Beth Holloway is continuing to pursue murder charges against Joran van der Sloot in the Netherlands, despite his 2023 confession to killing her daughter, Natalee Holloway.
The development is detailed in Taken: Natalee Holloway, a three-part Netflix documentary released on Wednesday, which revisits the teenager’s disappearance during a school graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005.
Natalee was 18 when she disappeared. Van der Sloot, who is Dutch, has never been convicted of her murder.
Joran van der Sloot murder charges
Beth filed a criminal complaint with Dutch prosecutors in March 2026, working with lawyers Royce de Vries and Annemiek van Spanje.
In an interview published by Netflix, she said: “The nightmare’s over, right? But I’m not done yet.”
Aruba’s Public Prosecution Service said in April that it had made its case file available to prosecutors in Amsterdam so they could assess the complaint.
Aruban authorities said the statute of limitations for manslaughter had expired and that the evidence they had reviewed was insufficient to establish murder or aggravated manslaughter charges there.
Dutch prosecutors could potentially bring a case because van der Sloot is a Dutch national and the relevant limitation period has not expired in the Netherlands. However, no charges have been announced and a prosecution is not guaranteed.
Beth said Dutch prosecutors were gathering documents as they considered whether further legal action could be taken. “It’s in the hopper,” she said, describing the pursuit of justice as a “new mission”.
“I stayed true to my mission, I wanted answers, I got [them]. Took a long time. Now, OK, this is another step,” she added.
Where is Joran van der Sloot now?
Van der Sloot remains imprisoned in Peru, where he is serving a 28-year sentence for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramírez in Lima. He was convicted in 2012.
He was transferred temporarily to the United States in 2023 to face charges of extorting money from Beth in exchange for information about Natalee’s remains. He pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud on October 18 that year and received a 20-year federal sentence, which runs concurrently with his Peruvian term.
As part of the agreement, van der Sloot told investigators that he killed Natalee on an Aruban beach in 2005 and disposed of her body in the ocean. The US Department of Justice said he had previously obtained $25,100 from Beth after promising information about her remains.
He was reported in August 2026 to be held at Challapalca prison in southern Peru, where he had requested a transfer after claiming that other inmates had threatened him. It remains unclear whether the request was approved.
All three episodes of Taken: Natalee Holloway are available to stream on Netflix.
