Natalee Holloway Case: Could Murder Trial in Aruba Determine if Joran van der Sloot Had Help?

Joran van der Sloot recently admitted to killing Natalee Holloway almost 20 years ago, and he may still face murder charges in Aruba, where the case into her disappearance is still currently open, according to authorities.

On Oct. 18, van der Sloot appeared in an Alabama courtroom and pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, as Front Page Detectives previously reported.

As part of the plea deal, van der Sloot agreed to provide details about what happened to Holloway, who disappeared during a high school trip to Aruba in 2005.

In court, van der Sloot reportedly claimed he bludgeoned Holloway’s head with a cinder block while they were on the beach and then placed her dead body in the Caribbean Sea. According to van Der Sloot, he attacked Holloway because she had rejected his sexual advances, according to his testimony.

Van der Sloot remains jailed in Alabama, where he has been held during the recent extortion case proceedings in the United States.

According to the Daily Mail, officials in Aruba have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to send the country any investigative documents they have regarding the investigation into Holloway’s death.

The case is still considered open in the small Caribbean country, and officials said van der Sloot may still face murder charges there.

Ann Angela, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Aruba, told Daily Mail, “We have requested the U.S. Department of Justice for the court documents, transcripts and all the documents related to the investigation.”

Angela said investigators would analyze the documents prior to “deciding on the procedural steps to be taken against Joran van der Sloot,” and she stressed that “the disappearance of Natalee Holloway is still an open investigation in Aruba.”

While the statute of limitations on homicide cases is 12 years in Aruba, Angela noted any statute of limitations on the Holloway case would “depend on various factors within the investigation,” the Daily Mail reported.

After van der Sloot’s confession in court, Beth Holloway, Natalee Holloway’s mother, said, “Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter’s murder. He is a killer."

The victim's father, Dave Holloway, believes van der Sloot may have had help in concealing the crime.

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“While I am satisfied that the defendant murdered Natalee alone, I have no doubt others provided him with aid and assistance in preventing us from being able to return Natalee home,” Dave said.

Van der Sloot was extradited to Alabama from Peru, where he was serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores. In 2010, Van der Shoot killed Flores after she rejected his sexual advances.

He will now be sent back to Peru, and his sentences will run concurrently, officials said.