Joran van der Sloot Scandals

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.

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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:

Joran van der Sloot Laughs After Confession

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.

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?

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