Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the May 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, claims his life is under constant threat in prison and there is a $10,000 reward for his death.
“I don’t want to die,” the Dutch-born killer of 21-year-old Peruvian Stephany Flores said in a handwritten letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Latino.
Van der Sloot is serving a 28-year sentence in the Challapalca prison in Peru, nicknamed the “Alcatraz of Altitudes,” for killing Flores in her hotel room in 2010.
While in prison in Lima, Van der Sloot met and married Peruvian Leydi Figueroa and they had a daughter, who is now 11 months old. Figueroa spoke to Fox News Latino and shared a memo written in Spanish from her husband where Van der Sloot says that “the inmates of Challapalca believe if they kill me, the maximum security prison will be shut down.”
Van der Sloot, who claims he is now devoted to Christ, is one of only two foreigners in prison. He said because of that, all eyes are on him and he thinks killing him will capture someone's attention.
“I beg authorities to take action on my case before it’s too late and blood is spilled, with all due respect,” he wrote in a plea to human rights groups and correction’s department officials.
The letter claims Flores’ father, Ricardo, is offering $10,000 to anyone who kills van der Sloot.
“There are no security cameras in prison that would show that officials at INPE [the National Penitentiary Institute of Peru] are doing illegal things that are putting our lives at risk,” he wrote.
In a statement to Fox News Latino, Ricardo Flores adamantly denied offering to kill Van der Sloot.
“Joran is a pathological liar who will say anything to better his condition and get what he wants,” Flores said. “Now that he can’t get his way, he will say or do anything to get attention and get transferred to an easier location.”
Van der Sloot claims that in April of this year, someone placed shredded glass in his food and he almost died. A month later, he says in the letter, an inmate known as “Gordo Pepe,” or “Fat Pepe” assaulted him in an outdoor courtyard. Van der Sloot says the prison guards looked the other way as he was being attacked. There is no way to validate any of Joran’s claims as the prison does not have any security cameras throughout its facility and prohibits any electronic recording devices as well. Leydi Figueroa also told Fox News Latino that on July 28th an inmate, Carlos Tirado Huamán, was strangled to death there.
Van der Sloot has long been the primary suspect in the disappearance of Holloway, who went missing while vacationing in Aruba.
Figueroa told Fox News Latino that Van der Sloot is in the process of writing a book about his life and said a chapter will be “dedicated” to Natalee Holloway.
Challapalca Prison is located in the southern region of Peru and borders Bolivia. It sits 15,000 feet above sea level with temperatures that range from 46 degrees Fahrenheit during the day to –4 degrees at night year round. Visitors must travel for four hours from the closest town of Puno to reach it. Conditions in the prison have raised concerns from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. There is no electricity or regular running water. Water for the prison is drawn from a well a couple of miles away.
In May 2015, Beth Holloway, Natalee Holloway’s mother, told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren for “Greta Investigates”: The Natalee Holloway Mystery 10 Years later that, “All I wanted was for Joran to be behind bars so he couldn’t do, uh, harm to another loved one. And so, I mean, I feel—I feel good that, um, that justice has been served, at least for Stephany Flores’s death.”
Ricardo Flores echoed Beth’s comments by telling Fox News Latino “I hope Mrs. Holloway can find peace in knowing that psychopath will be locked away for a long time.”
Van der Sloot also has a pending extradition with the United States the moment he is released from his Peruvian sentence to face charges on extortion and wire fraud charges. Van der Sloot allegedly gave false information to Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway in 2010 about Natalee's disappearance and fled with $25,000 of her money to Peru.
Carmen Llona contributed to this report.
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