Natalee Holloway disappearance suspect Joran van der Sloot loses appeal, will be extradited to U.S.

Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch man long suspected of involvement in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, lost his appeal in a Peruvian court and will be extradited to the U.S.

The Dutch citizen had been serving a 28-year sentence at Challapalca Prison in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores. But in recent days, he was transferred to a different prison on the outskirts of Lima after a court ruled in May that van der Sloot should be extradited to the U.S.

van der Sloot is one of the last people to see Holloway alive before the 18-year-old disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005 while on a post-graduation trip with her Alabama high school classmates. Flores, 21, was later killed in van der Sloot’s Lima hotel room, five years to the day after Holloway disappeared.

Due to a lack of evidence directly connecting him to Holloway’s disappearance, van der Sloot has never been charged. While Holloway’s body has not been found, she was declared legally dead in 2012, the same year van der Sloot was convicted of Flores’ murder. The case was closed in Aruba and officially remains unsolved.

However, van der Sloot will soon face extortion and wire fraud charges in the U.S. after he allegedly took money from Holloway’s family in 2010 in exchange for a promise to tell them where her body could be found.

According to the FBI, van der Sloot asked Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, for $25,000 up front and another $250,000 after her remains were recovered. In a sting operation, he gave them the location of a house where he said she was buried in the foundation but later admitted to lying about the location.

He was indicted by an Alabama grand jury in 2010.

Before he was transferred to the new prison and was awaiting his appeal, van der Sloot was injured in a prison brawl, according to his attorney. However, whatever injuries he sustained are unlikely to delay his extradition, which is scheduled for Thursday.

Under the terms of a treaty between the U.S. and Peru, van der Sloot will remain in the U.S. until the legal process is exhausted, including the appeals process and serving any potential prison time, before he is returned to resume serving his sentence for the murder of Flores.

With News Wire Services