(NEW YORK) — The FBI agents who will be escorting Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway, back to the United States have arrived in Peru, sources told ABC News.
Upon arrival in the U.S., van der Sloot will face a federal trial on extortion and wire fraud charges stemming from an accusation that he tried to profit from his connection to the Holloway case.
Van der Sloot has been serving a 28-year sentence at the Challapalca prison in Peru for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old college student Stephany Flores. The Dutch citizen was transferred to another prison in Lima over the weekend to await his extradition to the U.S., scheduled for Thursday.
The flight carrying the FBI agents arrived in Lima around 4 p.m. local time Wednesday, sources said. Sixteen people were on the flight — including eight federal agents and eight crew members, the sources said.
Following a medical check and other extradition processes, van der Sloot and the FBI agents are expected to depart for the U.S. between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time. The Peruvian government told ABC News they will provide footage “showing his transfer.”
Van der Sloot lost his extradition appeal earlier this week, according to the Peruvian Supreme Court. He had filed “a habeas corpus application against the citizen extradition process,” according to a court document, and on Monday he refused to sign the laissez-passer that would allow him to be extradited, his lawyer told ABC News.
Van der Sloot was indicted by an Alabama federal grand jury in 2010 for allegedly trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from Holloway’s family after her disappearance.
Holloway, 18, went missing in May 2005 while on a high school graduation trip in Aruba. She was last seen driving off with a group of young men, including van der Sloot, then 17.
Van der Sloot was detained as a suspect in the teen’s disappearance and then later released without charge due to a lack of evidence.
An Alabama judge later declared Holloway dead, though her body was never found. No charges have been filed in the case.
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