Joran van der Sloot said he is remorseful
In a jailhouse interview with a Dutch television station, Joran van der Sloot said he is remorseful for telling so many stories regarding the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, but once again denied culpability in the case.
“For everything that’s happened since 2005, all the things said in the media and everything, I feel guilty for, yeah,” van der Sloot, 22, said in the interview, portions of which were aired on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday.
The Dutch citizen is jailed in Lima, Peru, where he is awaiting trial on a murder charge in the death of Peruvian student Stephany Flores. Her body was found in May in a hotel room registered to van der Sloot, which the two were seen entering on surveillance camera video. He also is charged with a count of wire fraud and a count of extortion in Alabama for allegedly trying to extort more than $250,000 from Holloway’s family in return for disclosing the location of her body.
Holloway was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving an Oranjestad, Aruba, nightclub with van der Sloot and two other men, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. She was visiting the island with about 100 classmates to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.
Van der Sloot was arrested twice in Aruba in connection with Holloway’s disappearance, but was never charged. He has denied responsibility for her disappearance.
In the interview, van der Sloot said he feels guilty about his father’s fatal heart attack, for not listening to his mother and for telling lies, as well as his past behavior.
“I was doing a lot of things that I shouldn’t have been doing, and mostly only going out all the night and sleeping all the day,” he said, describing himself as “impulsive.”
Asked why he’s told so many different stories about the Holloway case, he said, “There were people who were paying me to make up stories, and I was really good at making up stories. Everybody keeps coming at you asking questions … if you want something, I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear, sure.”
Still, he said, he has “misused the situation for my own advantage.” He said he feels bad about that and would take it back if he had the opportunity. – MORE
