Joran van der Sloot Confesses to 2005 Murder of Natalee Holloway as Part of Plea Deal

Confession took place in an Alabama jail with Natalee Holloway's parents present, marking a pivotal end to the 18-year mystery, though doubts linger if others were involved in the crime's concealment.

• Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance, has confessed to beating her to death and subsequently dumping her body into the sea during a 3-hour questioning session in an Alabama jail.
• The confession came as part of a plea deal, linked to an extortion case, and was overseen by lawyers and FBI agents, with Natalee’s parents allowed to witness the statement.
• Natalee, 18 years old at the time, went missing during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, and was last seen on May 30, 2005, leaving a bar with van der Sloot. Her disappearance immediately became an international story.
• Van der Sloot was extradited from Peru, where he had been serving time for the murder of another woman, to face U.S. federal charges of attempting to extort money from Natalee’s mother to reveal the location of Natalee's body.
• Despite the chilling confession and the satisfactory result of a polygraph test, Natalee's father Dave Holloway acknowledges that van der Sloot was responsible for his daughter's death, but questions if there were others who helped him conceal the crime.

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