Story highlights
He's a suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba
Van der Sloot must first finish a 28-year murder sentence in Peru
U.S. courts want to try him on extortion charges
Twenty-four years.
That’s how much time must pass before the prime suspect in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway faces the American justice system.
Peru has agreed to extradite Joran van der Sloot to the United States, but only after he finishes serving a 28-year murder sentence, the Peruvian news agency Andina reported. The Peruvian court system sentenced him in 2012, but he will be eligible for release in 2038 because of the time he already has spent in custody.
In the United States, he’s been indicted on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud. American authorities accuse him of extorting money from Holloway’s mother by offering bogus information about her daughter’s disappearance.
Holloway, an 18-year-old from Alabama, was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving a nightclub in Aruba with van der Sloot and two other men.
She’d gone to the Caribbean island with 100 classmates to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.
Holloway’s body has never been found, and she was declared legally dead in 2012. Nobody has been charged in her disappearance.
The courts in Peru convicted van der Sloot in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room. The judges gave him a sentence two years short of the 30-year maximum.
Investigators have said they believe van der Sloot, a 26-year-old Dutch national, killed Flores after she found something related to the Holloway case on his computer while visiting his hotel room.
Van der Sloot confessed to robbery in addition to murder, admitting that he stole Flores’ belongings, including more than $300 in local currency, credit cards and the victim’s van as a means to leave the country. He fled to Chile and was arrested a few days later.
CNN’s Marilia Brocchetto contributed to this report.
