Joran van der Sloot extradited from Peru to Alabama to face extortion charges in Natalee Holloway case

An FBI plane left Peru this morning to bring to Joran van der Sloot to Alabama to face charges he extorted thousands from Natalee Holloway's mother.

The 35-year-old van der Sloot has long been suspected in the disappearance and death of the Mountain Brook High School graduate visiting Aruba in 2005. However, van der Sloot has never been charged in her death.

Instead, he will be tried in Birmingham's federal court on charges that he told Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway, that he would lead her to Natalee's body in exchange for $250,000.

LIVE: Joran Van der Sloot, suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, is extradited to the US https://t.co/NAEa1EIlrS

Holloway paid van der Sloot a $25,000 down payment only to find out that he lied about the location of Natalee's remains.

A federal grand jury in Birmingham indicted van der Sloot in 2010 on charges of extortion and wire fraud.

It was announced in May that van der Sloot would be brought to Alabama to face the charges here. Van der Sloot departed Peru on a flight to the United States, The Associated Press has reported.

The decision to move forward with the case here was made, in part, because of the length of time that has passed since the alleged crime and subsequent indictment, and the possibility that witnesses in the extortion case might not be available once his murder sentence in Peru was completed.

He is eligible for release there in 2038.

Van der Sloot, a Dutch national from Aruba, is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of Lima college student Stephany Flores.

Flores was killed five years to the day of Natalee's disappearance.

Nearly two decades have passed since Natalee Holloway, an American teenager, disappeared while on a graduation trip to Aruba. Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in her case, is currently in Peru, serving time for murdering a young woman, Stephany Flores Ramirez, back in 2010. It was recently announced that Joran will be extradited to the United States to face charges in relation to Natalee's case. Despite maintaining his innocence, no one has been brought to trial or currently faces charges in Natalee's death, and her whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Watch this video and learn about the complex timeline surrounding the unsolved case of Natalee Holloway. Produced by: Amanda Khorramabadi #nataleeholloway #unsolved #missingperson #timeline

Van der Sloot is expected to arrive at an undisclosed Birmingham area airport later today and will be arraigned in federal court in Birmingham.

He will then be held in an undisclosed county jail that contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service to house federal prisoners.

Van der Sloot's Peruvian attorney Maximo Altez earlier this week announced van der Sloot had changed his mind and would challenge extradition to the U.S. Altez said van der Sloot reversed course following a meeting with Dutch diplomats.

On Tuesday, a Peruvian judge ruled that the extradition would move forward, and an FBI plane arrived in Peru on Wednesday to transport the Dutchman to the U.S.

Once van der Sloot arrives in Alabama, he will be arraigned and then jailed here until trial. The entire process could take up to a year or so.

Van der Sloot will be represented by federal public defenders in Birmingham.

The 18-year-old Natalee was scheduled to fly back to Alabama on May 30, 2005, but failed to appear for her flight.

She was last seen by her friends leaving Carlos’ N Charlies in Oranjestad, sitting inside a vehicle with van der Sloot and two acquaintances – brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

When Natalee failed to return home, her mother, and then-stepfather, George "Jug" Twitty and other friends traveled to Aruba to search for her.

Within hours of landing in Aruba, the Twittys provided Aruban police with van der Sloot's name and address, identifying him as the person with whom Natalee had left the nightclub.

According to federal documents, van der Sloot on June 2, 2005, told authorities that he and Holloway had driven to the California Lighthouse area of Arashi Beach because Holloway wanted to see sharks.

He said that he dropped Holloway off at her hotel – the Holiday Inn in Aruba's High Rise Hotels district – about 2 a.m. Van der Sloot subsequently made several contradictory statements about what happened to Holloway and his involvement.

In the years following Natalee's disappearance, extensive searches have been conducted in Aruba and the surrounding waters with no success.

Over time, rewards of up to $1 million had been offered for Natalee's safe return. Additionally, rewards of up to $250,000 had been offered for information leading to the return of her remains.

She was officially declared dead by Alabama courts on Jan. 12, 2012.

On March 29, 2010, van der Sloot contacted an unidentified representative of Natalee's mother via email.

During a series of emails that followed, according to charging documents, van der Sloot offered to take the representative to Natalee's body and tell that representative what happened to her and identify those involved in her disappearance and death.

During a series of emails to follow, documents state, van der Sloot agreed to modify the terms of his offer. For an initial payment of $25,000, he would take the Holloway representative to the location of Natalee's body.

Once the body was recovered and confirmed to be Natalee, he said, he would then collect the remaining $225,000.

Van der Sloot emailed his bank account information – SNS Bank in the Netherlands - to the representative so the money could be deposited by wire transfer. He insisted, authorities said, on a written contract from Holloway.

That contract was faxed to Holloway and signed.

On April 15, 2010, Holloway wired $100 from Regions Bank in Birmingham to confirm the account was valid.

On May 10, 2010, charging documents show, the Holloway representative flew to Aruba to me with van der Sloot.

Before the representative left, Holloway wired $10,000 to the representative in New York so that he could withdraw the money and have cash available when he met with Van der Sloot.

The representative met with van der Sloot in Aruba and showed him Holloway's signed agreement.

Van der Sloot and the representative signed two copies of the agreement and took pictures of each other during the signing. The meeting, during which the representative gave van der Sloot the $10,000, was recorded.

Holloway then wired $15,000 – the balance of the initial agreement – to van der Sloot's Netherlands bank account.

Van der Sloot and the representative got into a rental car and left the hotel, according to the federal affidavit. They drove a house and, once there, van der Sloot pointed to the residence where he said Natalee's body would be found in the foundation of the house.

Van der Sloot told the representative that his father, Paulus van der Sloot – who has since died – had disposed of Natalee's body by burying her remains in the gravel under the foundation of the single-story house.

He went to say that he had been with Natalee on May 29, 2010, and that he had thrown her to the ground after she had attempted to stop him from leaving her.

"Van der Sloot claimed that when she fell down, she hit her head on a rock and died as a result of the impact,’’ wrote FBI Special Agent William Bryan.

Van der Sloot said he then hid Natalee's body and went home to tell his father what happened.

According to van der Sloot, his father accompanied him to the location where he had hidden Natalee's body. He said he remained in the car while his father further concealed the body.

"Van der Sloot added that he had not actually seen his father inter the remains,’’ Bryan wrote, "but was told and shown by his father where the body was buried."

The FBI agent wrote in charging documents Aruban law enforcement officials reviewed a building permit for that address – which has not been made public – and found there was no foundation or structure on the parcel of land at the time of Natalee's disappearance.

The document indicates that a permit was requested on May 23, 2005, and approved on May 26, 2005. An inspection was conducted on June 15, 2005, and the permit was not issued until Oct. 18, 2010.

"An interview with the contractor who built the house confirms that the house identified by Van der Sloot was not under construction at the time of Natalee Holloway's disappearance,’’ Bryan wrote.

"Further investigation discovered aerial photographs, which were taken on May 29, 2005, and June 5, 2005, show no construction was underway at the location."

After leaving Aruba, the representative and van der Sloot exchanged more emails. On May 17, 2010, van der Sloot admitted to the representative that he lied about the location of Natalee's remains.

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