Story credit to:
- Carol Robinson | [email protected]
- Ivana Hrynkiw | [email protected]
Joran van der Sloot pleaded not guilty this morning in a Birmingham federal courtroom on charges he tried to extort the mother of missing Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway.
Also in the courtroom were Natalee’s parents, Beth and Dave Holloway, and her brother, Matt.
Beth Holloway remained poised and showed no emotion as she looked at van der Sloot during the proceedings.
Beth Holloway declined to comment after the hearing, but thanked reporters for being there and their continued support. In a written statement she said, “Now 18 years later, the wheels of justice have finally begun for our family and we are getting our long-awaited day in court.”
“Joran van der Sloot’s not guilty plea is not disheartening to us,’’ the statement read, “it simply means his legal team is going to try to make the state prove the case.”
“We are confident the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Birmingham will succeed in getting a conviction.”
“I am confident that today was an important step toward accountability and hopefully, justice,” Natalee’s father, Dave Holloway said in a statement. “I am trusting that this prosecution will lead us to the truth about Natalee.”
Van der Sloot was brought into court wearing the same jeans and white t-shirt he wore as when he was brought to Birmingham Thursday. He was handcuffed.
When he was offered a translator, van der Sloot said his English was “pretty perfect” and he did not need one.
Van der Sloot was advised of the charges and pleaded not guilty.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Gray Borden had informed van der Sloot and his federal public defenders, Kevin Butler and James Gibson, that he would only accept a plea of not guilty at Friday’s hearing and should van der Sloot decide he wanted to plead guilty, that would be done at a later date.
The case is being prosecuted by Lloyd Peeples, chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Crosby.
Van der Sloot is charged with wire fraud and extortion, and was advised of his rights. He responded, “yes sir” to the judge. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
The judge this morning issued a protective order regarding potential evidence containing “sensitive information” such as addresses and bank account numbers.
Prosecutors had asked for the order because documents that need to be filed in the case have personal identifying information like names, addresses, and bank account numbers.
The judge ordered that van der Sloot’s team only use the information necessary for their case and not share the information with anyone.
Those documents will be redacted before being filed in public court records.
The hearing lasted about 3 minutes and the only words heard from van der Sloot were “yes, sir” when advised about his rights and the moment when he said an interpreter wasn’t necessary.
Van der Sloot also waived his right to a detention hearing. He will be custody pending his trial.
He is currently being held at the Shelby County Jail.
The courtroom was crowed with onlookers, including Natalee’s best friend from Mountain Brook High School, Claire Fierman.
Van der Sloot was extradited on Thursday from Peru, where he is serving 28 years for the 2010 murder of college student Stephany Flores, to Alabama.
The 35-year-old was whisked from a Birmingham airport to the Hoover City Jail. After Friday’s hearing, he was transferred to the Shelby County Jail.
Although van der Sloot has long been suspected in the disappearance and death of the Mountain Brook High School graduate visiting Aruba in 2005, he has never been charged in connection to her death.
However, federal authorities in Alabama contend that in 2010 van der Sloot exploited the fear of Holloway’s mother, Beth, that she would never find her daughter’s body or know what happened to her unless she paid him $250,000.
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.
Charged with extortion, an affidavit said Natalee Holloway died after Joran van der Sloot threw her to the ground when she attempted to stop him from leaving her.
The affidavit says that his late father, Paulus van der Sloot, then helped him dispose of her body.
Van der Sloot told a representative for Beth Holloway that his father buried her remains in the gravel under the foundation of the single-story house.
He later admitted to the representative that he lied about the location of Natalee’s remains.
“I am hopeful some small semblance of justice will finally be realized may finally be realized, even though no act of justice will heal the pain we’ve endured,” a statement from Beth Holloway on Thursday read.
“For 18 years, I have lived with the unbearable pain of Natalee’s loss. Each day has been filled with unanswered questions and a longing for justice that has eluded us at every turn,” Holloway said.
“At the end of this, he has to be returned to Peru,” Van der Sloot’s attorney in Peru, Maximo Altez told The Associated Press. He will spend “at most two years in the United States.”
