According to the counsel for Natalee Holloway’s family, in exchange for Joran van der Sloot’s expected guilty plea, the suspect would be obliged to explain how the Alabama teen died.
According to family attorney John Q. Kelly, Mr. van der Sloot’s plea agreement was conditioned on him divulging details concerning Natalee’s death and the disposition of her remains.
Neither the van der Sloots’ attorney nor federal prosecutors could be reached for comment on Monday.
Following the disappearance of Holloway and her high school graduation party in Aruba in 2005, an Alabama probate court decided in 2012 that she had died.
In 2010, a federal grand jury indicted Dutch citizen Pieter van der Sloot on two counts of wire fraud and extortion for his alleged participation in Holloway’s death.
In June, he was extradited to the United States to face allegations that he blackmailed her family for $250,000 in exchange for information regarding her kidnapping.
He was scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco in Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday to enter a plea and be sentenced, according to court filings. However, it was immediately postponed, implying that he and the government had reached a plea deal to avoid trial. It’s unknown how he’d respond to the claims leveled against him.
Van der Sloot was already in Peruvian custody following his conviction for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a Peruvian college student.
