BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - The judge in Joran van der Sloot's murder case in Peru has told the prosecutor to beef up the charges against the Dutchman.

Basically, that means the judge agrees with arguments by the family of victim Stephany Flores that the crime should carry a life sentence.

Van der Sloot has admitted he killed Stephany Flores in May 2010. The two had met at a poker tournament in a Lima hotel/casino. Security cameras show the two of them going into van der Sloot's hotel room. Stephany never walked out.

Van der Sloot says he killed the 21 year old in a fit of rage after she found material relating to Natalee Holloway on his laptop. Natalee is the Mountain Brook teen who disappeared on a graduation trip to Aruba. She was last seen with van der Sloot leaving a bar. He was questioned repeatedly but never charged in her disappearance.

But Natalee obviously came back to haunt him in that Lima hotel room. Stephany's corpse was discovered five years to the day of Natalee's disappearance, setting off a search for van der Sloot who had fled to Chile.

Prosecutors dispute the crime of passion defense pointing out that their inspection of van der Sloot's computer hard drive shows the Natalee material was accessed the day before Stephany Flores was killed. They say van der Sloot was broke and desperate and killed Stephany for money she had won gambling.

At a preliminary hearing Monday the prosecution asked for a charge of murder followed by robbery. That would mean a maximum sentence of 30 years.

The Flores family has argued for a charge of robbery followed by murder which would carry a maximum life sentence.

According to Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the judge in the case has agreed to the Flores family argument and ordered the new charge be filed.

Any delay in the case poses a potential risk that van der Sloot could get out of jail.

By December, he will have been held on remand for the maximum 18 months allowed under Peruvian law. This could mean he will be released and await the remainder of his trial as a free person. Given van der Sloot's history of international flight, that's a risk.

The Public Prosecutor, however, can request an extension of his pre-trial detention.

However the Peruvian case plays out, van der Sloot is still facing federal charges of wire fraud and extortion here in Alabama. He was indicted after the FBI claims he took money from Natalee Holloway's family in exchange for information about her fate. He took the money but gave the family no information. It's believed he traveled to Peru and lost the money at the same poker tournament at which he met Stephany Flores...another bizarre twist in an already strange tale.