Joran Van der Sloot has been transferred to Miguel Castro Castro maximum security prison. (Google translation here.)

Our post on the problems at Miguel Castro Castro prison is here. His lawyer calls it "Dante's Inferno." Pervian authorities say he will be segregated from other prisoners.

Peruvian prisons have very high rates of tuberculosis.

Who else is at Castro Castro, besides murderers? [More...]

Joran Van der Sloot has been charged with aggravated murder in Peru, (Google translation here) with findings he intended to rob Stephany Flores, persuaded her to come to his hotel room and then brutally murdered her and tried to cover it up. (Added: Later press release from the court (English Google translation here) explains it differently. It's homicide with special circumstances and simple theft.)

Another version here (Google translation here.)

Three cab drivers were also charged with failure to report a crime. The complaint alleges they knew of the crime when or after they drove Joran. Some reports say the maximum sentence for murder during the commission of a robbery with extreme violence is is 35 years, others say it's life.

As to the cover-up, it may have to do with his having pretended to have lost the key to his room. [More...]

The federal court in Alabama has unsealed the Affidavit in support of the complaint charging Joran Van der Sloot with extortion. You can read it here.

The Affidavit begins with Van der Sloot contacting a "cooperating witness" who from all accounts, seems to be Holloway's lawyer John Q. Kelly. What's not said is what prompted Van der Sloot to contact Kelly, and whether it was one of Hollway's private detectives or persons they knew to be in touch with Joran. In other words, just because Joran contacted Kelly before Kelly contacted him, doesn't mean the idea didn't originate with Team Holloway and Joran just took the bait. [More..]

Project Deliverance continues -- Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of 429 people yesterday in a drug sweep. That brings the total number arrested to 2,200.

Yesterday, 429 individuals in 16 states were arrested as part of Project Deliverance, which targeted the transportation infrastructure of Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, especially along the Southwest border, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement. More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the United States to make yesterday's arrests. During yesterday's enforcement action, $5.8 million in U.S. currency, 2,951 pounds of marijuana, 112 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine, 141 weapons and 85 vehicles were seized by law enforcement agents.

[More...]

News reports from Peru tonight say detectives in Peru will release their report tomorrow recommending Joran Van der Sloot be charged with homicide, not manslaughter, which carries a sentence of between 15 and 35 years. (Google translation here.)

The report lists as aggravating factors that he concealed evidence and fled the country. Also considered key: The statements of the hotel receptionist Adeli Abad and her supervisor, Antonio Kuanand that of Uruguayan poker player Elton Garcia. [More...]

Watch Stephany greet Joran when she enters the casino alone at 3:20 am. She walks right up to him and he extends his hand. She sits down and moves over to sit next to him. I think they had played together before. They are greeting each other, not meeting each other.

When they get up from the table together, they leave and Joran comes back to the table (I think to tip the croupier) and a guy starts talking to him and then Stephany walks up. Is that Elton Garcia? (Background here.)Is Elton Garcia in any of the images? See below for the fold for video of Elton Garcia.

When they leave the casino together, he and Stephany are chatting. From the moment she walks into the casino through the time they leave, you don't see her with her head down (like in the hotel video), following behind him. They seem together and comfortable together. [More...]

According to El.commercio.pe, when Joran Van der Sloot was questioned by the Chilean police, he provided quite a different version of the events that transpired the night Stephany Flores accompanied him to his hotel room. (Google translation here.)

In the Chilean version, Joran and Stephany were stopped by two men in a white car as they were leaving the casino. The men were wearing police uniforms, put them in the white car and demanded money. When Joran and Stephany later got to his hotel and went inside, there was a man in the bed with a gun in his belt. A second man came out of the bathroom with a knife. One of the men hit Stephany in the face. The men were the same two men dressed as police that had stopped them earlier. [More...]

According to news reports in Peru, Joran Van der Sloot's mother, Anita Van der Sloot, is heading to Peru to support her son. (Google translation here.)

The article also states Joran will be moved to Miguel Castro Castro prison after being charged and sentenced. (My prior post on the prison is here. )Authorities have delayed his trip to the hotel to walk them through events due to security. It is now scheduled for tomorrow.

In other reports, Joran's Dutch attorney says Joran told his mother his confession was coerced.

El Comercio.pe is reporting Joran Van Der Sloot has confessed to killing Stephany Flores. [Google translation here.] Keep in mind the Google translations are very poor.

The motive, according to the report: When he came back from getting coffee, she was examining his computer looking for information about Natalee Holloway, he got angry, snapped, grabbed her and killed her. The report says she died instantly.

The video is in Spanish, but it includes photos of the hotel room and what purports to be Stephany's body on the floor, fully dressed. (Would they show that, or is it a re-enactment?) She's fully dressed.

NBC now repeating the story here, which it says it got from La Republica here (Google translation here.) [More...]

Update 6/7/10, 10:30 pm: Peru news reports say Joran has confessed, details here.

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I'm still following the confusing reports from Peru on Joran Van der Sloot. My Spanish is getting better by the day because the Google and other online translators are pretty awful, and I've found that by reading the Spanish, I get a more accurate sense, even accounting for the words I don't know. Also, their pronouns are often wrong and in the wrong place making it hard to figure out who they are talking about. It's clearer to me reading the Spanish.

That said, while I can understand most of the written Spanish, I'm not able to translate it into English, so especially when pressed for time (like now) I may move to summaries, with links to the Spanish. From what I gather today: [More..]

Update: Joran will be held at the Miguel Castro Castro prison for the duration of the investigation phase. The prison was the subject of a huge lawsuit in 2006 for violation of prisoners' rights. (see end of this post for more.)

Update: Report from Peru: Joran is refusing to answer questions without a lawyer. Smart move, if true. He also reportedly asked for a non-Dutch attorney and said he was not arrested in Chile but surrendered, knowing he was being sought. Maybe that's why he wasn't handcuffed.

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Original post: Netherlands Offers Defense Attorney to Joran Van der Sloot

Peru may come to regret the gratuitous perp walk of Joran Van der Sloot. A few days ago, the Netherlands said it would not provide a lawyer for Joran Van der Sloot. Today, that's changed.

Stephen Clancy Hill, an actor in adult films, is dead. A suspect in a co-worker's murder, Hill stood on the top of a cliff for 8 hours, threatening to kill himself. He sat down for a few minutes to drink some water, stood back up, and again threatened to kill himself.

What did the Swat team do? It fired a taser at Hill, who collapsed, and either jumped or fell off the cliff, and died.

I'm sure they were tired of waiting for Hill to make a decision, but that's part of their job. [More...]