Natalee Holloway Suspect ‘Took Care of Things’ After Disappearance

Dutch national Joran van der Sloot, the one-time poker player and the prime suspect in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway, once made a startling “confession” to a friend, new court filings show.

Joran van der Sloot, Natalee Holloway
Natalee Holloway, left, and Joran van der Sloot, the former poker player who has long been suspected of involvement in her disappearance. (Image: E! Online)

Two days after Holloway went missing on the island of Aruba in May 2005, van der Sloot and his father got hold of a boat.

We went for a ride and took care of things. That’s all I’m going to say,” he wrote in an email to someone called “David G” in 2010.

Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was 18 when she disappeared on a senior class trip to Aruba, and van der Sloot, also 18 then, was the last person to see her alive.

Stephany Flores Murder

On May 30, 2010, five years to the day after Holloway’s disappearance, van der Sloot bludgeoned Peruvian national Stephany Flores to death after meeting her at a card table at the Atlantic City Casino in Lima.

The Dutchman has never been charged in the Holloway case, and a body has never been found. Holloway was declared dead by a U.S. judge in January 2012.

Also, in January 2012, a Peruvian judge sentenced van der Sloot to 28 years in prison for the Flores murder. He was extradited to the U.S. in May 2023 to answer federal extortion charges. Prosecutors in Birmingham, Ala. allege van der Sloot contacted Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, and offered to reveal the whereabouts of her daughter’s body in return for an advance of $25K against a total of $250K.

The advance was paid, but van der Sloot provided false information. He claimed the body was buried in the foundations of a house in Aruba, which authorities discovered did not exist at the time of her disappearance.

The email to “David G.” which was first reported by The Messenger, was uncovered by federal prosecutors in Alabama.

Prior ‘Confessions’

Van der Sloot has appeared to admit to involvement in Holloway’s disappearance on two occasions to different undercover journalists. However, some details were contradictory, and these admissions are deemed inadmissible as evidence.

On one occasion, he said Holloway’s body had been loaded onto a boat and dumped at sea. In another, he claimed it was buried on a construction site.

Van der Sloot and his father, who died recently, did not own a boat, and investigators have been unable to discover who might have loaned them one.

The Dutchman has pleaded not guilty to the extortion charges. His trial is scheduled to start in November.

Philip Conneller
Philip Conneller Senior Reporter

In Philip Conneller’s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation.

Philip was the original features editor for poker’s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites.

His news stories for Casino.org/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others.

Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John’s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic.

He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist.

Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC.

Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.

Comments icon

Conversation (0)

+ Add a comment

Be the first to comment on this article.

Write a comment

Your email address will not be published.