BREAKING: Joran van der Sloot pleads guilty to wire fraud, extorting victim's mother, after 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway

The Dutch suspect in the 2005 disappearance of 18-year-old American Natalee Holloway pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of extortion and wire fraud, according to CNN.

Joran van der Sloot, 36, was one of the last people to be seen with Holloway before she went missing in Aruba during a graduation trip. Her body was never recovered, and she was declared legally dead in 2012.

As Reuters reports, van der Sloot was charged with with extortion and fraud after attempting to get Holloway's mother, Beth, to pay him $250,000 in exchange for information about the situation.

When Mrs. Holloway sent the first $25,000 in 2010, the Dutchman provided false information about where her daughter's remains were buried.

Two years later, van der Sloot was convicted of murdering 21-year-old Peruvian student Stephany Flores, and sentenced to 28 years in prison. 

It wasn't until May of 2023 that Peru finally agreed to release him into the custody of the United States to go on trial for Holloway's disappearance.

In June, van der Sloot pleaded not guilty to the aforementioned federal charges of extortion and fraud in a Birmingham, Alabama US District Court, however since then his lawyers appear to have reached an agreement with the prosecution.

According to Holloway family lawyer John Kelly, the plea deal is "conditioned upon Mr. van der Sloot revealing details of how Natalee died and how her body was disposed of."

Holloway, a Birmingham native embarked on the trip to Aruba in 2005 with friends from Mountain Brook High School. She was last seen in a vehicle leaving a bar with van der Sloot and two brothers, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

As CNN reports, the trio were arrested and charged by Aruban authorities that year, but released due to insufficient evidence. They were arrested a second time in 2007 for "involvement in the voluntary manslaughter of Natalee Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway, resulting in her death," but all three were later released.