Van der Sloot charged with first-degree murder

It would appear that this scum-bag, Joran van der Sloot, will be living in a cage for many years to come. Quite frankly, my preference would be that they fry his ass, as then there would be one less murderer on this planet. But barring that, locking him up so he can live like a caged rat would be the next best thing. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak, Associated Press Writer

LIMA, Peru – A Peruvian judge on Friday ordered Joran van der Sloot jailed on charges of first-degree murder and robbery in the killing of a 21-year-old Lima woman, determining he acted with “ferocity and great cruelty.”

Lima Superior Court Judge Juan Buendia issued the order before dawn and the 22-year-old suspect was first taken with other prisoners in an armored truck to Lima’s judicial palace, then alone to an eastern Lima prison where he will have his own cell in a segregated block.

Police manhandled Van der Sloot as they ushered him quickly out of the truck at into the judicial palace, a scarf around his neck and his hands cuffed behind him. Two officers pushed his head down.

“Disgrace!” and “Murderer!” angry onlookers yelled as Van der Sloot was taken from the prosecutor’s office where he had been held since Thursday. One person threw rotten lettuce.

Van der Sloot remains the lone suspect in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of Natalee Holloway, and the chief of Peru’s criminal police said he told investigators that he knows the location of the U.S. teen’s body.

Police say Van der Sloot smashed in the face of Lima business student Stephany Flores, whom he met playing poker at a casino, after taking her to his hotel room on May 30. They say he then strangled her, threw her to the floor, emptied her wallet.

If convicted on the murder and robbery charges, Van der Sloot would be sentenced to between 15 and 35 years in prison, court spokesman Luis Gallardo told The Associated Press.

“The aggravating factors are having acted with ferocity and great cruelty,” he said. The announcement of the charges and judge’s order came in a news release issued by the court.

Van der Sloot was taken to the maximum-security Castro Castro prison where, for his own protection, he will have his own cell in a small block near the prison director’s office, said prisons spokesman Bruno Guzman.

The only other two prisoners on the block are a reputed Colombian hit man charged with murdering a Peruvian businesswoman and a provincial mayor charged with laundering drug money

It was not yet known when the trial might begin. A judge must first be assigned to hear the case.

Flores was killed three days after meeting Van der Sloot, police say, and five years to the day after Holloway disappeared.

Lima criminal police chief Gen. Cesar Guardia told the AP on Thursday night that when Van der Sloot confessed to killing the Lima business student, investigators asked him about the Holloway case and “he let slip that he knew the place where this person was buried.”

Guardia said, however, that the Dutchman told investigators “he would only testify (on the matter) before Aruba authorities.”

He said he didn’t know how seriously to take Van der Sloot’s comment given his history of dubious statements the Alabama teen’s disappearance.

Van der Sloot’s newly hired attorney, Maximo Altez, has asked Judge Buendia to declare his client’s Monday confession void on the grounds he made it in the presence of a defense lawyer appointed by police.

Reached by the AP, Altez refused to discuss the case. He said Van der Sloot’s schoolteacher mother, Anita, would be arriving early next week with the family’s own “media adviser.” His father died in February.

Guardia said Van der Sloot’s confession was legal — that a government-appointed lawyer and an interpreter approved by the Dutch Embassy were present. He also said that Peruvian interrogators had restricted their questioning to the death of Flores, the daughter of a circus promoter and former race car driver.

The 6-foot-3 (190-centimeter-tall) Van der Sloot impressed investigators with both his intelligence and brutality, Guardia told the AP.

The general said Van der Sloot took Flores’ cash, about $300 worth of Peruvian currency, two credit cards and her national ID card. Police say he also took her car, abandoning it in a lower-class Lima neighborhood before fleeing south to Chile.

Guardia said Van der Sloot said he killed Flores because she found out about the Aruba case by using his laptop without his permission while he went out for two cups of coffee and rolls.

But he said police do not necessarily believe him and think he may have killed Flores beforehand.

Col. Miguel Canlla, chief of homicide investigations, told the AP that Van der Sloot took off his shirt after strangling Flores and put it on her. He said the Dutchman wanted to put her body into a suitcase but couldn’t.

“He is cold, calculating and cynical,” Canlla said.

The evidence against the Van der Sloot includes hotel security camera video showing him and Flores entering his hotel room together and the Dutchman leaving alone four hours later.

Security camera video from the Atlantic City casino early on the morning of her death shows Flores arriving at a poker table where Van der Sloot is sitting with other players, shaking his hand as if they met before and then taking the seat next to him. The two later leave together.

Van der Sloot arrived in Peru on May 14, authorities say, four days after receiving $25,000 as part of an FBI sting aimed at resolving the Holloway case.

The day of his arrest in Chile, June 2, U.S. prosecutors charged him with extortion.

The case commenced after Van der Sloot contacted John Kelly, a New York lawyer for Holloway’s mother, Beth Twitty, in April, according to an affidavit unsealed Thursday.

The Dutchman allegedly was seeking $250,000 in exchange for the location of the young woman’s body, how she died and the identity of those involved.

Van der Sloot “wanted to come clean, but he also wanted money,” said Bo Dietl, a private investigator who worked with Kelly on the case.

After consulting with Twitty, Kelly contacted the FBI.

It sent 10 to 12 agents to Aruba for a sting operation, he said, and Kelly gave Van der Sloot $10,000 in cash while another $15,000 was wired to a bank account. The FBI said the funds came from a private individual, without specifying that person’s identity.

Van der Sloot was told he would get $225,000 once the body was found, Dietl said. According to the affidavit, Van der Sloot insisted a written contract be signed between him and Twitty.

Van der Sloot was secretly videotaped by the FBI in an Aruba hotel telling Kelly he pushed Holloway down, that she hit her head on a rock and died, the affidavit says. He said he then contacted his father, who helped him bury the body.

Kelly and Van der Sloot went to where the Dutchman said he and his father had put Holloway — in the foundation of a house.

No body has been found, however.

The affidavit says Van der Sloot admitted in a May 17 e-mail — he was in Peru by then — that he had lied about the location of Holloway’s remains.

It was not the first time Van der Sloot has admitted to having lied about the case. Several times, he made confessions he later retracted.

Van der Sloot was the last person seen with Holloway before the girl vanished on the last night of a high school graduation trip.

He was arrested twice but released both times for a lack of evidence.

___

Associated Press Writers Franklin Briceno in Lima, Samantha Gross in New York City and Pete Yost in Washington contributed to this report.

About The Great One

Am interested in science and philosophy as well as sports; cycling and tennis. Enjoy reading, writing, playing chess, collecting Spyderco knives and fountain pens.
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8 Responses to Van der Sloot charged with first-degree murder

  1. michellefrommadison says:

    imo in my opinion

  2. michellefrommadison says:

    Just going by what the Peruian police said that she attacked Joran first. Bad choice by her imo.

  3. michellefrommadison says:

    No, I am not defending Joran. I am, however, simply stating the facts that perhaps she should not have assaulted Joran, especially when she had so many other better options available at her disposal. Seems to me that perhaps she should have simply left the room or picked up the phone instead of her choosing to get high with Joran, then attack him after doing things to provoke him. Perhaps, based upon the story so far, that maybe Joran is more of a victim than she may be.

    • TGO says:

      You must be joking! She assaulted Joran? Were you in the room with them? As the story goes, he lost it when he saw her on his laptop looking into the Natalee Holloway story. She either recognized him from seeing him on television or he started acting like the freak he is and she got suspicious.

      Look, the truth is she should have never been in the room with him in the first place; she had just met the guy. Obviously she wasn’t terribly bright and certainly didn’t exercise good judgment. But there is no denying that this guy is scum. He either purposely or accidentally killed and disposed of the body of Natalee Holloway. He obviously gets-off on getting high and beating up on women then takes it a step further and kills them. In short, this guy is a predator.

      How you can put such a spin on this incident and make this low-life out to be the victim is beyond comprehension? He brutally killed a woman! Are you insane?

  4. michellefrommadison says:

    If Stephany was still alive, wonder if they would have charged her with her assault against Joran.

    • TGO says:

      That’s a very big IF, as Stephany is not alive. The reason she’s not alive is that the cowardly low-life Joran, who is a real tough guy with women (as all pussies are) caved her face in before choking her.

      Now you’re not suggesting that a 6′-3″ male had no choice but to kill a young women because she “assaulted” him, are you? Don’t tell me you’re going to defend “poor” Joran.

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