Editing Joran van der Sloot (section)

==The murder of Stephany Flores==
On 30 May 2010—the fifth anniversary of Holloway's disappearance—Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez, 21, died at the Hotel TAC, in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru. On 2 June, a hotel employee found her beaten body in Room 309, which had been registered in Van der Sloot's name.<ref name = Stefany></ref> He had departed from the hotel without returning the room key and left the television running. A tennis racquet, identified by the coroner as a possible homicide weapon, was recovered from the room. A hotel guest and an employee came forward to say they saw Van der Sloot and the victim entering the hotel room together, and the police obtained video of the two playing cards at the same table the night before at the Atlantic City Casino in Lima. Van der Sloot had entered Peru via Colombia on 14 May 2010 to attend the Latin American Poker Tour.<ref name = confession>[https://nypost.com/2010/06/10/coldhearted-confession-in-beautys-sickening-savage-slay/ Coldhearted confession in beauty’s sickening & savage slay], ''New York Post''</ref>

Ricardo Flores said that police found date rape drugs in his daughter's car, parked about 50 blocks from the hotel where she died. Her jewelry, money, identification and credit cards were missing, including about $1,000 her father had given her to purchase a laptop, and over $10,000 she had won earlier at the casino. Flores reportedly kept this money in her car, but a police search found no money in it.

After Flores' family reported her missing, police retrieved the hotel surveillance tape and obtained Van der Sloot's name and national identification number. Her brother's wife discovered Van der Sloot's background in a Google search about an hour before her body was found.

Peruvian officials named Van der Sloot as the lone suspect in the homicide investigation. Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for Van der Sloot, believing that he had fled the country to Chile, possibly intending to return to Aruba through Argentina. Van der Sloot was sighted entering Chile via the Chacalluta border crossing, north of Arica, on 31 May 2010.

On 3 June, Van der Sloot was arrested near Curacaví by the Investigations Police of Chile while traveling in a rented taxi on Highway 68 between the coastal city of Viña del Mar and the capital of Santiago.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10222012 Chile arrests Dutchman van der Sloot over Peru death], ''BBC News''</ref> He was found with a laptop, foreign currency, a business card case, detailed charts of ocean currents around Lima, and bloody clothes.

On 7 June 2010, he confessed to bludgeoning Flores<ref name = confession></ref>, but later tried to formally retract his confession, claiming that he had been intimidated by the Peruvian police and framed by the FBI. A Peruvian judge ruled on 25 June 2010 that the confession was valid, and on 13 January 2012, Van der Sloot was sentenced to 28 years' imprisonment for Flores' murder.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joran-van-der-sloot-sentenced-to-28-years-behind-bars-for-the-murder-of-stephany-flores/ Joran van der Sloot sentenced to 28 years behind bars for the murder of Stephany Flores], ''CBS News''</ref> In January 2023, an additional 18 years were added to his sentence for trafficking cocaine while in prison.<ref>[https://www.curacaochronicle.com/post/local/joran-van-der-sloot-gets-another-18-years-in-prison-in-peru-for-drug-smuggling/ Joran van der Sloot gets another 18 years in prison in Peru for drug smuggling], ''Curaçao Chronicle''</ref>