Natalee Holloway’s mother talked to the media after her daughter’s killer appeared in court in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday.
Joran Van der Sloot, 36, acknowledged earlier this month killing Holloway in 2005 while she was on vacation in Aruba.
Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mom, told reporters, “After 18 years Natalie’s case — it’s solved. As far as I’m concerned it’s over.”
“Joran Van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter’s murder. He is the killer,” she added.
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempting to extort money from Beth Holloway in 2010 in return for information on her daughter’s whereabouts, according to Fox News.
According to the Associated Press, part of his plea agreement compelled him to “provide all information and evidence” linked to Natalee Holloway’s disappearance.
As part of the agreement, Van der Sloot admitted to murdering the 18-year-old after she turned down his sexual advances.
Holloway’s mother told the AP the family agreed to the deal to “finally get the answers we’ve been searching for for all these years.”
Dave Holloway, Natalee’s father, said, “He is evil personified,” in a victim’s impact statement in court, Fox News reported.
“Having seen and heard him confess to the brutal murder of our daughter, I believe him,” he stated.
“We are satisfied that our daughter died at his hands and that he acted alone.”
Van der Sloot is presently imprisoned for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, 21, and will complete his 20-year extortion sentence concurrently in a Peruvian prison.
According to Fox News, Judge Anna Manasco labeled van der Sloot’s conduct “heinous” for giving Holloway’s family false hope through extortion.
“You have brutally murdered, in separate incidents, years apart, two young women who refused your sexual advances,” Manasco said to van der Sloot while in court.
The AP reported the convicted killer stated during his court appearance, “I would like the chance to apologize to the Holloway family, to my own family.”
“I am no longer the person I was back then,” van der Sloot concluded.
Mark White, the lawyer for Holloway’s father, stated that van der Sloot cannot be tried in Aruba for the murder because the statue of limitations had expired.
Dantheman