Dutch Man Suspected in Disappearance of Natalee Halloway 18 Years Ago To Be Extradited to America

A man suspected of murdering an 18-year-old Alabama woman 18 years ago in an unsolved case that changed the face of cable news will be extradited to America to face charges that he tried to extort money from the victim’s family in exchange for information about their lost daughter.The man suspected of killing Natalee Halloway in 2005 on the Dutch island of Aruba, Joran van der Sloot, is serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for a 2010 murder there. On Wednesday, the Peruvian government said it would allow for the “temporary transfer” of van der Sloot to face wire fraud and extortion charges in Alabama.“We will continue to collaborate on legal issues with allies such as the United States, and many others with which we have extradition treaties,” the director of Peru’s Office of International Judicial Cooperation and Extraditions of the National Prosecutor’s Office, Edgar Alfredo Rebaza, said.Under the terms of a 2001 treaty between the countries, Peru allows for suspects to be extradited to stand trial in America. The treaty requires that the suspect be returned to Peru following the proceedings.Van der Sloot — who was never charged in the Halloway murder — was indicted by a grand jury in Alabama in 2010 and accused of accepting $25,000 from the Halloway family in exchange for a promise to lead them to her body. An FBI agent stated in an affidavit that van der Sloot demanded another $225,000 when the remains were found, but was never able to deliver on his promise. Shortly afterward, he left Aruba and moved to Peru.In a statement, the young woman’s mother, Beth Holloway, said she was blessed to have Natalee in her life for 18 years. “She would be 36 years old now,” Ms. Halloway said. “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.” The younger Halloway was last seen during a trip with friends to Aruba to celebrate her graduation from high school. She disappeared after a night out with friends at a nightclub and was last seen leaving the bar with van der Sloot, who also was 18 at the time. Van der Sloot was detained by authorities in Aruba in connection with the case, but charges were not filed because Halloway’s body was never found. A judge later declared Holloway dead in absentia.The case prompted months of wall-to-wall coverage on cable news that generated tremendous ratings for the outlets and personalities who devoted hour-long shows to the topic almost nightly. An entirely new genre of rolling news coverage — mocked as “Missing White Girl” stories — emerged in the aftermath of the case, along with a national fascination for true crime that has since propped up thousands of podcasts. Van der Sloot is in prison for killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Peru exactly five years to the day after Natalee Halloway’s disappearance. Prosecutors said he savagely beat and then strangled the young woman, a business school student from a prominent Peruvian family, in a hotel room after learning that she had won a significant sum of money in a casino. He pleaded guilty to the crime in 2012 and married a Peruvian woman in 2014 in a ceremony at a maximum-security prison.Van der Sloot’s attorney, Maximo Altez, told the Associated Press that he would appeal the extradition. A decade ago, van der Sloot said the same thing to a Peruvian judge — that he would fight any efforts to extradite him to America.

Dutch Man Suspected in Disappearance of Natalee Halloway 18 Years Ago To Be Extradited to America

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