A Dutchman serving 28 years in a Peruvian prison for murdering a local student, and who is wanted in the U.S. in connection with the disappearance of another woman, is set to marry says his lawyer.
Joran van der Sloot, 26, is currently serving time in a Peruvian prison for the murder of local college student Stephany Flores in 2010.
He is also wanted in the U.S. in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, 19, from Alabama, who went missing on a school trip in Aruba in 2005. When Van der Sloot's prison time in Peru is complete, which could be less than ten years away, he faces being extradited to America.
Wedding bells: Dutchman Joran van der Sloot is set to marry his Peruvian common-law partner Leydi Figueroa Uced in the coming days
Van der Sloot’s lawyer has confirmed that his client is set to marry 22-year-old Leydi Figueroa Uced, reports The Daily Beast.
She regularly visits Van der Sloot in prison and was last reported to be pregnant with his child, although no reports of the baby’s birth have ever been released.
Conjugal visits are allowed in Peruvian prisons if a couple are register as common-law partners. Now it appears the couple are set to officially tie the knot in the next couple of days.
Marrying a Peruvian could prove rather convenient for Van der Sloot as it would probably save him from extradition to the U.S. where he faces 25 years for extortion.
Joran Van der Sloot walks handcuffed to a courtroom at the Piedras Gordas prison in Lima last May to fight extradition from Peru to the U.S.
Reports had surfaced last year that Leydi Figueroa Uced was pregnant with Van der Sloot's child, although no reports of the baby's birth have ever been released
The Dutchman's extradition to the U.S. was approved last year in principle by Peru's Supreme Court, but only after he serves out his sentence in Lima. He could serve less than ten years in Peruvian prison for good behavior.
Now, by marrying a local Peruvian, he can automatically apply for Peruvian citizenship, which will hinder America’s chances of ever extraditing him.
In 2010, he was charged with attempting to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway’s mom in return for details about her daughter’s death.
Van der Sloot took a $25,000 down payment and then traveled to Peru on May 14, 2010, a trip that ended with the murder of Miss Flores, whom he met in a Lima casino, on May 25.
The date is a chilling one to the Holloway family, as it was five years to the day after the 18-year-old was last seen.
Tale of two women: Stephany Flores, left, was murdered five years after Natalee Holloway, right, went missing in Aruba. Van der Sloot was arrested twice in the Holloway case, but never charged
Tying the knot? Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot, pictured last January, is set to get married whilst in prison in Peru
He took cash and credit cards from Miss Flores before fleeing to Chile, where he was caught two days after her decaying body was found.
He confessed to the 'cruel' murder, telling police he became enraged after she found out about his suspected involvement in the Natalee Holloway case.
Miss Holloway's body has never been found and repeated searches turned up nothing as intense media coverage brought the case worldwide attention.
Together with a Dutch investigative journalist, Beth Holloway spoke to Van der Sloot in a Peruvian jail where admit to extortion, but not to the truth about what happened to her daughter.
Natalee Holloway was 17 when she disappeared on Aruba, the Dutch island in the southern Caribbean Sea, during a school trip.
Van der Sloot admitted to killing Flores, but blamed post traumatic stress disorder for being accused of Holloway’s disappearance for making him kill the Peruvian.
Taken away: Van der Sloot, centre, is seen escorted by police officers in Lima in this photo from June 2010, after his arrest for the murder of Stephany Flores
In prison letters released last July, Van der Sloot said hoped the Flores family could forgive him for his crimes.
'I ask God every day that Stephany's parents can find it in their heart to forgive me,' he wrote.
But he also made an attempt to paint himself as the victim.
He said he believed he was misled by his attorney when he pleaded guilty to Flores’ murder and that he suffers from ‘psychological’ problems that should have been weighed in the murder case.
Mr Van der Sloot wrote: 'My rights have been constantly abused. My lawyer promised me I would receive 15 years if I plead guilty, I did.'
He also referred to himself as a psychological 'mess' in the letters, which were written in English and contain numerous misspellings and grammatical errors.
'I have a history of psychological problems which were never taken into consideration,' he said.
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