Natalee Holloway Case Bombshell: Joran van der Sloot Expected to Plead Guilty in Connection with Extortion Plot

Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, is expected to plead guilty in connection with fraud and extortion charges he currently faces in Alabama, according to officials.

As Front Page Detectives previously reported, van der Sloot, 36, was serving time in Peru for murder when he was extradited to Alabama in June to face federal extortion and fraud charges stemming from a 2010 indictment.

At the time, van der Sloot pleaded not guilty, but he has now reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, The Seattle Times reported.

Van der Sloot is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, Oct. 18, for a new plea and sentencing hearing in Birmingham, officials said.

Van der Sloot was serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old college student Stephany Flores, Front Page Detectives previously reported.

He was extradited from the South American country to Alabama to face federal charges accusing van der Sloot of trying to extort money from the Holloway family in 2010.

Natalee Holloway went missing while vacationing in Aruba and Van der Sloot remains a prime suspect in her disappearance.

Holloway, who was 18 at the time, went missing during a senior class trip, and though her body was never located, she was declared legally dead by an Alabama judge in 2012.

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Van der Sloot, prosecutors alleged, promised to lead the teenager’s loved ones to her body in exchange for $250,000 – $25,000 to disclose the location of Natalee’s body and an additional $225,000 after Holloway’s remains were recovered.

Van der Sloot has never been charged with Holloway’s disappearance, but officials believe he and two other men are the last people to see Holloway alive.

Van der Sloot remains behind bars at the Shelby County Jail in Alabama.