The mother of murdered high school student Natalee Holloway has revealed details of a bizarre meeting with the parents of her daughter’s killer during which they bragged about their son’s wild sex life.
Beth Holloway traveled to Joran Van der Sloot’s family home in Aruba shortly after her daughter’s disappearance in 2005.
The Dutch killer initially denied involvement, telling investigators that he was with Natalee the night she went missing but dropped her off at her hotel room.
This week he finally admitted beating the 17-year-old to death as part of a romance deal after she spurned his sexual advances.
Now her mother has spoken about an uncomfortable meeting with Van der Sloot’s parents in the early days of the search for Natalee, explaining that they had “raised a murderer” as she reflected on the encounter.
Beth Holloway, mother of murdered Natalee Holloway, shared details of a meeting with the parents of her daughter’s killers in which they bragged about his sex life and admitted he was taking anger management classes
Holloway traveled to the family home with News Max’s Greta Van Susteren, who would cover the case extensively for the next 18 years. She described the meeting as the “craziest” of her life.
As they recounted the experience, the women recalled how Van der Sloot’s mother, Anita, “sobbed uncontrollably” and told them explicit details about alleged sexual encounters between her son and Natalee that he had told her about.
Van Susteren described what she was like: “She was sobbing and telling the most graphic things about things that she thought Joran had done to Natalee sexually, I mean, terribly graphic things.”
Holloway also recalled how Van der Sloot’s father, Paulus, sweated so profusely that his wife had to mop up puddles on the floor with a kitchen towel.
Holloway said, “He was sweating so much that I was trying not to gag.” The sweat formed in these pools and all the pools joined together and formed one big lake. I felt sick.’
Looking back, Van Susteren said that the reason he was sweating so profusely was probably because he knew his son had done something wrong and he felt guilty.
Holloway agreed, saying, “Well, he raised a murderer,” and of his mother, she added, “She supported him in every way.”
During the meeting it also emerged that Van der Sloot was taking anger management courses, which his mother Holloway said were going “very well”. Holloway also gave both parents “Hope for Natalee” bracelets made by the teen’s friends.
Natalee Holloway, 17, was beaten to death by Joran Van der Sloot during a trip to Aruba in 2005
Van der Sloot only admitted that he killed Natalee as part of a plea deal for wire fraud and extortion after attempting to extort his victim’s mother for $250,000 for information about the whereabouts of her remains
Paulus Van der Sloot and his wife Anita, pictured here with Joran, met with Beth Holloway in search of answers about their daughter’s disappearance
Van der Sloot confessed to his crimes as part of a plea deal in which he was found guilty of attempting to extort money from his victim’s family to reveal the whereabouts of her body.
He will not face prison time for the murder, but was required by law to disclose full details of the killing as part of the deal.
The chilling audio recording of his confession, released this week, showed Van der Sloot calmly talking about how he hit Natalee in the face with a concrete block after she rejected his advances.
The two met the night before their return to the United States on May 30, 2005, at a bar where Natalee was celebrating her high school graduation.
He described how the two were kissing on the beach when he tried to take things further and Natalee refused and kicked him in the crotch when he couldn’t stop.
In retaliation, he kicked her in the face “extremely hard,” knocking her unconscious, before picking up the “huge” block and “smashing” her face. He then threw her body into the Caribbean Sea, which was never found.
His admission came nearly two decades after he was first arrested and released as a suspect in Natalee’s disappearance and after he attempted to extort $250,000 from her family in return for information about her remains.
Holloway said: “If I had known Greta back when we were at the Van der Sloot house, it would have been 18 years before I saw him tied up in a US federal courthouse, I would have slit my wrists.”
Five years after the murder, an FBI investigation chronicled the extortion attempt that ultimately led to Van der Sloot confessing to the murder, although he will serve no prison time for the murder itself
Holloway said Anita Van der Sloot “enabled” everything her son did and said his parents “raised a murderer.”
Natalee, pictured left, was celebrating her high school graduation in Aruba when she met Van der Sloot at a bar
“I couldn’t have done it, it would have been too much, it would have been endless.” For a parent you just feel like there’s no reason to live anymore, it’s too long.
“In hindsight, I think it’s a good thing I didn’t know what lay ahead.” Because if you quit, you’d quit sooner. It would be too discouraging.’
She also described the moment she turned to her daughter’s killer in court, saying he “looked like hell.”
Holloway added, “It was nice to have him under control.” But she said, “He’s not going to make it.” Get him out of our United States. “He needs to go back to his rat hole, he’s in a rat cage, he’ll be fine.”
She was also stunned to learn that the house where she met the killer’s parents was listed on Airbnb. Holloway said: “You can book a double murderer’s Airbnb, wow.”
Van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and extortion, which he will serve in Peru, where he is currently serving 28 years for the murder of another woman.
In 2010, he suffocated 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel room after they argued when Flores learned he was linked to Natalee’s disappearance.
The murder occurred five years to the day that Van der Sloot killed Natalee.
After her murder, Anita Van der Sloot – who had steadfastly stood by her son during Natalee’s disappearance – admitted that he may have been involved in the Flores murder.
She told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that her son was “sick in the head.” She was not present in court when her son was sentenced.
Van der Sloot’s father, a prominent lawyer, died of a heart attack the same year Flores was killed. Holloway attributed this to the “stress” of protecting Van der Sloot from conviction.