When Joran van der Sloot began his attack on Stephany Flores, she was on the bed. When he struck her, Flores’ head snapped back and hit the wall. She began to pass out as blood poured down her face. “Immediately I get on top of her and with both hands I begin to strangle her, keeping her that way for a minute,” van der Sloot told the police (via ABC News).
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Flores was still breathing so van der Sloot took off his bloody shirt and suffocated the young woman. He then stole the equivalent of $300 U.S. in Peruvian currency, her credit cards, and her van, with which he made his escape, according to CNN. He told the hotel staff not to bother “his girl” as he left the hotel carrying a backpack, per CNN. On June 2, an employee of Miraflores Hotel Tac discovered Flores’ body in van der Sloot’s blood-soaked room, per ABC7. The authorities caught up to the Dutch national in the neighboring South American country of Chile on June 3.