Joran van der Sloot

Joran van der Sloot is a Dutch college student who has been arrested twice in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. Van der Sloot was one of three men to have last seen Holloway alive.¹ Joran van der Sloot is the son of a prominent lawyer and has changed his story several times throughout the years.^{2 3}

In November 2008, Joran van der Sloot told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren that he sold Holloway to a man he met in a casino for $10,000. After the hour-long interview, he called the the news station and said he had been lying.⁴

Fast Facts

1. Birthplace: Netherlands
2. Arrested: 2005, 2007
3. Also arrested with van der Sloot: Deepak and Satish Kalpoe
4. Admitted to disposing of Holloway's body at sea on hidden camera but later denied the claim^{3 5}
5. Allegedly involved in sex trafficking of Thai women⁶
6. Reportedly received $13,000 per woman sold into prostitution⁶
7. Said he sold Holloway to a man who travels between Venezuela and Aruba, who speaks several languages, for $10,000⁴
8. Later said that the story of Holloway being sold was a lie⁴

Human Trafficking

A hidden camera expose of van der Sloot was aired on Dutch television on November 10, 2008. The footage attempted to tie him to the sex trafficking of women from Thailand. The expose was produced by Peter deVries, a Dutch journalist.⁶ This is the second videotape deVries has produced on van der Sloot. In 2007, van der Sloot was re-arrested in Amsterdam after deVries broadcast a tape of van der Sloot claiming to a friend on hidden camera that he was with Holloway when she died of a drug overdose, and that he dumped her body at sea.^{2 3} Van der Sloot subsequently denied the confession.⁵

Connection with Disappearance

The son of a prominent lawyer, Joran van der Sloot has been arrested twice but never charged with a crime in connection with Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance. On May 30, 2005, Holloway failed to show up for a return flight to the United States after a week spent celebrating her graduation from high school in Aruba. Van der Sloot and two Surinamese brothers, Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe were initially questioned and held in conjunction with the disappearance, as they admitted they were the last people to see Holloway alive. However, Holloway was never found, and authorities had no evidence with which to hold them further.

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