Van der Sloot Confession: Stephany Flores "Entered into My Private Life," Says Report
LIMA, Peru (CBS/AP) Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American Natalee Holloway, cracked under police questioning and confessed to murdering Stephany Flores in his Lima hotel room, according to a police official.
PICTURES: Joran van der Sloot
PICTURES: Stephany Flores
According to newspaper La Republica, Van der Sloot admitted to police that he broke Flores's neck after Flores, without permission, took his laptop and found out he was involved in the disappearance of Holloway. "I did not want to do it," the newspaper reports Van der Sloot as saying. "The girl intruded into my private life."
Peru's chief police spokesman, Col. Abel Gamarra, would not provide details of the confession, but told the Associated Press that Van der Sloot admitted under police questioning Monday that he killed Flores on May 30.
Van der Sloot's confession came on his third full day in Peruvian police custody, on the eve of a planned trip to the hotel in which he was to participate in a reconstruction of the events leading to Flores' slaying, Gamarra said.
Flores, a business student, was found beaten to death, her neck broken, in the 22-year-old Dutchman's hotel room. Police said the two met playing poker at a casino.
Gamarra said the case would now be turned over to prosecutors to present formal charges and Van der Sloot will be assigned to a prison while he awaits trial.
Murder convictions carry a maximum of 35 years in prison in Peru and it was not immediately clear if a confession could lead to a reduced sentence.
Van der Sloot remains the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, then 18, on the Caribbean resort island of Aruba while she was celebrating her high school graduation.
He was arrested twice in the case - and gave a number of conflicting confessions, some in TV interviews - but was freed for lack of evidence.
A fixture on true crime shows and in tabloids after Holloway's disappearance, he gained a reputation for lying - even admitting a penchant for it - and also exhibited a volatile temper. In one Dutch television interview he threw a glass of wine in a reporter's eyes. In another, he smashed a glass of water against a wall in a fury.
