Jason Alexander,Britney Spears‘ ex-husband, is clapping back at her claim she only married him because she was drunk and bored … instead, he insists it was true, sober love.
Jason, who was married to Britney for a whopping 55 hours in 2004 before getting an annulment, tells TMZ … readers shouldn’t believe a word Britney says about their marriage in her new memoir.
In “The Woman In Me,” Britney says she and Jason “got sh**faced” before tying the knot early one morning in Las Vegas back in January ’04 … adding, “People have asked me if I loved him. To be clear: he and I were not in love”
Britney also writes, “I was just honestly very drunk — and probably, in a more general sense at that time in my life, very bored.”
JA says that’s BS because they were absolutely in love and weren’t boozing — which, btw, is exactly how their wedding officiant described the couple in a previous interview.
Jason says they’ve been friends since childhood, and he still cares for and loves her — however, he adds, he’d never buy her memoir, and would only accept a copy if it was signed … and, even then, he admits he’d probably “sell it to the highest bidder.”
He also weighed in on Britney’s rationale for her nude photo posts … saying he sees it as “childish behavior” from a mother, but he believes Justin cheated, and then broke up with Brit in response to her cheating. That’s his 2 cents, anyway.
More than 18 years have passed since18-year-old Natalee Holloway disappeared during her senior class trip in Aruba, but her family is hopeful they may finally find answers to what happened to their daughter.
Joran van der Sloot, a longtime suspect in the Alabama teenager’s 2005 disappearance, is now facing charges of extortion and fraud after allegedly plotting to sell information about the location of Holloway’s remains. After spending years behind bars in Peru for the murder of another woman, van der Sloot was extradited to the U.S. on Thursday.
He appeared in a federal courthouse in Alabama on Friday and pleaded not guilty. His attorney did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Though the current case does not charge van der Sloot with Holloway’s disappearance, her family remains hopeful that the judicial process will bring them answers.
“These particular charges do not involve me directly, but I am trusting that this prosecution will lead us to the truth about Natalee. I remain thankful for everything done by the U.S. Attorney’s office, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshal’s office here in Birmingham,” Holloway’s father, Dave Holloway, said in a statement to HuffPost on Friday. “We are also deeply appreciative for the support of people all over the world who share [a] common belief that good must always prevail over evil.”
Who was Natalee Holloway?
Beth Holloway, Natalee Holloway’s mother, participates in the launch of the Natalee Holloway Resource Center on June 8, 2010, in Washington, D.C. The nonprofit resource center was founded by Holloway and the National Museum of Crime & Punishment to assist families of missing persons.
Holloway was 18 years old and graduating from Mountain Brook High School in Birmingham, Alabama, when she disappeared during a senior class trip to Aruba. She was last seen getting inside a silver Honda at around 1:30 a.m. after the students’ last night out on May 30, 2005, according to the FBI.
In a two-part interview with Oxygen in 2017, Jessica Caiola, a classmate and friend, described Holloway as a “beautiful person” who was kind and generous. Caiola was one of the last to see both van der Sloot and Holloway before Holloway disappeared.
Caiola said she remembered first seeing van der Sloot in the hotel’s casino two days before Holloway’s disappearance and again at the bar the night she disappeared.
Caiola said the group of friends left the bar to go grab street food, and as they were waiting for a shuttle, she remembered seeing Holloway inside a silver car, which had its windows rolled down, as it drove off.
“My impression was, ‘Oh great, she found a ride back to the hotel,’” Caiola said.
Holloway never made it back to the hotel, and her friends did not realize until the next morning that she had disappeared.
Her body has never been found, and authorities declared her legally dead in 2012.
Who is Joran van der Sloot, and why was he a suspect?
Joran van der Sloot, then 18, enters his family’s car as his mother Anita closes the door after he was conditionally released from jail in San Nicolas, Aruba, on Sept. 3, 2005.
Three people were in the car with Holloway when she was last seen: Van der Sloot and brothers Satish and Depak Kalpoe, who were all teens at the time.
They told police officers that they had visited a beach with Holloway that day before taking her back to her hotel, CNN reports.
Van der Sloot and the brothers were arrested days later, on June 9, 2005, in connection with her disappearance.
Paul van der Sloot, a judge in Aruba and van der Sloot’s father, was arrested shortly after on suspicion of involvement in Holloway’s disappearance. He was released three days later.
Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers were released on Sept. 3, 2005, but at that time, they remained under investigation. Van der Sloot soon left the Caribbean island but was required to remain in Dutch territory under the terms of his release.
What happened after he was released?
Joran van der Sloot, then 20, takes a walk to the local supermarket near his parents’ home in Oranjestad, Aruba, just after he was released from detention again in 2007.
Raul Henriquez/AFP via Getty Images
Upon his 2005 release, van der Sloot made multiple media appearances in an attempt to clear his name and even authored his own autobiographical account of Holloway’s disappearance in Dutch.
In a 2006 interview with ABC News’ Chris Cuomo, he gave his version of what happened the night of Holloway’s disappearance, proclaiming his innocence and arguing that U.S. media had painted him “unfairly” as a “murderer and a rapist.”
“In Aruba, that was part of my lifestyle … going out, being single and picking up girls,” he said. “Going out with them, having a good time and then saying goodbye.”
Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers were arrested again on Nov. 21, 2007, after investigators said they had new evidence, but they were released the next month. The case was dropped on Dec 18, 2007, according to CNN.
In 2008, prosecutors in Aruba said that van der Sloot had been secretly taped describing how, on the day of her disappearance, Holloway began to shake and slumped over as if she was having a seizure as the two were kissing on the beach. Although Aruban prosecutors said the taped confession was admissible in court, it was insufficient to warrant an arrest.
What charges were filed against van der Sloot in the U.S.?
Between March and May 2010, van der Sloot contacted Holloway’s mother through her lawyer and demanded $250,000 in exchange for information he said he could provide about where Holloway was buried, according to a federal indictment at the time.
According to the indictment, Holloway’s mother eventually paid him $25,000 for the information, with promises to pay the rest after Holloway’s remains were found. But the information van der Sloot provided proved to be false, and the FBI launched an investigation.
A grand jury indicted van der Sloot in July 2010 on charges of extortion and wire fraud, but he was not immediately arrested because he had just been arrested in a separate case in South America.
What happened in South America?
A man holds posters of Joran van der Sloot and Stephany Flores in Lima on Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot was sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Peruvian court after he confessed to killing Flores in Lima in 2010.
Five years after Holloway disappeared, van der Sloot, now 22 years old, was accused of killing a 21-year-old Peruvian woman by luring her to his hotel room in Lima and beating her to death, according to Interpol.
Van der Sloot was arrested on June 3, 2010, in Chile in connection with the death of Stephany Flores Ramirez, the daughter of well-known businessman and car racer Ricardo Flores. Hotel staff in Lima found her body on June 2, 2010, and van der Sloot was extradited to Peru.
In a signed confession translated by The Associated Press, van der Sloot said that he and Flores had gone back to his hotel room to play poker on his laptop around 5:30 a.m. on May 30, 2010, exactly five years after Holloway had disappeared. Van der Sloot claimed in the confession that Flores had seen an email to him containing a death threat, and that he told her he had been a suspect in Holloway’s case. He said she then hit him, and he elbowed her in the nose. According to the document, he then strangled her.
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to Flores’ murder almost two years later on Jan 11, 2012, and was sentenced to 28 years in prison and required to pay $75,000 to the Flores family.
Where are we today?
Joran van der Sloot is transferred in a police car in Lima on June 8, 2023.
ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP via Getty Images
In 2021, van der Sloot faced an additional 18-year sentence after he was accused of smuggling cocaine into prison, the Netherlands Times reported.
He was initially set to be extradited to the U.S. after he finished his sentence in Peru, but Peruvian officials agreed in May to temporarily transfer him earlier, the AP reported.
Van der Sloot arrived in the U.S. surrounded by federal agents on Thursday.
In a statement following van der Sloot’s not-guilty plea on Friday, John Q. Kelly, the attorney representing Beth Holloway since her daughter’s disappearance, said Holloway’s family is “thrilled” that the arraignment took place, calling it a step closer to holding him accountable for his role in the case.
“For nearly two decades, Beth has tirelessly sought answers and fought for justice for her beloved daughter,” the statement said. “The journey has been emotionally and legally arduous, filled with countless obstacles, but Beth’s determination has never wavered. Today, she finds solace in the fact that the wheels of justice are finally turning and that van der Sloot will have to atone for his crimes on U.S. soil.”
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Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, pleaded not guilty on Friday to extortion and fraud charges in a Birmingham courtroom, CBS affiliate WIAT reports.
Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, was flown to Birmingham from Peru on Thursday where he is serving a 28-year sentence for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores. He confessed to killing Flores, exactly five years after Holloway’s disappearance, in his hotel room in Lima. The daughter of the wealthy Peruvian businessman Ricardo Flores was found stabbed, lying in a pool of blood.
U.S. prosecutors say that more than a decade ago, van der Sloot reached attempted to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, to disclose the location of the young woman’s body. A grand jury indicted him in 2010.
Van der Sloot is not charged with killing Holloway, who was declared dead several years ago. The 18-year-old disappeared during a high school graduation trip in Aruba. She was last seen leaving a bar with three men on May 30, 2005, hours before she was scheduled to board a plane home. In the years that followed, her case garnered international attention mostly due to the dogged determination of her mother.
In a statement released by his attorneys on Friday, Natalee’s father, Dave Holloway said, ” While filled with mixed emotions, I am confident that today was an important step toward accountability and hopefully, justice. These particular charges do not involve me directly, but I am trusting that this prosecution will lead us to the truth about Natalee.”
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The prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway has been extradited to Birmingham, Alabama. Joran van der Sloot faces charges of extortion and wire fraud related to promises he allegedly made to Holloway’s family about leading authorities to her body.
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Trump says he’s been indicted on charges stemming from his handling of government documents; Joran van der Sloot arrives in U.S. to face extortion charges
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Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance and suspected murder of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba, arrived in the U.S. Thursday to face charges of extortion.
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FBI agents are expected to transfer Joran van der Sloot on Thursday to the US, where he is accused of extorting money from the mother of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teen who was last seen with the Dutch national and two others 18 years ago in Aruba.
Agents arrived in Peru – where van der Sloot is imprisoned for the murder of another woman – on Wednesday afternoon, a law enforcement source familiar with the operation told CNN. The team is expected to return to Alabama with van der Sloot on Thursday after he is turned over to US authorities.
Van der Sloot was indicted in 2010 on US federal charges of extortion and wire fraud in connection with a plot to sell information about the whereabouts of Holloway’s remains in exchange for $250,000, according to an indictment filed in the Northern District of Alabama.
The missing 18-year-old’s mother, Beth Holloway, wired $15,000 to a bank account van der Sloot held in the Netherlands and through an attorney gave him another $10,000 in person, the indictment states. Once he had the initial $25,000, van der Sloot showed the attorney, John Kelly, where Natalee Holloway’s remains allegedly were hidden, but the information turned out to be false, the indictment states.
Holloway’s remains have never been found and in 2012, a judge in Alabama signed an order that declared her legally dead.
Peru initially agreed to extradite van der Sloot to the US to face those charges only after he serves his murder sentence. But last month, the country changed course and agreed to temporarily extradite him to face the US charges, after which he would be returned to Peru, the country’s judiciary said.
Peru agreed to van der Sloot’s “temporary relocation to the United States, because he is condemned here and he must serve his sentence here,” Justice Minister Daniel Maurate said. “But since the US needs him in order to face trial, and the authorities told us that if he didn’t get there sooner, the case against him could be dropped because the witnesses are elderly.”
On Wednesday, the superior court in Lima, Peru, ordered van der Sloot to be handed over to FBI agents, according to a statement published on social media on Tuesday.
“With this resolution, the Judge has completed procedures for the transfer (passive extradition) of Joran Van Der Sloot, who will be prosecuted in the United States of America for the alleged crimes of extortion and fraud against Elizabeth Ann Holloway,” the statement concludes.
The announcement comes a day after an attorney for van der Sloot filed a habeas corpus petition against his client’s temporary transfer from a Peru prison to the US. Maximo Altez, an attorney for van der Sloot, argued his transfer should be stopped as he had not been notified officially, according to court documents dated June 5.
The petition seems to contradict previous statements by Altez. On May 30, he told CNN en Espanol his client had agreed to be transferred and he was not expected to submit a habeas corpus application. “I want to go to the US,” van der Sloot told Altez in a letter.
CNN has tried to reach Altez for further comment.
Van der Sloot has been held at the Ancón 1 prison in Peru after he was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men leaving a nightclub in Aruba 18 years ago.
Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained their innocence throughout the investigation.
In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them, citing insufficient evidence.
FBI special agents arrived in Peru on Wednesday for the temporary transfer proceedings of Joran van der Sloot, a law enforcement source familiar with the operation told CNN.
US federal agents departed Birmingham, Alabama, for Lima on Wednesday morning on an executive jet used for foreign transfer of custody missions, the source said, and the team is expected to return to Alabama with van der Sloot on Thursday after he is turned over to US authorities.
Van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, is to be temporarily transferred Thursday from Peru to the US to face extortion and fraud charges, Peruvian officials have said.
The US extortion and wire fraud charges relate to allegations that he extorted money in 2010from Holloway’s mother by offering bogus information about her daughter’s disappearance.
Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2012 murder of Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room. He is currently being held at the Ancón 1 prison in Peru.
Peru initially agreed to extradite van der Sloot to the US to face the extortion and wire fraud charges only after he serves his murder sentence. But last month, the country changed course and agreed to temporarily transfer him to the US to face the extortion and wire fraud charges, after which he would be returned to Peru, the country’s judiciary said.
Peru agreed to van der Sloot’s “temporary relocation to the United States, because he is condemned here and he must serve his sentence here,” Justice Minister Daniel Maurate said. “But since the US needs him in order to face trial, and the authorities told us that if he didn’t get there sooner, the case against him could be dropped because the witnesses are elderly.”
An attorney for van der Sloot argued Monday his transfer to the US should be stopped, but the Lima superior court ordered him to be handed over to FBI agents on Thursday.
Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.
Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained their innocence throughout the investigation.
In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them, citing insufficient evidence.
Holloway’s body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead. No one is currently charged in her death.
Joran van der Sloot, the Dutchman connected to the 2005 disappearance of American Natalee Holloway in Aruba, will be temporarily extradited to the U.S. to face charges of extortion and wire fraud, Peruvian authorities announced Wednesday. Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year sentence for the 2010 killing of 21-year-old college student Stephany Flores in Lima.
Holloway went missing in May 2005 while on a senior class trip in Aruba, where van der Sloot is from. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, who was detained and questioned, but never charged. The U.S. is accusing van der Sloot of attempting to extort Holloway’s family with promises of leading them to her body, which has never been found.
Holloway was declared dead by an Alabama judge in 2012, more than six years after her disappearance. One day earlier, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to Flores’ murder.
The Peruvian attorney general’s office said in a statement to CBS News that Van der Sloot will be temporarily handed over to the U.S. for prosecution and will return to Peru “immediately following the proceedings.”
“We hope that this action will enable a process that will help to bring peace to Mrs. Holloway and to her family, who are grieving in the same way that the Flores family in Peru is grieving for the loss of their daughter, Stephany,” said Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Peru’s ambassador to the U.S., in a statement.
A State Department spokesperson told CBS News on Thursday that the department doesn’t comment on extradition matters and referred questions to the Justice Department. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday.
Alex Sundby contributed reporting.
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The possible extradition of Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, has placed the mystery surrounding the Alabama teenager who went missing in Aruba in 2005 back in the spotlight.
Peru’s government announced Wednesday that authorities issued an order allowing van der Sloot, who has been serving a 28-year prison sentence in the country, to be temporarily extradited to the U.S. to face federal charges stemming from an alleged plot to extort money from Holloway’s mother.
Van der Sloot’s attorney Maximo Altez told The Associated Press he plans to fight the order.
The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment to CBS News on the extradition announcement. A State Department spokesperson referred CBS News’ questions to the Justice Department.
Who was Natalee Holloway?
Holloway was last seen alive nearly 18 years ago in the Caribbean island nation of Aruba. The 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, just outside Birmingham, was celebrating her graduation from Mountain Brook High School, where she was an honor student, CBS News’ “48 Hours” reported in 2006.
Natalee Holloway disappeared while on a trip to Aruba in May 2005.
Personal photo
Holloway went on the trip with three of her best friends, Liz Cain, Mallie Tucker and Claire Fierman.
“It was so much fun. We would wake up, go like, brush your teeth, go straight to the beach. We would literally stay in the water all day long because it was so perfect,” Fierman told “48 Hours.” “We just hung out with our friends on this beautiful island. It was a really fun trip.”
When did Natalee Holloway go missing?
On May 30, 2005, the last night of the trip, the group went to Carlos’n Charlie’s, a local nightspot, Cain told “48 Hours.” The legal minimum drinking age in Aruba is 18.
That night, Holloway was seen getting into a car with three strangers, which surprised Holloway’s friends and her mother, Beth Holloway.
“No way would she have left her friends and placed herself knowingly what she was getting into,” Holloway’s mother told “48 Hours” in 2006. “They just took her when she just … There’s no way.”
Who is Joran van der Sloot?
Among the strangers was van der Sloot, who was 17 at the time. A citizen of the Netherlands, van der Sloot was taken into custody 10 days after Holloway’s disappearance and was held for months.
“It’s mind-boggling to us that a 17-year-old, if he would have done it, could not have been broken. It’s incredible,” Aruban lawyer Arlene Shipper, who at the time often spoke on behalf of the country’s government, told “48 Hours” in 2006.
Dutch national Joran van der Sloot arrives for a hearing at the Lurigancho prison in Lima, Peru, on January 11, 2011.
Ernesto Benavides/AFP via Getty Images
At the time, van der Sloot denied any wrongdoing in Holloway’s disappearance and no charges were filed against him. He was released to his parents on Sept. 3, 2005.
The case drew widespread attention in the U.S. and has been cited as an example of the news media’s fascination with missing White women. According to the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper, van der Sloot has given conflicting confessions in the case over the years. In 2016, Holloway’s father, Dave Holloway, told the Huffington Post the latest alleged confession at the time wasn’t valid in Aruba unless it was in a signed statement.
In 2010, van der Sloot allegedly offered to reveal the location of her body to Beth Holloway for $250,000, according to the Justice Department.
A federal grand jury indicted him on charges of extortion and wire fraud over the alleged scheme.
According to the indictment, van der Sloot allegedly offered to show Beth Holloway’s lawyer where her daughter’s remains were located and provide “specific details concerning the manner of her death” for an initial payment of $25,000. Van der Sloot would then be sent the remaining $225,000 through a wire transfer within 30 days after the remains were confirmed to be Holloway’s.
Prosecutors alleged that van der Sloot confirmed in an email that the information he provided was “worthless” and kept the initial $25,000 payment.
Why could Joran van der Sloot be extradited to the U.S.?
Van der Sloot has been serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru since he pleaded guilty in 2012 to killing 21-year-old college student Stephany Flores in Lima in 2010.
The Peruvian attorney general’s office said in a statement to CBS News on Wednesday that van der Sloot would be temporarily extradited to the U.S. for prosecution and would return to Peru following the proceedings.
Peru’s government said in a statement to CBS News on Thursday that extraditions are approved by the country’s president, Dina Boluarte, who assumed office in December after a coup by the country’s former leader.
“We hope that this action will enable a process that will help to bring peace to Mrs. Holloway and to her family, who are grieving in the same way that the Flores family in Peru is grieving for the loss of their daughter, Stephany,” Peru’s Ambassador to the U.S. Gustavo Meza-Cuadra said in the statement.
