Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - "I KILLED NATALEE" Joran van de Sloot Confession

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

An Alabama judge accepted Joran van der Sloot's plea deal, meaning today, after almost two decades, the Dutch national admitted that he killed Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. In his proffer, a document in which the defendant offers information about a crime, he reportedly told the court that Holloway rejected his sexual advances, so he hit her, kicked her in the face, then bludgeoned her dead. He then put her body in the ocean.  The confession was part of van der Sloot's plea deal on extortion charges. He was accused of trying to sell information to Beth Holloway on the location of her daughter's body for $250,000. With his guilty plea, van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years on the federal charges, which will run concurrently with his current sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores in Peru.   Joining Nancy Grace today: Ginger Strickland -  Beth Holloway friend Sheryl McCollum- Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, ColdCaseCrimes.org, Host of new podcast: Zone 7, Twitter: @ColdCaseTips  Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan", Twitter: @JoScottForensic   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are here outside the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse in Birmingham. Right behind us, a plea deal has just gone down a day we thought would never come with the Aruban judge's son, Jorn Vandersloot, who we have long believed murdered Natalie Holloway. And today we find out that's exactly what happened. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us, not only here at the Hugo Black Courthouse, but on Crime Stories and Sirius XM 111. With me, Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon,

and star of hit series, Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan, my longtime friend and colleague, and also my longtime friend and colleague, Cheryl McCollum. She's the founder and the director of the Cold Case Research Institute, and she's a star of a hit series, Zone 7 Podcast. We've been in the courtroom from the beginning and have just come out. And what a day in the courtroom. Today, I can tell you with certainty that after 18 years, Natalie's case, it's solved. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. It's over. Your Ron Vander Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder.

He is the killer. I've just walked out of the courtroom. And the last thing I did before I left the courtroom is I got to hug Beth, Natalie Holloway's mother. What an odyssey that woman has been on since her daughter Natalie disappeared so many years ago on a senior trip to Aruba. Heavily chaperoned. Everything was going fine until the night before it was time to leave. Natalie was never seen alive again. And today in the courtroom, we finally see in the flesh, not a picture, not an artist's drawing, Jorn Vandersloot,

the Aruban judge's son, who I have long believed, murdered Natalie Holloway and then lied. We've counted up eight to ten stories he's told, but today a story has survived a polygraph. Not only a polygraph that has been administered by federal experts, but a detailed investigation by, as the judge said, some of the best detectives and investigators in the world. Now, if it were not for what the judge said, I would not believe one word Jorn Vandersloot spit out in his statement. But I think he told just enough of the truth to get a deal. A lot of people have been whining it's a sweetheart deal. It is not a sweetheart deal. A lot of people have been whining it's a sweetheart deal. It is not a sweetheart deal.

In front of this judge were just two charges, and they dealt with extorting Natalie's mother, Beth, out of $25,000 in exchange for Natalie's remains or whereabouts. Can you believe that? Extorting a grieving mother, offering to tell where her daughter's remains are for money. And of course, he was lying through his teeth. But today, we finally got some answers. And if a federal judge believes it, and a polygraph believes it, and a fleet of federal investigators believe it, I got to stay. As much as I don't like the feds, I believe it too.

I want to go to a special guest joining us right now. A young lady that went with us to Aruba in search for answers. Ginger Strickland. Ginger, what has Beth been through? It's just been terrible, Nancy. The pain, the grief, the not knowing. And knowing that he was guilty, but not admitting anything until he does agree to get back to Peru with a plea deal or whatever and to where he can go back. You know what was interesting, Ginger? What we learned today in court, and we have not seen the full statement by Jorn Vandersloot, but it appeared to me, Ginger Strickland, from the clues I got in the courtroom, that Jorn Vandersloot bludgeoned Natalie Holloway dead after she refused sex with him. Absolutely. body, disposed of a body at sea. And I'm picking that up from a statement, Joe Scott Morgan and Cheryl, that we heard in court where it was stated, we will never find her body. There's no doubt

about it, Nancy. You and I knew from the beginning that's most likely where he put her, period. And here's the thing. Today is a great day because we got a confession. He admitted to murdering her for the first time. So Beth has got some answers today, period. I was just wondering what led up to this moment. What led up? What was happening last night, Ginger? What was happening with Beth? Who was counseling her? Did she stay at home? Did she pray? Could she sleep? Could she eat? I mean, as always, she looked stunning in court, but there was a look in her eyes. And when she turned around and looked at Jorn VanderSloot and said, you look like hell. I don't think you're going to make it. A lot of people laughed in the courtroom.

I did not laugh because he is going straight to hell. and he did look like hell. He was, would you say, fleshy? Yeah, he looked grungy. He had a lot of arm fat. He looked old and dissipated, and I was shocked when I saw his appearance. Jail in Peru has not been kind to him. But back to Beth. I spent yesterday morning, a long time with her yesterday morning. And, you know, she, in her mind, is happy to finally find out.

But Natalie lives on forever. But she was in a good spirit. Sleeping, I don't think there's been much of that, especially since he's been here eating. You know, I feel like she needs to eat a cheeseburger, but, and it's, you know how it is. She's stressed. She's worried, but I feel like this is going to be something that gives her some sort of peace, but Natalie will live on. And I'm, I was so proud of her for being so strong today in, in court when she spoke to him. I've got to tell you, I broke down in tears, but Beth did not. She turned around in that courtroom and she looked right at Yorn Vandersloot and she ripped him anew. And there's really no other way to put it. Okay. With me now,

in addition to Cheryl and Ginger and Ginger, jump in whenever you hear anything that is different from what you know to be correct. Or you want to add. Joe Scott, I really want to hear your analysis of what happened. For me, you know, when I began to hear this information begin to trickle out relative to the cause of death, what we suspect that it is, the term bludgeoning. Did it all make sense to you? Yeah, on one level. But I'm like you i you know if it

had not come from someone else i would not have believed it relative to him uh are you trying to say you think he's a liar and you'd only believe what he says if taken with a box of salt i think that anybody that would put a mama through this as a scumbag is what i truly believe and he's i can't believe nobody's killed him behind bars. I know. And, you know, he's going to have an interesting life down in Peru, I'm sure, at some point in time, whenever he gets back down there. But this is the thing. We have to understand that this threat of violence runs through him.

Remember, we can't forget what also happened to the show lady Stephanie. Stephanie Tassiano Flores. From what I've heard relative to that scene. Oh, and they referred to it today in court. And it was brutal. And that goes to the brutality that he was capable of. I mean, did you look at him and think, you are a killer? You are an animal?

Well, as time has gone by, you know, when you see him, he's kind of, you know, when you see him in all of the news reports and everything over the years, he almost looked, I don't know, adolescent at some point in time. I never thought that. Like a rich, spoiled little brat. That, yes. But I always thought he looked like a tiger ready to pounce if nobody was looking. Well, quite possibly. You know, there's a history of violence with him, even, I think, as it applies to his brother. At one point in time, he almost killed his brother.

So, yeah, the fact that what they're saying has taken place is not surprising and here's here's my final thought on it oh you're not getting off the hook that easy you stay right there no no what i'm going to say is the fact what happened with natalie's remains the fact that we will probably there's a high probability we'll never have anything relative. They said that in court, Joe Scott. I think it was the judge said, we will never get Natalie's remains. And I took that to mean that she was disposed of at sea.

And I've heard the word in the water relative to what Beth was saying earlier. And I think that once she slipped beneath those waves, we're never going to see her again. And that, again, goes to the disregard that he held, the diminishment that he held for this poor girl that was down there. You know, life was just cruising right along. And so it's quite an amazing thing when you see this display. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I want to talk about the fact we haven't even brought up what the sentence was.

Guys, we had to do some quick math in the courtroom. And what I understand is a 240-month sentence. And breaking that down to 20 years behind bars. Now, under the law, the judge ran that concurrently with the Peruvian sentence. And I think that's very important. A lot of people wanted that to run consecutively. However, the judge made it very clear on the record that she thought that would somehow violate the federal sentencing guidelines. So what we understand is this sentence will run concurrently with the Peruvian sentence. The judge made it very clear that should Jorn

Vandersloot's sentence be reduced, modified, should he get out early for any reason, that he would have to return to the U.S. to complete sentencing. Is that how you understood it, Cheryl? That's exactly how I understood it. That judge was flawless today. She was not going to make any mistake where anybody could come back and say that he was not treated properly, this was not done correctly. She clarified and then reclarified and then checked again with every single person,

the state, his attorney, and then with Mr. Vandersloot. It was absolutely the most professional thing I think I've ever seen in sentencing. Question. Did you, for one moment, when the judge was asking you on Vandersloot, do you agree, do you agree, at any moment did you think he was going to say no and pull out? No. I don't know. He's lied so much, I thought think he was going to say no and pull out? No. I don't know. He's lied so much. I thought that he might for one moment.

But I even told you yesterday, if you remember, he was truthful about what happened to Stephanie Flores. He admitted it at a point. Because he was on camera, for Pete's sake. But he's caught here. That's what people don't understand. And I said it yesterday, and I'm going to say it again today. He was on film. They had his bank records. There was no wiggle room. Here's the point I want to make. They had

no reason to make a plea with him. They had him on camera. They had the bank records. The only reason to make a plea is because he was going to tell the truth. And that's what he did to get the deal. We are talking about the plea deal that went down with Jorn Vandersloot behind us in the Hugo Black Federal Building. Ginger, I want to focus off the legal technicalities, and I want to focus on Beth. How did she prepare for today? What was her thinking regarding today?

And how do you think she will be tonight? When you see her tonight, I want to know what you think her frame of mind is going to be. Relieved? Happy? Overwhelmed? Sad? I mean, so much of her life has been seeking justice. Exactly, Nancy.

It has. You know, she has prepared. She's read the thousands and thousands and thousands of pages of documents. And then with this, that they received as a plea agreement or whatever, it was just tough. But she prepared herself mentally. She's always a strong woman. She has been a strong woman. We saw that when we went to Aruba not long ago, a couple of years ago. And I feel like she is going to have some sort of closure with knowing. Does she really believe what you're in Vander Sluis has? You know, at points in time, she's told me no, she didn't know because there was so many lies,

but I'm like you, how can you argue with the polygraph how can you argue with the things that were you know laid out there for us to believe and you know i was confused about one thing and i think i've got it figured out um the judge said that his confession his statement about what happened cannot be used for any other reason other than this proceeding. But she cannot control whether that confession is used in Aruba for a murder prosecution. Did you catch that? And Nancy, let's just hope that that can. Okay.

Relative to the charges in Aruba or what we would hope that he would be charged with down there, I'm hoping that this is going to exert enough external pressure on him or internal pressure with him that are with them in Aruba that they would move forward with charges because this is obvious. He has made the statement. We're going to find out more information, I think. And if this is not an impetus for the Aruban government to move forward, I don't know what is, Nancy. And there is no statute of limitations? No, there's not. We're talking about a homicide here. So that's a technicality, a legal technicality, and the judge

addressed the court about whether this confession can be used for anything else in the U.S. She, the judge, does not have jurisdiction over what Aruba does. So if they could get their mitts on that confession, just as we can, why not go forward? I'm also curious about how Natalie's body was disposed of at sea, which is what we think happened. There are a lot of scenarios that have been discussed, but it doesn't matter now. What matters right now is that just behind us in Hugo Black federal courthouse, we saw Lorne VanderSloot come into court and proffered or handed over a sworn statement that he bludgeoned Natalie Holloway dead. We gleaned from other facts

that he did that after she refused sex with him. I find it really hard to believe that he did not rape her, but we'll never know because we're never going to get her body back. It was stated in court that her body, quote, will never be found, which means it had to be disposed of at sea. Those are the facts that jumped out at me. And I would like to say that Jordan VanderSloot, it reminded me a little bit of cult mom, Lori Vallow, actually brought forth the name of our Holy Christ, that he, quote, is a changed man and that he has, quote, found Jesus. And you know what? I'm glad he has found Jesus, and I hope that's true.

I also hope he spends the rest of his natural life behind bars. He can definitely be a Christian behind bars and minister to others. That's not going to happen. That's one thing, nancy did you notice when beth addressed um you're on that she mentioned the four life skills or the four attributes the life that he had and one was that he was a killer the other was that uh sex the other was food yeah and then i think there was one more but anyway that that describes him perfectly and He's like a shark. It is.

A deranged animal. Has sex and kills people. That's why I refer to him as an animal. Because it's like this, and I've told many a jury this. When you're walking along in Central Park or Piedmont Park in Atlanta, and you see a little squirrel run across in front of you, is your instinct to go grab the squirrel and tear its neck out with your teeth? No.

When you see an apple, is your instinct to pick it and eat it? Yes. His instinct is to kill. When he sees a woman, his goal is to rape her. And if she doesn't go along, beat her. Now, that scenario fits with what we know right now. And Joe Scott, Cheryl, jump in on that scenario. Possible, plausible, probable?

You first. The fact that he can be triggered by simply being told no or being resisted in any way goes to this, and you used the term animal, right? Yes. It goes to almost this primal instinct this this thing and again this goes to the spoiled brat type of environment that he grew up in a spoiled brat sounds like a three-year-old little boy no he's okay let me give you another term he's a feral animal how's that and he knows no boundaries obviously he he saw natalie i think

as an object just like he saw stephanie as an object and probably everybody else that he shook down in those casinos. And Lord only knows who else, who else got roofied by this guy that never came forward, which, again, is something that is very troubling because there's a there might be for all we know, there's a huge population of people out there that are hurting as a result of actions that he took, and they've been too afraid to come forward, maybe at this point in time, maybe since they've seen this resolution. Some people might step forward and say, you know what, this happened to me. This happened to me, and I think he might be the person that had done it. Go ahead. I know I can't stop you. No, guys, in the courtroom, Cheryl and I and Dee, who's also with us, were all together in the courtroom sitting across the aisle from Beth and her family. And Natalie's father, Mr. Holloway, was there as well.

He didn't speak. He let Beth do the talking. And she did an incredible job. For all the crime victims out in the world listening right now, this woman has single-handedly proven you can overcome being a crime victim. And you can stand up in court. And you can face the attacker. You can because she did. And you know what, Cheryl?

We've talked many times. After my fiance, Keith, was murdered, I thought I knew it all about grief until I had my children. And I can tell you right now, losing your child would be the worst possible thing that could happen. And Beth, I can't say she's overcome it because you never really get over it. But I'm telling you, in court today, she was a tiger. I remember sitting with her in 2005, and she was just broken. When we went to Aruba with her, you know, the three of us were standing with her when she took us back to that cross, and when she told us, she fell to her knees and just screamed at God to give her

baby back. Your heart just gets gutted for her. And then we saw her get a little more empowered as that trip went on. And she even told us, Aruba does not own me anymore. The mama that I saw in there today, let me tell y'all something. That was one of the most incredible transformations I have ever seen. She looked and spoke right to that devil and she meant it. Hey, when she just said devil, I got to tell you something. I wish you guys could have been in the courtroom today. We got here really early. And that's a good thing too, because so many people were trying to get into the courtroom. There was an overflow room. But when I saw Jorn Vandersloot walk in, and to me, he looked like

the devil in human clothing. I very rarely even talk about the devil. I don't want to conjure him up in front of me, but he looked like the devil. He has not held up very well in jail. Not that I care, but to look at him and think about all the pain he has caused so many people. Natalie's brother was in court today. So many friends and relatives and well-wishers. I mean, Ginger, you've been through H-E-double-L with Beth. When you saw him walk in the courtroom, what went through your mind and your heart? It was just a sickening feeling. I just couldn't hardly stand to look at him. It was revulsion.

It was revulsion. It was, and it's just, I just thought my heart went out for her because as a person I would want to get my hands on him, knowing that you can't do that. But for me it was just pure gut-wrenching sickening. He looked like a human, of course, but he almost has the superhuman ability to cause pain. Every time he opens his mouth, it causes pain. You know, Nancy, we were here June the 9th.

I believe that was the correct date. And he looked a little bit better, but that's when he came from Peru to here. So they may have treated him a little better there. But he looked, as Beth said, like hell. And he did. But at that time, too, it was just a creepy, grungy feeling that he gave me. My pit. Just a pit in my stomach.

Just the same as today. How did Beth respond to seeing him the first time? It was tough. It was tough. She, you could tell it, she's trying to keep cool, but you could tell it was taking a toll on her. You know, many times in court, victims' families will take a lunge at the defendant. Yes.

I've had a defendant take a lunge at me in the courtroom, armed with a pen. Oh, no. If it hadn't been for my investigator and my bodyguard, he would have made it to me because I wasn't really paying any attention to him at that moment. I felt the instinct to make a lunge for Jorn Vandersloot. I did too, Nancy.

Oh, and another thing, that courtroom was armed to the teeth with bailiffs, sheriffs. They were armed. There were guards protecting the judge. There were guards right up on Jorn Vandersloot in case he decided to make a run for it, which, of course, he wouldn't do from the Hugo Black building.

He would wait for a moment where he's less guarded. But no one knew what to expect. And as you see at many sentences, every door and exit was protected by the bailiffs. You want to answer? I was just saying in the service was there, the FBI was there. He wasn't going to stand a chance if he made any move at all. But I'll tell you something else that stood out for me for best comments. When she said, you have a daughter. She's talking right to him. You have a daughter. What would you want to do to the person that killed her?

And she said, I know what I want to do. Kill him. I mean, that was a strong woman in there today, Nancy. And we did talk. She and I talked about that yesterday. Cheryl, we talked about that, about his daughter and how, you know, how would he feel?

How would he feel if someone... I've got to ask you, has Beth ever felt she had to go kill him? I know what I would say. Yes. Okay. Yes. Because so many times I thought, I should have just killed Keith's killer right then and there. Right. And now that he's out, I ought to go track him down. But I look at just killed Keith's killer right then and there.

And now that he's out, I ought to go track him down. But I look at the twins, and I would never have him again. So it's tempting. So how do you believe, first to Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet, still hasn't come out with a second book yet. That said, I'll go ahead and let Kim, your wife write your next book again but also star of

Body Bags and Cheryl star of Zone 7 how do you believe, the two of you that his story was corroborated because I got a really hard time just swallowing that with a silver spoon. Here's the thing, you know, it seems like there's this continuum where he,

you know what they say, the dead can't defend themselves. And he has on several occasions thrown his dad under the bus. You know, that first, the first thing where he implied that, you know, my father buried her. Remember, he didn't say he did it. His dad took her and buried her beneath the house. Then he said his dad had facilitated getting a boat to take her out there. And that was alluded to at one point in time. So I don't know.

I don't know exactly how he was purposed. I think that Cheryl has an idea about these individuals that are still, you know, down in Aruba relative to him. Yeah. And, you know, are they part of this? Did they facilitate a boat? Did they get her remains out there? When they left Carlos and Charlie's, they have to know what happened. And they have knowledge of it. Yeah. So I think that that goes to the deposition of her remains. Where did they place her at that particular time? Did they place her into a boat? Did they walk her out into the surf?

And that's something I don't know that we'll ever get specific answers. It absolutely should. It should be happening today because they got a confession in a court of law that was corroborated by the FBI. So for Aruba at this point not to take action should tell everybody, if you go to Aruba, you are not safe. They're not going to protect you. If something were to happen to you, they're going to help cover it up.

You made the best point when we were in Aruba. We were there 15 minutes, And you said in 15 minutes you have been willing to arrest Beth Holloway. But in 15 years you won't arrest Johan van der Sloot for Natalie Holloway's murder. I don't know what else people need to know about that island. So now that they've got this, they should absolutely move forward. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're about to head over to the Civic Center where Beth Holloway is speaking. She spoke briefly here at the courthouse.

As she came out, she was mobbed. Take a listen to what Beth said outside the courthouse. Today, I can tell you with certainty that after 18 years, Natalie's case, it's solved. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. It's over. Yaron VanderSloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder. He is the killer. In the course of his felony prosecution, here for extortion and wire fraud indictment, he gave a proffer in which he finally confessed that he killed Natalie. He described when and how he killed her. He said that after killing her on the beach in Aruba, he put her into the water, and that was the last that he ever saw her.

That was all verified by a comprehensive and conclusive polygraph test. Even with this confession, though, he can't be tried here for Natalie's murder. But I'm satisfied knowing that he did it. He did it alone, and he disposed of her alone. I won't give you the details of his brutal confession. Those will be forthcoming when the proffer is made public. You will also have details of the plea agreement in which was reached, his sentence of the extortion and the wire fraud will run concurrently with the sentence in Peru for killing Stephanie

Flores. And that's fine with me. Thanks to a lot of very smart and dedicated people here, I got the answer I've been searching for for the past 18 years. Yaron VanderSloot's confession means we have finally reached the end of our never-ending nightmare. And for me, reaching the end of the nightmare, being over is better than closure. It's been 18 years since Natalie disappeared and Natalie would be 36 years old today. I still miss her every day. It's been a very long and painful journey, but we finally got the answers we've been

searching for for all these years. We finally today, we got justice for Natalie so thank you all so very much and being supportive of us in our long 18-year journey thank you and now take a listen to our friends at WB RC the most impactful moments of Beth Holloway's victim impact statement several times she stressed that Yaron is a killer and that he terminated Bet's daughter's potential, her dreams and possibilities when he bludgeoned her to death. Now, again, everything that he told law enforcement and the court was, of course, corroborated by a lie detector test, a polygraph test.

For her to turn around and talk to Yoron Vandersloot directly face to face, she reminded him that you're a killer and you will always be a killer and forced him to wonder how he would react if someone did to his daughter what he did to Natalie and Stephanie Flores five years later to the day, both for the same reasons. So my question is when the dust has settled and Beth goes back home, what will her life be like now? Because her last 20 years have been seeking justice. And will Aruba act last?

Will we ever find Natalie's remains? Let's start with you, Cheryl. We're not going to find Natalie's remains because they were in the ocean. You've got turtles, you've got sharks, you've got the water, fish, it's done. And that's okay. Beth had, I think on some level, she's known that. Now she can take that and prayerfully find peace and move toward what she said today in her statement. She's got grandchildren, her son, she's going today in her statement. She's got grandchildren, her son, she's gonna focus on that, she's gonna focus on her students, and I pray for her this peace because she wears that bracelet, you know,

hope, faith, and love. She's got all of that and she said Natalie is forever 18 and I just hope that's what she's got. I heard that in the courtroom. I heard her say that in the courtroom. But I am telling you, when you have your child snatched away from you, you will never have peace. I'm just telling you. Final thoughts? Keep your eye on Vander Schlute.

This is what I think. I think that he loves being in the center, in the spotlight, wherever he winds up planted. It would not surprise me at all to see him continue to try to bait people, particularly those in Aruba, perhaps, and maybe people here, in order to get back into that spotlight. And this is what I do know. I don't believe anything that proceeds out of his mouth. So you have to have investigators like we've seen demonstrated here today, Nancy, that can corroborate these things that he has put forth.

And they've done a jam-up job at this point. Let's see what the future holds relative to him as he's cooling his heels somewhere and he's desiring to get beyond this weight that's going to be placed on him in this environment. And to one of Beth's very dearest friends who went with Cheryl and myself to Aruba. Wait, where were you when I was getting arrested? Hiding in the car with Cheryl? I was running from the back trying to get there. Right. I turned around and all I could see was her elbows from those two running.

And Beth and I were there getting handcuffs thrown on us. But that said, let bygones be bygones. I'm just thinking about Beth tonight. When we all go home to our families, and I go home to my little girl and my big boy and my husband, Beth is going home with the memory, just the memory of Natalie. And I can tell you, we're going to be praying so hard for her tonight. And she brought a good face in the courtroom. She said, Natalie, as Cheryl just said, will be forever 18, forever beautiful, forever hopeful, forever full of potential.

But in the dark hours of the night, I wonder how she's going to get through that now that this part of her life this quest is over for now and that's what i was going to say nancy we're just going to continue to shower our love on her as a family as a school family that we are beth has so many friends and so many people that care about her in our county and in our community and feel for her. And they want to love on her and shower her with love. And her students love her. Oh, my goodness. The students just absolutely love her. And I think that's one thing that's going to get her through these long days and nights.

You know, another thing that I want to pass on to her is that there are a lot of mothers and a lot of fathers across our great country that are suffering because their child is missing or has been killed. And Beth really is an example for them that they can go on and that no matter how long it takes, you can get justice. I know it's cold comfort sometimes that you can get justice for your child. So that's a big burden to put on her shoulders, but it's already on there. I didn't put it on her. It's on her. If not for her, we wouldn't be here. It's not for her continued quest to find out what happened to Natalie. We would not have this day in court. So the prosecutors, the investigators, the polygraphers, they all did

their part, but we would not be here without Natalie's mother, Beth. Take a listen to what Beth said outside the courthouse. It feels victorious. I feel like you finally begin to transition from the victim to the victor and begins to make the pain and suffering feel somewhat less intense because you are here. You are at this point, the pinnacle of the journey, and you've gotten justice and you've gotten the answers you've been so desperately seeking.

So it felt victorious. I was able to tell Yaron that I think in this long-ending nightmare, I was able to express things to him that I had been wanting to tell him as far as, you know, telling him who he is, and he is a killer. He is a killer. He will always be the killer. He will always be now the black mark in Aruba. He's now confessed to two murders.

So that was good for me to be able to tell him that and to show him. I don't really look at it as saying goodbye to Natalie because we wake up every morning, and the hope that filled her life and heart feels ours today. So we feel like we carry Natalie with us even forward now. And that's a good, that's a, that's a very good feeling. Like I said, it feels victorious. Tonight, if you're listening right now, say prayer for her and her family. Natalie was very bright, very smart, dedicated young lady. She was on her way to college. She was headed to medical school after that. And I have no doubt she would have made it all the way

so we love her we miss her very much and we wake up every morning with thoughts of Natalie but now we wake up knowing that we have we have reached justice for Natalie she was truly the best sister I could have ever asked for. Absolutely. Goodbye. You're listening to an I heart podcast.