Natalee Holloway.Photo:AP
AP
Natalee Hollowaywould have turned 37 on Saturday.
Instead, it’s been nearly two decades since the 18-year-old was killed while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005. While she was legally declared dead in 2012, her body has never been found.
Natalee graduated from Mountain Brook High School, where she was astraight-A student.
Natalee’s high school accomplishments led to her receiving a full scholarship to the University of Alabama. She had plans to study pre-med and also hoped to rush a sorority,ABC Newsreported in 2005.
But, her life was cut short when she and her classmates went on a five-day graduation trip to Aruba. On May 30, 2005, the final day of her trip, Natalee did not make the flight back home to Alabama and was never seen again.
In a new interview withNewsmax,Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway says she thinks if her daughter was still alive today, she would have reached her career goal.
Beth Holloway.Mark Wilson/Getty
Mark Wilson/Getty
Beth adds she thinks Natalee would have had children and lived a great life.
This week marks the first time Beth has received answers and some form of justice in connection with her daughter’s disappearance, which had been unsolved for 18 years.
On Wednesday,Joran van der Slootadmitted to killing Natalee afterpleading guilty to extortion and wire fraud chargesfor extorting Beth in 2010. He was sentenced to 20 years.
Natalee was last seen leaving a nightclub around 1:30 a.m. with van der Sloot, then 17, and two other men. Van der Sloot was a Dutch national attending the International School of Aruba.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’sfree True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Van der Sloot recently admitted to law enforcement officials that he bludgeoned Natalee with a cinder block after she declined his sexual advances, Beth’s lawyer, John Q. Kellyexclusively told PEOPLE. He then threw her body in the water, Natalee’s mother told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing.
However, van der Sloot likely cannot be prosecuted in Aruba since the statute of limitations for murder is 12 years.
Van der Sloot had long been considered a suspect in Natalee’s disappearance, and was even arrested a few times during the investigation, but never charged.
Joran Van der Sloot.STR/AFP via Getty
STR/AFP via Getty
Van der Sloot’s guilty plea in the extortion and wire fraud crimes on Wednesday came five months after thePeruvian government issued a decree allowingvan der Sloot to be handed over to U.S. authorities to face charges in connection with the case.
He had been serving a 28 year prison sentence for the 2010 murder of 21-year-oldStephany Flores Ramírezin Lima, Peru.
The American sentence will run concurrently with his Peruvian one, but if officials there release him early, he will serve the remainder of the 20 years in the U.S.
source: people.com
