FBI Goes to Peru for Natalee Holloway Case

By Jason Beahm on March 10, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The 2005 Natalee Holloway murder case lives on. FBI agents are now headed to Peru in order to analyze Joran Van der Sloot's laptop. Holloway disappeared during a high school graduation group trip to Aruba. Van der Sloot was the last person seen with her and was arrested twice in the case, but was not charged.

The FBI is looking for clues to solve the Holloway case. The fact that they are making the trip suggests that there could be specific information they are targeting, but that is only speculation. However, there is reason to believe Joran Van der Sloot may be talking, because he is pleading guilty to the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, in Peru, the Associated Press reports.

His attorney wants Van der Sloot charged with "violent emotion murder" in the Stephany Flores case, under the theory that he was temporarily insane at the time of the murder. Violent emotion murder is similar to manslaughter in the United States. "In his statement to the police, Joran admitted that he committed the crime, but it was not in the way that the police said it happened," said attorney Maximo Altez.

If his attorney can pull that off, it would be a tremendous victory for attorney Maximo Altez and Joran Van der Sloot. He is facing 15-35 years if convicted of first-degree murder, but could serve as little as 20 months of a 3-5 year sentence if the court accepts the violent emotion murder charge, the AP reports.

Related Resources:

Natalee Holloway Search: Jaw Bone Found (FindLaw's Blotter)
Joran Van der Sloot Confesses to Extortion (FindLaw's Blotter)
The Case of Missing Alabama Teen Natalee Holloway: Why, Despite the Civil Suit Against Joran van der Sloot, It Will Likely Remain Unsolved (FindLaw's Writ)