Joran van der Sloot Marries Pregnant Girlfriend, Lawyer Confirms
Joran van der Sloot, the man suspected in the death of American student Natalee Holloway, has officially married while in a Peruvian prison, his lawyer confirmed. Van der Sloot is serving a 28-year sentence and may face extradition to the United States, where he is wanted for questioning and extortion.
Van der Sloot exchanged vows with a Peruvian local named Leidy Figueroa on Friday morning, CNN reported. The couple met while he was in prison, serving time for killing Stephany Flores and maintained a relationship in- and outside the prison walls. The two even managed to conceive a child and Figueroa is due in September.
"They became friends and spent a lot of time together in his cell," van der Sloot's lawyer, Maximo Altez, said. "Unlike the United States, here in Peru, loved ones or relatives can see inmates inside their jails."
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Figueroa met van der Sloot while she was visiting a relative in jail, and that relative set her up with his fellow prisoner. The two hit it off and have remained together and will possibly remain together for life. There are concerns, though, that the marriage could hinder his extradition to the United States; Peruvian officials do not like separating families. Marriage would possibly prevent him from being extradited since he would technically be a Peruvian native through marriage.
"He's getting married because he's in love and is having a child," Altez told CNN in May. "There are no hidden agendas."
Van der Sloot is wanted in the United States for extorting murder victim Natalee Holloway's mother. He was suspected in the student's death and told Holloway's mother that he knew where her body was, that he had information about her remains and would reveal that information for $25,000. Holloway's mother paid the amount, and van der Sloot used it to buy his trip to Peru.
He will be eligible for extradition to the United States in 2038.
