Van der Sloot Retracts Murder Confession
Updated at 5:48 p.m. EDT
A Dutch newspaper that interviewed Joran van der Sloot in his prison cell in Lima, Peru, said Monday he has retracted his confession to the killing of a young woman there.
De Telegraaf said the 22-year-old Dutchman claims he only signed papers admitting killing Stephany Flores because he was intimidated by police and had been promised he would be transferred to the Netherlands if he confessed.
"I was very scared and confused during the interrogations and wanted to get away," the paper quoted him as saying. "In my blind panic, I signed everything, but didn't even know what it said."
De Telegraaf: "I Was Framed" (in Dutch)
Van der Sloot refused to speak to the Peruvian judge handling his case Monday. Superior Court Judge Carlos Morales visited the 22-year-old Dutchman at the maximum-security prison in eastern Lima where Van der Sloot has been held since being charged with first-degree murder in the May 30 killing of a young woman he met playing poker in Peru's capital.
But Van der Sloot would not talk, citing his lawyer's petition to declare his confession void in the death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, the court said in a statement.
The lawyer, Maximo Altez, contends the confession isn't valid because the defense lawyer present when Van der Sloot made it was state-appointed.
Van der Sloot is the main suspect in Flores' May 30 killing in a Lima hotel, exactly 5 years after the still unsolved disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway on Aruba. He met both women in casinos, and both were last seen alive in his company.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia has said Van der Sloot will have to be tried in Flores' death before any extradition request can be considered. In addition to possible involvement in Holloway's disappearance, for which van der Sloot has not been charged, he is wanted by the FBI on suspicion of attempting to extort money from the Holloway family.
If convicted of killing Flores, he faces from 15 to 35 years in prison in Peru.
Prosecutors allege van der Sloot killed Flores in his hotel room, where her body was found, with "ferocity and great cruelty." According to a transcript of the confession, he elbowed the young woman in the nose, strangled her with both hands, threw her to the floor, took off his bloodied shirt and asphyxiated her.
The newspaper said he now says that's not true.
"I was tricked," the paper quoted Van der Sloot as saying of Flores' killing. "I'll explain later how it all happened."
A self-avowed compulsive liar, van der Sloot has several times given and retracted admissions of involvement in Holloway's disappearance.
He is being held in a segregated block of the maximum-security Castro Castro prison in eastern Lima. He asked to be separated from the main prison population out of fear for his life.
For now he has his own 6.6-by-11.5-foot cell, which is adjacent to that of a reputed Colombian hit man, with whom he shares a television set.
Van der Sloot told the Telegraaf that rats crawl into his room through his toilet hole at night.
His mother Anita van der Sloot said in an interview published by the same newspaper over the weekend that van der Sloot suffers from mental problems. She said she doesn't believe he had killed Holloway, but if he killed Flores "he'll have to pay the price" and she didn't plan to visit him in jail.
Holloway's father Dave has called on van der Sloot to reveal anything he knows about the location of her body, which has never been found. Van der Sloot has said he will only talk about the matter with Aruba authorities.
Flores' father Ricardo told the Associated Press in an earlier interview that his daughter had resisted her attacker, who he is certain was van der Sloot. He said the Dutchman would be linked to the crime by DNA evidence retrieved from under her fingernails.
He said he hopes that van der Sloot will eventually be punished for the deaths of both women "so that there can be justice."
Van der Sloot a Dead Man, Ex-Con Says
Grisly van der Sloot Hotel Room Photos Surface
Inside Notorious Prisons van der Sloot Faces
Van der Sloot Confession Details Emerge
Moment Van der Sloot Met Flores Caught on Tape
Photos: Stephany Flores Murder
Photos: Van der Sloot Wanted for Murder
Photos: Natalee Holloway, Paradise Lost
By Associated Press Writer Toby Sterling
© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A Dutch newspaper that interviewed Joran van der Sloot in his prison cell in Lima, Peru, said Monday he has retracted his confession to the killing of a young woman there.
De Telegraaf said the 22-year-old Dutchman claims he only signed papers admitting killing Stephany Flores because he was intimidated by police and had been promised he would be transferred to the Netherlands if he confessed.
"I was very scared and confused during the interrogations and wanted to get away," the paper quoted him as saying. "In my blind panic, I signed everything, but didn't even know what it said."
De Telegraaf: "I Was Framed" (in Dutch)
Van der Sloot refused to speak to the Peruvian judge handling his case Monday. Superior Court Judge Carlos Morales visited the 22-year-old Dutchman at the maximum-security prison in eastern Lima where Van der Sloot has been held since being charged with first-degree murder in the May 30 killing of a young woman he met playing poker in Peru's capital.
But Van der Sloot would not talk, citing his lawyer's petition to declare his confession void in the death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, the court said in a statement.
The lawyer, Maximo Altez, contends the confession isn't valid because the defense lawyer present when Van der Sloot made it was state-appointed.
Van der Sloot is the main suspect in Flores' May 30 killing in a Lima hotel, exactly 5 years after the still unsolved disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway on Aruba. He met both women in casinos, and both were last seen alive in his company.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia has said Van der Sloot will have to be tried in Flores' death before any extradition request can be considered. In addition to possible involvement in Holloway's disappearance, for which van der Sloot has not been charged, he is wanted by the FBI on suspicion of attempting to extort money from the Holloway family.
If convicted of killing Flores, he faces from 15 to 35 years in prison in Peru.
Prosecutors allege van der Sloot killed Flores in his hotel room, where her body was found, with "ferocity and great cruelty." According to a transcript of the confession, he elbowed the young woman in the nose, strangled her with both hands, threw her to the floor, took off his bloodied shirt and asphyxiated her.
The newspaper said he now says that's not true.
"I was tricked," the paper quoted Van der Sloot as saying of Flores' killing. "I'll explain later how it all happened."
A self-avowed compulsive liar, van der Sloot has several times given and retracted admissions of involvement in Holloway's disappearance.
He is being held in a segregated block of the maximum-security Castro Castro prison in eastern Lima. He asked to be separated from the main prison population out of fear for his life.
For now he has his own 6.6-by-11.5-foot cell, which is adjacent to that of a reputed Colombian hit man, with whom he shares a television set.
Van der Sloot told the Telegraaf that rats crawl into his room through his toilet hole at night.
His mother Anita van der Sloot said in an interview published by the same newspaper over the weekend that van der Sloot suffers from mental problems. She said she doesn't believe he had killed Holloway, but if he killed Flores "he'll have to pay the price" and she didn't plan to visit him in jail.
Holloway's father Dave has called on van der Sloot to reveal anything he knows about the location of her body, which has never been found. Van der Sloot has said he will only talk about the matter with Aruba authorities.
Flores' father Ricardo told the Associated Press in an earlier interview that his daughter had resisted her attacker, who he is certain was van der Sloot. He said the Dutchman would be linked to the crime by DNA evidence retrieved from under her fingernails.
He said he hopes that van der Sloot will eventually be punished for the deaths of both women "so that there can be justice."
Van der Sloot a Dead Man, Ex-Con Says
Grisly van der Sloot Hotel Room Photos Surface
Inside Notorious Prisons van der Sloot Faces
Van der Sloot Confession Details Emerge
Moment Van der Sloot Met Flores Caught on Tape
Photos: Stephany Flores Murder
Photos: Van der Sloot Wanted for Murder
Photos: Natalee Holloway, Paradise Lost
By Associated Press Writer Toby Sterling
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He must be locked up at once and never, ever allowed to see the light of day!
Aside from being exceedingly ugly and having some rather unfortunate proclivities (beating young women to death, etc)?
NO ONE THAT INCREDIBLY STUPID SHOULD EVER BE ALLOWED TO BREED!
As one poster put it, ?It?s bad for the species.?
Joran van der Sloot
1987-????
(With apologies to the late Will Rogers)
LOL yeah sure, like we believe that bullchit dont we kids!
The fact of the matter is, this guy did it, and its obvious and they don't need a confession. Confessions can be extorted from anyone - guilty people and innocent people alike. That's the sad fact about human nature, is that people put under great stress get scared, and then you tell them, sign here and you go free, and they sign.
The confession should be tossed out, but not because Van Der Sloot is going free, but because the coerced confession is not a legitimate police tool. This guy did it, its so obvious - nobody is going to let him go, don't panic, he's going away this time, they have the evidence, he's going away.
What they should do once he is "officially" convicted is slap another 10 years (45 total), for making a false confession. I would LMAO! Or, the judge should at least hand him the 35 years and then say, "If you would have stuck with your confession, the penalty would have only been 7 years".
This idiot is trying to connive his way out of this... but his time is up.