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After nearly 18 years since Natalee Holloway vanished while on a high school graduation class trip in Aruba, the main suspect in her disappearance, Joran van der Sloot, is being extradited to the United States.
Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the murder of a 21-year-old woman in 2010.
Peru's Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Daniel Maurate Romero, said that van der Sloot was being turned over to U.S. authorities "for his prosecution in the United States for the alleged commission of the crimes of extortion and fraud, to the grievance of [Natalee's mother] Elizabeth Ann Holloway."
"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," he added.
Holloway, who was 18, was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot early on the morning of May 30, 2005. Her body was never found, and she was legally declared dead in 2014.
Van der Sloot was previously arrested in connection with Holloway's disappearance but was released without charges. Authorities have not said what charges he is facing in the U.S. or if they have any additional evidence linking him to her disappearance.