Natalee Holloway’s family calls ‘BS’ on Joran van der Sloot’s apology: ‘Made me feel sick inside’
After 18 years of anguish, three arrests and sick taunts promising to reveal the final resting place of Natalee Holloway, her killer finally confessed.
Joran van der Sloot finally explained what happened on the night Holloway died in 2005, confessing she rebuffed his sexual advances so he smashed her head with a cinderblock and dragged her body out to sea.
Natalee’s younger sister, Kaitlyn Holloway, told The Post she sat with her family in the court audience about 20 feet from van der Sloot in an Alabama court as he was sentenced in a federal case connected to Natalee’s death.
As part of the proceedings, the murderer issued an apology and said he was a born-again Christian.
“He is a monster and even laying eyes on him made me feel sick inside,” Kaitlyn said.
“He did apologize and he said something along the lines that he gave himself to God and that he’s a Christian — that he’s a changed man. I really don’t think that’s true.
“I don’t think it was a sincere apology considering all the damage he has done. I think it was some BS.”
Kaitlyn, 20, was only two and a half-years old when her sister Natalee disappeared at age 18 in 2005 while she was on a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba.
Kaitlyn said facing her sister’s killer for the first time in court on Wednesday was traumatizing and nerve-wracking after years of wondering if the case would ever be solved.
Kaitlyn said van der Sloot avoided her gaze as he sat in court in an orange jumpsuit with shackles on his hands and ankles.
“I know he will be in my nightmares tonight,” she said of van der Sloot.
Kaitlyn is the daughter of Natalee’s father, David, and his second wife, Robin. David divorced Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, in 1993.
David provided a victim impact statement to the court also saying he doesn’t believe van der Sloot’s apology.
“Despite everything he has done to us, he is not sorry for what he did,” David Holloway said in his statement. “He expressed no remorse, regret, or even compassion … He is evil personified.”
The family was briefed days ago about van der Sloot’s confession, in which he not only admitted the brutal and undignified murder, but said he went home to watch porn after, according to statements the family made on Wednesday.
Van der Sloot’s confession was part of a plea deal he had made with US prosecutors in a case for extorting and defrauding Holloway’s family. He pleaded guilty to trying to sell information about where Natalee’s body was buried to Beth Holloway in exchange for $250,000. He then led the family to a series of dead ends before running off to Peru.
Once there he killed another young woman, Stephany Flores, on the fifth anniversary of Natalee’s death in 2010. He is now serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for that murder and will now be returned to prison there.
In 2021, he was convicted of trafficking cocaine into prison and was sentenced an additional 18 years, according to a sentencing memorandum obtained by The Post.
The family initially thought van der Sloot was pulling another lie with his confession in a twisted scheme to save himself, Kaitlyn said.
“But the polygraph tests showed he was telling the truth,” she said. “We are just glad we have some closure. Now we have answers to what happened.”
In his letter to the judge, David Holloway said Natalee had been poised to attend the University of Alabama and planned to become a doctor.
“We were robbed of a promising future together with our beautiful, talented Natalee. And now we know who took that future from us,” he said.
Kaitlyn said although she was too young to remember memories of her older sister, it has been painful to think about what Natalee could have accomplished if she had lived.
“I know she would’ve been an amazing role model in my life,” she said. “Over the years, I have heard just so many wonderful things about her and I really wish I could have grown up and been around her.
“It really hurts to know that we have gone through life missing a family member. Matt, Natalee’s brother [who has the same parents], has two kids and those two little kiddos will never know their aunt. It just really hurts because we know she would’ve been amazing.”
