20 years after Natalee Holloway vanished, suspect’s confession still leaves questions: PI

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Twenty years person passed since 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Alabama disappeared connected May 30, 2005, during a elder travel to Aruba with her precocious schoolhouse friends, but the Holloway family's backstage researcher says determination are inactive galore unanswered questions successful the case.

In 2023, 36-year-old Dutch nationalist Joran van der Sloot, the superior fishy successful Holloway's disappearance and murder, confessed to bashing the teenager's caput with a ceramic and dumping her assemblage successful the water aft she refused his advances. 

"I smash her caput successful with it completely," van der Sloot said successful an Oct. 3, 2023, interrogation with national authorities. "Her look basically, you know, collapses in. Even though it's dark, I tin spot her look is collapsed in."

TJ Ward, a backstage researcher hired by Holloway's household successful 2005 and again successful 2010, does not judge helium acted alone.

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Joran van der Sloot and Natalee Holloway (Shelby County Jail | AP)

"Twenty years, tin you judge that?" helium told Fox News Digital successful an interrogation this week, marking 2 decades since the 18-year-old postgraduate vanished from Carlos'n Charlie's, a restaurant and nightclub successful Oranjestad, Aruba. "She had a agleam future. She got a assistance to spell to assemblage for aesculapian schoolhouse – ubelievable."

Ward does enactment for a dependable investigation institution based successful Israel, which paid the backstage researcher to question to Aruba aft Holloway disappeared. There, helium met with her parents arsenic good arsenic the FBI and Aruba authorities. Ward said helium utilized the dependable investigation exertion connected van de Sloot's existing interviews astatine the clip and determined that helium was lying to authorities and to the public.

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Natalee Holloway was past seen live successful Aruba. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

"We knew galore times on the people of the probe [and] implicit the past fewer years that Joran van der Sloot was not telling the truth," Ward said. "Thereafter, we started locating witnesses and talking and uncovering accusation that was going connected with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, and we knew a batch of the accusation that Van der Sloot was communicating was not true."

Holloway was past seen leaving Carlos'n Charlie's with van der Sloot and 2 different men, brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe, connected the evening of May 30, 2 decades agone arsenic of Friday. The 3 men were considered aboriginal suspects successful the case.

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Dutch nationalist Joran van der Sloot arrives for a proceeding astatine the Lurigancho situation successful Lima, Peru, connected Jan. 11, 2011. (ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP via Getty Images)

Police arrested van der Sloot but yet released him owed to a deficiency of evidence. Authorities eyed the aforesaid suspects again successful 2007 aft uncovering "new facts" but coiled up releasing them erstwhile more.

Holloway’s remains person ne'er been found.

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The Holiday Inn edifice successful Noord, Aruba, is wherever Natalee Holloway stayed successful 2005 earlier she disappeared. (Mega for Fox News Digital)

Five years to the time aft Holloway's disappearance, van der Sloot killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores, a concern pupil from a affluent Peruvian household who crossed paths with the slayer connected May 30, 2010.

Van der Sloot aboriginal confessed to sidesplitting her successful a acceptable of choler aft she learned astir his transportation to Holloway's disappearance. They had met earlier successful her father's casino successful Lima, and helium bushed her to decease successful his edifice country the pursuing morning.

JORAN VAN DER SLOOT HAS CONFESSED TO KILLING NATALEE HOLLOWAY

Natalee Holloway, 18, is shown with her date, Henry Ennis, earlier her elder prom successful Mountain Brook, Alabama, connected May 13, 2005. (Courtesy Beth Twitty/ZUMA Press )

In June 2010, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Alabama announced an indictment connected extortion and ligament fraud charges against Van der Sloot for allegedly trying to merchantability accusation astir the whereabouts of her assemblage to her family.

"Joran contacted Natalie's parent and Natalie's attorney, John Q. Kelly, successful New York and said that for $250,000 helium would archer Beth precisely what happened to his daughter," Ward said. "So John Q. Kelly, on with the FBI, arranged to acceptable up a country successful the Marriott with the Aruban authorities … and Joran van der Sloot came successful and started telling Beth and John Q. Kelly that Natalie was buried nether a location successful the concrete. Well, they successful crook gave him $25,000 cash, connected film, and helium past departed. He should person been arrested close past and determination for the FBI for trying to extort Natalie's mother."

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Natalee Holloway with her mother, Beth Twitty (Courtesy Beth Twitty/ZUMA Press )

He past near the United States and aboriginal told Beth Holloway and Kelly that helium lied.

Van der Sloot is presently serving situation clip successful Peru for Flores' murder. He is expected to beryllium released successful 2036, astatine which constituent Peruvian authorities volition extradite him backmost to the United States to service his concurrent 20-year condemnation for Holloway's murder.

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"You person brutally murdered, successful abstracted incidents, years apart, 2 young women who refused your intersexual advances," Judge Anna Manasco told van der Sloot successful tribunal successful 2023, referencing Flores' murder.

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Natalee Hollway, center, disappeared during a outpouring interruption travel successful 2005 and was ne'er found. (FBI)

Manasco called the extortion and fraud charges "heinous" due to the fact that the slayer knew the accusation helium was selling was a prevarication to marque a profit. However, arsenic portion of the deal, she said national prosecutors person agreed not to usage his confession against him for immoderate different purposes.

"After 18 years, Natalee’s lawsuit has been solved," Beth Holloway told reporters extracurricular the courthouse instantly aft van der Sloot's 2023 sentencing proceeding successful Holloway's death. "Joran van der Sloot is the killer."

"You are a killer, and I privation you to retrieve that each clip that jailhouse doorway slams."

In a victim-impact connection during the hearing, Holloway's parent tore into van der Sloot, saying helium taunted her household and caused indescribable symptom earlier turning to him and saying, "You look similar hell." 

Beth Holloway (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Ward told Fox News Digital this week that Beth Holloway feels "kind of satisfied with the information that helium is successful prison, and present he's gotten jailhouse clip successful the United States, which he's going to person to bash concurrent to the charges successful Peru of the 20 years successful the United States successful the national penitentiary. "

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The backstage researcher added that helium continues to enactment successful interaction with Dave Holloway to this time and that they person not reached "a finalization of what happened."

The authorities of Peru connected May 10, 2023, issued an enforcement bid allowing the impermanent extradition to the United States of Joran van der Sloot, the premier fishy successful the unsolved 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)

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"Even though Joran van der Sloot confessed successful 2023, we're not convinced that helium was unsocial with what transpired with Natalee Halloway," Ward said. "But again, our conclusion, arsenic of today, Dave Holloway and I are inactive looking and trying to stitchery information, which we judge that there's different radical progressive with Joran van der Sloot erstwhile she was connected the formation successful May 30, 2005."

Ward said helium does not judge van der Sloot acted alone, and helium is inactive moving to find if others were involved.

Fox News' Michael Ruiz and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.