Where Is Natalee Holloway’s Mom Beth Today? Update After Joran van der Sloot Murder Confession

Alabama teen Natalee Holloway made headlines in 2005 after she mysteriously disappeared on the last night of her high school graduation trip in Aruba. In the nearly 20 years since her disappearance, her mother, Beth Holloway, has stayed determined to find out what happened to her daughter.

Following Joran van der Sloot’s October 2023 confession to the killing, true crime followers are curious about where Natalee’s mom is today.

Where Is Beth Holloway Today?

Beth previously worked as a speech pathologist. After her daughter’s disappearance, she worked as a motivational speaker and managed a horse ranch in Montana.

In 2006, she founded the International Safe Travels Foundation to help people “plan, travel and return home safely,” according to the official website.

“I am so grateful for the overwhelming support I continue to receive since my daughter Natalee's disappearance,” she penned in a personal message posted to the site. “The stories and advice so many of you have shared have inspired me to convey the information I have learned and gathered regarding international travel with as many people as possible. That's why I created the International Safe Travels Foundation.”

On the 10-year anniversary of Natalee’s disappearance, Beth said she was “in a good place” during an appearance on the Today show. “I’ve been able to redefine my life,” she said in 2015. “I’ve been able to find joy and happiness through my son, through my son’s new family, and my work, so I think I’m in a good place now."

How Did Natalee Holloway Die?

Natalee was last documented leaving a bar in Aruba with then-17-year-old Joran van der Sloot in 2005 and was never seen again.

Despite van der Sloot being arrested multiple times in connection to her murder, Aruban officials cited a lack of evidence, and he was never charged for a crime.

Several videos of van der Sloot confessing to her murder have surfaced throughout the years, though many have chalked it up to a “publicity stunt.” Natalee’s body was never found but she was pronounced “dead by absentia” in 2012, seven years after she went missing.

van der Sloot was later convicted in 2010 for confessing to the murder of Stephany Flores Ramírez in Peru. According to a transcript of his confession, van der Sloot admitted to choking and beating the 21-year-old and noted he killed her out of anger after she found out he was suspected to be connected to Natalee’s 2005 disappearance.

That same year, van der Sloot was indicted in the United States on federal charges of wire fraud and extortion in connection to a plot to sell information about the whereabouts of Natalee’s remains to her mother in exchange for $250,000. According to the indictment, the scheme took place between March and May 2010.

Joran was extradited to the United States in June 2023 to face his charges, to which he initially pleaded not guilty.

During his October 18, 2023, court hearing, the now 36-year-old Dutchman took a plea deal and admitted to killing the Alabama native.

“He said that after killing her on the beach in Aruba, he put her into the water and that was the last that he ever saw her,” Beth told reporters after van der Sloot’s confession. “I’m satisfied knowing that he did it, he did it alone and he disposed of her alone.”

van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores in Peru. He is expected to finish his murder sentence in the South American country before starting his prison sentence for extortion and wire fraud in the United States. He is facing 20 years behind bars for each charge.