Birmingham, Al (WIAT) Joran van der Sloot is spending his time teaching English to his Peruvian prison guards, according to the Dutch newspaper
De Telegraaf.
The newspaper’s crime reporter John van den Heuvel’s exclusive interview from van der Sloot’s cell in Lima’s Castro Castro prison is being previewed in the weekend editions of the Dutch paper and will also appear Monday on the
RTL television network in The Netherlands as a 90 minute special titled "RTL EXTRA: JORAN SPEAKS".
De Telegraaf's website says that although van der Sloot is in a high security wing for fear of actions by fellow inmates, he says he doesn’t fear for his life. He asked whether he could share a prison cellblock with accused Columbian hitman Hugo Trujillo Ospina with whom he previously shared a cell.
Ospina, along with American William Trickett Smith and an unidentified prisoner were shown mugging for pictures taken by prison guards….a situation being investigated by prison officials. Smith is known in Peru as the Suitcase Murderer after his wife’s dismembered body was put in a suitcase and tossed in the ocean.
Van der Sloot is in Castro Castro facing murder charges in the death of 21 year old Stephany Flores whose body was found in his Lima hotel room. Van der Sloot fled to Chile where he was arrested and brough back to Peru. Police there say he confessed to killing Flores after she found material relating to Natalee Holloway on van der Sloot’s laptop. He is appealing to have that confession thrown out claiming he was coerced, didn’t have proper legal representation nor an adequate translator.
Van der Sloot is best known here in Alabama as the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway on a graduation trip to Aruba. She was last seen with van der Sloot. He is still considered the prime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance. Although questioned several times by Aruban authorities, he has never been charged in that case.
He is, however, facing federal wire fraud and extortion charges here in Birmingham. The U.S. attorney’s office says van der Sloot took money from the Holloway family in exchange for promised information about Natalee’s fate, but never provided the information.
