[17] The Holloway and Flores cases both attracted widespread media attention;[18] Time magazine declared Van der Sloot's arrest the top crime story of 2010.

[26] On 26 September 2005, Van der Sloot told the American television show A Current Affair that neither he nor the Kalpoe brothers had sex with Holloway, but he admitted that they initially agreed to lie to the authorities.

[38] Later that month, while Van der Sloot and his father were in New York City for an interview with ABC's Primetime, they were served with a lawsuit filed by Natalee's parents, Beth and Dave Holloway, alleging personal injury;[39] the case was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds that August.

[48] On 3 February, an undercover video made by De Vries aired on Dutch television, purporting to show Van der Sloot smoking marijuana and admitting to being present during Holloway's death.

[33] He moved to Muang Ake, a suburb of Bangkok, intending to study business at Rangsit University, but dropped out and bought Sawadee Cup, a restaurant next to the campus that served sandwiches and pizza.

[54] In November 2008, De Vries aired undercover footage of Van der Sloot making preparations for the apparent sex trafficking of Thai women in Bangkok into Europe.

"[73] Around 29 March 2010, Van der Sloot allegedly contacted John Q. Kelly, Beth Holloway's legal representative, with an offer to reveal the location of Natalee's body and the circumstances surrounding her death for an advance of $25,000 against a total of $250,000.

[75][76] On 10 May, Van der Sloot allegedly accepted the sum of $15,000 by wire transfer to his account in the Netherlands, following a cash payment of $10,000 that was videotaped by undercover investigators in Aruba.

[75] Beth Holloway was shocked that the FBI did not promptly file extortion charges against Van der Sloot, allowing him to leave freely with the money to Bogotá on his way to Lima.

[2] On 4 June, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, Dutch authorities raided and confiscated items from two homes in the Netherlands, one of them belonging to reporter Jaap Amesz, who had previously interviewed Van der Sloot, and who claimed knowledge of his criminal activities.

[103] After Flores's family reported her missing, police retrieved the hotel security surveillance tape and obtained Van der Sloot's name and national identification number.

[107] On 3 June, Van der Sloot was arrested near Curacaví by the Investigations Police of Chile while traveling in a rented taxi on highway 68 between the coastal city of Viña del Mar and the capital of Santiago.

[9][114][115] Van der Sloot arrived at Lima police headquarters on 5 June, where he was interrogated about the Flores murder while represented by attorney Luz Maria Romero Chinchay.

[120] Surveillance video from the Atlantic City Casino recorded Flores winning $10,000 at a baccarat table area on 25 May 2010, while accompanied by a male friend who was not van der Sloot.

Colonel Oscar González, of the technical division of the Peruvian police, stated that the U.S. federal investigation was interested in information related to Holloway's disappearance and the alleged extortion of her family.

[142] In his written confession released by Peruvian police, Van der Sloot recounted that he briefly left the hotel to get some coffee and bread and returned to find Flores using his laptop computer without his permission.

[115] Van der Sloot later retracted this confession in a prison cell interview with De Telegraaf, claiming that he had been coerced and "tricked" by police with a promise to be transferred to the Netherlands.

On 25 June, Superior Court Judge Wilder Casique Alvizuri rejected the motion, noting that Van der Sloot had been represented by a state-appointed lawyer and provided a translator by the Dutch embassy prior to his confession.

[148] On 11 June 2010, Lima Superior Court Judge Juan Buendia ordered Van der Sloot held on charges of first-degree murder and robbery, determining that he acted with "ferocity and great cruelty".

[149] Police transported Van der Sloot on the same day from Lima's Palace of Justice in an armored truck, while angry onlookers yelled and threw rotten lettuce.

Van der Sloot filed a complaint with the National Police of Peru,[124] accusing chief detective Miguel Angel Canlla Ore of misconduct.

[154] Navarro stated that he filed suit against Chinchay, who initially represented Van der Sloot during his interrogation, charging her with abuse of authority, conspiracy to commit a crime, and misrepresentation, as he did not find her name on the list of public defenders from Peru's Ministry of Justice.

[159] In February 2011, Navarro filed a "violent emotion" defense with the court, arguing that Van der Sloot had entered into a state of temporary insanity because Flores found out about his connection to Holloway from his laptop computer.

Under Peruvian law, if the judge accepts this crime of passion argument, the sentence for such a plea could be reduced to only 3 to 5 years; Navarro noted that this could allow Van der Sloot to be eligible for parole in as soon as 20 months.

[160] Oscar González of the Peruvian police stated that an examination of Van der Sloot's laptop determined that Flores could not have accessed any such information while she was staying in the hotel room with him.

[141] Peruvian and Colombian newspapers published articles about the investigation of the disappearance of two young women who frequented casinos during Van der Sloot's stay in at least two Bogotá hotels from 6 to 14 May 2010, prior to entering Peru.

[166] Dutch daily newspaper Trouw warned that the overwhelming pressure on authorities of Van der Sloot's presumed guilt risked turning the case into a show trial.

[101] In December 2010, Time magazine named Van der Sloot's arrest the most notable criminal event of the year,[19] ahead of the Belgian love triangle skydiving-murder case, the 2010 Chinese school attacks and the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping trial.

[171][172] Since his incarceration, he has consented to interviews only with De Telegraaf, in which he admitted to extorting the Holloway family and said that he received a number of marriage proposals in his cell, including one from a woman who wanted to have his child.

The photo included Van der Sloot casually posing with Colombian hitman Hugo Trujillo Ospina, and American murderer William Trickett Smith II.