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Natalee Holloway’s homicide was lastly solved years after her case made headlines. Over 15 years after the 18-year-old’s disappearance from a bar in Aruba, Joran van der Sloot confessed to her killing as a part of a plea deal for a federal trial for extortion and wire fraud on October 18, 2023.
Her mom, Beth, shared a press release with Fox Information on March 12, 2025, concerning the same case involving College of Pittsburgh pupil Sudiksha Konanki, who went lacking in Punta Cana whereas on a visit with buddies. She mentioned, “The household is so lucky to have an American embassy there to work with.” She added, “I didn’t have that in Aruba.”
In February 2024, Peacock launched Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot, a documentary in regards to the tragic killing. Right here’s all the things that you must find out about Natalee’s dying amid the brand new movie.
Natalee Holloway’s 2005 Disappearance
Natalee was one in every of over 100 college students from Mountain Brook Excessive Faculty participating in an unofficial commencement journey to Aruba. She was final noticed leaving a nightclub on Could 30. Joran, then 17, was one of many three different males noticed getting within the automobile along with her. When she didn’t arrive for her flight the subsequent day, an investigation started, and Joran was one of many suspects. Joran was arrested in June on suspicions, however he was by no means charged.
Natalee Declared Lifeless in 2012
Virtually six years following her disappearance, Natalee’s father, Dave, filed a petition to have her declared legally lifeless in Alabama. Her mom, Beth, challenged the submitting, however a choose signed the petition in January 2012.
Joran van der Sloot Admits to Her Homicide

Joran, now 36, was convicted of the 2010 homicide of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez. He was discovered responsible in 2012, and sentenced to twenty-eight years in jail in Peru. Previous to fleeing to Peru, Joran had provided Natalee’s household details about the place her physique was in trade for $15,000. The household wired him cash, however the info he gave ended up being false. He was tried within the U.S. for expenses of extortion and wire fraud. As a part of a plea deal, he was required to admit to Natalee’s homicide. “For 19 years you denied killing Natalee Holloway. Your lies have prompted indiscernible ache,” Natalee’s mom mentioned in a sufferer affect assertion, per CNN. “I’m hopeful that some small semblance of justice might lastly be realized, regardless that no act of justice will heal the ache we’ve endured.”
As a part of the plea deal, Joran needed to confess to what had occurred to Natalee on the night time that she was killed. Beth Holloway’s lawyer shared what occurred to her daughter in a press release to Individuals. He mentioned that Natalee had denied sexual advances that Joran made towards her. He mentioned that the 2 of them had laid down and have been kissing. “She tells me ‘no.’ She tells me she doesn’t need me to — to really feel her up. Uh, I insist. I maintain feeling her up both approach,” he mentioned in a recorded confession, by way of Individuals.
He mentioned after he saved touching her, she kicked him “extraordinarily laborious” within the groin. He then kicked her within the face. He mentioned that after he kicked her she was unconscious and presumably lifeless, after which he struck her with a cinder block. ” I smash her head in with it fully. Uh, yeah, her face principally, , uh collapses in,” he mentioned. He then mentioned he pushed her physique off into the ocean.
After his conviction, he will likely be extradited again to Peru to proceed serving his sentence. He was sentenced to twenty years in jail within the U.S. for the extortion expenses.
‘Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot’ Documentary and Natalee’s Brother’s Feedback
Most just lately, Peacock’s documentary, Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot, is about to premiere on February 27, 2024. Not solely does the doc discover Natalee’s tragic dying, however her brother, Matthew Holloway, additionally shared heartbreaking new particulars within the trailer. “I keep in mind my dad leaping down right into a landfill and simply bodily ripping open trash baggage,” he mentioned within the clip. “Shifting giant home equipment, selecting up stuff along with his naked palms, and simply trying to find Natalee’s physique. Dad was in that one hundred pc and seeing that was actually highly effective.”
In the identical trailer for the doc, Natalee’s dad, Dave, recalled the somber occasions when he suspected that his daughter had died. “I had a intestine feeling that, simply as a father or mother, you’ve gotten that feeling that she’s not right here anymore,” he mentioned. “However alternatively, I needed to persuade everyone else that I had the fallacious emotions. That perhaps we might discover her alive. However I had a sinking feeling that issues aren’t proper.”