Joran van der Sloot has made the bizarre allegation that Natalee Holloway’s mother “tricked” him into an FBI case that led to his indictment in connection with the unsolved murder, can reveal.
The convicted killer, who is currently in prison in Peru for an unrelated murder, is the prime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005 when she was 18.
The teenager was last seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot and two of his friends. Her body was never found and she was pronounced dead in 2012.
Van der Sloot is now facing extradition to the United States on federal charges of extortion.
He is accused of promising in 2010 to lead Natalee’s family to her body for $250,000.
Joran van der Sloot is the prime suspect in the unsolved murder of Natalee Holloway
van der Sloot is facing extradition to the US on extortion charges after he allegedly promised to escort Natalee’s family to her body in exchange for cash. But his lawyer now claims it was Natalee’s mother, Beth (pictured), who approached him and offered him cash
Natalee disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba during a school field trip in 2005
A grand jury that year indicted him for wire fraud and racketeering, each of which carries up to 20 years in prison.
But his attorney, Maximo Altez, has now made the extraordinary allegation that it was in fact Natalee’s mother, Beth, who approached van der Sloot and offered her money if he would take her to her daughter’s body.
“Joran wants to be extradited because he is innocent of the allegations,” Altez told . “He was living his life in Aruba and received a call from Beth Holloway who was cheating on him.
“She said, ‘Joran, tell me where the body is and I’ll give you $250,000.’ He never asked for money, she’s the one who offered it.
“She even gave him a promotion and he never asked for the rest.” He only got $25,000.’
Altez explained his client was a “sick person” and “compulsive gambler” who “needed the money to play at the casino.”
He claimed Ms Holloway “exploited” him.
Outlining a somewhat confusing case for the defense, Altez said his client admitted he fabricated the location of Natalee’s body, adding, “He [van der Sloot] says if he’s guilty of anything, it’s fraud. But in reality he is a sick man.’
However, he later clarified that the Dutchman “is innocent of the two charges”. [of wire fraud and extortion]’.
Natalee’s body was never found and she was pronounced dead in 2012
Natalee can be seen in casino security footage at a table with van der Sloot just before her disappearance
Aruba police arrested suspect Joran van der Sloot in July 2005 before releasing him due to lack of evidence
The lawyer said the killer originally asked him to appeal the extradition but sent him a letter Monday saying he wanted to go to the US to clear his name.
Ms Holloway’s attorney, John Q. Kelly, declined to comment on the claims.
But they’re likely to be taken as an insult to a grieving family already tormented by van der Sloot’s ever-changing explanations for Natalee’s disappearance.
When questioned, van der Sloot allegedly initially claimed he dropped Natalee off at a hotel, before later stating he left her alone on the beach.
In his 2007 book The Case of Natalee Holloway: My Own Story about her Disappearance on Aruba, van der Sloot admitted lying to the police and apologized to the Holloways.
He wrote, “I understand that my lies in the past have seriously damaged my credibility.”
He maintained his innocence and explained that he had left a drunk Natalee on the beach where he said she was “going to watch the stars”.
Prosecutors in the US allege van der Sloot contacted Ms Holloway in 2010, asking for $25,000 to reveal the location of her daughter’s body – and then another $225,000 when the remains were discovered.
During a taped undercover operation, van der Sloot pointed to a house where he said Holloway was buried, but admitted in later emails to lying about the location, an FBI agent said in an affidavit.
Later that year, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was killed exactly five years to the day after Natalee’s disappearance.
Peruvian prosecutors accused van der Sloot of killing Flores, an economics student from a prominent family, in order to rob her after learning she had won money at the casino where the two met.
They said he killed her with “cruelty” and “cruelty,” beat her in his hotel room, and then strangled her. He pleaded guilty in 2012.
van der Sloot is abandoning his wife Leidy Figueroa, 33, (pictured left in 2014, shortly after their marriage) because he is now in a relationship with Eva Pacohuanaco (right), who has been accused of drugging him in prison in Peru to have smuggled
This comes after revealed van der Sloot is abandoning his wife of eight years in favor of a “prettier and younger” girlfriend who is accused of smuggling drugs into him in prison.
The killer married accountant Leidy Figueroa, 33, in a private ceremony at Piedras Gordas prison in July 2014, when Leidy was seven months pregnant with their daughter Dusha.
But van der Sloot filed for divorce around a year ago after beginning a relationship with Eva Pacohuanaco.
According to reports from Peru, the 24-year-old Peruvian man was accused of helping him smuggle almost 300 grams of cocaine and 140 grams of marijuana to another prison in Juliaca.
It earned the Dutchman an additional seven years to his sentence for the Flores murder.
His release is scheduled for 2038.