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AP sources: FBI paid money in van der Sloot sting
AP sources: FBI paid money in van der Sloot sting
By PETE YOST and JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writers Pete Yost And Jay Reeves, Associated Press Writers 47 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The FBI thought it was closing in on Joran Van der Sloot in the Natalee Holloway missing-teenager case, paying him at least $15,000 in a sting operation, federal officials said Wednesday. But when the agency delayed his arrest to build a murder case, he took the money and headed for Peru, where authorities say he now has confessed to killing a different young woman.
Federal law enforcement officials and a private investigator say the work on Holloway's disappearance was revived about six weeks ago when van der Sloot reached out to someone close to the Alabama teenager's mother and requested $250,000 in exchange for disclosing the location of the young woman's body on the island of Aruba.
Aruba authorities have been frustrated in their efforts to prosecute van der Sloot because they have been unable to find her remains.
The federal officials said Wednesday that Holloway's mother contacted authorities in Alabama, and the FBI set a sting operation in motion targeting van der Sloot. He has since been charged in Alabama with trying to extort money from the family.
Some $15,000 was wired to a bank account van der Sloot controlled, officials added.
Bo Dietl, a private investigator who has been working with an attorney for the Holloway, John Kelly, said van der Sloot received an additional $10,000 in cash. In April, shortly after van der Sloot's father died, van der Sloot contacted Kelly and offered to explain how Holloway died in exchange for $250,000, Dietl said.
Dietl said that at a May 10 meeting in Aruba, Kelly offered van der Sloot $25,000 upfront, with the rest to be delivered once the body was found.
"He said he pushed Natalee Holloway, her head hit a rock," Dietl said. He said van der Sloot said the body was buried "near a construction site near their house." But the information proved to be false, said the private investigator.
"He's lied so much, we don't know," said Dietl, who has been working with Kelly on the Holloway case.
Van der Sloot has told investigators he left Holloway on a beach, drunk. He has denied involvement in her disappearance.
In Birmingham, Ala., FBI spokesman Paul Daymond and a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, Peggy Sanford, declined to comment on the latest disclosures about payments.
Van der Sloot was the last person seen with Holloway before she vanished during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island on May 30, 2005. He was arrested but has been released twice because of a lack of evidence.
He is being held in Peru in connection with the May 30 killing of 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores, the daughter of a Peruvian circus impresario and former race car driver. She was found beaten to death, her neck broken, in the 22-year-old Dutchman's hotel room. Police said the two met playing poker at a casino.
Peru's chief police spokesman, Col. Abel Gamarra, told The Associated Press on Monday that van der Sloot had confessed to killing Flores. However, a Dutch newspaper has quoted a family lawyer as saying the confession may have been coerced.
For five years, van der Sloot has remained the key suspect in Aruba for the disappearance of Holloway, an 18-year-old from Alabama.
Van der Sloot, who was a fixture on true crime shows and in tabloids after Holloway's disappearance, crossed into Chile on Monday, roughly a day after leaving the Lima hotel. The day of his arrest in Chile, he was charged in the United States with trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway's family.
The federal criminal complaint in that case, filed in Birmingham, Ala., alleged an arrangement to pay the money for disclosing the location of Holloway's body. According to a sworn statement, van der Sloot got a partial payment of $15,000 wired to a Netherlands bank soon after, but the complaint does not say where the money came from.
The U.S. government's involvement in the payment to van der Sloot was first reported by the New York Post. Law enforcement officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the murder investigation in Aruba is still under way.
By PETE YOST and JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writers Pete Yost And Jay Reeves, Associated Press Writers 47 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The FBI thought it was closing in on Joran Van der Sloot in the Natalee Holloway missing-teenager case, paying him at least $15,000 in a sting operation, federal officials said Wednesday. But when the agency delayed his arrest to build a murder case, he took the money and headed for Peru, where authorities say he now has confessed to killing a different young woman.
Federal law enforcement officials and a private investigator say the work on Holloway's disappearance was revived about six weeks ago when van der Sloot reached out to someone close to the Alabama teenager's mother and requested $250,000 in exchange for disclosing the location of the young woman's body on the island of Aruba.
Aruba authorities have been frustrated in their efforts to prosecute van der Sloot because they have been unable to find her remains.
The federal officials said Wednesday that Holloway's mother contacted authorities in Alabama, and the FBI set a sting operation in motion targeting van der Sloot. He has since been charged in Alabama with trying to extort money from the family.
Some $15,000 was wired to a bank account van der Sloot controlled, officials added.
Bo Dietl, a private investigator who has been working with an attorney for the Holloway, John Kelly, said van der Sloot received an additional $10,000 in cash. In April, shortly after van der Sloot's father died, van der Sloot contacted Kelly and offered to explain how Holloway died in exchange for $250,000, Dietl said.
Dietl said that at a May 10 meeting in Aruba, Kelly offered van der Sloot $25,000 upfront, with the rest to be delivered once the body was found.
"He said he pushed Natalee Holloway, her head hit a rock," Dietl said. He said van der Sloot said the body was buried "near a construction site near their house." But the information proved to be false, said the private investigator.
"He's lied so much, we don't know," said Dietl, who has been working with Kelly on the Holloway case.
Van der Sloot has told investigators he left Holloway on a beach, drunk. He has denied involvement in her disappearance.
In Birmingham, Ala., FBI spokesman Paul Daymond and a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, Peggy Sanford, declined to comment on the latest disclosures about payments.
Van der Sloot was the last person seen with Holloway before she vanished during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island on May 30, 2005. He was arrested but has been released twice because of a lack of evidence.
He is being held in Peru in connection with the May 30 killing of 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores, the daughter of a Peruvian circus impresario and former race car driver. She was found beaten to death, her neck broken, in the 22-year-old Dutchman's hotel room. Police said the two met playing poker at a casino.
Peru's chief police spokesman, Col. Abel Gamarra, told The Associated Press on Monday that van der Sloot had confessed to killing Flores. However, a Dutch newspaper has quoted a family lawyer as saying the confession may have been coerced.
For five years, van der Sloot has remained the key suspect in Aruba for the disappearance of Holloway, an 18-year-old from Alabama.
Van der Sloot, who was a fixture on true crime shows and in tabloids after Holloway's disappearance, crossed into Chile on Monday, roughly a day after leaving the Lima hotel. The day of his arrest in Chile, he was charged in the United States with trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway's family.
The federal criminal complaint in that case, filed in Birmingham, Ala., alleged an arrangement to pay the money for disclosing the location of Holloway's body. According to a sworn statement, van der Sloot got a partial payment of $15,000 wired to a Netherlands bank soon after, but the complaint does not say where the money came from.
The U.S. government's involvement in the payment to van der Sloot was first reported by the New York Post. Law enforcement officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the murder investigation in Aruba is still under way.
My goodness, that Vandersloot is one creepy-crawly.
Oh I didnt know that? Sad as that is, it is probably just as well. Can you imagine havin a child that did this sort of thing? I cannot even imagine. My heart goes out to all the parents in these situations. Wow!
His father passed away a while ago.
Can this guys dad be charged for this protection he was giving his son, if they find out he killed the first girl as well? Anybody know?
You are so right about parents ignoring bad behavior. Years ago. at a church preschool function, one child was completely out of control. Hitting other children, stealing their food, etc. The mother did nothing but sit and smile like an idiot. Finally a teacher stepped in. The mom got upset and told the teacher she was harming the child's creative development. HUH???
Needless to say the child was expelled. Private preschool and they'd had enough.
Forward 8 years later. My daughter told me he was expelled from Middle School. He cannot attend any more schools in our system. Poor kid.
Needless to say the child was expelled. Private preschool and they'd had enough.
Forward 8 years later. My daughter told me he was expelled from Middle School. He cannot attend any more schools in our system. Poor kid.
ha ha--------- sara! I think a Peruvian jail is too good for him and am SURE he'll end up in the other eventually!
Well, traumatic events during childhood can definately contribute to a sociopath (often called "antisocial personality disorder" these days) but the DSM 4 describes onset to be before 15 years of age. So, there could be a combination of things at play. Those that are psychopaths are usually born that way.
When it comes to your little ones . . . you'll be a mom like me. You'll want the best for your little guy. You'll pick up on any issues (that I'm sure he won't have) and seek help for them. I wanted to deny my son had a developmental delay and that due to this his behavior can be less than desirable. But . . . I'd do him no favors to ignore it and hence, embraced it to help him. I have every faith in the world that you'd do the exact same thing to help your child. No matter what the issue were.
When it comes to your little ones . . . you'll be a mom like me. You'll want the best for your little guy. You'll pick up on any issues (that I'm sure he won't have) and seek help for them. I wanted to deny my son had a developmental delay and that due to this his behavior can be less than desirable. But . . . I'd do him no favors to ignore it and hence, embraced it to help him. I have every faith in the world that you'd do the exact same thing to help your child. No matter what the issue were.
Defense attorneys have been arguing the brain difference for a while. If someone's brain is deemed to be a sociopathic brain, then under the doctrine of committing those who are an imminent danger to themselves or others, should they be committed to mental institutions regardless of whether they have committed a crime yet or not??? Somehow that doesn't sit right with me. But if a murderer can get off on that defense and be sent to a mental institution en lieu of jail, that would somewhat be a justification for committing them all. You don't get it both ways.
On another note, I've heard that the Peruvian jail to which he's being sent is comparable to a descent into hell. A preview of things to come perhaps???
On another note, I've heard that the Peruvian jail to which he's being sent is comparable to a descent into hell. A preview of things to come perhaps???
Really? I didn't know that. I always thought it was more due to a lack of love and bonding at an early age. Interesting, learn something new every day. Even though I disagree with a parent protecting their child to that extent, I can kind of see it. It would be so hard to admit your child had a problem like that. You love them so much and I think I would be in denial for a long time if Ryder was showing those tendancies. I would like to think I wouldn't be, but it's hard to imagine my baby behaving that way. It would be easier to not see it, know what I mean?
Well, actually sociopaths and psychopaths are that way due to their brain chemistry. So actually, many are just born that way. But . . . some have help along the way. This boy was coddled by a father that protected him. That did not help.
You have to wonder what happened to him to make him this way. I still think he is fully responsible, I don't mean that someone else is to blame, but I don't believe people are just born evil. You have to wonder.....
Yes. This kid is a true sicko and I hope they show him no mercy. If it didn't sound really bad . . . I'd suggest that they beat the info out of him regarding the Holloway girl. Instead I'll just say that I hope he gets what is coming to him and the Holloway family gets closure.
Scary that we have these kinds of people in the world, isn't it?
Scary that we have these kinds of people in the world, isn't it?
This kid is a budding serial killer isn't he.I heard he has also been charged with blackmailing Natalee's family, although it was just a brief comment on the news, I have not tried to verify if that is true or not. I am glad he has been arrested and it looks like this time they can make the charges stick. I hurt for the families of these girls.
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