to take this change to apologize to the Holloway family, to apologize to my own family, to say I hope the statement I provided brings some kind of closure to everyone involved,” van der Sloot said, adding that is he now a Christian.
“I am no longer that person I was back then.”
Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, was not impressed with his apology, calling him a killer with a “black mark on the island.”
“You have finally admitted that, in fact, you murdered her,” Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, said in court Wednesday. “You terminated her dreams, her potential, her possibilities, when you bludgeoned her to death in 2005.”
“You didn’t get what you wanted form Natalee, your sexual satisfaction, so you brutally killed her….You are the one in Aruba no one wants to be, the black mark on the island.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, van der Sloot arrived from Peru in Birmingham in July to face charges related to the extortion of Natalee Holloway’s family. The extradition stems from claims that van der Sloot bilked Holloway’s mother, Beth, out of $25,100.
Beth paid van der Sloot in 2010 for details about the location of her daughter’s remains, but van der Sloot gave false information and failed to honor his promise, which led to a U.S. grand jury indicting him on extortion and wire fraud charges.
“I paid my daughter’s killer money. That’s shocking. I don’t think anyone can really wrap their mind around what that means,” Beth Holloway said Wednesday morning while addressing the court.
“By the way you look like hell Joran. I do not see how you’re gonna make it….You are a killer and I want you to remember that every time that jail door slams.”
Holloway family attorney, John Q. Kelly, told Today that part of the plea deal entailed “details of how Natalee died and how her body was disposed of,” and that following the confession, there won’t be “any further investigation or search…for Natalee’s remains.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as additional information becomes available. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Joran van der Sloot/Peruvian mug shot, left, Natalee Holloway/FBI]
