Natalee Holloway

Natalee Holloway's parents gathered in a room at an Alabama jail on Oct. 3 to watch the man long-suspected in their daughter's 2005 disappearance describe how he killed her.

A Dutchman who recently confessed to killing Alabama high school student Natalee Holloway in 2005 in Aruba was returned to Peru, to serve the remainder of his prison sentence for murdering a Peruvian woman.

The chief suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway has admitted he beat the young Alabama woman to death on a beach in Aruba after she refused his advances. New details in the killing emerged Wednesday as Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty to extorting Holloway's mother, resolving a case that has captivated the public's attention for nearly 20 years.

An attorney for the mother of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba, said a possible plea deal with a suspect in an extortion case is contingent upon his disclosing details about her death.

Court records recently files indicate the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance intends to plead guilty in an extortion case. Joran van der Sloot is accused of trying to extort money from the missing teen’s mother. A federal judge set a Wednesday, October 18, plea and sentencing hearing for Van der Sloot in Birmingham.

A Birmingham federal judge agreed to delay Joran van der Sloot's trial on extortion charges until later this year in order to give his defense more time to prepare. Van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, is charged with trying to extort money from the missing teen's mother in exchange for revealing where to find her daughter's remains.

A U.S. judge has agreed to delay Joran Van der Sloot's extortion trial until the fall to give him more time to prepare a defense or decide if he wants to enter a guilty plea.

Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing teen's mother.

The main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. student Natalee Holloway has been handed over to U.S. custody and has departed Peru on a flight to the United States. Joran van der Sloot's departure comes roughly a month after both countries agreed on his extradition. He is wanted in the U.S. on one count each of extortion and wire fraud — the only charges to have ever linked the Dutch citizen to Holloway's disappearance on the Caribbean island of Aruba. Van der Sloot has been serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for the murder of a Peruvian woman.

A Peruvian judge affirmed this week's planned extradition to the U.S. of the main suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway. The judge's ruling came less than 24 hours after the attorney for Dutchman Joran van der Sloot filed a writ of habeas corpus in an attempt to stop the custody transfer. Magistrate Elmer Morales informed the suspect of his decision in writing.