00:00 Almost two decades after Natalie Holloway vanished in Aruba, the man long suspected
00:10 in her death has confessed to killing the Alabama teen in grisly detail, court documents
00:20 reveal.
00:23 Joran Vandersloot's confession was publicized shortly after he pleaded guilty in federal
00:33 court Wednesday to extorting and defrauding Holloway's family.
00:42 He was accused of trying to sell information about the location of Holloway's remains to
00:50 her mother, Beth Holloway, in exchange for $250,000.
01:01 It's over.
01:04 Joran Vandersloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder.
01:14 He is the killer, Beth Holloway said Wednesday.
01:21 After 18 years, Natalie's case is solved, she said.
01:30 He gave a proffer in which he finally confessed to killing Natalie.
01:38 In a proffer, a defendant offers information they know about a crime, often as part of
01:48 a plea deal.
01:52 Vandersloot, 36, admitted to killing the teen with a cinder block on an Aruban beach after
02:03 she rejected his sexual advances, according to a transcript of an interview with his attorney.
02:15 Vandersloot said Holloway kneed him in the crotch after he tried feeling her up, and
02:25 he responded by kicking her in the face and bludgeoning her with the cinder block.
02:34 He then decided to push her off into the ocean, according to the interview transcript.
02:46 Holloway's body has never been found.
02:51 In 2012, an Alabama judge signed an order declaring her legally dead.
03:03 The deaths of Holloway in 2005 and Stephanie Flores, a Peruvian woman, in 2010, whom Vandersloot
03:17 previously admitted to killing, prompted Judge Anna Monasco to sentence Vandersloot to 20
03:29 years on the federal charges.
03:33 "I have considered your confession to the brutal murder of Natalie Holloway," Monasco
03:43 said Wednesday.
03:45 "You have brutally murdered, in separate incidents years apart, two beautiful women who refused
03:57 your sexual advances."
04:02 After reading Vandersloot's proffer, the judge said Holloway's body would never be found.
04:15 Vandersloot had been arrested multiple times in connection with Holloway's death.
04:23 He was subsequently released by Aruban authorities, who cited a lack of direct evidence.
04:35 He's currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of Flores.
04:48 In 2021, Vandersloot was convicted of trafficking cocaine into his prison and was sentenced
05:00 to an additional 18 years in Peru, according to a sentencing memorandum.
05:11 Because Peruvian law prohibits prison sentences from exceeding a total of 35 years, unless
05:21 given a life sentence, the defendant is currently scheduled for release from prison in Peru
05:31 on or about June 10, 2045, 35 years after his original arrest in Peru, the court document
05:46 states.
05:49 But Peruvian officials allowed his temporary release to the US in June to face the extortion
05:59 and wire fraud charges.
06:04 Vandersloot was expected to return to Peru to finish his murder sentence in the Flores
06:14 case before returning to the US to serve time for the federal charges.
06:24 But Wednesday's plea agreement says his 20-year US federal sentence will be served concurrently
06:35 with his sentence in Peru.
06:39 In other words, it appears unlikely Vandersloot will return to the US to serve prison time.
06:51 18 years of mystery and misery
06:58 Holloway was visiting Aruba on a high school graduation trip when she vanished in 2005.
07:10 The 18-year-old was last seen leaving a nightclub with Vandersloot and two other men, brothers
07:21 Deepak and Satish Kalpo.
07:27 The three men were arrested in 2005 but were released due to insufficient evidence.
07:39 They were re-arrested and charged in 2007 for involvement in the voluntary manslaughter
07:49 of Natalie Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalie Holloway resulting in her
08:00 death, Aruban prosecutors said at the time.
08:08 But a few weeks later, an Aruban judge ordered Vandersloot's release, citing a lack of direct
08:18 evidence that Holloway died from a violent crime or that Vandersloot was involved in
08:28 such a crime.
08:31 The Kalpo brothers were also released.
08:37 Why Vandersloot was charged in the US
08:44 While US officials don't have jurisdiction over the criminal investigation in Aruba,
08:54 a federal grand jury in Alabama indicted Vandersloot for an alleged plot to sell information about
09:05 Holloway's remains to her family.
09:10 According to the indictment, Vandersloot's scheme took place between March and May 2010.
09:23 He was indicted in June 2010 on charges of extortion and wire fraud.
09:34 In the weeks between the extortion and indictment, Vandersloot killed 21-year-old Flores on May
09:45 30, 2010, in his hotel room in Peru.
09:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments