The Murder of Stephany Flores

By now we all know the name Joran van der Sloot. He is the man who was accused of killing Natalee Hollaway. He was a smug and arrogant person, and probably had help from his influential family. Natalee Holloway’s case was probably the first case I ever heard of that got me into true crime, and I was young when it happened. Joran would go on to kill again, this time this case was underreported, and we have to remember Natalee, as well as Jordan’s second victim named Stephany Flores.

Background

Stephany was a 21 year old business student at the University of Lima, in Peru. She also had a famous father, named Ricardo Flores. Ricardo was a former president of the Peruvian Automobile Club. He was also a very successful businessman in Peru.

The Murder and Investigation

On May 30, 2010, Stephany was at the Hotel TAC in Lima, Peru. In an eery twist, this was on the fifth anniversary of Natalee Hollaway’s disappearance.

On June 2, Stephany’s body was found by an employee of the hotel in Room 309, which was registered to Joran van der Sloot.

The hotel employees were interviewed, and they remembered Joran and Stephany coming into the hotel together around 5am. The police also went through surveillance, and realized that Joran and Stephany met playing cards at the Atlantic City Casino. Sound familiar? I believe Joran and Natalee met at a bar or casino as well.

Stephany had been found in Room 309, badly beaten. A tennis racket was found in the room and the medical examiner said it could have been the murder weapon. Stephany’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, causing a brain hemorrhage, cranial fracture and a broken neck. In case she didn’t suffer enough, there were also signs of asphyxiation. The ME tested for drugs, and amphetamines were found in Stephany’s system.

Stephany’s car was also found, parked fifty blocks away from the hotel. Inside the car they found date rape drugs, but didn’t find any of her belongings, like her purse, ID and about $1,000 that her father had given her.

Arrest

Joran van der Sloot was the police’s only suspect in this case. An international arrest warrant was put out for Joran, as he was a flight risk. He was spotted crossing the border into Chile.

He was arrested on June 3 in Santiago, Chile. Joran had a laptop, business cards and bloody clothes. He had also taken out his SIM card of his phone, so that it could not be tracked.

Joran’s story was that armed robbers were actually the ones that killed Stephany because she had “disobeyed.”

Joran was transported back to Peru on June 4. He was then taken to police headquarters the following day. He reportedly was on suicide watch because had hit his head against a wall.

On June 10, he was moved to a cell at the prosecutor’s office.

Evidence against Joran

The bloody clothes that were found on Joran, matched Stephany’s blood type.

The police also examined the hotel room, and blood was found in the hallway, floor and mattress. Stephany’s body was exhumed to be able to test for DNA under her fingernails and from the murder weapon, which was still believed to be the tennis racket.

On March 14, 2011, Joran’s computer hard drive was examined by the FBI. Several websites about Natalee Holloway’s disappearance were found to have been looked at. These were time stamped before Stephany was in Joran’s room, but he did look at several poker websites and these were time stamped while Stephany was in the room.

Joran had also searched for information on “relationship between Chilean and Peruvian police,” and “countries that do not extradite in Latin America."

“Confession”

On June 7, 2010, Joran confessed and then retracted his statement. It was apparently to try to get his sentence changed to manslaughter. In Peru, manslaughter is anywhere from 6-20 years in prison, while murder is a sentence of 35 years. Peru does not have the death penalty, and have abolished capital punishments.

Joran finally did confess and said he killed Stephany because he caught her using his computer without his permission. It’s rumored that she was looking up information about Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, but the time stamps of the information contradict this. Joran stated:

““I did not want to do it. The girl intruded into my private life ... she didn’t have any right. I went to her and I hit her. She was scared, we argued and she tried to escape. I grabbed her by the neck and hit her.””

“I did not want to do it. The girl intruded into my private life ... she didn’t have any right. I went to her and I hit her. She was scared, we argued and she tried to escape. I grabbed her by the neck and hit her.”

Joran also retracted this confession and said he was tricked by police. He also said he was framed and lured to Peru by a man named Elton Garcia, who was another poker player. Ya okay, just admit that you’re a murderer, Joran.

Trial and Sentencing

On June 11, 2010, Joran was held on charges of first degree murder and robbery. It was determined that he would be tried by a panel of three judges, and not a jury.

On January 11, 2012, Joran pleaded guilty to “qualified murder” and robbery.

On January 13, he was convicted and sentenced to 38 years in prison, and was told he had to pay Stephany’s family $75,000.

He won’t be eligible for parole until 2038.

Other

Joran was stabbed by other inmates at the Challapalca prison in Peru. He was taken to this prison because it’s known for it’s harsh conditions. GOOD HE DESERVES IT.

Joran’s mom is no longer on her son’s side and said:

““I believe in karma, I believe that very strongly. I believe that if you do things that you shouldn’t do, that a lot of shit happens to you,” she said. “He didn’t want to listen to his parents. He didn’t listen to me, this last time. I tried to do my best. I don’t think I could have done more. He’s considered an adult right now. He has to do whatever he needs to do, and that is tell the truth (about) what happened.””

FINAL THOUGHTS

I love what his mom said. Joran deserves all the bad things that happened to him. He killed two women for no reason. He should have been locked up for killing Natalee, and should have not even been out on the street to kill Stephany. He’s a monster and deserves to rot for life. I don’t feel sorry that he was attacked by other prisoners.

I hope Stephany’s family has peace knowing Joran is locked up for good. I also hope one day Joran confesses to what happened to Natalee, but he has no heart so I don’t think that day will ever come.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joran_van_der_Sloot#Murder_of_Stephany_Flores

https://heavy.com/news/2019/11/stephany-flores-cause-of-death/

https://www.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/confession_joran_van_der_sloot.html