FBI Footage Shows Joran van der Sloot Extorting Natalee Holloway’s Mother for $250,000 in New Netflix Docuseries

Brittany Vincent Sat, November 7, 2026 at 2:54 PM UTC

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Beth Holloway’s daughter, Natalee, vanished in Aruba in 2005. BY: NETFLIX

Never-before-seen FBI footage in Netflix’s new docuseries Taken: Natalee Holloway shows Joran van der Sloot trying to extort money from Natalee Holloway’s family during a 2010 sting operation.

“To be completely honest, for me, the biggest deal is the 225 afterwards,” van der Sloot says in the footage, referring to $225,000 he expected to receive.

Joran van der Sloot Offered to Reveal Where Natalee Holloway’s Body Was

The three-part docuseries, which premiered on Wednesday, November 4, revisits van der Sloot’s attempt to extort Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway.

Natalee, an 18-year-old from Alabama, vanished on Monday, May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, and Joran was the last person seen with her.

In the docuseries, Beth recalls a hotel employee in Aruba telling her that “Joran likes to prey upon young female American tourists.” In 2010, Joran emailed Beth’s attorney at the time, John Q. Kelly, writing, “Hi John, I will take you to Natalee. In return I want to receive $250,000.”

Beth and John then partnered with the FBI on developing a secret undercover operation in Aruba. From a hotel room, two FBI operatives monitored the meeting while Beth stayed home in the U.S., ready to move funds as needed. Federal officials said in 2010 that the FBI supplied the $25,000 used in the sting.

Footage Shows Joran van der Sloot Signing a Contract

The footage captures the meeting between Joran and John at an Aruba hotel on Monday, May 10, 2010. “Are you ready to be really specific about where Natalee is?” John asks. “I’m ready. I can’t believe I’m doing it, but I’m ready,” Joran replies.

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John counted out $10,000 in cash, and once Joran signed the agreement, Beth wired another $15,000 from Birmingham, Alabama. The remaining $225,000 depended on him leading authorities to Natalee’s remains, and Joran asked John, “Did you put in the contract that that would be paid within a month?”

John Q. Kelly Said He Had to ‘Pretend’ the Deal Was Real

John said in the docuseries that the agreement was never going to be honored, and the footage ends with him and Joran leaving the hotel room. “I had to pretend like I thought this was a binding agreement,” he said, adding that he knew Beth “wasn’t going to pay him the other $225,000.”

“If he disclosed Natalee’s whereabouts then he was going to be arrested for it,” John explained, and if his information turned out to be false, Joran would be arrested for extortion. Joran told John that Natalee’s body was buried in the foundation of a house, and he claimed his father, Paulus van der Sloot, had buried her there, but Joran later admitted that he lied.

Joran Killed Another Woman Weeks Later

On Sunday, May 30, 2010, the fifth anniversary of Natalee’s disappearance in Aruba, Joran murdered Stephany Flores Ramírez in his hotel room in Lima, Peru. After pleading guilty to her murder, Joran was given a 28-year prison term.

Joran was sent from Peru to Alabama in 2023, and he pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud; he was then sentenced to 20 years in prison. The 20 years will run concurrently with his sentence in Peru. A condition of his plea agreement was that he would confess to murdering Natalee. Natalee’s body has still not been found, and today Joran, who is 39 years old, continues to serve out both of his sentences in Peru.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”