Matt Holloway: I always knew van der Sloot killed Natalee

Joran van der Sloot has confessed to killing Natalee Holloway in 2005
Van der Sloot confessed as part of a plea deal in an extortion case
Matt Holloway: 'It's not done. It's just getting started.'

Updated: Oct 24, 2023 / 08:24 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — In a NewsNation exclusive, Matt Holloway, the brother of Natalee Holloway, spoke out in his first TV interview since Joran van der Sloot confessed to killing Natalee in 2005.

Holloway told “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” he believes van der Sloot’s confession to murder but doesn’t believe his apology is sincere. In court, van der Sloot apologized to the Holloway family and his own family, saying he hoped his statements help the investigation and healing. He told them he was not the same person.

“He (van der Sloot) only said that for himself, to make himself look better in front of everybody,” Holloway said.

Holloway was 16 when his sister vanished during a high school trip to Aruba in 2005. She was 18 years old. Her disappearance launched a search for justice and truth that consumed the Holloway family for nearly the next two decades.

Van der Sloot, long considered the main suspect in Holloway’s disappearance, offered a confession as part of a plea deal in a separate case where he pleaded guilty to extorting the Holloway family out of $250,000 in 2010 to reveal the alleged location of Natalee Holloway’s remains.

Holloway went missing during a high school graduation trip to Aruba with classmates from Mountain Brook High School in 2005. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot. He was questioned in the disappearance but was never prosecuted. A judge declared Holloway dead, but her body has never been found.

Van der Sloot was extradited to the United States earlier this year from Peru, where he was serving a 28-year prison sentence for killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores in 2010. The 20-year extortion sentence will be served concurrently with the Peru sentence.

Holloway said he always knew van der Sloot was his sister’s killer.

“For me, it’s not done. It’s just getting started,” he said. “One day, he’s gonna be a free man. And I’m so happy to say this … I’m going to be there. I’m going to find him, and I’m going to give him the butt-whooping that his daddy didn’t have the backbone to do when he was growing up. … If somebody doesn’t whoop his butt, he’s going to kill again.”