Joran van der Sloot: Murder Suspect

UPDATE: Chile police detain Dutchman in Peru killing.

A Dutch man long suspected in the disappearance of an Alabama teen in Aruba was arrested Thursday in the murder of a young woman in Peru.
Stephany Flores, 21, was killed in a Lima hotel on Sunday, five years to the day after Holloway disappeared.

The suspect, Joran van der Sloot, was escorted by three police officers as he was taken from a dark vehicle into a police office in downtown Santiago, Chile. He made no comment as he entered, walking calmly and without handcuffs as journalists shouted his name. It was not immediately clear where he was picked up.

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Joran van der Sloot is the suspect in the murder of a young woman.

But this doesn't involve Natalee Holloway. It didn't happen in Aruba on May 30, 2005.

Van der Sloot is suspected of murdering another woman, on May 30, 2010.

From the Associated Press:

Police in neighboring Chile are checking hotels for a young Dutchman long suspected in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway who is now being sought in the killing of a woman in Peru.

After Peruvian officials announced Wednesday that Joran van der Sloot is the prime suspect in the death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel, Chilean police confirmed he had entered their country two days earlier.

Chilean Police Inspector Douglas Rodriguez in Arica told The Associated Press there was no record of van der Sloot leaving Chile and authorities were searching the country's dry, sparsely populated northern provinces for him.

In Lima, police Gen. Cesar Guardia said at a news conference that the slain woman was found Wednesday in a room at a hotel where van der Sloot had been staying and that she had been seen with the suspect early Sunday, when she was killed.

The killing occurred exactly five years after the May 30, 2005, disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway during a high school trip in Aruba, a Dutch Caribbean island where van der Sloot's late father was a prominent judge.

Prosecutors said van der Sloot is still their main suspect in the case even though he was never charged.

The Dutch government said Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for van der Sloot in the Peru killing. But Rodriguez, the Chilean police official, said authorities there had received only a request to locate the suspect, not an arrest warrant.

Guardia, the Peruvian police general, said the 22-year-old Dutchman was in Peru for a poker tournament and appears with the dead woman in a video taken at a Lima casino early Sunday. The two were later seen entering the hotel by one of its employees about 5 a.m. and the Dutchman departed alone about four hours later, he said.

"We have an interview with a worker at the hotel who says she saw this foreigner with the victim enter his room," said Guardia.

The woman's body was found face down on the hotel room floor Wednesday, abrasions on her face and body, and signs of trauma, Guardia said. He said she was clothed.

...The victim's father, Ricardo Flores, 48, is a former president of the Peruvian Automobile Club who won the "Caminos del Inca" rally in 1991 and brings circuses and foreign entertainers to Peru. He ran for vice president in 2001 and for president five years later on fringe tickets.

A lawyer for van der Sloot in New York, Joe Tacopina, said he did not know his client's whereabouts and had not been in touch with him since the Peru allegations emerged.

Tacopina cautioned against a rush to judgment.

"Joran van der Sloot has been falsely accused of murder once before. The fact is he wears a bull's-eye on his back now and he is a quote-unquote usual suspect when it comes to allegations of foul play," Tacopina said.

Five years later, Natalee Holloway's body still hasn't been found and Aruba officials still haven't charged suspect van der Sloot with her murder.

This time, however, what with the surveillance video and witness reports, it appears that justice may finally catch up with van der Sloot -- if authorities can find and apprehend him.

The death of Stephany Flores is such a terrible loss for her family. At least they know with certainty that she was killed. Her body can be laid to rest. Natalee Holloway's family and friends searched for her to no avail. She disappeared and no trace of her reappeared.

Van der Sloot's lawyer talks about a rush to judgment. If van der Sloot is being falsely accused, then he should come forward and cooperate with the investigation. In short, he should stop acting guilty.

What's so bizarre is the way this is playing out. It's the summer of 2005 all over again.

Van der Sloot is in the headlines as a suspect for murdering a young woman.

There's a disaster in the Gulf.

Strange.