Dutch Poker Pro Arrested for Murder in Chile

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Dutch poker pro Joran van der Sloot has made a nice living out of playing poker and has travelled most of the world using his poker skills to pay for his way. But the 23-year-old Dutch man has more than just poker on his mind, though: police considers him as the main suspect of kidnapping the American teenager Natalee Holloway in 2005 and killing Stephany Flores on the May 9, 2010, on the same day of Natalee’s disappearance five years earlier.

Joran van der Sloot and his brothers were first arrested on June 9, 2005, as suspects in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway. Van der Sloot and his brothers were released on September 3, 2005, due to lack of evidence.  Natalee’s disappearance has frustrated authorities and garnered wide attention on television and in newspapers in the United States and Europe.

Holloway
Joran van der Sloot and Natalee Holloway

Joran van der Sloot was arrested in Chile, four days after fleeing from Peru following the discovery of the body of 21-year-old Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez, who was beaten and stabbed to death in the Hotel Tac Sac in Lima, Peru. The room in which her body was found was coincidentally rented out under the name Joran van der Sloot. On top of that, witnesses claim to have seen the couple enter the room together and police also have video footage of Joran and Stephany at the Atlantic Casino the day before the murder.

Joran van der Sloot
Joran van der Sloot arrested in Chile

The reason for Joran travelling to Peru was to attend the 2010 LAPT Peru poker tournament. Upon getting wind of the police putting out an international warrant for his arrest, Joran fled the country and has just recently been arrested in Chile on June 3, 2010 while traveling in a rented taxi on Highway 68. He is now in custody and awaiting prosecution. 

Joran’s online poker screen name was ‘AANOTILTKK’ at Party Poker. He was supposedly playing at other sites as well, and is said to be using the screen name 'Joran888' on Titan Poker with an avatar showing a blond girl resembling Natalee Holloway.