Natalee Holloway: Suspect in 18-year-old Alabama woman's disappearance to plead guilty in extortion case
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway will appear on Wednesday, October 18, for a plea and sentencing hearing in an extortion case.
The Dutch man has been suspected of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Holloway's family, as per court documents filed on Friday, October 13, reported NBC News.
However, further details about the plea have not been released.
What are the charges against Joran van der Sloot?
Sloot, who is set to appear for his hearing in Birmingham federal court at 9.30 am, was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2010 on two counts linked to extortion and wire fraud scheme.
The suspect who was in Peru as he was serving a 28-year prison term in a separate case for the 2010 killing of Stephany Flores, 21, was extradited to the United States in June.
Who was Natalee Holloway?
Holloway disappeared during a high school graduation trip to Aruba and was last spotted leaving a bar with Sloot who was then a student at an international school on the Caribbean Island.
The body of the 18-year-old woman who disappeared was never found. Sloot was taken into custody in connection to Holloway's missing. However, he was later released from custody and never charged.
Two years later, an Alabama probate judge declared the woman legally dead, according to NBC News.
Suspect extorted money promising to provide details of the location of Natalee Holloway's body
A federal grand jury accused the suspect of trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from the victim's family as he promised them to provide information on the location of her body.
The mother of the teenager who was declared legally dead sent a $25,000 down payment to the suspect who knew the details he provided was "worthless."
The woman's representative had agreed to pay Sloot $225,000 more when Holloway's remains were positively identified, according to the US Attorney’s Office for Alabama’s Northern District statement in 2010.
The suspect spent the amount on gambling, his lawyer Maximo Altez said earlier this year.
Sloot's attorney previously said that the defendant who was in the maximum security Challapalca prison agreed to his extradition to the United States because he was in the "worst prison in the world."
"Any prison in the United States is a five-star hotel" in comparison, said the attorney, according to Associate Press.
