Joran van der Sloot Murdered Natalee Halloway With Cinder Block

Update (10/18/23: 1:40 p.m. EST): Joran van der Sloot admitted to smashing Natalee Halloway's head with nearby cinder block, ultimately killing her. This news comes as Sloot pled guilty Wednesday to federal extortion charges related to the 2005 disappearance of the Alabama teenager.

He also admitted to her mother that he was responsible for her death.

Joran van der Sloot Pleads Guilty To Extortion

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Original Story (10/18/23: 12:23 p.m. EST): On Wednesday, the main suspect, Joran van der Sloot, pleaded guilty to federal extortion charges related to Natalee Holloway's death in 2005 and also admitted to Holloway's mother that he was responsible for her death.

Natalee Holloway, 18, vanished in Aruba in May 2005 after she was last seen with a group of young men, including van der Sloot, who was 17 at the time. In 2010, van der Sloot was accused of extorting Natalee's mom — Beth Holloway — by stating that he would provide her information about her daughter's whereabouts in exchange for $250,000.

Now, van der Sloot is pleading guilty.

According to Sloot's confession, he and Holloway were walking along the beach in Aruba. The two found a spot on the sand and laid down, before making out. Sloot told his attorney, "I start feeling her up again and she tells me no. She tells me she doesn't want me to - to feel her up. Uh, I insist. I keep feeling her up either way," per reports.

He then confessed that he grabbed a nearby cinder block and smashed Holloway in the head with it after she refused his sexual advances.

As a part of the plea deal, van der Sloot agreed to take a polygraph test. While in Alabama courtroom, Holloways' mother, Beth, told van der Sloot, "Joran, for 18 years you denied killing my daughter," and now "you have finally admitted that you, in fact, have murdered her."

"You changed the course of our lives and turned them upside down," she added. "You are a killer. I want you to remember that every time that jail door slams."

"Even if you have finally confessed ... you can't be tried here for her murder. But I do employ the court to give you the maximum sentence possible," Beth Holloway continued before turning to van der Sloot, telling him, "By the way, you look like hell, Joran. I don't know how you are going to make it."

She then walked away in tears.

Joran van der Sloot Says He Is 'Not The Same Kind Of Person Today'

Following his guilty plea, Van der Sloot, apologized in the Alabama courtroom to the Holloway family and his own family, saying that he hopes "the statement that I provided will provide some kind of closure."

"I am not the same kind of person today as I was then, I have given my heart to Jesus Christ," he added.

The judge accepted the plea agreement on Wednesday. Claiming he brutally murdered two young women because they refused his sexual advances, however, he did note that his confession in the Natalee Holloway case cannot be used against him.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison to run concurrently with his 28-year sentence for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores.

Natalee Holloway's Friend Speaks Out

In 2017, Natalee Holloway's friend and classmate Jessica Caiola, spoke out about her disappearance, admitting she saw Holloway being driven away in a white car after a night out at a local bar called Carlos ‘n Charlie’s. She said she assumed her friend was going back to the hotel, however, she had no idea that would never be the last time she'd see Holloway.

“The window was down so we could see it was her in the back of the car,” Caiola said at the time. “My impression was ‘Oh, great, she found a ride back to the hotel.’”

She also admitted to remember seeing van der Sloot in their same hotel. “I remember seeing Joran van der Sloot at the casino at our hotel,” she added. “That was the first time I saw him, and I remember chatter of him, like, ‘He’s so cute. Who’s going to hook up with him?’ Those sort of things were floating around. That was probably the extent to which I got close to him.”

Holloway's mom, Beth, also spoke out a few years ago, claiming they would get justice for her daughter. “It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off," Beth Holloway said in a statement at the time. "Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”