Finally, Natalee Holloway's family finally has answers; 18 years after she disappeared; he bludgeoned her after she rebuffed his sexual advances and dumped her body in the ocean.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It's been a long time coming, but Beth Holloway finally knows what happened to her daughter Natalee in Aruba, back in 2005.
Joran van der Sloot, the now 36-year-old man long believed to be responsible for Natalee Holloway's death pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Birmingham federal courtroom to wire fraud and extortion charges. As part of the plea deal, van der Sloot agreed to tell Beth Holloway how her daughter died and where her body was stashed.
Natalee went missing on a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island. Van der Sloot was the last person to be seen with the 18-year-old. Though he was a suspect from the beginning, Aruba authorities never managed to build a case.
For Beth Holloway, it wasn't the guilty plea she would have liked to see. "I can tell you with certainty that after 18 years, Natalie's case is solved as far as I'm concerned," she told reporters outside the courthouse. "It's over, it's over. Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder. He is the killer."
Holloway said specific details about what van der Sloot did the night he killed her daughter would come later. But she spoke in court that he bludgeoned her after she rebuffed his sexual advances and dumped her body in the ocean. Addressing van der Sloot directly she said, "You are a killer and I want you to remember that every time you hear that cell door close."
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Kind of a familiar thing we have here in the US where the wealthy and powerful don’t seem to ever face the consequences—but eventually everyone faces judgment.
Beth Holloway is a very strong mom and waited all these long years to hear the killer present details. Being a victim advocate, I have known many victims who just wanted to know the last details of their loved one’s lives. Beth finally found out.
Kind of a familiar thing we have here in the US where the wealthy and powerful don’t seem to ever face the consequences—but eventually everyone faces judgment.
Beth Holloway is a very strong mom and waited all these long years to hear the killer present details. Being a victim advocate, I have known many victims who just wanted to know the last details of their loved one’s lives. Beth finally found out.