Natalee Ann Holloway was an 18-year-old American teenager who disappeared on May 30, 2005, in Aruba while on a high school graduation trip. She was last seen outside of a restaurant and nightclub in Oranjestad with local residents Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. When questioned, the three men said that they dropped off Holloway at her hotel and denied knowing what had become of her. Despite extensive searches, her remains have not been found.

The case received widespread media attention in the United States, and the Aruban prosecutors office reopened the case in 2008 after receiving video footage of Van der Sloot, under the influence of marijuana, saying that Holloway died on the morning of her disappearance, and that a friend had disposed of her body. Van der Sloot later denied that what he had said was true, and in an interview said that he had sold Holloway into sexual slavery. He later retracted his comments.

In 2010, van der Sloot was indicted by a federal grand jury in Alabama on charges of extortion and wire fraud in connection with the case. He was accused of trying to sell information about the location of Holloway’s remains to her family in exchange for $250,000. Holloway’s body has never been found, and in 2012, an Alabama judge signed an order declaring her legally dead.

On October 18, 2023, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to charges of extortion and wire fraud in connection with the case. As part of the plea deal, he agreed to tell Beth Holloway, Natalees mother, how her daughter died and where her body was stashed. In court, van der Sloot admitted to killing Natalee Holloway with a cinder block and leaving her in the ocean.