Van der Sloot pleads guilty: Closure for Natalee Holloway’s family?

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It’s a moment that Natalee Holloway’s family has wanted for years: Joran van der Sloot on Wednesday admitted in a court of law that he is a killer.

His guilty plea came in connection with the May 30, 2010, death of a 21-year-old Peruvian woman, Stephany Flores, who was killed in Van der Sloot’s hotel room in Lima.

The killing took place precisely five years to the day that Holloway disappeared during a trip to Aruba to celebrate her graduation from high school in Alabama. On the night she vanished, Holloway was seen leaving a nightclub with Van der Sloot. She was never heard from again.

‘Yes, I want to plead guilty. I wanted from the first moment to confess sincerely,’ Van der Sloot told the court Wednesday. ‘I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad,’ he said, according to the Associated Press.

Van der Sloot is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, and faces up to 30 years in prison. However, he could get a lesser sentence given his guilty plea.

Holloway’s disappearance became an issue in the Flores murder case -- and was even used as a gambit to gain leniency for the suspect.

Van der Sloot’s lawyer at one point tried to argue that Van der Sloot, 24, a Dutch citizen, was driven to kill Flores as a result of ‘extreme psychological trauma’ he endured after he became a prime suspect in Holloway’s disappearance.

Said one Twitter user Wednesday morning: ‘Van Der Sloot pleads guilty! YES! He may not have been pinned for Natalee’s death, but there will be justice for Stephany!’

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