BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Beth Holloway has issued a statement following the indictment of a man charged in the unsolved disappearance of her daughter Natalee after 18 years.
Peru’s government issued an executive order Wednesday allowing the temporary extradition of Joran van der Sloot to the United States as the prime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance in Aruba in May 2005, according to Holloway’s family.
The Associated Press reported that van der Sloot will be prosecuted for alleged extortion and wire fraud charges in the Holloway case. He is currently serving 28 years in prison in Peru in the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in 2010.
In her statement to CBS 42, Beth Holloway thanks multiple agencies who worked to get van der Sloot extradited.
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years,” Beth stated. “Together, we are finally getting justice for Nataleee.”
Read the full statement from Beth Holloway below:
In May 2005 my 18-year-old daughter Natalee Holloway left Birmingham for Aruba to attend her high school graduation tip and was never seen again. She was abducted and murdered there. Now almost exactly eighteen years later, her perpetrator, Joran van der Sloot, has been extradited to Birmingham to answer for his crimes.
He has been in prison in Peru for murdering another young girl there named Stephany Flores in 2010. While I will have much more to say later about what is happening, for now I want to express my sincere gratitude to President Dina Boluarte, the President of Peru, the warm people of Peru, the family of Stephany Flores, the FBI in Miami, Florida and in Birmingham, Alabama, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham, the U.S. Embassy in Peru and the Peruvian Embassy in the U.S., my longtime attorney John Q. Kelly who has worked tirelessly on this case, and George Seymore and Marc Wachtenheim of Patriot Strategies. Most importantly, I especially want to thank Greta Van Susteren who has become a very close friend and who has worked diligently with me for 18 years investigating and working to get justice, never giving up.
I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Nataleee.
Statement from Beth Holloway, mother of Natalee Holloway
