Joran van der Sloot, prime suspect in Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance, pleads not guilty to extortion charges

Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect within the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, pleaded not responsible on Friday to extortion and fraud costs in a Birmingham courtroom, CBS affiliate WIAT stories.

Van der Sloot, a Dutch nationwide, was flown to Birmingham from Peru on Thursday the place he’s serving a 28-year sentence for the 2010 homicide of 21-year-old Stephany Flores. He confessed to killing Flores, precisely 5 years after Holloway’s disappearance, in his lodge room in Lima. The daughter of the rich Peruvian businessman Ricardo Flores was discovered stabbed, mendacity in a pool of blood.

U.S. prosecutors say that greater than a decade in the past, van der Sloot reached tried to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s mom, Beth Holloway, to reveal the placement of the younger lady’s physique. A grand jury indicted him in 2010.  

Van der Sloot is just not charged with killing Holloway, who was declared lifeless a number of years in the past. The 18-year-old disappeared throughout a highschool commencement journey in Aruba.  She was final seen leaving a bar with three males on Could 30, 2005, hours earlier than she was scheduled to board a aircraft residence. Within the years that adopted, her case garnered worldwide consideration largely because of the dogged willpower of her mother. 

In an announcement launched by his attorneys on Friday, Natalee’s father, Dave Holloway  mentioned, ” Whereas stuffed with combined feelings, I’m assured that in the present day was an essential step towards accountability and hopefully, justice. These specific costs do not  contain me straight, however I’m trusting that this prosecution will lead us to the reality about Natalee.”