01/18/12
 Van der Sloot continues to be the primary suspect in the blond American teenager's disappearance, which made, and continues to make international headlines. A Dutch citizen, van der Sloot was never formally charged with Holloway's death in Aruba. However, he was arrested and held for questioning twice.
In recent days, Holloway was declared dead. Holloway's parents want van der Sloot extradited to the United States to be tried on related charges; he has been indicted for extortion for allegedly saying he could take a lawyer representing Holloway's mother to Natalee's remains. Holloway disappeared while on a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island where van der Sloot lived. Her body has never been found. Several exhaustive searches have taken place for Natalee; as well, her mother, Beth, has worked tirelessly with authorities to find her daughter, all to no avail.
Flores, a 21 year old business student, and van der Sloot, met at a casino in 2010 in Lima, Peru. In a confession, van der Sloot said he killed Flores in anger after she learned from looking at his laptop that he'd been connected to Natalee Holloway's disappearance. Van der Sloot's attorney told the court van der Sloot had killed Flores because of “extreme psychological trauma” he'd endured following the Holloway case, and that the killing was manslaughter. However, the prosecution put forth that van der Sloot killed Flores to rob her of winnings from the casino, and that he'd murdered Flores with “ferocity” and “cruelty”. He hid the crime, and fled to Chile where he was arrested two days later.
Flores' father was upset because he'd learned that van der Sloot was enjoying “favorable” conditions in a Lima prison, where he was segregated from the general population. It was also rumored he had a television and a gaming console.
Dave Holloway, Natalee's father, was quoted as having said after the hearing in Birmingham, Alabama that declared Natalee dead: “We've still got a long way to go to get justice.”
It's difficult to imagine what the families of both victims have endured. Justice has been served for Flores, and perhaps, in some way, for Holloway. One can only speculate on the young women that have been spared because of the Peruvian court's decision today.
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