Nearly two decades after Natalee Holloway went missing during a family vacation to Aruba in 2005, Joran van der Sloot admitted to bludgeoning the teen to death.
While the investigation has ended, Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, revealed she “isn’t done yet” when it comes to seeking justice for her daughter.
Van der Sloot, 39, made the admission in a 2023 proffer agreement, in which the court allowed him to serve his sentence for wire fraud and extortion at the same time as his 28-year sentence for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores Ramírez.
While Beth, 65, now knows what happened to her daughter, she said that she is still fighting for justice. “The nightmare’s over, right? But I’m not done yet,” she told Tudum after the Wednesday, November 4, premiere of Netflix’s three-part docuseries Taken: Natalee Holloway.
Beth has spent the past two years working with Netherlands attorneys Royce de Vries and Annemiek van Spanje to file a murder complaint with Dutch authorities against Van der Sloot. “I’ve been working busy behind the scenes, got the murder complaint,” she said. “And now we’re working on, hopefully, murder charges. So I’ve been busy, but one step at a time.”
She said she feels confident with her legal team, noting that De Vries has a connection to the case because he is the son of Dutch investigative journalist Peter R. de Vries. Peter was involved in Natalee’s case, and it was his 2008 reporting that documented Van der Sloot admitting to his involvement in Natalee’s murder.
“I know this is a legacy to his father,” Beth said of Royce. “He’s going to finish this job.” Beth added that a Dutch prosecutor is “obtaining all the documents” and “getting all Natalee’s case files.”
When asked where the case currently stands, she said “it’s in the hopper.”
As she waits for the legal case to unfold, Beth said she’s not done seeking answers. “I stayed true to my mission, I wanted answers, I got [them]. Took a long time. Now, OK, this is another step,” she said.
Beth went on to say that it is her “new mission” to get justice for Natalee.
Natlee was just 18 years old when she disappeared on May 30, 2005, while on a high school graduation trip. She was last seen outside of a night club as she got into a car with Van der Sloot and brothers Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe.
While speaking to Netflix’s Tudum, Beth opened up about the lasting impact of her daughter’s murder and how she’s come to terms with the tragedy. “You hear the word closure a lot when someone’s living with losing a loved one. And everybody uses a term that fits them best. For me, it’s about ‘it’s over,’” she said.
“I never used the word closure, and I know it’s probably a matter of semantics,” Beth continued. “The not-knowing is the never-ending nightmare. And with that nightmare, you endure endless scammers, theories, investigations that are swirling around you, and they never cease because you can never say it’s over.”
Beth said that she now feels at peace “because the nightmare of not knowing what happened to Natalee is over, and the endless scammers, the endless taunting of her killer, they’re over.”
