Investigators doubt confession of Natalee Holloway's killer Joran van der Sloot amid 'contradictions'

ARUBA: Aruba investigators have raised doubts over Joran van der Sloot’s chilling confession to the 2005 murder of American teenager Natalee Holloway.

While van der Sloot pleaded guilty to the murder as part of a plea deal in 2012, prosecutors now say key details in his account “don’t make sense,” according to Daily Mail.

Specifically, they point to inconsistencies in van der Sloot’s description of the location where he says he killed Holloway, 18, with a cinder block before dumping her body in the ocean.

The beach area typically would have meant her body likely washed back up, investigators said.

“It's true that there's a reef that usually keeps things from washing out to sea," one investigator told the Messenger.

"It's about 30 meters offshore. You have to go past it to be sure that things won't wash back up on the beach. But he says he didn't do that,” the investigator added.

Natalee Holloway went missing in 2005 while on a trip to Aruba

Investigators also highlighted the lack of any physical evidence at the alleged crime scene on the beach or of Holloway’s remains despite extensive searches.

“We didn't see any block,” the investigator said and added, “No blood, and nothing that led us to believe that she died like that there.”

Van der Sloot’s confession contradicts a previous account he gave in 2010 when he claimed his father disposed of Holloway’s body further out at sea two days after her death.

The doubts raise further questions about Holloway’s death, which has remained a mystery since she disappeared on May 30, 2005, while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba.

A judge later declared her dead despite her body never being found.

Joran van der Sloot confessed to Natalee Holloway's murder after being snared by FBI

Van der Sloot, 36, only confessed to the murder as part of a plea deal with US authorities after being snared in an FBI sting operation.

The Dutch national, who claims to have undergone psychiatric treatment for “sociopathic tendencies,” was caught in 2010 trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s mother in exchange for information on the location of her daughter's remains.

He passed a polygraph test over his confession and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for extortion and wire fraud in Alabama.

But despite doubts raised by Aruba investigators over the confession, van der Sloot cannot face further charges there due to the statute of limitations passing.

“There are some things that don't make sense,” the investigator admitted. “It just doesn’t add up. There’s nothing more to be done, but I still will always wonder,” he said.

Joran van der Sloot is currently serving 28-year prison sentence in Peru

The questions raised mean there is still no full justice or closure for Holloway’s family, who had hoped the confession would finally end their 17-year “never-ending nightmare.” Her mother, Beth Holloway, had described her relief when van der Sloot was first sentenced in 2012.

“This confession means we have finally reached the end of this never-ending nightmare,” she said at the time.

That sense of closure was already tenuous given van der Sloot was only compelled to confess as part of the extortion plea deal. He is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for a separate 2010 murder.