NEED TO KNOWNatalee Holloway, 18, vanished on a graduation trip with high school classmates to Aruba in 2005Joran van der Sloot has long been suspected of killing her, though her body has never been foundThe Netflix documentary Taken: Natalee Holloway provides a comprehensive account of how her mother, Beth Holloway, fought for 18 years for justice for her daughterAfter Alabama teen Natalee Holloway vanished during a 2005 graduation trip to Aruba, friends of her suspected killer defended him.”I met Joran in high school,” said a woman named Susanna in the new Netflix docuseries, Taken: Natalee Holloway. “He was a bright kid, very nice, very comforting. He had a very easy energy with him.”On May 30, 2005, Holloway, 18, was out with friends at the popular island club, Carlos ‘n Charlie’s, when she met Joran van der Sloot, a 17-year-old Dutch national who was living in Aruba with his family.She was last seen at 1:30 a.m. leaving with van der Sloot and getting into a car with two of his friends, who say van der Sloot asked them to drop the pair off at a secluded beach.When she disappeared without a trace, all eyes turned to the three men she was seen driving away with — especially van der Sloot.On June 9, 2005, van der Sloot and the two friends, brothers Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe, were arrested in connection with the case but were later released due to insufficient evidence.”Seeing Joran handcuffed, we thought it was just something stupid,” Susanna says in the documentary. “We thought probably Natalee was another tourist who had a little bit too much fun and soon it will all be resolved.”Taken: Natalee HollowayCredit: Netflix“We would never imagine that nice, sweet, lovely boy was capable of harming a human being. He would always be very kind and protective. He was just normal, like the most normal person that you can imagine,” she continued.Over time, however, authorities, and later the world, learned more about van der Sloot through the onslaught of news stories and TV segments about the sensational case.The Dutch-born teen reportedly spent many hours gambling at Aruba’s many casinos, where he liked to drink alcohol and chase women.In the documentary, Beth Holloway recalled that a night manager at the Holiday Inn where her daughter stayed in Aruba told her that staff were already well aware of van der Sloot and his reputation.”She said, ‘Of course, we know him well,’ ” Beth said in the documentary. “And then she said, ‘Joran likes to prey upon young female American tourists.’ He’s a known predator? And this is the last person that was seen with my daughter alive?”From the beginning, Beth said she had her sights set on van der Sloot as the possible culprit, though his parents constantly praised him in public.”He’s a very honest boy,” Anita van der Sloot said. “He’s very sincere.”Her son, Anita said, “cries. In a sense, he feels guilty that he was there. He’s innocent. He keeps on repeating, ‘Mom, I don’t know anything.’ “Continuing to fight for justice for Natalee, Beth and her attorney served van der Sloot and his father, Paulus van der Sloot — who was alleged to have used his position as an attorney to influence the investigation — with wrongful death complaints in connection with Natalee’s disappearance.Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.In the documentary, Joran is seen being told that the lawsuit, which was dismissed in 2006 by a New York court because of jurisdictional issues, CBS News reported, alleges that his parents knew he was a sexual predator.He replied, “I’m not a sexual predator, and my parents don’t know what I do when I go out.”Shortly after Joran extorted Holloway in 2010 in exchange for information about Natalee’s death, which turned out to be false, he murdered 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Lima, Peru, five years to the day that Natalee disappeared.He told authorities he bludgeoned her to death after she discovered his suspected involvement in Natalee’s case. Convicted in 2012 of her murder, he was sentenced to 28 years in prison.On Oct. 18, 2023, he pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud for extorting $25,100 from Beth Holloway. He had asked for an additional $225,000 if the information about her death proved true, which it did not.In June 2023, he was extradited to Alabama and charged with one count of extortion and one count of wire fraud in connection with Natalee’s case.He pleaded guilty to the charges and, as part of his plea agreement, disclosed the details of Natalee’s final moments, revealing that he crushed her skull with a cinder block when she rebuffed his advances on the beach, before throwing her body into the ocean.Joran’s sentence in the U.S. runs concurrently with his sentence in Peru. If he is released early from prison in Peru, he would then serve the remainder of his 20-year sentence in the U.S., AL.com reports.Taken: Natalee Holloway is now streaming on Netflix.Read the original article on People
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