(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) A case of suspected murder rife with gruesome twists and a mysteriously disappearing teenage girl that captivated the nation’s attention nearly two decades ago and cemented Greta Van Susteren’s reputation, for good or ill, as a tabloid crime news TV star is once again making headlines.
After 18 years, Van Susteren on Wednesday announced that the suspect in the 2005 disappearance and likely murder of Natalee Holloway was being extradited to the U.S. to face trial on extortion and wire fraud charges, each of which carries hefty sentences.
Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen who is currently serving a 28-year stretch in a maximum-security prison in the Andes for the un-related murder of a Peruvian woman, was in 2005 identified as the primary suspect in the disappearance of Holloway, who was 18 at the time. Holloway was on a Caribbean vacation with friends when she vanished. Her body was never found and a judge eventually declared her dead.
Holloway was last seen leaving a nightclub in Aruba with van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen who at the time was a student on the island. No charges were brought in the case, but van der Sloot in 2010 pleaded guilty to murdering a Peruvian woman. Officials in Peru approved his extradition for the Holloway charges.
The federal charges stem from van der Sloot allegedly trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Holloway family with promises to lead them to Natalee’s body. An Alabama grand jury indicted him in 2010 on one count each of wire fraud and extortion.
The mysterious disappearance of the 18-year-old Holloway and the case’s tantalizing evil tentacles gripped the nation, in no small part from Van Susteren’s outsized coverage of the case, gaining her the nickname “Greta ‘all Natalee Holloway, all the time” Van Susteren.”
This is funny…Dave Barry thought I did too much about Natalee Holloway back in 2005…well…I have kept at it with Beth Holloway for 18 years until now…2023…and now Joran is being extradited to USA because of our work to face two count indictment and possible 50 years.. pic.twitter.com/qmD6nnkKTD
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) May 11, 2023
While the case eventually faded from the public eye, it remained a cause for Van Susteren, who continued her fight, along with the Holloway family, to see justice served.
“I don’t know if I have ever been more excited to be on tv to tell breaking news. BREAKING: Suspect in 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway to be extradited,” she tweeted Wednesday.
Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth, reflected in a statement that her daughter would have been 36 years old now, and that she was blessed to have Natalee in her life for 18 years.
“It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off,” Beth Holloway said. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
Van Susteren originally wanted no part of the case.
“I thought it was the typical American gets drunk, she misses her plane, she meets some guy and then she’ll show up sober in three days,” Van Susteren told OnMilwaukee in a 2010 interview. When she first arrived at the hotel where Natalee had been staying, Beth Holloway answered the door.
“I’m looking around the room. I see a suitcase that’s half-packed that’s Natalee’s. Natalee’s room is exactly how she left it,” Van Susteren recalled.
“And I’m thinking, ‘Am I going to be just sort of the creepy TV person who swoops in and does a couple days of stories and leaves? Or, am I going to make a personal commitment to myself that I’m going to carry this through to the end?'” Van Susteren said. “I decided I wanted to carry this through to the end and do the right thing.”
