Crimes & Justice

A Joran Van Der Sloot long suspected in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba was detained Thursday in Chile in the murder of a young woman in Peru. Stephany Flores, 21, was killed in a Lima hotel on Sunday, five years to the day after Holloway disappeared. Joran van der Sloot was in a taxi headed to Vina del Mar, a coastal city in central Chile, when he was taken into custody, the El Comercio newspaper in Peru reported. He was brought back to Santiago. Van der sloot was escorted by three police officers as he was taken from a dark vehicle into a police office in downtown Santiago. He made no comment as he entered, walking calmly and without handcuffs as journalists shouted his name.

The killing happened exactly five years after the May 30, 2005 disappearance of Holloway during a high school trip in Aruba, a Dutch Caribbean island where van der Sloot’s late father was a prominent judge. Prosecutors said van der Sloot is still their main suspect in the case even though he was never charged. The 22-year-old Dutchman was in Peru for a poker tournament and appears with the dead woman in a video taken at a Lima casino early Sunday. The two were later seen entering the hotel by one of its employees about 5 a.m. and Joran departed alone about four hours later.

The woman’s body was found face down on the hotel room floor, with abrasions on her face and body and signs of trauma. She was clothed. Police are waiting for autopsy results on the cause of death. The victim’s father, Ricardo Flores 48-yrs, is a former president of the Peruvian Automobile Club who won the “Caminos del Inca” rally in 1991 and brings circuses and foreign entertainers to Peru. He ran for vice president in 2001 and for president five years later on fringe tickets.

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