EXCLUSIVE: Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, has “fans” worldwide who send him an average of $400 per month, according to his Peruvian lawyer.
Van der Sloot is the prime suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance during her senior class trip to Aruba in May 2005 with Mountain Brook High School of Alabama.
He’s facing charges of wire fraud and extortion in the United States after allegedly trying to sell Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, information on where her daughter’s body was located. The Peruvian government ruled earlier in May that he would be temporarily extradited to face trial in the U.S.
Federal prosecutors say van der Sloot asked for $250,000 — $25,000 up front for the information and the rest being paid out when the body of Natalee Holloway was positively identified.
Joran van der Sloot is the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway. He is serving a prison sentence in Peru for murdering a 21-year-old woman named Stephany Flores in 2010. (Getty Images, AP)
Van der Sloot lied about Natalee Holloway’s whereabouts, prosecutors said.
His lawyer, Maximo Altez, told Fox News Digital that van der Sloot has worldwide fans who send him money monthly while he’s in prison. Altez says van der Sloot responds to all the women who send him letters.
“All his fans from all over the world sent letters to Joran. I rented him a P.O. Box to receive them. Some letters brought 10 euros, 20 euros, 5 dollars. They were girls who wrote and sent him letters with money, and he answered them all,” Altez said.
Altez added that van der Sloot receives around $400 per month.
“Maybe $400 a month …,” Altez said. “The letters did not arrive at the prison, they arrived at a P.O. Box.”
Natalee Holloway was last seen alive in Aruba while on a Mountain Brook High School senior trip. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Van der Sloot is in a Peruvian prison for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in 2010. His original sentence was 28 years, but he got more time because of a drug smuggling scandal in prison.
Van der Sloot isn’t the only nefarious criminal suspect who receives money and letters from people around the world.
Bryan Kohberger, who is charged with the murder of four University of Idaho students, also receives love letters from people around the country.
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)
One Facebook user claims to be a single mother from Kentucky and has sent dozens of love letters to Kohberger, saying the suspect is her “divine masculine counterpart.”
“There are some men that if they experienced higher intimacy levels and sexual fulfillment (sic) would never go and want to find someone else to be with in those ways, and with that said, when I’m fixated on a particular person such as my love interest who I feel is more than that to me, I don’t want other men,” the woman, who goes by Brittney J. Hislope, wrote in a Feb. 1 post on Facebook.
Kohberger is charged with the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Dennis Rader, known as the “Bind, Torture, Kill” murderer, also received so-called fan mail and even money while inside prison, according to his daughter.
“I mean, he’s been getting fan mail since the first day he went to jail,” Kerri Rawson told Fox News Digital. “And he’s got quite a large bank account. I mean, it’s probably a couple thousand dollars last I knew.”
Rawson said she’s seeing that some women are “obsessed” with hardened criminals such as her dad.
“He gets these women all caught up in his life. And when you’re in prison, it’s not like you can approach somebody. They have to approach you. So these women are willingly coming to my father, you know, visiting him,” Rawson said.
Serial killer Dennis Rader stands before Sedgwick County District Court Judge Greg Waller as sentencing is read Aug. 18, 2005, in Wichita, Kan. Rader was sentenced to nine life terms and a “hard 40” for the ten murders he committed over nearly 30 years. (Bo Rader-Pool/Getty Images)
Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth, said in an earlier statement shared with Fox News Digital that the extradition gives a chance for justice to finally be served.
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now,” Beth Holloway said. “It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
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Beth Holloway fights back tears as she participates in the launch of the Natalee Holloway Resource Center June 8, 2010, in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
