Wedding Bells for Van Der Sloot: Natalee Holloway Murder Suspect Marries Pregnant Girlfriend in Intimate Prison Ceremony
- Joran Van der Sloot, 26, tied the knot with his 24-year-old girlfriend Leidy Figueroa at Piedras Gordas penitentiary Friday
- The Dutch national remains the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American 18-year-old Natalee Holloway
- Holloway was on a high school trip to Aruba and was last seen with Van der Sloot and another man; her body has never been found
- Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year sentence for killing 21-year-old Peruvian student Stephany Flores
- He met his newlywed wife in prison where she works selling candies and cigarettes to the inmates
Daily Mail UK, 5 July 2014
Convicted killer Joran Van der Sloot can now truly appreciate the expression ‘ball and chain.’
The prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway married his pregnant Peruvian girlfriend Friday in a ceremony at the maximum-security prison where he is serving 28 years for murdering a woman he met in a Lima casino.
Van der Sloot, 26, tied the knot with Leidy Figueroa, 24, in a private ceremony. Prison officials prohibited video and photos during the midday nuptials and none of the groom's relatives attended, said his attorney, Maximo Altez.
Prison romance: Leidy Figueroa, seven-months pregnant bride of Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot, arrives for her wedding ceremony in Piedras Gordas penitentiary July 4
Groom: Joran van der Sloot, 26, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway, married his pregnant Peruvian girlfriend on Friday, July 4, 2014 in a ceremony at the maximum-security prison where he is serving 28 years for murdering a woman he met in a Lima casino
Wearing a tailored suit and dress shoes sent by his mother, Van der Sloot told his bride, who is seven months pregnant, that after he is released from prison, ‘”I want to marry you again,' and she told him the same,”’ said John Barrera, who officiated the wedding as mayor of the city of Ancon, where the prison is located.
The blushing bride showed off her growing baby bump in a conservative white ‘mullet’ dress paired with a matching shawl. To complete her wedding day look, Figueroa wore a flower in her hair.
Van der Sloot met and fell in love with Figueroa while she was selling goods inside the prison, according to his attorney.
Speaking to reporters outside the prison, Altez showed an oil painting given to him by Van der Sloot depicting a tall, solitary woman in a red dress on a palm-studded beach under a radiant sun.
The attorney, who acted as a witness during the ceremony, was one of only four people in attendance, among them another lawyer and the bride’s mother.
Van der Sloot was the last person seen with Holloway, who vanished while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. No charges were filed against Van der Sloot.
In 2011, he confessed to killing Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old business student, five years to the day after Holloway's disappearance.
Van der Sloot is expected to remain in prison until 2038 and then be extradited to the United States to face charges of extortion and fraud for allegedly falsely promising to lead Holloway's mother to the girl's body in exchange for payment.
They found love in a hopeless place: Van der Sloot met Leidy Figueroa in prison where she sells candy and cigarettes to inmates; they will welcome their first child in September
'They became friends and spent a lot of time together in his cell,' Altez said earlier this year. 'Unlike the United States, here in Peru, loved ones or relatives can see inmates inside their jails.'
Figueroa is due to give birth to Van der Sloot's child in September. All prisoners at the penitentiary are allowed conjugal visits, explaining Figueroa's pregnancy.
Peruvian media have floated the possibility that Van der Sloot decided to get married to avoid extradition to the U.S. at the end of his prison term.
But his attorney has dismissed the suggestion that the nuptials were a calculated move.
‘He's getting married because he's in love and is having a child,’ Altez said in May. ‘There are no hidden agendas.’
Leidy Figueroa said earlier this year that she usually visits Van der Sloot twice a week and brings him home-cooked meals.
According to the bride, the convict has become a new person and is enjoying his prison arts and crafts classes.
Van der Sloot is currently in prison for confessing to killing 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores at a Lima casino in 2010. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2012.
Van der Sloot is also suspected of killing 18-year-old Holloway, who vanished during a high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005 and was last seen with him and another man.
Mystery: Natalee Holloway went missing from Aruba in 2005 while on a high school trip. She was last seen with Van der Sloot and another man. Her body was never recovered
Targets: Van der Sloot is currently in prison for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Peru. Van der Sloot pictured during the Flores trial in 2012
The Alabama teen's body has not been found and Van Der Sloot has denied involvement in her disappearance.
More than two decades from now, Van der Sloot will face charges in the U.S. for accepting $25,000 from Holloway's mom to lead her to the girl's body, something he never did.
Van der Sloot has been spending his sentence teaching English to other inmates and painting.