U.S. Authorities In Birmingham, Alabama Have Far Bigger Things In Mind For Joran van der Sloot

     The name Joran van der Sloot may or may not mean much to you. The name Natalee Ann Holloway is forever tied to his name. On May 30, 2005, she vanished while on a holiday visit to the island of Aruba. For those of you curious, here is an excellent link to fill in all the blanks:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Natalee_Holloway

 

         Joran van der Sloot was a person of interest in this disappearance. He was interviewed two times around the time of the disappearance by Chris Cuomo who worked for ABC News then. He appeared to be an intelligent and articulate young man. If he appeared at your front door to take your daughter out for a date, you would not be concerned at all. (The same could be said about the serial killer Ted Bundy.)

    Despite a most vigorous investigation by U.S., Dutch, and Aruban authorities, not enough evidence was developed to charge Joran with murder. He went on to travel around the world. In 2010, he murdered a woman named Stefany Flores Ramirez in a hotel room above a Lima casino. He was caught on surveillance cameras. He fled to Chile where he was arrested and returned to Peru. He plead guilty to murder. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison for this murder.

     What happened in his life from 2005 to 2010 is a mystery. I suspect that he was involved in the murder of other young women around the world during this time. My personal theory is that he is a serial killer.

    Now a second mystery comes into play. Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo came to live in Palo Alto, California. Peruvian authorities filed a request for his extradition from the U.S. four years ago. He was charged with accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Brasilian construction companies to influence the awarding of large infrastructure projects in Peru. Toledo mounted a spirited defense claiming that the charges were politically motivated. On April 23, 2023, Toledo was ordered by a U.S. Federal court to be extradited to Peru.

    At the same time, Peruvian authorities allowed the temporary extradition of Joran van der Sloot to Birmingham, Alabama where he is charged with extorting $25,000 US from the family of Natalee Holloway to give them the location of Natalee's body.

     In my entire 74 years, I have never seen a temporary extradition like this from one country to another. In all legal systems, such a move would be interpreted as the Peruvian authorities losing jurisdiction over van der Sloot. It would technically void the rest of his 28-year prison sentence in Peru.

    This entire extradition exchange cost the US authorities a lot of time and money. I doubt that U.S. authorities would devote all those resources to bring someone to justice over a $25,000 extortion case. They have far bigger things in mind for Joran van der Sloot.

     Unbeknownst to most laypeople and even lawyers, the US Federal legal system operates on the principle of Extra Territorial Jurisdiction. This doctrine says that the U.S. authorities have jurisdiction over events that happen anywhere in the world and, I suspect, in outer space.

      In other words, if a U.S. citizen is murdered anywhere in the world, the suspected murderer can be extradited to the US and tried for murder in U.S. District Court. The goal of the authorities in Birmingham, Alabama at the minimum is to develop a situation where there is finally closure for the family of Natalee Holloway. In other words, van der Sloot admits to murdering Natalee and tells the family where they can recover the body. As part of the deal, he pleads guilty to a serious manslaughter charge and is sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. prison. What also could happen is that van der Sloot is charged with murder and sentenced to life without parole after being found guilty. Please watch how this story develops.