Joran Van der Sloot's First Minutes in Castro Castro Prison Cell

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 09:55:06 PM EST
Tags: Joran Van der Sloot (all tags)

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This video shows Joran Van der Sloot's booking at the Miguel Castro Castro Jail in Lima, and the cameras follow as he is brought to his cell and given a blood pressure check and answering some questions. Another notorious murderer tries to enter his cell and his whisked away. He's calm and polite throughout. He does tell the medical examiner his head hurts. He tells the reporters he's suspected of murder.

24ora.org has published the ten page police report with the transcript of Joran Van der Sloot's entire confession to Peruvian authorities. It's in Spanish. A clearer copy is here.

At the end, Joran is asked if he wants to add anything. He says he wants Peru to close their case so he can be extradited to Aruba and tell the authorities about Natalee Holloway. (In the statement, he also says he asked the Chilean authorities if he could be extradited to Aruba.)

[More...]

The lawyer present on his behalf was Luz M. Romero Chinchay. It's not clear if she's a public defender. His first lawyer had told him not to make any statements until he saw the judge.

Some key points (from my reading and a rough version via Google translator):

He met Elton Garcia two weeks prior at the casino and he first met Stephany Flores at the casino on May 27. They talked by phone the next day and agreed to meet at Atlantic Casino later that night.

The reason they went back to his room was to play internet poker (Question #35.) They were playing when he got a Facebook message from someone saying he was going to kill him (because of the Holloway case) so he told Stephany that he had been a suspect in a girl's disappearance five years earlier. She hit him on the side of his head with her fist. He impulsively struck her with his elbow, above the nose. She fell back and hit her head. She started bleeding a lot and looked very faint. He started to choke her and then realized what he was doing and stopped. She was still breathing and he put his shirt over her face, pressed down and suffocated her. He did not use a racquet or anything to hit her.

He doesn't know what he was thinking when he went to get coffee.

He left Aruba with $25,000. He says he received most of it from Uri Geller for consulting on a television program on internet fraud in the Netherlands. (Added: Uri Geller disputes this, saying he only sent Joran $600 for a ticket from Peru to Aruba.) He says $9,000. was money he received from John Quinsy Kelly (Holloway's lawyer)for information on Natalee Holloway. A week before he left Aruba, he had won $6,000. gambling there.

The interrogator tells him Stephany had amphetamines in her system and asks him if he put them in her drink and he says no.

He described how he came to turn himself in in Chile. At the end, his lawyer asks him a question about whose decision it was to turn himself in, whether it was his or the cab drivers, and he says it was his decision alone. I guess she thought that would earn him a reduced sentence.

According to his statement, he didn't intend to rob Stephany. It happened spontaneously after she struck him (after he opened the Facebook message from the guy who wanted to kill him because of Natalee Holloway.)

As he was leaving the hotel the clerk told him his guest had to move her car. So he went back to the room (maybe to get her car keys?) He only drove the car for five minutes or so because he realized he didn't know his way around Lima and it would be better to take a cab.

It wasn't until after she was dead and he decided to flee that he decided to take her money and credit cards. Maybe that's why he's charged with simple robbery and murder, instead of the aggravated murder through robbery that carries a potential life sentence?

At the end, Joran is asked if he wants to add anything. He says he wants Peru to close their case so he can be extradited to Aruba and tell the authorities about Natalee Holloway.

Aruba probably won't be too interested in giving him another chance at explaining Natalee Holloway's disappearance, but I won't be surprised if her ever-persistent mother asks Aruba to listen to him. Will they send an emissary to Peru? Why can't Joran just write it out and give it to his lawyer, and let his lawyer get something in writing from Aruba promising that if his information pans out, they will ask Peru to return him to Aruba to face the consequences there?

I also won't be surprised if it turns out Natalee's mother has been talking to Stephany's father and convinces him to ask Peru to go along with Aruba getting first dibs so she can get closure. Why would he do it? Because the Holloways have suffered longer and then Stephany's death can result in something positive: Joran finally accepting responsibility for the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Would Joran confess to killing Holloway as a means to get out of Peru, even if he didn't kill her and she died accidentally? Probably. Could he end up confessing to Holloway and end up stuck in Peru? Yes. It's a gamble, but one he may feel he has to take.

Where is Joran's mother? According to Greta, she'll arrive in Peru Wednesday -- a Dutch TV station is paying for her trip. Greta is now in Peru. She had a sit-down with the Flores family and is now headed to the prison. There are also reports Joran has fired his new lawyer. Developing.

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Joran Van der Sloot's First Minutes in Castro Castro Prison Cell | 34 comments (34 topical)

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Prison Conditions (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by kasey9 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 11:48:04 AM EST

I don't agree with the posts or media commentators that label Joran as a serial killer etc or that this death was planned on the fifth anniversary of the missing Aruba girl.

After years of media coverage, public scrutiny and constant pressure of being labeled a murderer...constantly following you...whos to say how a person in this situation would react...Stephany was at the wrong place at the wrong time and fell victim of the five years of pressure and being called a murderer. He obviously was not in his right mind and snapped.

I do not agree with this case having any thing to do with being premeditated, in my personal opinion and what I read, I do not think he planned anything...it was an accident waiting to happen and it ended up a fatal one for the Peruvian girl.

There are so many unreleased missing facts that surround this specific case. He has been a victim as well, his father had reportedly died because of the overall stress from a heart attack...He was not charged or found guilty of anything in the aruba case...yet, it followed him for years...

His family has suffered through the years as well. He could not personally befriend any one or even move on to a new country without being secretly video taped in a conspiracy to catch or framed him.

Its an overall sad situation and ending for both families and for this 22 year old boy to have to live in this prison condition, not being able to take a shower for a week etc. is totally inhumane...and as a mother, I pray that Anita Van Der Sloot can get him back to Arabian soil and if there is a Joran Van Der Sloot fund - prison mailing address, I would gladly donate to assure a high profile defense attorney and hopefully a fair trial for this 22 year.

umm . . . (none / 0) (#1)
by nycstray on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 11:30:32 PM EST

I never followed the NH case on him, but does he have a history of physical violence? It's one thing to react and hit someone (and then you call for help if you are not a violent person, no matter your media history) and quite another to then choke/suffocate them. If this all happened in the moment, it still seems strange to me he would react so violently just this one time 5 yrs after NH . . . . but life is strange . . .

Why would this fellow have a Facebook (none / 0) (#2)
by oculus on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 11:59:07 PM EST

account where anyone can send him a message?


why wouldn't he? (none / 0) (#3)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 12:02:49 AM EST

He's wasn't in hiding or wanted by the police.


: Seems to me he would get a bunch (none / 0) (#4)
by oculus on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 12:06:05 AM EST

of hate type posts. Who needs it?

he doesn't seem to have a (none / 0) (#5)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 12:23:06 AM EST

history of violence and yes, he's been around a lot of girls. He was only 17 when Holloway disappeared. He's 22 now.

He's also 6'5", he may have reacted instinctively and it was just too hard. He said he can't explain why he tried to strangle her, he didn't realize he was doing it at first. There's still a lot he seems not to be able to remember: why he strangled her, why he went for coffee.

Other parts of his "confession" don't make much sense. I have a hard time believing he told the cab drivers he murdered someone before he decided to turn himself in.

Mostly I think it's interesting that he and Stephany made plans in advance to meet that night at the casino. They talked on the phone. Why did she want to gamble with him? Since she wasn't interested in him romantically, what was in it for her? I also think she knew who he was -- maybe Elton Garcia had told her. Was she that much of a risk taker? And how much "amphetamines" were in her system?

Joran had to know she'd be found in his room and there'd be a manhunt for him. He had three days to plan his story. He had his laptop, so he must have been on line looking stuff up. I wonder what the forensic search of his laptop will uncover -- such as whether he had help (via emails) developing this story line.

I also wonder whether the Dutch TV station that is paying for his mother's trip to Peru is also going to pay for a top-flight lawyer, in exchange for getting exclusive access. Maybe his mother is smart enough to hold out for that and not just settle for a trip to visit him.

He's so polite and even tempered in the video, even after being taken to that decrepit cell. He probably hasn't shaved or had a shower (and clearly hasn't changed his pants) in a week. Does he know this isn't forever? Maybe they told him they have to play this out for the world to see, and when the attention dies down, they'll help get him to Aruba because he confessed and told the story they wanted to hear.


Theres no history of violence because ..... (5.00 / 0) (#8)
by thadjock on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 01:05:53 AM EST

I dont' think he is.

I saw Pat Brown doing her usual hit and run profiling vds on the today show, asserting in her manic way that he's "certainly a serial date rapist" and "has every characteristic of a serial killer" she was practially foaming at the mouth. "there are more girls out there that he's harmed or killed" in 90 seconds she spewed more misinformation than I thought humanly possible, and sold it all as fact.

he didn't have a history of this before Halloway, and it's been 5 yrs since he's been under intense scrutiny and zero victims of date rape have come forward. If there were any girls out there they'd be climbing over themselves to sell their stories about vds.


How can you watch (none / 0) (#9)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 02:21:49 AM EST

such tripe? I was in the car last week driving back from the jail and decided to listen to Sirius for updates. (I hate it, it's all repetitive commercials, the kind where they shout the phone number six times (knowing you're probably in the car without something to write on while you're driving -- all for enhancement drugs and mortgages and debt reduction.) I was switching between CNN and Fox (we don't get MSNBC)and Headline News, and there was Ms. Nancy, doing her intro. She got so worked up I thought she was going to have a heart attack. Every line she uttered, with that over-hyped tone, her voice rising to screaming and then down to a whisper (I wonder what voice coach taught her that trick)-- I changed the channel after her intro. I'm so glad I never accepted an invitation to go on her show. You sit in the chair for the whole hour, and you get about 20 seconds to talk. What an waste of time. It could be worse, they could have Wendy Murphy on, she invented the Scream Queen in my opinion. I'm canceling Sirius this week. What a waste.

As a lawyer, I don't need their "B" class of commentators or Greta's "C" class cast of has-beens. The Peru and Dutch media have out-scooped the U.S. media by days on this story.
Go to La Republica, Correo, el.commercio to get the real news, and then translate using Google Translater. As awful a translator as it is, you will get the gist.


: It is painful to watch any network or cable (none / 0) (#16)
by thadjock on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 09:34:21 AM EST

news because none of it is actually news, it's all info-tainment. and all talk radio is commentary, not news. But the really frightening part is when you realize that 95% of the public gets their news from these outlets, and forms opinions on 30 second sound bites. When did journalism go all ADD all the time?
But I have to admit if they're pimpin a story about Joran, I'll flip it on and watch (ya, even trash like NG and Dr Phil). It fascinates me the way the media has manipulated this case and assumed the role of judge and jury.

The ABC video was interesting (none / 0) (#6)
by BarnBabe on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 12:24:40 AM EST

It shows him leaving with the coffee cups, looking around to see if anyone sees him, goes and gets a porter to let him in because he does not have a key. It is strange for sure. As for Aruba, I believe that he believes he would not be charged there. And he does lie. Toxicology test show he did not have any MJ in his system or any other drug. But, she has.

The revolving door attorneys in Peru (none / 0) (#7)
by thadjock on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 12:36:56 AM EST

isn't good, but I have to assume even though vds's father is dead, the family has lawyer connections (dutch, aruban, or whatever) that are advising them privately. It does read as if someone has done the cost benefit analysis of defending vds in Peru, and have decided that a "get him to aruba any way we can" approach is the plan. Could also explain his mother's delay in throwing herself into the media fracas, if she's been quietly organizing counsel from home.

Aruba also makes sense for another reason, after 5 yrs of BT's scorched earth policy, there aren't very many arubans emotionally invested in helping her find closure anymore.

Note to BT: don't stand next to Joe Mammano when he says stuff like "one american life is worth the lives of 10,000 aruban's" (come to think of it we haven't seen/heard from Joe in a while....maybe along with all the other remarkable coincidences, could he be "vacationing" in south america?)

On the flipside, it might almost be another black eye for Aruban authorities to now have to dig up the body and produce the evidence of their incompetence. vds might be a man without a country.

Nancy Grace makes my teeth hurt but I do enjoy (none / 0) (#10)
by puppylove17 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 02:49:26 AM EST

watching her reaction when people disagree with her--i.e. the entire defense bar. Pat Brown does assert that Joran shows signs of being a serial date rapist but evrytime I have seen her speak she is knocking down NG's whole serial killer mantra. Pat Brown has stated at least three times that Joran is no serial killer.

It makes NG nuts and she switches to people who agree with her--like the ones who are convinced he may have murdered two women who disappeared from casinos in Columbia even though supposedly he was only in Columbia for a short layover and never left the airport.

A fairly large amount (none / 0) (#11)
by gyrfalcon on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 08:06:11 AM EST

of that Nancy versus the defense bar is very good theater. If you notice, when she attacks them, they usually giggle.

What makes me giggle is that literally every single night, no matter the case, no matter whether there's any actual new development in said case, she announces "Bomb. Shell. Tonight!"

Also the fact that the moment one of her guests is called on to speak and starts to open his/her mouth, the screen shifts to video and the person's commentary is only heard as a voice-over. The moment Nancy speaks, however, the camera goes back to showing her.

What annoys the heck out of me is that she very frequently either doesn't know the details of the case, or more likely deliberately ignores them in favor of a more appealing (to her) storyline.

That's in stark contrast to "Greta's C-cast of has-beens," who actually do know the details of the cases and approach them with honesty. Does celebrity make you a better lawyer, or legal commenter? Don't think so, given Grace's addiction to what she invariably calls "high-profile" attorneys.


Nancy Grace... (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by kdog on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 08:32:14 AM EST

is off the charts on the unintentional comedy scale...I've got half a mind to think she is actually a cartoon.


How can anyone watch NG! (none / 0) (#15)
by Untold Story on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 08:41:03 AM EST

HLN have an excellent time slot which is being wasted with this Grace character.

Geraldo has now unearthed an eye witness to the night NH went missing. Five years later the witness is confining to Geraldo's brother what he saw the night Natalee went missing! Crazy stuff.

Question: Did BT remarry Twitty? After her divorce in 2007, she resumed the name Holloway. I notice everyone calls her Twitty?


I'm sticking with Twitty (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by thadjock on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 09:43:43 AM EST

because it feels optimally descriptive. Maybe we'll be adding another hyphen to her list soon. Is Ramsey still lurking?

or has that bizarre misery merger not proven mutually beneficial?


George Jug Twitty divorce (none / 0) (#19)
by kasey9 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 10:01:44 AM EST

George "Jug" Twitty filed divorce papers in Jefferson County Circuit Court on Dec. 29. The court filing said the couple separated Dec. 15 and have "such a complete incompatibility of temperament that the parties can no longer live together."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241867,00.html

Can you blame him?


: she was dating (none / 0) (#25)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 01:15:41 PM EST

jon benet ramsey's father, John Ramsey, for a while.

Maybe she goes by (none / 0) (#20)
by jbindc on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 10:03:16 AM EST

Holloway because everyone knows the name.


It's an attempt to insult (none / 0) (#33)
by waldenpond on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 10:05:19 PM EST

No... 'everyone' does not call her Twitty. Beth Holloway dropped Twitty when she divorced and is legally Holloway. Certain individuals refer to her as 'Twit'(teehee, snigger, snigger)ty as an attempt to denigrate her.


: No (none / 0) (#34)
by jbindc on Tue Jun 15, 2010 at 08:24:42 AM EST

I didn't know she went back to her her first married name - most people don't do that. I've always referred to her as Twitty, because that's what I thought her name was. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was just trying to get her correct name - not be insulting.

Nancy Grace Coverage (none / 0) (#18)
by kasey9 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 09:58:53 AM EST

I have watched Nancy Grace every night since the breaking of the Casey Anthony case and the Haleigh Cummings case...I started watching her coverage on the Joran Van Der Sloot case and watched it two nights, that was it for me - I am done watching her.

I hope her viewer ratings drop. She has a panel...she asks them a question...she generally does not agree...she literally bashes them and moves on. Why waste the panels time...Why not just keep the entire hour for herself to speak her own opinion based on the Lack of evidence, lack of knowledge of that case...like she does anyway.


You will feel so much better (none / 0) (#21)
by ruffian on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 10:53:20 AM EST

without that noise in your head. Congratulations!


The pathetic thing is (none / 0) (#23)
by gyrfalcon on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 11:48:05 AM EST

she's wildly popular. Gets great ratings, and has a legion of (mostly female) fans who adore her and praise her to the skies for "sticking up for the victims."


: More like stoking popular emotion (5.00 / 1) (#32)
by ruffian on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 03:30:18 PM EST

on behalf of the victim's family. I don't know how to say it without being cold-blooded about it, but there is a reason the victim's families are not allowed on juries, as judges, prosecutors, etc. They cannot be fair minded. I don't blame them for that, but they should not be allowed to railroad anyone with the help of ratings-seeking-missiles like Grace.

: Its one thing.. (none / 0) (#28)
by kasey9 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 02:07:44 PM EST

It's one thing to defend a victim - its another thing to convict the accused...on pure speculation!

Confession pdf and text translation (none / 0) (#12)
by ding7777 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 08:28:25 AM EST

A Dutch (de Telefraaf) translation of the Spanish

A Google translation of the Dutch translation

: sorry, bad url (none / 0) (#13)
by ding7777 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 08:31:36 AM EST

here's the google translation

New attorney Navarro quits (none / 0) (#24)
by waldenpond on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 12:49:13 PM EST

No reason given.

: He said he was leaving (none / 0) (#26)
by Jeralyn on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 01:28:10 PM EST

and that Joran's family is coming and a new lawyer was being hired. Also, the lawyer said he has family issues and the case has taken him away for too long. His name is Máximo Altez Navarro.

Abogado abandona caso de Van der Sloot
El abogado del holandés, Máximo Altez Navarro, informó a El Comercio que dejará la defensa legal del acusado por homicidio.
´Familiares de Van der Sloot vendrán a Lima este martes o miércoles y buscarán un nuevo abogado. Mi familia ha tenido muchos problemas y me estoy apartando de este caso´, señaló.

The Dutchman's lawyer, Max Highness Navarro, told El Comercio that will leave the legal defense of the accused for murder.
´'Relatives of Van der Sloot will come to Lima on Tuesday or Wednesday and sought a new lawyer. My family has had many problems and I'm away from this case, "he said.

: VDS probably qualifies as a "difficult" (none / 0) (#27)
by oculus on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 01:31:35 PM EST

client, as he talks too much.

jean casarez hln update (none / 0) (#29)
by kasey9 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 02:36:35 PM EST

Just reported that Navarro had reported on friday that he was receiving death threats through emails and phone calls..he was in hiding Jean quotes and he has now removed himself from the case as family problems.

: This young man (none / 0) (#30)
by Untold Story on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 02:57:26 PM EST

needs to be removed immediately from Peru in concern for safety for all connected with the case, including the three panel of judges.

Fair Trial - Never! (none / 0) (#31)
by kasey9 on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 03:26:11 PM EST

If the Private hired (paid) attorney quits as his Friday statements say, he was receiving death threats for representing Joran, how is Joran Van Der Sloot ever going to get a fair trial?

Peru will be under extreme pressure to sentence him to the maximum penalties and that is possibly why they have included robbery as a charge...by including robbery, they added the possibility of adding more time for him to serve.