BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The man accused of killing Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway during a high school graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005 is on his way back to the U.S. to face criminal charges, according to Holloway’s family.
In a statement released Wednesday night, Beth Holloway says the government of Peru has agreed to temporarily extradite Joran van der Sloot to Birmingham to face federal wire fraud and extortion charges related to an alleged attempt to extort the Holloway family for money in exchange for details about how Holloway died and where her remains are located.
“In May 2005 my 18-year-old daughter Natalee Holloway left Birmingham for Aruba to attend her high school graduation trip and was never seen again,” Holloway said in her statement. “She was abducted and murdered there. Now almost exactly eighteen years later, her perpetrator, Joran van der Sloot, has been extradited to Birmingham to answer for his crimes. While I will have much more to say later about what is happening, for now I want to express my sincere gratitude to President Dina Boluarte, the President of Peru, the warm people of Peru, the family of Stephany Flores, the FBI in Miami, Florida and in Birmingham, Alabama, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham, the U.S. Embassy in Peru and the Peruvian Embassy in the U.S., my longtime attorney John Q. Kelly who has worked tirelessly on this case, and George Seymore and Marc Wachtenheim of Patriot Strategies.
I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
Van Der Sloot is imprisoned in Peru and serving a 28-year prison sentence for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramírez in 2010.
The federal indictment filed in 2010 alleges Van der Sloot demanded Beth Holloway wire him $250,000 in exchange for revealing the location of Natalee Holloway’s remains. Federal prosecutors say Holloway wired $25,000 and Van der Sloot lead the family to a location in Aruba where he said Natalee Holloway’s remains were buried, but knew that to be false.
“We hope that this action will enable a process that will help to bring peace to Mrs. Holloway and to her family, who are grieving in the same way that the Flores family in Peru is grieving for the loss of their daughter, Stephany” said Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Peru’s Ambassador to the United States.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham declined to comment on Holloway’s statement or the potential extradition of Van der Sloot.
Source: WRBC News
