FRANKLIN BRICENO
Associated Press
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Joran van der Sloot, 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, wed 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.
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.
Van der Sloot was the last person seen with Holloway, who vanished while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. The Alabama teen’s body was never found and 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 promising to lead Holloway’s mother to the girl’s body in exchange for payment.
Van der Sloot met Figueroa while she was selling goods inside the prison, according to the attorney.
Speaking to reporters outside the prison, Altez showed an oil painting done by Van der Sloot depicting a tall, solitary woman in a red dress on a palm-studded beach under a radiant sun.
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