Natalee Holloway’s family has finally gotten closure after learning the truth about what happened to their daughter in Aruba, in 2005.
Joran van der Sloot who is believed to be responsible pleaded guilty in a Birmingham federal courtroom to wire fraud and extortion charges.
As part of a plea deal he got with the police, Joran would tell Holloway’s family how he killed their daughter and where her body was stashed.
Van der Sloot was the last person to be seen with the 18-year-old. He was a suspect from the beginning but all the police had was circumstantial.
In the United States, however, federal prosecutors in Alabama had charged van der Sloot with extortion and wire fraud in 2010, while he was already in prison in Peru for killing a college student, Stephany Flores, in his hotel room in Lima.
“Today, the United States held Joran van der Sloot accountable for his scheme to exploit a mother looking for information about her missing daughter,” U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona said in a statement.
A judge sentenced van der Sloot to 20 years in a U.S. federal prison. First, he will be returned to Peru to complete serving time for the murder of Flores.
Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, was very emotional about the case.
“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.”
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.”
