Nearly two decades after Natalee Holloway disappeared while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba, Joran van der Sloot admitted to killing the teen after they were spotted leaving a club together on the night she went missing.
Following the release of Netflix’s November 2026 docuseries Taken: Natalee Holloway, viewers may be wondering where van der Sloot is today after he admitted to killing Holloway and Stephany Flores Ramírez.
Everything to know about van der Sloot’s crimes and life today, below.
Where Is Natalee Holloway’s Killer Joran Van Der Sloot Now?
Van der Sloot is currently in custody at Challapalca prison in Peru after he was sentenced to 28-year prison sentence for the 2010 murder of Ramírez, which is concurrently running alongside his 20-year federal prison sentence in the United States for extortion and wire fraud.
He is expected to be released in 2045.
Joran Van Der Sloot Was Married in Prison
Van der Sloot married his ex-wife, Leidy Figueroa, in July 2014 at the prison where he is still serving his sentence. His attorney confirmed to CNN that Figueroa was an accountant and had one child at the time she married van der Sloot.
The former couple welcomed their daughter on September 30, 2014, which was just three months after they tied the knot.
His attorney confirmed to the Daily Mail in 2023 that van der Sloot was divorcing Figueroa and was moving on.
“Joran had a bunch of girlfriends,” his lawyer said at the time. “Lots of girls used to visit him.”
What Crimes Did Joran Van Der Sloot Commit?
Holloway vanished on May 30, 2005, while celebrating her high school graduation in Oranjestad, Aruba. She was last seen leaving the Carlos’n Charlie’s nightclub and getting into a car with van der Sloot and brothers Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe.
Van der Sloot was quickly named a suspect in the case after the accounts he gave to authorities didn’t line up. Alongside the Kalpoe brothers, van der Sloot was arrested in June 2005 on suspicion of kidnapping and murder. However, all three men were released without charges that September. The group was arrested for a second time in November 2007 and they were released again one month later.
Aruban officials reopened the case against van der Sloot in 2008 after Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries released hidden-camera footage that showed him describing Holloway’s death. However, the case fell apart when officials couldn’t corroborate the statements he made in the footage.
Five years after Holloway’s disappearance, van der Sloot killed 21-year-old college student Ramírez in Lima, Peru. He fled to Chile, but was ultimately arrested in June 2010 for her murder.
That same month, van der Sloot was also indicted in the United States on federal wire fraud and extortion charges tied to a March 2010 meeting he had with Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway. During the meeting, he demanded that Beth pay him money in exchange for information about Natalee’s disappearance.
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to the federal extortion charges in 2023 and was sentenced to 20 years. As part of the plea deal, he finally admitted to killing Natalee and agreed to share information about her death.
Aruba enforces a 12-year statute of limitations for homicides, meaning that the time limit to convict him has expired.
Natalee Holloway’s Mom Is Seeking Justice for Daughter
In Netflix’s Taken: Natalee Holloway, Beth explained that she’s spent the past two years working with Netherlands attorneys Royce de Vries and Annemiek van Spanje to file a murder complaint against van der Sloot with Dutch authorities.
“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 added that it is her “new mission” to get justice for Natalee.
