Convicted killer Joran van der Sloot is the subject of Peacock’s new true crime documentary exploring how his lifelong pattern of violence led to the brutal murders of Natalee Holloway and Stephany Flores.
Premiering on February 27, Pathological: The Lies Of Joran van der Sloot features interviews with the victims’ families, eyewitnesses, and criminology experts to shine a light on the Dutch native’s pattern of manipulation and deceit.
Van der Sloot, now 36, made headlines as the prime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance in 2005, but he didn’t confess to her murder until 18 years later.
‘He killed my sister,’ Matthew Holloway says in the trailer. ‘Who’s to say he’s not going to snap and kill somebody else?’
Convicted killer Joran van der Sloot is the subject of Peacock’s new true crime documentary Pathological: The Lies Of Joran van der Sloot, which premieres on February 27
Van der Sloot recently confessed to killing Natalee Holloway (L), 18, in Aruba in 2005. On the anniversary of her death, he murdered Peruvian business student Stephany Flores (R), 21
In the documentary, van der Sloot is described as being ‘incredibly charming’ but having a ‘mean streak.’ One person cites reports of animal abuse, while another says he had sexually pressured girls as young as 12
Natalee, an 18-year-old from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, went missing during a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba, a territory of the Netherlands.
Eyewitnesses said she was last seen leaving Carlos’n Charlie’s club in a car with van der Sloot and his two friends at 1:30 a.m. on May 30, 2005.
‘I see it so vividly. She was laughing and singing, but then I saw Natalee in a car,’ a friend recalls in the trailer.
‘Somebody said, “Oh, that’s Jordan van der Sloot. He likes to prey upon young female tourists,’ Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway adds.
In the documentary, van der Sloot is described as being ‘incredibly charming,’ but having a ‘mean streak.’ One person cites reports of animal abuse, while another says he had sexually pressured girls as young as 12.
Despite being arrested and detained in Aruba for 60 days, he was able to walk free from the island after claiming Natalee was drunk and he had dropped her at her hotel.
Van der Sloot went on to torment the teen’s parents by sending them emails trying to extort $250,000 from them in exchange for revealing the location of their daughter’s body.
Working with the FBI in a sting operation, they wired a portion of the demanded money to him in 2010, but he then provided false information about where Natalee’s remains were buried.
Pathological: The Lies Of Joran van der Sloot features interviews with the victims’ families, eyewitnesses, and criminology experts, including Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway
Natalee, a teen from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, was on a high school graduation trip in Aruba when she disappeared
Eyewitnesses said Natalee was last seen leaving Carlos’n Charlie’s club in a car with van der Sloot and his two friends at 1:30 a.m. on May 30, 2005
Despite being arrested and detained in Aruba for 60 days, van der Sloot was able to walk free from the island after claiming Natalee was drunk and he had dropped her at her hotel
‘He killed my sister,’ Matthew Holloway says in the trailer. ‘Who’s to say he’s not going to snap and kill somebody else?’
The killer moved from Aruba to Peru before he could be arrested in the extortion case. In 2010, five years to the day Natalee disappeared, he beat, strangled, and suffocated Stephany, a 21-year-old Peruvian business student.
Van der Sloot was arrested in Chile and sent back to Peru, where he was tried for Stephany’s murder. In 2012, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
‘We were a happy family and this destroyed us,’ Stephany’s father Ricardo says in the trailer.
Natalee’s remains were never found, but an Alabama judge declared her legally dead in 2012, the same year van der Sloot was convicted of murdering Stephany.
Van der Sloot was two years into his sentence when he married accountant Leidy Figueroa in a private ceremony at Piedras Gordas prison in July 2014. She was seven months pregnant with their daughter at the time.
Just months after tying the knot, Figueroa gave a gushing interview to DailyMail.com, claiming her new husband was ‘gentle, sensitive, kind’ and ‘no monster.’
Van der Sloot went on to torment Natalee’s parents by sending them emails trying to extort $250,000 from them in exchange for revealing the location of their daughter’s body in 2010
The killer moved from Aruba to Peru before he could be arrested in the extortion case
In 2010, five years to the day Natalee disappeared, he beat, strangled, and suffocated Stephany
Van der Sloot was arrested in Chile and sent back to Peru, where he was tried for Stephany’s murder. In 2012, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
‘We were a happy family and this destroyed us,’ Stephany’s father Ricardo says in the documentary
In May 2023, van der Sloot’s attorney Maximo Altez told DailyMail.com that his client was divorcing his wife for his ‘prettier and younger’ girlfriend.
‘I would have wished with my soul that I had not met him,’ a tearful Figueroa admits in the documentary.
That same month, van der Sloot was temporarily extradited to the U.S. to face extortion and wire fraud charges linked to Natalee’s disappearance.
As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to tell detectives ‘everything he knows’ about what had happened to the missing teen.
Van der Sloot said he and Natalee were kissing at the beach after meeting at a bar when he tried to take things further and she refused.
He claimed that when he insisted, she kicked him in the crotch. He then stood up and kicked her ‘extremely hard’ in the face, knocking her out.
Van der Sloot married accountant Leidy Figueroa in a private ceremony at Piedras Gordas prison in July 2014. She was seven months pregnant with their daughter at the time
‘I would have wished with my soul that I had not met him,’ a tearful Figueroa admits in the documentary
In May 2023, van der Sloot was temporarily extradited to the U.S. to face charges linked to Natalee’s disappearance
‘It’s been a very long and painful journey, but we finally got the answers we’ve been searching for all these years,’ Natalee’s mother Beth said after the hearing
The killer then grabbed a nearby cinder block and ‘smashed her head in with it completely,’ before carrying her body into the water, walking in until he was knee-deep, and pushing her out to be carried away by the waves.
Natalee’s parents were reportedly allowed to hear his confession ‘in real time.’ He took a polygraph test and passed it.
Van der Sloot was handed a 20-year sentence for extortion and wire fraud in exchange for providing details about Natalee’s disappearance and death.
The sentence will run concurrently with his 28-year sentence in Peru.
U.S. authorities do not have jurisdiction to prosecute van der Sloot for killing Natalee in Aruba, where the statute of limitations for murder has expired, but the revelations have given long-sought answers to her next of kin.
Natalee’s mother Beth addressed the press after van der Sloot’s hearing, saying he acted alone when he killed her daughter on the beach.
‘Natalee would be 36 years old today. I still miss her every day,’ she said.
‘It’s been a very long and painful journey, but we finally got the answers we’ve been searching for all these years. Finally, today, we got justice for Natalee.’
