May 11 (UPI) — Joran van der Sloot, the imprisoned Dutch man suspected in the Aruba disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway in 2005, will be temporarily extradited to the United States.
The Peruvian government on Wednesday accepted a request to temporarily release van der Sloot, is serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for killing a 21-year-old Peruvian woman in 2010, to the United States to face federal charges of wire fraud and extortion for soliciting money from Holloway’s mother as he promised to reveal the location of her remains.
“We will continue to collaborate on legal issues with allies such as the United States, and many others with which we have extradition treaties,” said the Peru National Prosecutor’s Office Edgar Alfredo Rebaza in a statement.
Peru said in 2014 that van der Sloot would not be extradited to the United States until he had served his 28-year sentence, if convicted the U.S. and Peruvian governments will have to decide where he continues to serve that sentence.
Holloway vanished on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba while on a high school graduation trip May 30, 2005. She was last seen leaving an Oranjestad nightclub, with three young men, including van der Sloot.
Van der Sloot was arrested in Holloway’s disappearance but never charged.
The charges filed in 2010, stem from allegations caused Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, to wire him a total of $25,000. His initial demand, according to the Justice Department, was for $250,000.
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now,” Beth Holloway said in a statement. “It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
