Salon.com > Joran van der Sloot

In love with a serial killer

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:20:00 +0000

When you hear about a young man receiving loads of love letters, marriage proposals and even a plea from a woman wishing to have his baby, you might first think of a rock star, famous actor or powerful politician -- not an accused killer. And yet, it's Joran Van der Sloot who is making headlines today by bragging to the press about the number of women enamored with him. "One of them even wants me to get her pregnant," he told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. There is no trusting claims by an admitted liar like Van der Sloot, but feverish female attention isn't at all unusual in high-profile murder cases -- and I called up an expert to better understand why.

Joran van der Sloot won’t talk to trial judge in Peru

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:31:00 +0000

Murder defendant Joran van der Sloot refused to speak to the Peruvian judge handling his case Monday, while a Dutch newspaper reported that he has retracted his confession.

Superior Court Judge Carlos Morales visited the 22-year-old Dutchman at the maximum-security prison in eastern Lima where Van der Sloot has been held since being charged with first-degree murder in the May 30 killing of a young woman he met playing poker in Peru's capital.

But Van der Sloot would not talk, citing his lawyer's petition to declare his confession void in the death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, the court said in a statement.

The lawyer, Maximo Altez, contends the confession isn't valid because the defense lawyer present when Van der Sloot made it was state-appointed.

Van der Sloot, who is also the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway, was quoted by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf on Monday as saying he signed a confession only because he was intimidated by police.

He said they promised him he would be transferred to the Netherlands if he confessed.

"I was very scared and confused during the interrogations and wanted to get away," the paper quoted him as saying. "In my blind panic, I signed everything, but didn't even know what it said."

Van der Sloot case: Could that have been me?

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:30:00 +0000

Newly released casino security camera footage shows 21-year-old Stephany Flores strolling up to a poker table, introducing herself with a quick shake of the hand and sitting in an empty chair next to accused murderer Joran Van der Sloot. They play, they chat and, ultimately, they slide their chairs back from the table and amble out of the casino together. Previously released footage shows what happened soon after: They walk through the lobby of his hotel and head straight for the 22-year-old's room.

We don't know what the pair actually talked about or why they decided to leave together (according to some reports, Flores was a lesbian) -- but it's easy to project personal experience onto these silent scenes. They seem emblematic of life in your 20s: A chance meeting with a stranger, the small talk and flirtation that ensues, and then the decision to go somewhere a little more comfortable, private. So many of us have been there -- only Flores ended up dead.

Joran van der Sloot in Peruvian prosecutors’ hands

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:32:00 +0000

Police moved Joran van der Sloot to a cell at the prosecutor's office on Thursday as officials prepared to file charges following what they called a remarkably complete confession in the beating and strangling death of a 21-year-old woman.

"We've practically closed the case," criminal police chief Gen. Cesar Guardia told The Associated Press.

Sheathed in a bulletproof vest, the young Dutchman was driven less than a mile across central Lima during rush hour in a police convoy.

Guardia said Van der Sloot, who also remains the lone suspect in the Natalee Holloway missing-teenager case, "confessed with a wealth of details that have been corroborated through criminal investigative rigor."

But he said Peruvian interrogators restricted their questioning to the case of Stephany Flores, the daughter of a circus promoter and former race car driver whom he met playing poker at a casino.

They did not question him about Holloway's disappearance -- exactly five years to the day before Flores was killed.

Guardia denied any suggestion that Van der Sloot's confession was forced. He said a translator assigned by the Dutch Embassy was present, as was a state-appointed defense attorney.

FBI paid Joran van der Sloot at least $15,000 in extortion sting

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:47:00 +0000

U.S. authorities paid Joran van der Sloot at least $15,000 in a sting operation and delayed arresting him because they were trying to help build a murder case against him in the 5-year-old slaying of Natalee Holloway in Aruba, two federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

During that delay, van der Sloot arrived in Lima, Peru, on May 14, and authorities say he has confessed to last week's killing of a 21-year-old woman in his hotel room there.

The law enforcement officials say the investigation into Holloway's unsolved murder was revived about six weeks ago when van der Sloot reached out to someone close to Holloway's mother in Alabama and requested $250,000 in exchange for disclosing the location of Holloway's body on the island of Aruba.

Aruba authorities have been frustrated in their efforts to prosecute van der Sloot because they have been unable to find her remains.

The officials said that Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty, contacted law enforcement authorities in Alabama, and the FBI set a sting operation in motion targeting van der Sloot. The agency wired $15,000 to a bank account he controlled, officials added.

Holloway suspect accused in Alabama extortion

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:16:00 +0000

A Dutch man suspected in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba has been charged in Alabama with trying to extort $250,000 in return for giving the location of her body.

The criminal complaint against Joran van der Sloot also accuses him of promising to describe the circumstances of Holloway's death.

The U.S. attorney filed the charge Thursday in federal court in Birmingham.

According to a sworn statement, van der Sloot got a partial payment of $15,000 wired to a Netherlands bank.

The name of the person paying the money was not given. Van der Sloot has long been a suspect in the 18-year-old Alabama woman's disappearance.

Van der Sloot was arrested Thursday in Chile in the death of a 21-year-old woman from Peru.

Chile police detain Joran van der Sloot in Peru killing

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Chilean police say they have detained a Dutch man sought in the murder of a woman in Peru.

Police spokeswoman Macarena Olivares says Joran van der Sloot has been taken into custody in Chile's capital of Santiago.

Van der Sloot has long been suspected in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Five years to the date after she disappeared, he was the last person seen with a Peruvian woman found dead in a Lima hotel room.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Police in neighboring Chile are checking hotels for a young Dutchman long suspected in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway who is now being sought in the killing of a woman in Peru.

After Peruvian officials announced Wednesday that Joran van der Sloot is the prime suspect in the death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel, Chilean police confirmed he had entered their country two days earlier.

Chilean Police Inspector Douglas Rodriguez in Arica told The Associated Press there was no record of van der Sloot leaving Chile and authorities were searching the country's dry, sparsely populated northern provinces for him.

Natalee Holloway suspect sought in Peru murder

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:49:00 +0000

Peruvian police said Wednesday that a young Dutchman previously arrested in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway is being sought as a suspect in a weekend murder of a Peruvian woman.

Chief of detectives Col. Miguel Canlla told The Associated Press that Joran Van Der Sloot was being sought in the Sunday killing in a Lima hotel of 21-year-old Stephany Flores.

The girl's father, Ricardo Flores, told reporters that Van Der Sloot appears with her in video taken at a Lima casino early Sunday. He said she was killed about 8 a.m. Sunday in a hotel room that was splattered with blood, indicating a struggle.

Van der Sloot left Peru on Monday, immigration authorities told the AP, though they did not disclose his destination though Flores said it was Chile.

Canlla said that Peru was asking authorities in neighboring Chile for help in the case. He did not elaborate.