TRUE CRIMENatalee Holloway Killer Joran van der Sloot Travels Back to Peru After Bombshell Murder Confession
Joran van der Sloot was escorted by authorities to Birmingham International Airport and is believed to be on his way to Peru after confessing to murdering Natalee Holloway.
The 36-year-old was released from Shelby County Jail on Monday morning, October 30, and is expected to return to a prison in Peru to serve out the remainder of his sentence he had already been serving for the 2010 murder of college student Stephany Flores.
Joran van der Sloot confessed to bludgeoning Natalee Holloway to death.
Holloway disappeared in 2005 while on a trip to Aruba. She was legally declared dead in 2012, but her body was never discovered. Although van der Sloot was questioned about her disappearance at the time, he'd claimed he was innocent.
As OK! previously reported, van der Sloot finally confessed he bludgeoned Holloway to death after she rejected his advances as a part of a plea deal in connection with wire fraud and extortion charges.
Holloway disappeared in 2005 while on a trip to Aruba.
He admitted to attempting to extort Holloway's mother, Beth, in 2010 for $250,000 by promising her information on where her daughter's remains could be found.
During the legal proceedings, Joran said that he'd kicked Natalee "extremely hard" in the face and then hit her in the head with a cinder block after she rejected him, later disposing of her body in the ocean.
Van der Sloot offered an apology to the Holloways in court.
Joran offered an apology to the Holloway family in court, apologizing to his own family as well, adding that he hoped his statement "brings some kind of closure to everyone involved."
However, Natalee's mother did not accept his alleged words of remorse.
"You are a killer and I want you to remember that every time that jail cell door slams," she replied.
Beth Holloway admitted not knowing the details of her daughter's death had given Joran 'power' over her.
As OK! previously reported, Beth said that not knowing the details of her daughter's death had given Joran "power" over her.
"The reason why is because the not knowing is more torturous than the knowing," she explained earlier this year. "You brace yourself. You take the hit, but the not knowing is the never ending nightmare, and that’s worse."
Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!
Powered by RedCircle
"I think now it becomes easier for me to appreciate her life through my son’s life, and through his children’s lives," she continued. "I’ve been a little distracted. So I feel like now I can kind of like ... now I can focus on that."
