Suspect in Natalee Holloway disappearance to reveal details of her death in plea deal, lawyer says
Joran van der Sloot is expected to plead guilty to his involvement in an extortion plot connected to Natalee Holloway's disappearance, and her family's lawyer said the deal will require him to reveal how the Alabama teen died.
“It [the plea agreement] was conditioned upon Mr. van der Sloot revealing details of how Natalee died and how her body was disposed of,” family lawyer John Q. Kelly told NBC News on Sunday.
A lawyer for the van der Sloot nor federal prosecutors could be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
Holloway, went missing while vacationing in Aruba with classmates celebrating their high school graduation in 2005 and she was declared dead by an Alabama probate court in 2012.
Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, has long been considered a suspect in the teen's presumed slaying, and a federal grand jury indicted van der Sloot in 2010 on two counts of wire fraud and extortion.
He was extradited to the United States in June to face allegations that he demanded $250,000 from her family in exchange for information about her disappearance.
Court records showed he was scheduled for a plea and sentencing hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Court Judge Anna Manasco in Birmingham. But it was suddenly rescheduled, which likely means the defendant and government have reached a deal to avoid trial, although it's not clear what charges he'll plead to.
Van der Sloot was already in custody in Peru after being convicted of killing a 2010 a Peruvian college student, Stephany Flores.