Joran Van der Sloot To Plead Guilty

January 6, 2012

- See all 763 of my articles

Joran Van der Sloot is expected to plead guilty to charges of murder today.  He faces as much as 30 years in prison for the death of Stephany Flores.

This means that Van der Sloot, still just 24, will be released before he turns 55.  Depending on the leniency of the judge, perhaps long before then.  This disturbs me greatly.  If the allegations against Van der Sloot are true, he is a cold, calculating monster with no conscience.  Even his own mother is distancing herself from him.

Let’s do a run-down.  Note that these are all allegations – none of the charges have been proven in a court of law.

  • Van der Sloot first popped up on the radar as a 17 year old in 2005 when he was arrested for involvement in the disappearance and presumed murder of American teenager Natalee Holloway.  Holloway’s body was never found, and eventually van der Sloot was released from custody.  In my opinion, it’s unlikely that Van der Sloot will ever go on trial for Holloway’s murder.
  • In 2010, he extorted money from Beth Holloway (Natalee’s mother) in exchange for disclosing the location of Natalee’s body.  Beth and her representative participated in a sting operation, and van der Sloot got $25,000.  Before charges could be filed, van der Sloot traveled to Peru.  The information about the location of Natalee’s body was determined to be false.  Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.
  • While in Peru, he strikes up a relationship with Flores.  After spending time in a casino, they go to his hotel room early in the morning of May 30, 2010.  Violence ensues – likely due to a discussion of his involvement in Holloway’s murder – and Flores ends on the floor with a broken neck and blunt force trauma to the head.  By the time her body is discovered on June 2, van der Sloot has fled to Chile.  He was arrested on June 3 and eventually extradited to Peru.
  • And the one that nobody talks about much – his involvement in the sex trafficking trade.  An investigate report by Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries shows that Van der Sloot, at the time an owner of a restaurant in Thailand, sold Thai girls to groups involved in the sex trafficking trade.  Van der Sloot posed as a representative of a modeling agency to lure the girls, who were shipped to the Netherlands to become sex slaves.  For his efforts, Van der Sloot received a heathy fee of $13,000 per girl.

That’s a pretty extensive resume for a 24 year old.  While Van der Sloot often seems portray a lone wolf psychopath working along, it seems unlikely that this is actually true.  It’s fairly obviously that he has cultivated some relationships with other criminals.  How else could he have possibly gotten involved in the Thai sex slave enterprise?

I’m hoping the judge decides to impose the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison – and fear the day that Van der Sloot is able to walk out of the doors a free man once again.  How many other women will he kill after his release from prison?
 

 

6 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. Evan
    Jan 09, 2012 @ 14:18:02

    He’s one scary dude. I wonder if there is a statute of limitations in Aruba. It would almost be good if there were, and if knew about the statute, so he could confess the details (assuming he was involved) in Holloway’s death, and at least give some closure to the family.

    Reply

  2. Squeaky
    Jan 10, 2012 @ 11:32:13

    I couldn’t agree more. What a scary guy. It makes me wonder how he presents himself to women that allow them to trust him. He must really be a silver tongued bandit! He is likely the kind of guy that could really play on a jury’s sympathy.

    I didn’t know a lot of the items in here Kos. Owns a restaurant? That alone is a pretty large accomplishment for a 24 year old. I knew nothing about the sex trafficing either. I saw a report last week about this latest issue in court regarding Stephany Flores.

    Have you read anything about his intelligence level? Other than being a complete psychopath, one would assume he must be very intelligent to get away with some of these crimes.

    @Evan, that’s a great question and I think that would be great if the family could finally bury their daughter.

    Reply

  3. kosmo
    Jan 10, 2012 @ 14:25:31

    @ Evan – from what I can tell, the statute of limitations is:
    Manslaughter – 6 year year statute of limitations
    Murder – 12 year statute of limitations
    Specific types of murder (terrorism, etc) – 18 year statute of limitations

    @Squeaky – My impression is that Joran was a bit of a playboy, living the high life on family money. Also, “restaurant” is a pretty broad term. It encompasses places like Spago that have very high startup costs and also places like the hole in the wall in the small town where I used to live – a converted house that probably has a max capacity of about 20 people.

    I definitely get the impression that he’s fairly intelligent and very confident.

    You’ve got to be pretty coolheaded to be researching extradition while the body’s still warm. Most people would panic and just run.

    Reply

  4. Squeaky
    Jan 10, 2012 @ 15:20:51

    Makes me wonder what the restaurant is like. It sure could be a hole in the wall or it could be fine dining. If the family has a lot of money it’s possible it was something nice handed to him and he used the profits for his (allegedly) evil acts.

    I could definitely see the cool headedness. After all the negative publicity and notariety that he had, the fact that he could talk another girl into his room definitely demonstrates his smooth and convincing demeanor. It’s just crazy.

    I hope I’m raising my daughters not to be that trusting.

    Reply

  5. kosmo
    Jan 10, 2012 @ 16:23:08

    @ Squeaky,
    Well, you have to remember that he met Flores in Peru. Sure, the case got publicity in Aruba. the US, and probably the Netherlands, but I’m not sure how much worldwide attention it got.

    To spin it differently … imagine that a Bolivian killed a Peruvian in Chile. Would we necessarily know about the crime in the US? Probably not. I think the gist of the situation about Flores was that he caught her looking at his laptop, and there was info about Holloway on the laptop. I’m not sure that she realized he was linked to a murder before looking at the laptop (I might be wrong about this). If that’s the case, if he had simply set up his computer’s screen saver to require a password, Flores might be alive today … or maybe he would have killed her anyway.

    It’s definitely a balancing act when raising kids. You can’t make them completely suspicious of everyone, or they will never form any friendships with others. On the other hand, you definitely need to teach them to be very careful.

    Personally, I have a tendency to take people at their word until they give me a reason to doubt them. It’s burned me in a few minor ways over the years, but I still prefer it to being overly suspicious.

    Reply

  6. squeaky
    Jan 10, 2012 @ 18:12:38

    Great points Kosmo.

    As a parent and as an individual I probably don’t trust others enough. It probably is rubbing off on my kids somewhat. I’d like for them to have more close friends but I’m happy where they’re at. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to get to the point that you’re at. I’ve been burned the other way. Sometime ask me about the girl named Velveeta.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to kosmo

Cancel