Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, is expected to accept a plea deal after being accused of an extortion plot involving the Holloway family.
Natalee Holloway was 18 when she took a senior trip to Aruba in May 2005 with Mountain Brook High School.
Natalee Holloway was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, but was never found.
In January 2012, a judge declared Natalee Holloway legally dead following a petition from her father.
Van der Sloot faces racketeering and wire fraud charges in the United States after allegedly trying to sell Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, information about the location of her daughter’s body.
Beth Holloway’s attorney, John Q. Kelly, now tells Fox News Digital that van der Sloot is expected to accept a plea deal, which is conditional on him revealing details about how Natalee Holloway died and what happened to her body. .
The attorney also told Fox News Digital that the search for Natalee Holloway’s body is over.
Joran van der Sloot waits for his trial to begin in the courtroom of Lurigancho prison in Lima January 11, 2012. REUTERS
“He [the plea agreement] was conditional on Mr. van der Sloot revealing details of how Natalee died and how he disposed of her body,” Kelly first told “Today.”
A plea and sentencing hearing is scheduled for van der Sloot on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in a federal courtroom in Birmingham, Alabama.
According to federal prosecutors, van der Sloot attempted to extort $250,000 from the family – $25,000 up front in exchange for the information and the remainder to be paid once Natalee Holloway’s body was positively identified.
Natalee Holloway was 18 when she was last seen leaving a bar with Joran Van Der Sloot, although she was never found. AP
However, van der Sloot lied to Beth Holloway about where her daughter’s remains were located, according to US prosecutors.
The alleged extortion scheme took place between March 29, 2010 and May 17, 2010.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges after a hearing in June when he was temporarily transferred from Peru to the United States.
Beth Holloway, mother of Natalie Holloway, enters the Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse on June 9, 2023, in Birmingham, Alabama.AP
Beth Holloway is expected to give a statement after Wednesday’s hearing.
Van der Sloot then traveled to Peru and met 21-year-old Stephany Flores at a Lima casino owned by his father.
Van der Sloot admitted to killing Flores and said he murdered her on May 30, 2010, in a fit of rage after the 21-year-old discovered he was connected to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
Joran van der Sloot is escorted by police officers outside a Peruvian police station near the border with Chile in Tacna, Peru, on June 4, 2010. AP
Charges were filed by federal prosecutors in 2010, but Peruvian officials did not agree to release van der Sloot into US custody until May of this year.
He was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison for killing Flores, but more time was added due to a drug trafficking scandal he was involved in while behind bars.
Once van der Sloot’s federal case concludes, he will return to Peru to finish his sentence for Flores’ murder.
After serving his sentence in Peru, van der Sloot would go to a US prison, if convicted.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn