Confession solves case of 2005 Natalee Holloway disappearance

Longtime suspect Joran van der Sloot’s written confession was made public on Wednesday during his plea hearing in a related extortion case. Natalee Holloway disappeared on a high school graduation trip in Aruba in 2005. Van der Sloot had previously said he had been with Holloway on the beach the night she disappeared but denied any wrongdoing. But on Wednesday, details of Van der Sloot’s confession were made public. Van der Sloot wrote that he beat Holloway with a cinderblock and dragged her body to the ocean after she rebuffed his sexual advances.

Why did he confess now? Van der Sloot was in jail in Peru, serving a 28-year sentence for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez. He arrived in the United States in June to face charges for attempting to extort money from Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother. In 2010, he had asked Beth for cash in exchange for information about Natalee’s disappearance. Van der Sloot confessed to the murder as part of a plea deal related to the extortion case.

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s 2005 report on Holloway’s disappearance in The Buzz.