Paul van der Sloot died suddenly of a heart attack in February 2010, leaving his son alone. According to Holloway family attorney John Kelly, a distraught Joran emailed him in March, writing as Kelly recounted date line“‘I want to get by. My father is dead now. I have nothing to hide. I want to help Natalee’s family, but at a cost of, you know, a quarter of a million dollars… I’m going to tell you what happened to Natalee, where she is now, so you can help Beth get her home.”
With Beth’s permission, John Kelly met Joran in Aruba and promised to start with $25,000. The young man said he knew where the body was; John asked what would happen if they didn’t pay him. Joran reportedly replied, “‘Beth can wait five more years.'” The family then contacted the FBI, who helped devise a plan to trick Joran into believing he would be paid to catch him committing wire fraud, what would be the case at a later date would at least be something to hold on to.
John and Joran met again and this time John wired him a total of $25,000. Joran, in turn, led John to a house near the Aruba Racquet Club, where he claimed he hid Natalee’s remains in a then-freshly poured foundation before the house was built. John said further date line that Joran claimed he was at the beach with Natalee, he wanted to leave, she fought back, and then he “got mad and actually threw her.” He actually made the gesture in the car, on video, and showed me throwing it in anger because she didn’t want to leave at the time. And according to him she hit the back of her head, lots of blood and she was dead.
John said he was skeptical of Joran’s overall story, which stated that he first hid Natalee’s body on the beach with his father’s help and then buried her the next day. But he still hoped they had solved something.
“When I got on the plane on May 11th [2010]”I thought it was a done deal,” John said. “And he would eventually be arrested.” That eventually he would talk and eventually we would find closure.
But the house Joran pointed out was not under construction in 2010, according to authorities, who said they did not believe his story was credible enough to prompt an arrest. He wasn’t even arrested for wire fraud.
John said Joran kept in touch with him up until May 25 and claimed he would turn himself in. Instead, he flew to Peru.
