The prime suspect in Natalie Holloway’s disappearance is divorcing his wife and daughter’s mother over a ‘prettier, younger’ girlfriend accused of smuggling drugs to him in prison, his son has said. lawyer at DailyMail.com.
After putting his family aside, Joran van der Sloot now wants to be extradited to the United States to clear his name of charges related to Natalee’s unsolved murder case, his lawyer Maximo Altez has said.
The explosive revelations come after the convicted killer, who is currently in a maximum security prison in Peru for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, initially asked to appeal the extradition order.
Van der Sloot, 35, maintains he did not murder Natalee, who was 18 when she disappeared after leaving a nightclub with him and two of his friends on the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005.
Her body was never found and she was declared legally dead in 2012 at the request of her father, Dave Holloway.
Joran van der Sloot, the suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, is divorcing his wife of nearly nine years, Leidy Figueroa (pictured here in 2014), his lawyer has said.
Van der Sloot filed for divorce about a year ago because he was now in a relationship with a ‘prettier, younger’ woman
His new girlfriend is Eva Pacohuanaco, who was accused of smuggling drugs to him in prison in Peru
Van der Sloot married accountant Leidy Figueroa, 33, in a private ceremony at Piedras Gordas prison in July 2014, when Leidy was seven months pregnant with their daughter.
Just months after tying the knot, she gave a gushing interview to DailyMail.com claiming her new husband was ‘sweet, sensitive, kind’ and ‘no freak’.
The pair met while Leidy was selling candy and cigarettes to inmates at another of van der Sloot’s former prisons – Miguel Castro Castro, in Lima.
The prison’s lax rules meant that Leidy began visiting her twice a week and the couple exchanged a flood of sugary love letters.
They even named their daughter Dusha Trudie Van der Sloot, 8, after Van der Sloot’s grandmother, Trudie.
But their unlikely romance began to unravel in 2020 after van der Sloot was charged with smuggling drugs into prison with girlfriend Eva Pacohuanaco, Altez said.
“Leidy continued to see him for some time,” added the lawyer. “Joran had a bunch of girlfriends…lots of girls visited him…but Leidy was the most loyal.”
Despite his infidelity, it was van der Sloot who filed for divorce about a year ago because he was now in a relationship with “prettier and younger” Pacohuanaco, 24, according to Altez.
The killer now has fewer female visitors due to tighter security at his current prison, Challapalca, in Puno, Peru, but he “still writes to the girls and they send him pictures,” Altez added.
The lawyer said Leidy “always visits” because she “loves the punishment” and “is nothing without” her husband, who helps her financially with family money.
Van der Sloot’s father, Paul, was a court official in Aruba. He and Joran were arrested and released without charge in connection with the case. Paul died in 2010.
Pacohuanaco, pictured here in surveillance footage believed to show her smuggling drugs to her lover in a Peruvian prison in 2020
Natalee disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005 during a school trip
Van der Sloot’s lawyer also revealed that he now wants to be extradited to the United States so he can fight charges related to Natalee’s disappearance. He is currently in prison in Peru
His wife and the mother of their eight-year-old daughter grew angry when she was told her husband was filing for divorce, van der Sloot’s lawyer said.
Leidy previously gave a gushing interview to DailyMail.com, talking about how her murderous husband was ‘sweet’ and ‘no freak’
Altez said Figueroa got angry when he informed her that van der Sloot was filing for divorce.
‘She asked me: “How could you?!” You were the godfather of our marriage. She has gone mad. And she is partly right.
Altez also revealed that his client flip-flopped on his extradition after initially asking him to appeal.
The federal charges against van der Sloot stem from an accusation that he tried to extort Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway, promising to lead her to her daughter’s body in exchange for $250,000 in 2010.
A grand jury indicted him that year on one count of wire fraud and extortion, each of which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
“Joran wants to go to the United States to prove he didn’t ask Ms. Holloway for money,” Altez said. “He realized he could be cleared of the charges.”
Van der Sloot’s decision to abandon his wife and family goes against the promises he made to Leidy before they married.
In a love letter, seen by DailyMail.com, the killer suggests he was planning to raise enough money to buy his young wife a house – even if he is not due to be released from his current sentence until 2038 .
He wrote, “While we’re saving money and in a few years I’ll buy you your own house, better say our house.”
Natalee’s mother, Beth, (right) recently welcomed the news that van der Sloot faced extradition to the US, saying the family ‘finally got justice for Natalie’
Love letters: Van der Sloot wooed Leidy with many sweet notes he wrote in Spanish in prison
Van der Sloot was found guilty of murdering Stephany Flores in 2010 (pictured)
Instead, he turned to Pacohuanaco, who was accused of helping him smuggle nearly 300 grams of cocaine and 140 grams of marijuana to another prison in Juliaca, according to reports in Peru.
This earned the Dutchman an additional seven years on his sentence for Flores’ murder.
Natalee had visited Aruba with a large group of friends celebrating high school graduation.
She was last seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot and two of his friends, Satish and Deepak Kalpoe, on the last night of the trip.
All three were arrested but the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
In 2010, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was killed five years to the day after Holloway disappeared.
Peruvian prosecutors have accused van der Sloot of killing Flores, a business student from a prominent family, to rob her after learning she made money at the casino where the two met.
They said he killed her with “ferocity” and “cruelty”, beating her and then strangling her in her hotel room. He pleaded guilty in 2012.
How long it will take for Van der Sloot to be extradited will depend on a number of factors, including arranging transportation to airlift him to the United States and an agreement from the United States that he will be returned to the United States. Peru to serve his sentence there.
After a trial in the United States, van der Sloot would be sent back to Peru to complete his sentence for the murder of Flores and a separate charge of drug trafficking in prison.
Leidy declined to comment.