Joran Van Der Sloot Confesses to Killing Natalee Holloway

Source: ERNESTO BENAVIDES / Getty

After nearly two decades, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba finally confessed to killing her.

Joran van der Sloot appeared in a Birmingham, Alabama court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to trying to extort $250,000 from her mother Beth Holloway in exchange for information about the location of the body.

Holloway was declared dead in 2012, but her body has never been found. US District Judge Anna Manasco said it’s clear her remains will never be recovered.

“It’s over. Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter’s murder. He is the killer,” Beth Holloway said Wednesday.

“After 18 years, Natalee’s case is solved,” she said. “He gave a proffer in which he finally confessed to killing Natalee.”

In a proffer, a defendant offers information they know about a crime, often as part of a plea deal.

“You changed the course of our lives and you turned them upside down,” Beth Holloway said in court, standing near van der Sloot. “You are a killer. You have finally admitted that, in fact, you murdered her.”

A transcript of the proffer was later released. The transcript revealed how van der Sloot carried out the brutal murder of Holloway.

He explained how they were walking along the beach in Aruba when he laid her down in the sand and they started kissing. When he started to “feel her up,” he said Holloway told him no, but he kept going.

“She said no, but I insist. I keep feeling her up and she knees me in the crotch,” according to the transcript. “I get up on the beach and I kick her extremely hard in the face.”

Van der Sloot proceeded to bludgeon her with a cinder block and then decided to “push her off” into the ocean.

Holloway’s family said the confession is justice to them.

“This confession means we have finally reached the end of this never ending nightmare,” Beth Holloway said.