The mom of accused killer Joran van der Sloot admitted her son “may indeed have” murdered a Peruvian woman — but still insists he didn’t harm missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.
Anita van der Sloot told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that she’s coming to the sad conclusion that her son beat Stephany Flores to death on May 30.
“I now believe that Joran may indeed have done something to Stephany in Peru. Maybe in a burst of anger? I don’t know,” the mom said, according to a translation by ABC News.
“I think it is intensely sad that that businessman [Ricardo] Flores has lost his daughter — and I my son. That’s how it feels.”
Van der Sloot has long been linked to Holloway’s disappearance.
He was among the last people to see Holloway, then 18, the day she vanished while on a graduation trip to Aruba in 2005.
Holloway’s body has never been found.
Despite admitting her son may have killed Flores, Anita van der Sloot still wants to believe her son had nothing to do with Holloway’s disappearance exactly five years earlier.
“I believed Joran. Despite his many lies. I felt that he didn’t have anything to do with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005,” the heart-broken mom said.
In fact, Anita van der Sloot said the stress of being falsely accused probably sent Joran over the edge.
“After he was arrested for Natalee’s disappearance, he was traumatized,” she said.
“We made a big mistake then. We sent him to the Netherlands to study. He should have gone to a closed clinic. He needed psychological help even back then. He wasn’t getting any rest. He was being persecuted.
“After that, people started pointing fingers at him,” she said. “He pretended like it didn’t affect him. Joran was trying to appear tough.”
If van der Sloot is convicted in the Flores murder, he shouldn’t expect visits from Mom.
“If he killed Stephany, he’ll have to pay the price,” she said. “I won’t visit him in his cell. I cannot embrace him.”