The prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway is expected to plead guilty this week after prosecutors said he attempted to extort money from Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway.
Joran van der Sloot is scheduled to enter his guilty plea on Wednesday in federal court in Birmingham, Alabama, during a plea and sentencing hearing, The Associated Press reported.
He was charged with wire fraud and extortion, NBC News reported, but it was not immediately known what Van der Sloot plans to plead guilty to, CNN reported.
Van der Sloot had pleaded not guilty to charges, but John Kelly, Beth Holloway’s attorney, said that the Dutch national has since reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, The New York Times reported.
Van der Sloot is serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old student Stephany Flores. He confessed to Flores’ murder, the AP reported.
He is also the main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, 18, who vanished while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. She had been seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, who was an international student on the island.
He was one of the last people seen with her, the Times reported. Investigators questioned him, but no charges have been filed directly connected with Natalee Holloway’s disappearance.
Natalee Holloway was declared dead, but her body has never been found, the AP reported.
Prosecutors said that in 2010, van der Sloot tried to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway’s mother in exchange for information on where her daughter’s body was located.
She paid him $25,000 as part of an FBI sting and he knowingly gave her false information, the Times reported.
A grand jury indicted him that same year.
As part of the plea deal with prosecutors, van der Sloot is supposed to give information about Natalee Holloway’s death which will be corroborated or confirmed by investigators.
Kelly told the “Today” show that there will not be a search for Natalee Holloway’s remains, but that information on where her body was disposed of will be shared by her mother after the court accepts the plea.
Van der Sloot’s attorneys and prosecutors have not responded to requests for comment by NBC News and other media outlets.
No matter what sentence is given by the federal court, van der Sloot won’t serve it in the U.S. until he is finished serving his time in Peru. He will be returned to the U.S. to serve out that sentence if any time is given, CNN reported.
