With all of the huge national and international news in our complex world, what mysteries have persisted with such nagging questions — over the past five years — as the story of a previously obscure young Dutchman named Joran van der Sloot?
He burst into world consciousness in 2005 when he was arrested — but never pinned down — in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of an 18-year-old Alabama schoolgirl, Natalee Holloway, when she was on spring vacation on his home Caribbean island of Aruba.
But now, after the violent death of another young woman, in a Lima, Peru, hotel room, 22-year-old Joran reportedly has confessed to breaking the neck of 21-year-old Stephany Flores and killing her.
Why? One story is that he returned from getting coffee and found Stephany looking at his laptop computer. Did she learn about his past? He reportedly has told police he became violent, resulting in Stephany’s death, then fled to Chile, where he was arrested.
Another shock: U.S. prosecutors say that on May 10, Joran tried to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway’s family in return for disclosing where Natalee had died!
If this story had been presented as fiction, it would have seemed too preposterous to believe.
But sadly, this is a true story involving the deaths of two young women.