Joran van der Sloot to Be Extradited to U.S., Charged With Extortion of Natalee Holloway's Family
The process to extradite Joran van der Sloot from Peru to the United States to face criminal charges is underway. He faces accusations of extortion and fraud.
Peruvian judges in January sentenced van der Sloot, a Netherlands native, to 28 years in prison for the murder of Stephany Flores in 2010.
He has long been the prime suspect in the disappearance of Holloway. Authorities want to try van der Sloot on charges of extortion and wire fraud in the U.S.
According to documents obtained through Maximo Altez, van der Sloot's Peruvian attorney, a judge has approved a U.S. request for provisional detention.
This is the first step in the extradition process between Peru and the United States. The document says a formal extradition request has yet to be submitted.
The only hold-up to the extradition process is van der Sloot's appeal, which should be finished in about a month, Altez said.
"I think he will be extradited within three months," said Altez. "He will go to trial in the U.S. Once he is sentenced, he will return to Peru to finish serving his 28 years, and then go back to the States to serve whatever sentence he gets there."
Talk about piling it on (deservedly so).
Joran van der Sloot to Appeal Prison Sentence
Joran van der Sloot was sentenced to 28 years for the murder of Stephany Flores, but the killer is hoping to win an appeal and shorten that time dramatically.
"He is appealing his sentence and hopes he gets parole in less than five years," an insider revealed, meaning he could walk out a free man as soon as 2017.
He hasn't won anything yet, but that would be a fraction of the sentence that was handed to him on January 13 after he confessed to the May 2010 killing.
The 24-year-old Dutchman's lawyer, Jose Luis Jimenez, filed an appeal last week claiming that the three judges did not take into account his plea of guilty.
After being transferred from a more lenient Castro Castro prison to the maximum security Piedras Gordas, Joran has experienced several health problems:
"His health has suffered and he is not doing well there. Joran blames the food and the water, he says that he is depressed and feeling weak all the time."
Hearts are weeping around the world, no doubt.
Joran's home is considered one of the harshest places in the Peru, but many observers likely feel that even a full sentence at Piedras Gordas is not long enough.
He is, after all, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, who went missing in 2005. She was declared legally dead earlier this month.
Joran van der Sloot Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison
Joran van der Sloot will be spending the next 28 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to murdering Stephany Flores this week and was sentenced in Peru today.
The court also ordered him to pay $75,000 in reparations to the family of the 21-year-old victim, who he killed after meeting her at a Lima casino in 2010.
Under Peru's penal system, Van der Sloot could become eligible for parole after serving half of the sentence with good behavior, including work and study.
Prosecutors asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft in the killing of Flores, who died five years to the day after Natalee Holloway.
Holloway, who was last seen with Van der Sloot, disappeared in Aruba and was declared legally dead yesterday. Van der Sloot was the prime suspect.
Van der Sloot's attorney for a lighter sentence because Van der Sloot suffering from PTSD relating to the anniversary of Holloway's disappearance.
On Wednesday, Van der Sloot pleaded "anticipated conclusion of the process," admitting he strangled Flores but denying it was at all premeditated.
According to van der Sloot, he killed Flores in a fit of rage after she discovered information on his laptop about his involvement in the Holloway case.
Natalee Holloway Legally Dead, Judge Declares
Natalee Holloway was declared legally dead Thursday by a judge in her home state of Alabama. She mysteriously vanished in Aruba more than six years ago.
Probate judge Alan King made the ruling at the request of Holloway's father.
While her body was never found, Dave Holloway met a legal presumption of death for his daughter, according to King, who had set Thursday as the deadline for anyone to come forward and prove she didn't die on the Caribbean island.
With no evidence to the contrary, Natalee Holloway is legally deceased.
The ruling comes just one day after longtime suspect Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty to the murder of another woman, Stephany Flores, in Peru.
Van der Sloot's lawyer said the 24-year-old killed Flores in 2010 due to "extreme psychological trauma" he experienced in the Holloway investigation.
Joran van der Sloot Pleads Guilty, Confesses to Murder of Stephany Flores
Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to the murder of Stephany Flores, a Peruvian woman he had met at a casino in Lima in 2010.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the murder took place exactly five years to the day after the disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
Joran van der Sloot remains the main suspect in that case. He was apparently in fairly good spirits after formally confessing to the killing today:
In court in Peru, he said he is "truly sorry" for the killing of Flores. He said that from the first moment, he "wanted to confess sincerely" to the killing.
His lawyer stated that van der Sloot killed Flores as a result of "extreme psychological trauma" he suffered from the fallout over the Holloway case.
Van der Sloot faces a possible 30 years in prison in the killing, though the guilty plea was aimed at winning a lighter sentence than that maximum.
The defense had claimed the killing was manslaughter, as it was not premeditated. That crime carries a minimum sentence of just five years.
In a confession, he had said he killed her in a fit of rage after she discovered on his laptop that he'd been linked to the Holloway disappearance.
Prosecutors claimed, however, that he plotted to kill and rob Flores after learning she had won a lot of money at the casino where they met.
Joran van der Sloot to Plead Guilty to Murder?
Murder suspect Joran van der Sloot asked for more time Friday to decide how to plead as his trial opened in the death of a 21-year-old Peruvian woman.
The Dutch citizen indicated that he was inclined to confess to the crime but doesn't accept the aggravated murder charges sought by the prosecution.
A three-judge panel ordered the trial to resume on January 11.
When he was asked moments earlier by presiding judge Victoria Montoya to enter a plea to the murder charges, Joran van der Sloot answered:
"I want to give a sincere confession, but I don't agree with all the charges that have been placed on me by the prosecutor."
"Can I have more time to think about this?"
The 24-year-old, lso the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, repeatedly shook his head when the prosecutor described how Van der Sloot allegedly beat and strangled the victim, intending to rob her.
Van der Sloot long ago admitted to police that he killed Stephany Flores in his Lima hotel room on May 30, 2010. So what's the holdup here?
