Natalee Holloway suspect Joran van der Sloot’s extradition to the US from Peru could take MONTHS

The prime suspect in the case of Natalee Holloway could delay being extradited to the US for months if he deploys a habeas corpus petition.

Joran van der Sloot, who is facing charges in connection with the 2005 disappearance, could remain in a Peruvian prison until at least August if he challenges his detention.

Van der Sloot is currently in prison in Peru for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores and is awaiting his extradition to the US to face extortion charges related to Holloway’s case.

Peru has agreed to temporarily send van der Sloot to the US to face trial, but how speedily things move along will depend on whether he deploys a habeas corpus petition.

A habeas corpus petition is a legal action through which an individual can challenge their detention or imprisonment.

Col. Carlos López Aeda, the chief of Interpol in Lima, Peru, has described van der Sloot, who is a Dutch citizen as having ‘psychopathic traits’, a ‘murderous attitude’ and of being an ‘unruly person’. 

18-year-old Natalee Holloway disappeared while on holiday in Aruba in 2005 after spending time with van der Sloot

Natalee is seen in casino security footage at a table with van der Sloot shortly before her disappearance

If filing a petition, it would see a court to review the legality of his confinement and consider whether there are grounds for his release. The petition typically argues that the individual’s constitutional rights have been violated, they are being unlawfully detained, or there is a lack of sufficient evidence to justify their imprisonment.

More than a decade ago, Van der Sloot told a Peruvian judge that he would fight efforts to be extradited to the U.S. 

‘Taking this background into consideration, we as policemen could presume that he could also have killed [Natalee Holloway],’ the colonel said to Fox News. ‘That is not ruled out in any way because of the way he acts, those psychopathic traits, that murderous attitude.

‘We assume that the U.S. authorities will have enough evidence about his crimes, and if they find him guilty and he is sentenced after he has served here in Peru, he will be transferred so that he can also be sentenced in the United States,’ López Aeda explained. 

Joran van der Sloot is pictured in this mugshot

Aruba police are seen arresting suspect Joran van der Sloot in July 2005, before releasing him due to lack of evidence

Van der Sloot is in a maximum-security prison in the Andes, in Challapalca prison, a maximum-security facility located in Puno, Peru. Its conditions are said to be so bad that even his lawyer has suggested some relatives believe he may be better off in U.S. custody

How long it takes for Van der Sloot to be extradited will depend on a number of factors including arranging transportation to fly him to the States and an agreement from the U.S that he will be returned to Peru to complete his sentence there.  

A 2001 treaty between Peru and the U.S. allows a suspect to be temporarily extradited to face trial in the other country. 

It requires that the prisoner ‘be returned’ after judicial proceedings are concluded ‘against that person, in accordance with conditions to be determined by’ both countries. 

Van der Sloot would either flown to Alabama on a U.S. government plane or accompanied by U.S. marshals on a commercial flight. 

The U.S. now has 30 days to agree to Peru’s terms, and once an agreement is in place, he could be extradited within a matter of days or weeks – with some estimating it will happen in July or August. 

The governor of Alabama praised the extradition decision and commended the persistance of Beth Holloway.

Natalee is pictured with her mother Beth shortly before her disappearance in 2005 

Natalee Holloway and her mother Beth in photos from a memorial Facebook page

Holloway was a cheerleader while at school

Five years to the day that Natalee disappeared, on May 30, 2010, Stephany Flores was reported missing in Lima, Peru. She was later found dead in a hotel room in van der Sloot’s name and he was found guilty of her murder. Pictured: Flores at a casino with van der Sloot, left, and right

‘Joran van der Sloot´s extradition to Birmingham, Alabama – Natalee´s home for her 18 years – is significant,’ Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. ‘Criminals like him are deceptive and vicious. Alabama moms like Beth Holloway are stronger.’

The time that van der Sloot ends up spending in the U.S. ‘will be extended until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings,’ including the appeal process should there be one, according to the published resolution. The resolution also says U.S. authorities agreed to return the suspect to the custody of Peru afterward. 

The extradition request indicated ‘that an additional delay in the prosecution of the case that is being pursued in the United States of America could significantly reduce the possibility of conviction, that the ages and health conditions of the key witnesses in the case would make the prosecution would be extremely difficult if it is not carried out soon,’ according to a March order from Peru’s top court.

In a statement, the young woman’s mother, Beth Holloway, said she was blessed to have Natalee in her life for 18 years.

‘She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee,’ Beth Holloway said.

Van der Sloot is in a maximum-security prison in the Andes, in Challapalca prison, a maximum-security facility located in Puno, Peru. Its conditions are said to be so bad that even his lawyer has suggested some relatives believe he may be better off in U.S. custody.

‘She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee,’ Beth Holloway, pictured, said in a statement

In an ABC documentary on her daughter’s disappearance, Beth Holloway returned to Aruba 15 years later 

Van der Sloot married a Peruvian woman, Leidy Figueroa, in July 2014 in a ceremony at a maximum security prison

Van der Sloot married a Peruvian woman in July 2014 in a ceremony at a maximum security prison. He has been transferred from prisons in response to reports that he enjoyed privileges such as television, internet access and a cellphone, and accusations that he had threatened to kill a warden. 

Wherever he will serve time, he will be in jail for the foreseeable future.

Van der Sloot’s Peru sentence extends lasts until 2038 while he faces an additional 40 years in the United States for the $250,000 extortion plot and wire fraud charges related to Holloway’s case.

The federal charges filed in Alabama against van der Sloot stem from an accusation that he tried to extort the Holloway family, promising to lead them to her body in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

A grand jury indicted him that year on one count each of wire fraud and extortion, each of which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. 

An FBI agent wrote in an affidavit that van der Sloot reached out to Holloway´s mother and wanted to be paid $25,000 to disclose the location and then another $225,000 when the remains were recovered. Van der Sloot requested that an agreement be drafted and signed by the mother and him.

A New York attorney representing Beth Holloway traveled to Aruba with the agreement and gave van der Sloot $10,000 in cash during a recorded meeting, according to court records. 

Wherever he will serve time, Joran Van der Sloot will be in jail for the foreseeable future

Joran van der Sloot is pictured near his parents house in 2007 when he was 20

The indictment says both men then went to a site where the student’s remains were purportedly buried, and Beth Holloway made a wire transfer for $15,000 to van der Sloot’s bank account in the Netherlands.

In the affidavit, the FBI agent wrote that van der Sloot in later emails to the attorney admitted to lying about the location.

Also in 2010, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was killed five years to the day after Holloway´s disappearance.

Peruvian prosecutors accused van der Sloot of killing Flores, a business student from a prominent family, to rob her after learning she had won money at the casino where the two met. 

They said he killed her with ‘ferocity’ and ‘cruelty,’ beating then strangling her in his hotel room. He pleaded guilty in 2012.

Natalee Holloway was last seen on May 29, 2005

Van der Sloot was the prime suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance but he has never formally charged in connection with her death. 

In 2005, Holloway, an Alabama teen, who lived in suburban Birmingham, went missing during a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba. 

She vanished after a night with friends at a nightclub, leaving a mystery that sparked years of news coverage and countless true-crime podcasts. 

She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, who was a student at an international school on the island, but no conclusive evidence has been found regarding her fate.

Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and detained weeks later, along with two Surinamese brothers. Holloway’s body was never found, and no charges were filed in the case. A judge later declared Holloway dead.