A Timeline of the Natalee Holloway Case: From Vanishing in Aruba to Suspect's Admission

Joran van der Sloot, 36, was extradited to the United States and pleaded guilty to extorting Natalee Holloway's mother

The 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba has generated intense coverage and interest for nearly two decades, and the case has once again been reinvigorated.

On Wednesday, Joran van der Sloot, the Dutch man who has long been suspected in Natalee's disappearance, pleaded guilty in federal court to extortion and wire fraud charges for extorting  Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway in 2010, PEOPLE confirms.

In June, Van der Sloot was extradited to the U.S. from Peru, where he is currently serving a sentence for the unrelated 2010 murder of a 21-year-old woman.

Related: Report: Joran Van der Sloot Recounts Chilling Moments After Murder

Though van der Sloot’s guilty plea provided new information, the remains of Natalee — who was declared dead by an Alabama judge in 2012 — have never been found. Here is a timeline of key events in this sprawling case:

2005: Natalee Holloway vanishes

The 18-year-old, from Mountain Brook, Ala., was on a senior trip in Aruba with more than 100 of her classmates in spring 2005. In the early morning hours of May 30, Natalee left a nightclub with Dutch national Joran van der Sloot, who was 17 and attending an international school on the island at the time, and two other men, PEOPLE previously reported.

Later that morning, Natalee was supposed to meet her classmates and fly home, but she never showed up and was never seen or heard from again.

Van der Sloot and the two other men — Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe — would claim that they dropped her off at her hotel, but their stories would soon change.

Less than two weeks after Natalee went missing, van der Sloot and the two other men he was with were arrested by Aruban authorities in connection with her disappearance, CBS News reported at the time. However, all three men were released and not prosecuted for any crimes related to Natalee's disappearance, despite multiple changing stories about what happened the night she vanished.

Both of Natalee’s parents, Beth and Dave Holloway, who are divorced, have long suspected that van der Sloot knows what happened to their daughter.

In the years following Natalee’s disappearance, each of her parents have made numerous media appearances and have authored books. The case has been the subject of several true crime shows and movies. Van der Sloot also made several television appearances in both the United States and his native Netherlands.

May 30, 2010: Stephany Flores Ramírez is Murdered

On May 30, 2010, five years to the date after Natalee’s disappearance, Stephany Flores Ramírez was murdered in van der Sloot's hotel room. According to a 2005 ABC News report, Flores Ramírez may have seen a message referencing van der Sloot's alleged involvement in the disappearance of Natalee on the night she was killed. He choked and beat Flores Ramírez, then smothered her to death, according to the outlet, citing a transcript of his confession. Van der Sloot was arrested in connection with her murder on June 3.

June 2010: Van der Sloot Is Indicted on Charges of Extortion

As Beth continued to pursue leads in her daughter’s disappearance, she paid van der Sloot $25,000 in 2010 exchange for information about the location of her daughter’s body, according to a 2010 grand jury indictment obtained by PEOPLE.

Van der Sloot met with Beth’s attorney John Q. Kelly in Aruba, PEOPLE previously reported, and said that Natalee’s remains could be found under the foundation of a house. He later confessed the information was a lie, but the payment meant van der Sloot could be charged with extortion. In June 2010, he was indicted on extortion and wire fraud charges in connection with the scheme.

2012: Guilty plea and death declaration

Two significant events happened within a day of each other in early 2012. On Jan. 11, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to murdering Flores Ramírez and would later be sentenced to 28 years in prison.

The next day, an Alabama judge would end up declaring Natalee dead, meaning her parents could finally obtain a death certificate, NBC reported.

June 2023: Van der Sloot extradited

Van der Sloot, now 36, was extradited to the United States in June of this year to face extortion charges stemming from the 2010 encounter with Beth, the Associated Press reported. 

October 2023: Van der Sloot pleads guilty

After initially pleading not guilty at his arraignment, van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday to extorting Beth.

After he pled guilty, Beth made a victim impact statement, according to reporters in the courtroom, and in which she claimed that van der Sloot admitted to killing Natalee.

“For eighteen years you have denied killing my daughter… The grief extends deep into my soul,” Beth said during her statement, according to X (formerly Twitter) posts from Tristan Ruppert, reporter for WBRC News.

“You have finally admitted that you murdered her… You terminated her potential, her dreams and possibilities when you bludgeoned her to death,” she continued, according to AL.com reporter, Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara, who was in the courtroom.

"You didn’t get what you wanted from Natalee, your sexual satisfaction, so you brutally killed her," Beth added, according to Shatara.

Even if van der Sloot made an admission, he will not be charged in connection with Natalee's murder because Aruba has a 12-year statute of limitations for murder, Kelly said, WTVM-13 reported.

Van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years for the extortion and wire fraud crimes on Wednesday. The sentence in the U.S. will run concurrently to his sentence in Peru, but if he is released from prison in Peru early, he would then serve the remainder of his 20-year sentence in the U.S., AL.com reports.

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