20 years after Natalee Holloway vanished, suspect’s confession still leaves questions: PI
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Natalee Holloway and friends smile

Natalee Hollway, center, disappeared during a spring break trip in 2005 and was never found. (FBI)

Manasco called the extortion and fraud charges “heinous” because the killer knew the information he was selling was a lie to make a profit. However, as part of the deal, she said federal prosecutors have agreed not to use his confession against him for any other purposes.

“After 18 years, Natalee’s case has been solved,” Beth Holloway told reporters outside the courthouse immediately after van der Sloot’s 2023 sentencing hearing in Holloway’s death. “Joran van der Sloot is the killer.”

“You are a killer, and I want you to remember that every time that jail door slams.”

— Beth Holloway

In a victim-impact statement during the hearing, Holloway’s mother tore into van der Sloot, saying he taunted her family and caused indescribable pain before turning to him and saying, “You look like hell.” 

Beth Holloway makes a statement from a microphone

Beth Holloway (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Ward told Fox News Digital this week that Beth Holloway feels “kind of satisfied with the fact that he is in prison, and now he’s gotten jail time in the United States, which he’s going to have to do concurrent to the charges in Peru of the 20 years in the United States in the federal penitentiary. “

The private investigator added that he continues to stay in touch with Dave Holloway to this day and that they have not reached “a finalization of what happened.”

Missing persons poster at a beach

The government of Peru on May 10, 2023, issued an executive order allowing the temporary extradition to the United States of Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)

“Even though Joran van der Sloot confessed in 2023, we’re not convinced that he was alone with what transpired with Natalee Halloway,” Ward said. “But again, our conclusion, as of today, Dave Holloway and I are still looking and trying to gather information, which we believe that there’s other people involved with Joran van der Sloot when she was on the beach in May 30, 2005.”

Ward said he does not believe van der Sloot acted alone, and he is still working to determine if others were involved.

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.

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