via the Associated Press
It’s not the worst crime he’s confessed to, but Joran van der Sloot’s latest admission likely won’t be helping any of his proclamations of innocence.
The 22-year-old Dutchman–who is currently facing charges for the murder of Stephany Flores–was also a suspect and arrested (but never charged) for the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway in 2005. Though he’s retracted any confession he made in connection with Holloway’s disappearance, he has now admitted to the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, that he took money from her family in exchange for revealing the location of her body. After Holloway’s mother forked over $25, 000, the location he gave turned out to be bogus and van der Sloot is now saying he did it out of revenge.
The AP reports that van der Sloot told De Telegraaf, “I wanted to get back at Natalee’s family — her parents have been making my life tough for five years. When they offered to pay for the girl’s location, I thought: ‘Why not’?”
Van der Sloot had also confessed to the murder of Stephany Flores but then took it back, saying he’d only confessed because police had intimidated him. (via the AP)