BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — On Wednesday, Joran van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he pled guilty to wire fraud and extortion.

“The Holloway family kept fighting for justice for Natalee. Their love for their daughter and sister is what brought us to this day.” said Prim F. Escalona, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern Alabama District.

As a part of his plea deal, van der Sloot agreed to take a polygraph test and confessed to murdering Natalee Holloway during her senior high school trip in Aruba in 2005.

In 2010, van der Sloot tried to extort Natalee’s mother, saying he would reveal where Natalee’s body was in exchange for $250,000.

The same year, van der Sloot was found guilty of drug trafficking and murdering a woman, Stephany Flores, in Peru.

Van Der Sloot served time in a Peruvian jail until we he was extradited to Alabama in May of 2023, charged with wire fraud and extortion.

In a court document connected to his extortion trial, van der Sloot said he kicked Natalee in the face after she refused his sexual advances while they laid on the beach. He then hit her head in with a cinderblock and dragged her body into the ocean.

Following Wednesday’s sentencing, Van Der Sloot remains in the Shelby County jail. He will be extradited back to Peru where he will serve 20 years in prison for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a sentence running concurrent to the 20-year wire fraud and extortion sentence.

“There’s no doubt he’ll get back to Peru.” said John Q. Kelly, Beth Holloway’s attorney.

Despite Van Der Sloot’s confession, it is unlikely he will be charged for Natalee’s murder. Aruba’s statute of limitations on murder is 12 years.

“A great weight was lifted off of Beth’s shoulders,” Kelly said. “She seems ready to put this to rest.”

If van der Sloot is released from Peruvian prison for his murder conviction, on parole or otherwise, he will then finish his extortion sentence in the U.S. Van der Sloot’s release date is June 9, 2043.