Suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba is extradited to the US

A man involved in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an American teenager, in Aruba will be temporarily extradited from Peru to the United States to face charges of extortion against her mother, Peruvian authorities said Wednesday.

Ms. Holloway disappeared at the age of 18 while traveling to the Dutch Island with her high school class in Alabama. She was pronounced dead in 2012, and the unsolved case has long generated great public interest in the United States. At first it was intense reportingThan true crime books and movies.

The suspect, Joran van der Sloot, is a Dutchman who grew up in Aruba and has been associated with the disappearance of Mrs. Holloway for years. According to the FBI, she was last seen leaving an Aruba nightclub in a car with him and two other young men at about 1:30 a.m. on May 30, 2005.

Mr van der Sloot is in Peru serving a 28-year prison sentence for murder in a separate case: the 2010 strangling death of Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old Peruvian student. He was sentenced in 2012, aged 24, after pleading guilty.

Around the time of his 2010 arrest in the Flores case, Mr. van der Sloot sued by a federal grand jury in Alabama on charges of attempted racketeering against Mrs. Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, for $250,000 for information about how her daughter died and the location of her body, which has never been found. He accepted an initial payment of $25,000 in an FBI sting operation, providing what he knew was false information, authorities said at the time.

Peru and the United States have an extradition treaty dating from 2001. The Peruvian government issued a decree on Wednesday to temporarily extradite Mr van der Sloot before serving his prison sentence to “ensure” he is “finally tried” in the United States, officials said.

“We hope this action facilitates a process that will help bring peace to Ms. Holloway and her family, who are grieving in the same way that the Flores family in Peru are grieving the loss of their daughter, Stephany.” Peru in the United States, Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, said in the statement.

“It has been a very long and painful journey, but the perseverance of many will pay off. Together we will finally get justice for Natalee,” Beth Holloway said in a statement.