Joran van der Sloot Just Got By With Murder

      Many of us are parents. It is not unusual for a parent to reward a son or daughter when they graduate from high school with a special vacation. In May of 2005, a young lady named Natalee Holloway from a small Alabama town was rewarded by her parents for her high school graduation. They sent her to the island of Aruba. It was a beautiful and sunny place with magical beaches. Tragedy struck on May 30, 2005. Natalee Holloway vanished from the face of the earth. She has not been seen in over 18 years. She was declared dead in 2012.

   The disappearance of this beautiful young woman caught the attention of the whole world. A massive search followed. US FBI agents scoured the island. Dutch Air Force F-16s searched the waters around the island for any sign of Natalee.

    The last person seen with her was a 17-year-old young man from Holland named Joran van der Sloot. This man is a giant 6'5" tall and physically strong. He became "a person of interest." He was interviewed by media representatives from all over the world.

   A case could not be made against van der Sloot. He left Aruba and went on an odyssey around the world including Thailand. In 2010, he surfaced in Peru. He enticed a 21-year-old woman named Stefany Flores to come back to his hotel room above a casino. When she rejected his sexual advances, he beat her and strangled her. He fled to Chile. He was arrested and sent back to Peru. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

   After Natalee's disappearance, van der Sloot contacted the parents of Natalee Holloway. He offered to "tell all" and lead them to the body of their daughter. He demanded $250,000 US. The family paid him $25,000 US.

    After van der Sloot was jailed in Peru, the U.S. Attorney's office in Birmingham, Alabama indicted van der Sloot on charges of extortion and wire fraud. I assumed that this case would not go forward until van der Sloot finished his 28-year sentence in Peru.

    This all changed when Peru allowed him to be temporarily extradited to the U.S. to face these charges in Alabama. Yesterday van der Sloot pleaded guilty to the charges. He confessed to killing Natalee Holloway. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison to run concurrent with the 28-year sentence that he is serving in Peru.

    What is wrong with this picture? Why wasn't van der Sloot charged with the murder of Natalee Holloway either in the US or Aruba? Nobody is discussing the plea deal that van der Sloot's legal team made with U.S. and Aruba authorities. He must have had a very competent lawyer. The desire for closure in the case led to a most generous deal being made. We would all agree that this is not justice.

     Joran van der Sloot will be in jail until 2040. He will have served 30 years in prison when he is released.

He is being sent back to serve the rest of the 28-year sentence in an awful Peruvian prison. He will get conjugal visits and other privileges that prisoners in the US do not get. He will get a multi-million-dollar book and movie deal. He will become a wealthy man.

   What bothers me most is the time between his departure from Aruba and his capture in Chile. We have 5 years when he roamed the world. How many other young women did he kill? Long ago, I posed the question: "Is Joran van der Sloot a serial killer?"