Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Natalee Holloway => Natalee Holloway => Topic started by: texasmom on July 24, 2011, 09:45:19 PM



Title: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 24, 2011, 09:45:19 PM
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/

PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER JORAN VAN DER SLOOT A MURDER IN PERU AND THE NATALEE HOLLOWAY MYSTERY

AUTHORS:  LISA PULITZER AND COLE THOMPSON

(http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Book-Cover578.jpg)

From a pair of New York Times bestselling authors with unparalleled access comes an in-depth account of the manhunt for Joran van der Sloot, one of the most reviled accused criminals in the world.

In May 2005, Natalee Holloway disappeared from a high school trip to Aruba. Five years to the day later, twenty-one-year-old Stephany Flores was reported missing in Lima, Peru. Implicated in both crimes was one young man: Joran van der Sloot.

 ::snipping2::


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 24, 2011, 10:55:03 PM
PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, A MURDER IN PERU, AND THE NATALEE HOLLOWAY MYSTERY

AUTHORS:  LISA PULITZER AND COLE THOMPSON


Pages 257-260

 ::snipping2::

Callan had worked feverishly to put together his case before Friday's hearing in front of a judge.  Based on his interviews, he was convinced the Dutchman had charmed Stephany to his hotel room intending to rob her.  He chose her specifically because of her winnings.
 ::snipping2::
He believed he knew that Stephany had won a staggering $10,000 earlier in the week.  No money had been deposited in her bank account, confirmed by bank records.
 ::snipping2::

Callan's master file was nearly four hundred pages, and contained sixteen witness statements, descriptions of surveillance videos, crime scene photos, the autopsy report, and of course, Joran's own confession.  He listed his twenty-one reasons for believing Joran had murdered and robbed Stephany Flores:

1. Before leaving the Atlantic City Casino with Stephany, Van der Sloot observed Flores exchange poker chips for cash, which made robbery an attractive crime.

2. Van der Sloot admitted in the presence of a public ministry representative, his defense lawyer, and translator of having robbed Flores of 850 soles, her national ID, credit cards, bank card, as well as her Jeep on May 30. When Flores resisted the attack, Van der Sloot physically assaulted her, before he asphyxiated her, thus causing her death.

3. Stephany’s empty purse was found at the scene of the crime missing her money, bank cards and ID, which Van der Sloot admitted to having stolen.

4. The cruelty exhibited by Van der Sloot as evidenced by the lesions on the different parts of her body, leaving open the possibility that inside Room 309 Van der Sloot may have tortured Stephany in an attempt to obtain the passwords to the victim’s credit and bank cards in order to access the money in her accounts, showing no appreciation for human life.

5. The way in which Van der Sloot attempted to lighten his penal responsibility in this crime by saying that he committed the murder in self-defense, claiming Stephany initially struck him on the head. This is hardly credible given that Stephany sustained severe injuries to the head, face, and neck.

6. The autopsy report established that Stephany’s body, in an advanced state of decomposition — presented signs of cranial, encephalic, and cervical trauma; the cause of death being a blunt instrument, namely, Joran’s fists.

7. The time of death coincides with the time when the victim was seen alive for the last time entering Van der Sloot’s hotel room. A fact corroborated by security videos captured inside the Hotel Tac between 5:30 A.M. and 8:13 A.M. on May 30, 2010.

8. Van der Sloot employed physical force, which resulted in concussions to the head, traumatic lesions to the face, cranial fractures, and sub-cranial hemorrhaging in order to subdue his victim. He then strangled her with both hands and lastly asphyxiated her, as was corroborated in the autopsy report.

9. Footage from the security cameras of the Atlantic City Casino show that Stephany Flores arrived at the casino on May 30 at 2:54 A.M. driving her black Jeep and was captured again on video at 5:15 A.M. leaving the casino in the company of Joran.

10. Through a photo lineup Hotel Tac employees Beidy Salazar Santillan, Reynaldo Cruz, and Adeli Marchena recognized the Dutchman as the guest who on May 30 at 5:20 A.M. entered Room 309 in the company of Stephany Flores before driving away alone in the victim’s Jeep that same morning at 8:45 A.M.

11. Upon observing the videos of the security cameras inside the Hotel Tac, one can see the nervous attitude of the alleged perpetrator entering and exiting Room 309 after committing the crime, presumably attempting to come up with a possible alibi.

12. Driver John Williams Pisconte, his brother John Oswaldo, and Carlos Euribe Pretil all identified Van der Sloot as the passenger they had driven to the city of Arica.

13. The contradictions between Van der Sloot’s confession while in Peruvian custody and the voluntary deposition given in Chile in which he made up a story about a robbery perpetrated by two subjects that were inside Room 309 armed with a knife and a firearm when he entered the room in the company of Stephany Flores. His first version of events was hardly credible considering that the employees of the Hotel Tac never observed other persons entering Room 309, a fact that is backed up by surveillance footage.

14. The attitude and criminal conduct exhibited by the Dutch citizen in having abandoned the body of Stephany Flores after perpetrating the crime, demonstrating coldness in his acts, and then fleeing for the Chilean border with the only purpose of evading justice.

15. The pre-existence of money was established through the Prize Reports and videos of the Atlantic City showing the victim, Stephany Flores, had won on a $10,000 bet on May 24, 2010, and on April 30 she also obtained winnings in the amount of 676 soles. The money was stolen by Van der Sloot, a fact that is corroborated through records turned over to police by the casino.

16. Video records from the Hotel Tac prove that the striped red shirt Van der Sloot gave the drivers during his trip from Ica was the same piece of clothing that he was wearing when he fled the Hotel Tac.

17. The recovery of clothing among which was the striped red shirt, this being the piece of clothing that he wore after victimizing Stephany Flores before fleeing the crime scene in her SUV. The shirt was given as partial payment to the cabbies that transported him to the Chilean border with the objective of fleeing Peru after committing the crime.

18. The clothing abandoned at the scene of the crime after murdering Stephany Flores were clearly recognized as belonging to the suspect.

19. Police established that the “modus operandi” of Joran Andreas Petrus Van der Sloot was selecting female victims in casinos and through deceit obtaining his victim’s money, and in this way obtaining easy money.

20. It was scientifically established that fingerprints obtained from Van der Sloot while in custody in Lima matched prints lifted from Stephany’s Jeep. The prints corresponded to the pinky and ring fingers of the detainee’s right hand.

21. It was scientifically established that the other fingerprints lifted from the scene of the crime gathered by homicide technicians, from the edge of the glass ashtray, nightstand, the central part of the plastic bottle found on the TV table, and a transparent plastic bottle without a lid, were a match to the middle and ring finger of Van der Sloot’s right hand, as well as the middle finger of his left hand.

Summing up his report, Captain Callan asserted that the death of Stephany Flores was an act of cold-blooded murder, "committed with premeditation, violence, ferocity and cruelty, using physical force to cause her death."  Callan was confident his evidence would lead to a conviction, unlike his predecessors in Aruba five years earlier.  He looked forward to presenting his case at trial.
 ::snipping2::


http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/07/joran-van-der-sloot-guilty-21-reasons-peru-captain-juan-callan

Radar Online article that lists Captain Callan's "top five" of the 21 reasons.

http://www.radaronline.com/sites/radaronline.com/files/21reasonsvandersloot.pdf
Radar Online document of the 21 reasons


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 24, 2011, 11:39:16 PM
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/exclusive-peruvian-timeline-and-documents/

Exclusive Peruvian Timeline and Documents

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Passport-of-Joran-van-der-Sloot.jpg

First week  of May 20112010- Gambler Elton Garcia claims to have met Stephany Flores at the Fiesta Casino.  He claims the two played together roughly four times.

May 14  Joran arrives in Lima on an Avianca flight after catching a connection in Colombia.

May 14 6:12 am  Joran checks in to the Hotel Tac. Adeli Marchena is on duty. Elton Garcia is also staying at the Hotel Tac.

May 24th  Stephany tells friend Carola Sanguinetti that she won 7000 soles in a tournament. In fact, casino records would reveal that she won $10,000 USD on that same day.

May 24th  8:24 pm  Stephany is captured on video at the Atlantic City Casino.  She is with a man.  She goes to the cashier and kisses and embraces him. She and her male companion kiss each other on the lips.  In another video she is seen receiving a stack of 100 soles from a cashier.  She appeared to have won a lot of money.

May 25  Stephany shows Carola Sanguinetti a wad of new sole bills.

May 28th  Joran and Stephany are spotted playing together by Atlantic City Casino employee Katherine Herrera.  She says she saw them together at least one other time as well.

May 28th 10pm  Stephany plays poker with Joran in the Atlantic City Casino for about an hour.  Stephany then meets up with friend Carola Sanguinetti. Sanguinetti says Stephany met Joran through a friend of hers, likely Elton Garcia.

May 29th AM—Time Ricardo Flores says his daughter left the house to sit for a university exam.

May 29th 2pm Stephany has lunch at a chicken restaurant with friend Carola Espinoza.

May 29th 3pm – Stephany and Carola finish lunch and go to Polvos Rosados to buy video-games.

May 29th 5pm – Stephany’s father, Ricardo Flores, tells police  Stephany stopped by the house briefly before heading out for a night on the town.  This will be the last time anyone in the family sees Stephany again.

May 29th 6pm  Stephany and Carola go to a festival at the Markham school where Stephany shows her friend a big stack of 100 new soles she claimed she won gambling.

May 29th 6:30 -11:40 pm Stephany and other friends go spend several hours at the El Pacifico Hotel.

May 29th 9:49 pm Ricardo Flores speaks to Stephany on the phone.  She turns down dinner an invitation to join the family for dinner.  This is the last time Ricardo Flores will speak to his daughter.

May 29th 11:30pm -2:30 am  According to interviews taken by a Peruvian kidnap squad from Stephany’s friends, the young women spent several hours at the Pub del Gringo; a hip Rock and Roll club popular with the younger set.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Atlantic-City-Casino.jpg

May 30th 2:06 am  Joran is captured  on tape entering the Atlantic City Casino.

May 30th 2:15-2:40 am Stephany drops her friends off at home after an evening at the Pub del Gringo. She tells them she is headed straight home.

May 30th 2:54 am Stephany Flores arrives at the Atlantic City Casino.  Cameras capture her pulling into the parking lot.

May 30th 2:55 am  Cameras capture Stephany entering the casino.

May 30th 2:56 am  Stephany walks into the poker room and looks for a seat.

May 30th 2:57 am  Stephany takes a seat next to Joran van der Sloot at the poker table.

May 30th 5:13 am  Joran and Stephany leave the poker table together.

May 30th  5:13 am Stephany seen on tape exchanging chips for cash.

May 30th 5:14 am – Stephany and Joran leave the casino together.

May 30th 5:15 am Footage shows Stephany and Joran leaving the casino parking lot in her Jeep.  Stephany is at the wheel.

May 30th 5:30 am – Joran and Stephany arrive at the Hotel Tac. Together they are captured on tape entering Room 309.  This is the last time she is seen alive.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Joran-and-Stephany-enter-room-309-.jpg

May 30th 8:05 am  Holly’s Coffee barista Karla Avila tells police that Joran came into the shop and purchased two cups of coffee or cappachino.  She prepares them and he leaves.  She later identifies Van der Sloot in a photo line-up. Says he paid with cash. Says he looked normal and did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Karla tells police that  Joran was a regular and had purchased coffee in Holly’s on previous occasions. He seemed in good health and had no visible injuries.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Hotel-Tac-Reciept-from-May-30-2010.jpg

May 30 8:45 am  Hotel Tac employee Reynaldo Cruz opens the door to 309 for Joran who claims he is locked out of his room.  Police suspect this is a ruse intended to confuse investigators.

May 30th am – Carola sends 3 text messages to Stephany’s phone.  She receives no response.  Later texts throughout the evening also go unanswered, Carola tells the kidnap squad that this was “super strange.”

May 30th  8:30 pm  Time that taxi driver John William Pisconte claims he picked Joran up in the city of Ica. Joran has shaved and dyed his hair and is on the run.

May 30th 11:40 pm   Taxi drivers and Joran arrive in Nazca.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Jeep-belonging-to-Stephany-Flores.-.jpg
(Jeep belonging to Stephany Flores which Joran van der Sloot admitted ditching in a dicey neighborhood after fleeing the Hotel Tac.)

May 31st  Stephany’s Jeep is found abandoned in an impoverished neighborhood. Ricardo Flores races to the scene and identifies his daughter’s Jeep and personal effects.

May 31st Stephany’s friend Carolina Larco calls the Flores house and speaks with Stephany’s mother.  Mrs. Flores tells Carolina that Stephany never came home on Saturday night and that police have found her car abandoned in the dicey neighborhood of Surco Viejo.  Worried, Larco goes to the Atlantic City casino to look for Stephany  and then drives  to the Flores house to speak with Stephany’s parents directly.

May 31 12:10 pm Taxi drivers and Joran arrive in Tacna.  Stephany’s body still lies undiscovered in Room 309.  Her GPS enabled Nextel phone rings constantly on the cTV stand beside her body; its battery slowly draining.

May 31st 3pm   According to Interpol, this is the time Joran crossed over the Chilean border in the backseat of a taxi.

May 31 4:45 pm Taxi drivers drop Joran off in Arica, Chile.

June 1st 1pm Taxi drivers arrive back in Ica, Peru.

June 1st 5:35 pm   Stephany’s friend Carola Espinoza is interviewed by detectives from the kidnapping division of the Peruvian Police Department.

June 1st 5:35 pm   Stephany’s friend Carolina Larco is also interviewed by detectives from the kidnapping division.

June 1st evening Ricardo Flores speaks with Stephany’s friends then heads to the casino to screen any existing surveillance footage hoping to catch a glimpse of his daughter on the tape.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/La-Rosa-Nautica-.jpg
(The restaurant and bar in Lima,Peru where Joran and other gamblers were to get together to celebrate the launch of the Latin American Poker Tour.)

June 1st 9pm  Elton Garcia and other gamblers gather at La Rosa Nautica for a pre-poker tour party.  Joran is a no show. Garcia worries Stephany and Joran may have been kidnapped and alerts casino employee Katherine Herrera.  Garcia says he then went out and gambled until 1am.  When he arrived at the Hotel Tac, police were already on the scene. Police learn that Garcia had Joran’s cell number programmed into his phone.

June 1st 11:00pm  – Atlantic City Casino employee Katherine Herrera calls the Hotel Tac inquiring into Joran’s whereabouts.

June 2nd 12:30 am  – Hotel Tac housekeeper, Adeli Marchena discovers the body of Stephany Flores in Room 309.

June 2nd 12:40 am Hotel Tac owner Kuan Bo receives a call at home from the receptionist saying they have found a body in a room on the third floor.

June 2nd 3:00-4:00 am  Homicide investigator Juan Callan and his team arrive at the Hotel Tac.

June 2nd 5 am Police begin to process the crime scene.

June 2nd 8:12 am – Through Interpol, Peruvian police alert the Chileans to be on the lookout for Joran who they know has crossed the border and may be working his way towards Argentina.

June 2nd 9am – Police examine Stephany’s cell phone.  They realize Joran’s cell number is programmed into Stephany’s contact list.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Autopsy-page-one-.jpg

June 2nd 9am  The autopsy of Stephany Flores begins at Lima’s central morgue. The findings are not exactly as they have been reported in the press.

June 2nd 11:15 am – Second statement of Elton Garcia.  The prosecutor refused to sign off on the initial statement taken by police because she had not been on the scene.

June 2nd – Taxi drivers learn on the news that they are wanted for questioning – They are questioned in Ica at noon.

June 2nd 4pm  Statement of Noelia Esther Julcamoro, receptionist at the Hotel Tac is taken by police.

June 3rd  12:30 pm Joran is captured by Chilean authorities and detained in Santiago. Remarkably, Van der Sloot is captured as Stephany is being laid to rest.  Word spreads quickly around the funeral service.  Stephany’s father vows not to eat until Joran is back on Peruvian soil.  He does not have to fast long.

June 3rd 9:00 pm- Joran gives a bogus confession to the Chilean police.  He claims he was set up by Peruvian cops and wants to return to Aruba. He refuses to sign his statement.

June 3  6:41 pm  Murder charges are filed.

June 4th –noon Ricardo Flores is interviewed again by homicide investigators.

June 4th Noon Followup statement of Elton Garcia taken at Police headquarters by Detective Uguarte. Garcia identifies Joran from a photo lineup.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Photo-lineup-shown-to-Peruvian-witnesses.jpg

June 4th 1:30 pm, Police HQ.  Follow-up interview with Adele Marchena. Hotel Tac housekeeper who found the body. She also ID’s Joran from a photo lineup.

June 4th 3:45 PM  Joran is examined by a doctor from a clinic in Arica, Chile.  He is in good health, he’s lucid.  No lesions, bruises or scratches.

June 4  Late afternoon  Joran deported is from Chile.

June 4 7:00pm Statement of Taxi driver John William Pisconte taken in Lima by Detective Uguarte.  Pisconte identifies Joran from a photo lineup.

June 4th 9:05 pm  Police conduct Luminol inspection of the room.  Blood is found everywhere including the shower leading police to believe that Joran bathed after the initial attack. Police feel Stephany likely lay “agonizing” on the floor as Joran cleaned up before finally smothering her with his shirt.

June 5 9am Hotel Tac parking lot attendant Geidy Salazar Santillan gives statement.

June 5th 9am  Atlantic City Casino give police a copy of the exterior camera tape showing the parking lot.

June 5th 10:30 am Joran is informed of his rights as a detainee.

June 5 11am Casino surveillance footage is logged into evidence.

June 5th 11:46 am   Joran is examined by a medical doctor.  Gets a clean bill of health.  He has no medical problems, nor does he show any signs of recent injuries, scratches, lesions etc…

June 5  2:05 pm    Joran gives a  brief statement and acknowledges that he understands his rights.

June 5th 5:00   Joran is again examined by a doctor.  He is told he can call family, meet with an attorney and is informed of the reason for his detention. Joran van der Sloot is then fingerprinted.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Fingerprints-of-Joran-taken-in-Peru-.jpg
(Fingerprints of Joran van der Sloot taken by Peruvian investigators.)

June 5th 5:45 pm  Joran is allowed to use his laptop to send an email to his mother.

June 5th 9:55 pm   Joran tells police that he is willing to help them, but is very tired and needs to get some sleep.

June 6th 11:25 am  Joran confesses.

June 6 7:15 pm Joran is allowed to make a phone call to his mother in Aruba.   The 6 minute call is made from a pay phone on the third floor of the police headquarters.  He informs Anita that he has been charged in a homicide.

June 7 8:40 pm Taxi driver John Oswaldo Pisconte interviewed in Ica by Det. Silva.

June 7th 9pm – Ica –Taxi driver Carlos Pretil returns items “given” to him by Joran including an Al Capone biography, foot powder and the shirt Joran was caught on camera wearing when he exited the Hotel Tac the final time.

June 7 11:15 pm  Additional deposition of driver John William Pisconte in the city of Ica.

June 7th 11:40 am Ricardo Flores identifies Stephany’s clothing and personal effects.

June 8 12:30 am Taxi driver Carlos Pretil interviewed by police in Ica.

June 8th 8:15 am  Formal statement of Hotel Tac owner Kuan Bo taken by police. Investigators are very curious as to how a body could lay undiscovered in a hotel room for three days.

June 8th 12:30 pm.   Police examine Joran’s laptop. He provides them with passwords.  The laptop is then sealed to send to the judge.

June 8th  3pm  Joran identifies clothing, credit cards, money  and personal items handed over by Interpol.  Joran’s confirms the items are his, but says that his laptop is missing.

June 8 Police go to Jorge Chavez airport to look for Stephany’s credit cards etc.. Joran claims he tossed them in a trash can in the parking lot. The search is fruitless.

June 8th 4pm   Police go into the men’s room of the homicide division and spray luminol on Joran’s white leather Nike sneakers before turning off the lights.  They test negative for blood.

June 8 5:30 pm  Police interview Katherine Herrera, the Atlantic City Casino employee whose phone call led hotel employees to Stephany’s body.

June 9th 9:25 am  Formal Statement of Stephany’s friend Carola Sanguinetti.

June 9th 9:30 am  Formal statement of Stephany’s friend Carolina Larco.

June 9th 4:30 pm  Official statement of Holly’s coffee employee Karla Avila.


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 25, 2011, 12:29:58 AM
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/portrait-of-a-monster-excerpt/

Portrait of a Monster: Excerpt

Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson

MAY 30, 2010 LIMA, PERU

ONE

Ricardo Flores was an early riser, even on Sundays. Cracking open the door to his daughter’s bedroom, he saw that she hadn’t come home from her night out with friends. Her bed was still made and arranged with the stuffed teddy bears she loved and collected.

The fifty-eight-year-old remembered his youth when kids still had curfews. These days, the parties continued well past dawn. He only had a few ground rules with Stephany but checking in was one of them. She hadn’t even left a message about her whereabouts. She was going to get an earful when she did report in.

The last time Ricardo had spoken to his daughter was the previous evening. He’d reached her on her cell just before 10 P.M. to invite her to an impromptu family dinner at a grill not far from the Floreses’ home in Santiago de Surco. Stephany told her father she was hanging out with friends in Larcomar, a three-level mall of boutiques, eateries, and movie theaters carved into the cliff at the edge of Miraflores, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

 ::snipping2::

Ricardo was aware of Miraflores’s wild nightlife, and although he worried about his daughter’s absence that morning, he also realized she was twenty-one and an adult.

Annoyed that she hadn’t touched base with the family, Ricardo dialed her cell phone. It rang a few times and then went to voice mail. Clearly the phone was on, but she wasn’t answering.

Ricardo had always been a little overprotective of Stephany. The father of five children, he only had one daughter, his baby girl. As Stephany was growing up, he was rarely seen without his little nenita in tow.

 ::snipping2::

Now, standing in the hallway outside of Stephany’s bedroom, Ricardo felt his daughter slipping away. There was more to his concern than her failure to check in that evening. She had been spending a lot of nights out on the town. He’d recently discovered she was frequenting the casinos of Miraflores, and had gotten herself in over her head. He’d even bailed her out earlier in the year, buying her a new car after he learned that she’d sold her Mitsubushi in an online auction for the equivalent of U.S.$12,000 to cover her gambling debts. Ricardo was upset when he found out what she had done, and he settled the obligation, warning his daughter that owing money was both reckless and dangerous. He didn’t know for sure, but he suspected his daughter was still gambling.

Gambling in the Flores household was something of a family pastime. It was done for recreation, just like Americans might bet on the Superbowl or basketball’s March Madness with friends. Sometimes the buy-in was U.S.$100, which might seem steep, even obscene, in a country as poor as Peru, but in the Floreses’ minds dinner out and a night on the town would be just as expensive.

The senior Flores had been a gambler, and knew it had a darker side. Ricardo’s game had been baccarat. But at home the family played poker. And Stephany was good. She even told friends and family that she dreamed of becoming a professional poker player. She excelled at everything she did, and hated to lose. While she shared her mother’s light complexion and soft facial features, she had definitely inherited her thick, dark hair and competitive nature from her father.

Ricardo had hoped his daughter had learned her lesson after hocking her car, but just a few days earlier she’d hit him up for the equivalent of U.S.$1,000, claiming she needed a new laptop for school. As far as he knew, she hadn’t yet purchased one. He hoped she wasn’t gambling again.

 ::snipping2::

Ricardo was a relatively lenient disciplinarian. He gave his children a certain amount of freedom and believed that kids learned best by making their own mistakes. Still, it wasn’t like Stephany to be out of touch for more than a few hours.

Ricardo’s mind cycled through the possibilities. Repeated calls to Stephany’s cell phone went unanswered. By late morning, he and his wife were frantically calling anyone who may have seen her, including her two older brothers, Ricardo Jr. and Enrique. The two were Ricardo’s adult sons from his first marriage, but they were very close to their half sister.

 ::snipping2::

By evening, the Flores family still hadn’t been able to get in touch with Stephany or her friends. The truth was they didn’t even know many of them. Stephany was a college senior and rarely brought her friends home like she had done when she was a child.

Panic was beginning to set in. Ricardo and Mariaelena were making no progress. Their daughter had vanished. Hours had passed and there was still no word. Ricardo was compelled to call the police.

 ::snipping2::

By Monday, dark and terrible thoughts of what might have happened flashed through his mind. Each time the phone rang Ricardo anxiously answered it. But it was never Stephany, only family members and concerned friends checking in. It was just before 1:00 P.M. when the family finally received some news.

A member of the Peruvian police force was on the phone and believed he had located Stephany’s Jeep. Minutes earlier, officers responding to a suspicious vehicle call had run the plates, discovering it was registered to Stephany Flores.

 ::snipping2::

With Stephany’s Jeep located, police began working with the premise that the young woman had been abducted. Standing in the street next to Stephany’s car, officers from the kidnapping division asked Ricardo for his help in reconstructing his daughter’s movements over the past few days.

 ::snipping2::

Believing Stephany may have been abducted, police began tracking down informants and looking into criminal enterprises that specialize in kidnappings. But this line of inquiry went nowhere. Information was currency in Lima, but there was none of the usual chatter on the street level; none of their sources knew anything. There was also another concern. In their experience, a demand for money should have come by now. That no ransom call was received was very troubling.

 ::snipping2::

Carola was stunned. Stephany was driving around with the equivalent of thousands of U.S. dollars in her glove box. If she had won the cash five days earlier, why hadn’t she put it in the bank or at least in a safe place in her home?

 ::snipping2::

It was just before 3:00 A.M. when casino surveillance cameras captured her taking a seat alongside a young Dutchman named Joran van der Sloot.

 ::snipping2::

Joran watched as she pulled a small wallet with peace symbols and the words “peace,” “love me,” and “flower power” in purple and blue lettering from the pocket of her jeans, unzipped it, and tossed a wad of bills onto the table in front of the dealer. In a city where pickpockets and purse snatchings were part of the norm, many Peruvians kept their money in a simple billfold in their front pockets. And Stephany was carrying a lot of cash. Her wallet was stuffed with 100 and 50 nuevos soles bills.

 ::snipping2::

He had entered the casino an hour earlier than Stephany, most likely anticipating her arrival.

The two had been introduced at the tables earlier in the week by a thirty-five-year-old Uruguayan poker player named Elton García, who was in Lima to participate in the Latin American Poker Tour, scheduled to begin at the Atlantic City Casino in a few days. García, like Joran, was a guest at the Hotel Tac, and the two men had struck up a casual friendship.

 ::snipping2::

Joran had also wanted to be a competitor in the four-day poker tournament. Although he wasn’t a registered player like García, he had come to Peru with $25,000 and had hoped he would be able to buy his way in at the last minute. But the last two weeks had been a bust. He’d lost almost all his cash and barely had enough money to pay his hotel bill.

 ::snipping2::

With the Latin American Poker Tour just three days away, he needed cash desperately. The buy-in for the tournament was U.S.$2,700, and he would need additional money for betting.

Stephany Flores was oblivious to all of this as she sat next to the dangerous and desperate man. She had played cards with him earlier in the week, and he seemed like a nice, friendly Dutch tourist. During Joran’s stay in Peru, Stephany had been a regular at the Atlantic City Casino and there was a buzz about her recent winning streak. He knew she’d scored U.S.$10,000 at the baccarat tables that past Monday and had been winning ever since. The staff at the casino fawned over her, treating her like a VIP. Casinos didn’t do this for just anybody.


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 25, 2011, 12:55:24 AM
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/peruvian-scrapbook/

 ::snipping2::

While researching Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery, we took plenty of photographs and video to keep the images of Lima fresh in our minds for when the actual writing process began.  While the book itself contains a full color insert, we thought you might like to see some personal photos taken while we were in Peru.

 ::snipping2::

(There are smaller sized photos of each of the following at the link above, the links below are to the full sized photos.)

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Media-gathered-in-front-of-Castro-Castro-Prison-Rotator.jpg

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/La-Republica-June-16-2010.jpg


http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Cole-Thompson-Lisa-Pulitzer-and-Richie-Flores.jpg

(http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Cole-Thompson-Lisa-Pulitzer-and-Richie-Flores-300x168.jpg)
Cole Thompson, Lisa Pulitzer and Richie Flores, the brother of murder victim Stephany Flores, share dinner in Miraflores.


http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Cole-and-Lisa-have-lunch-with-Richie-his-girlfriend-and-son-Sebastian.jpg

(http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Cole-and-Lisa-have-lunch-with-Richie-his-girlfriend-and-son-Sebastian-300x168.jpg)
Another meal with the Flores clan.


http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Author-Lisa-Pulitzer-waves-to-the-camera-in-front-of-Castro-Castro-Prison.jpg

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Armed-guards-in-front-of-Castro-Castro-Prison.jpg

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Entrance-to-Castro-Castro-Prison.jpg

(http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Entrance-to-Castro-Castro-Prison-300x167.jpg)
Entrance to the gates of hell: Lima's notorious Castro Castro Prison, where Joran van der Sloot is currently incarcerated.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Lisa-Pulitzer-center-in-front-of-Castro-Castro.jpg





Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 25, 2011, 01:17:15 AM
About the authors:
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/the-authors/

Media:
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/category/media/

Reviews:
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/reviews-2/



Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 25, 2011, 02:51:43 AM
PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, A MURDER IN PERU, AND THE NATALEE HOLLOWAY MYSTERY

AUTHORS:  LISA PULITZER AND COLE THOMPSON


Summary of portions of the Prologue Pages 1-4

Adeli Marchena:  19 year old receptionist at the Hotel Tac

She was the one that checked Joran van der Sloot in at the Hotel Tac in the early morning of May 14th. 

Joran was one of only five guests to check in that day, and the only foreigner.  He had taken the cheapest rate, fifty nuevos soles (about $18) for a small room on the third floor with a TV, private bath, and sporadic maid service.  He paid for the first night only when he checked in, with cash.  And when he returned the several other times to settle his bill, he paid in cash as well.

Adeli was on duty when the call came in for Joran late on the night of June 1st (from the timeline this was Katherine Herrera from the casino).  There was no answer when the call was transferred to Room 309; and the caller asked when he had last been seen.  Adeli recalled that she hadn’t seen him for a few days now.  When she checked the computer registry she noticed that he was two days behind on his hotel bill, so she went up to the room and knocked.  She could hear a TV or radio but there was no answer.  She found the night manager and told her what was going on, she told her to get the extra key and go into the room.

When Adeli opened the door to room 309, a foul smell overwhelmed her.  The TV was left on; the table had empty soda bottles, cigarette butts, and coffee cups covering it.  A window was open and the curtain was moving from the breeze.  The room was a mess, but when she noticed clothing and tennis shoes mixed in with the bed linens on the floor she felt sure Joran hadn’t skipped out on the bill.  Still scanning the room she turned to the right and saw a person sprawled on the floor, at first she thought it must be Joran.  But as she moved closer she saw the long black wavy hair, drenched in blood and knew that it was a woman; and she was dead.  The body was bloated and badly disfigured with dried blood around the nose; she had obviously met a violent death.  It looked as if she had been posed with her legs bent at the knee and apart, exposing her red panties.  Her upper body was dressed in a dark T-shirt and partially covered with a white jacket that was soaked in dried blood; like the rest of the body was.  Adeli was overwhelmed with what she’d seen.  She turned the TV off on her way out of the room and ran screaming out to the hall.


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on July 25, 2011, 03:37:27 AM
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/

PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER JORAN VAN DER SLOOT A MURDER IN PERU AND THE NATALEE HOLLOWAY MYSTERY

AUTHORS:  LISA PULITZER AND COLE THOMPSON

(http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Book-Cover578.jpg)

From a pair of New York Times bestselling authors with unparalleled access comes an in-depth account of the manhunt for Joran van der Sloot, one of the most reviled accused criminals in the world.

In May 2005, Natalee Holloway disappeared from a high school trip to Aruba. Five years to the day later, twenty-one-year-old Stephany Flores was reported missing in Lima, Peru. Implicated in both crimes was one young man: Joran van der Sloot.

 ::snipping2::

I just noticed that the cover picture I used in the first post has a partially different title!

 ::MonkeyConfused::

Maybe they changed it before it went to print, I don't know.

The book I bought has the title that I used in my posts.

It looks like this:

http://media.us.macmillan.com/jackets/500H/9780312359218.jpg

(http://media.us.macmillan.com/jackets/500H/9780312359218.jpg)

Sorry I didn't catch that!   :2redface:


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on August 08, 2011, 03:14:17 AM
Portrait of a Monster:  Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

Page 89

 ::snipping2::

The deadline for registering for the Latin American Poker Tour at the Atlantic City Casino was Sunday, May 30.  The US $2,700 entry fee could be paid in person at the gaming tables or on online.

 ::snipping2::
Fixed typo.  MB


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on August 08, 2011, 03:15:33 AM
Portrait of a Monster:  Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson


Page 145

(June 15, 2005)

 ::snipping2::

A Dutch forensic team, led by senior homicide forensic investigator Paul van den Hoven, performed a search of Joran's apartment.  The apartment was also scanned by Miami-Dade police detective Alan Lowry and his canine, Bugg, assisted by special agents from the FBI.

Bugg and his handler also performed searches of a vacant lot adjacent to the Van der Sloot residence, and a rear garden.  But there were no hits.

 ::snipping2::



Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on August 08, 2011, 03:17:01 AM
Portrait of a Monster:  Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson


June 3, 2010

Page 165-167

 ::snipping2::

Inside police headquarters, Chilean investigators sat down with Joran to take some basic information.  They had no plans to interrogate him, merely to process him before expelling him from the country.

The Chileans had decided to forgo an extradition proceeding, which can be a tedious, technical legal process involving international cooperation.  They chose to handle the situation as a straightforward immigration matter.

All foreigners entering Chile were required to fill out basic paperwork, addressing two issues:  What is the purpose of the visit?  And what is the local domicile of the visitor?  Joran had lied on both counts, claiming he had entered the country as a tourist, which he clearly wasn't, and had provided no valid hotel reservations.

As far as Chilean immigration was concerned, he was an undesirable who only real purpose for entering the country was to escape murder charges in Peru.  Despite being informed that he was under no obligation to speak, Joran announced to the investigators that he wanted to make a statement, in English, so there would be no misunderstanding.

 ::snipping2::

He was innocent, he insisted, and wanted authorities to know what had really happened in Lima.

 ::snipping2::

For the next several hours, he spun a fantastic tale about meeting Stephany Flores and how the two had fallen victim to a pair of con artists posing as members of the Peruvian National Police.

 ::snipping2::

"I am a professional poker player," Joran said.

 ::snipping2::

"It was going to be my first time in the Latin American Poker Tournament in Lima and I did not get to play."

 ::snipping2::

Joran told detectives that he had not had any problems with immigration or airport security when he had flown into Peru, even though he claimed to be carrying $25,000 on his person when he stepped off the Avianca flight at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport.  "That's the typical amount I carry with me when I go to participate in a poker tournament," he claimed.

"I stayed almost all nights in the casino, sleeping during the day, eating at a restaurant and mostly playing poker.  This is where I met this girl, Stephany.  She sat at the table and right away she started talking to me.  She wanted me to teach her to play.  She told me her father had money, and that she was studying, and that she was not interested in guys."

 ::snipping2::

He claimed that the two were on their way to a casino in Miraflores when they were stopped by two men traveling in a white car.  The men were wearing police uniforms and badges, and both Joran and Stephany had assumed they were cops.

Stephany pulled over to the side of the road and the two assailants demanded money, Joran recalled.  "They said, "Give us the cash, or else!"

"I offered them $1,000 and they laughed.  I then offered them $4,000 and they agreed.  Then one of them told me to give him something as a souvenir, so I gave him one of my bracelets that I brought from Thailand and they let us go."


Joran described the men as "dark skinned," and said they spoke only Spanish.  "It is hard for me to describe their uniforms.  "One of the men was younger than the other," he added.

 ::snipping2::

(Joran said he didn't call the police because at that early hour, they would be closed.  He said he just wanted to get some coffee and go to his hotel room with Stephany to play some online poker.  He said he bought coffee and they went to his room.)

Joran told the Chilean investigators that he and Stephany weren't even safe once they were inside room 309.  "A man came out of the bathroom, holding a knife in his hand, and blocked the exit.  Another man with a pistol in his belt was on the bed.

"The man with the knife told me to "Shut up," but Stephany yelled out and the man with the knife punched her in the face, causing her nose to bleed.  Then the man with the gun said they only wanted money."

(Joran said they had strewn his clothes all over the room going through his luggage looking for money)

"I told them that I had no money, but that I could go to an ATM to get some."

"Stephany kept asking "Why is this happening?" Joran recalled.  "Her nose continued to bleed.  When I offered to pick up the money, they agreed, but the man with the pistol said that I should remember that they had Stephany."

"I left the room, went downstairs and exited the hotel without speaking to anybody.  I did not want to go to the authorities because of my previous experience with the police."

 ::snipping2::

to be continued...


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on August 08, 2011, 03:18:01 AM
Portrait of a Monster:  Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson


June 3, 2010

(Joran’s statements to Chilean Authorities continued)

Pages 168-169

Joran admitted that he had lied to the dirty cops who were holding Stephany hostage about needing to find an ATM.  "I did not need to go to the ATM machine because I was carrying $20,000," he claimed.

 ::snipping2::

(After claiming that when he got back from the ATM run he realized he’d left his room key in the room, Joran told how he’d gone to the reception desk (trying to keep his composure) and asked for a spare key.  He claimed that the attendant agreed to go with him to his room, walked all the way to his room with him and then handed him the spare key and walked away.  He then explained that he’d knocked on the door several times, no one answered and he let himself in with the spare key.)

“The man with the pistol was very angry with Stephany and was covering her mouth with his hand,” Joran continued.  “And he was angry with me for coming back into the room without giving him a warning.”

::snipping2::

“I gave him $10,000 and hoped that would have closed the deal.”

::snipping2::

But the men demanded more money.  “I told them I could get more money so I went downstairs again, but the woman at the front desk told me I needed to move Stephany’s car.”

::snipping2::

Back upstairs he went to borrow the keys.  But Stephany’s captors were now furious.  Why had he come back empty-handed?  He hadn’t brought the money.

Joran said the men began shouting at Stephany in Spanish, but they were speaking so quickly he could not make out what they were saying.  “They told me to gather my things and go.  Go back to my country and speak to no one!”

::snipping2::

He closed the door and fled, leaving behind his abandoned property, his two assailants, and Stephany in the room. 

Before departing, Joran said that Stephany handed him the keys to her Jeep.

::snipping2::

Joran said he didn’t call the police because the assailants were members of law enforcement and he was scared.

::snipping2::

Chilean authorities were not interested in interrogating him, only getting him out of their country.  Maybe he thought this would be his best chance for a sympathetic audience; nonetheless, he had thoroughly mastered the art of spinning himself as a victim.

 ::snipping2::

His tale of woe continued.

 ::snipping2::




Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on August 08, 2011, 03:19:24 AM
Portrait of a Monster:  Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson


Page 170

 ::snipping2::

"In the morning, after checking my e-mail, I learned what had happened to Stephany.  I got in touch with my mother and she told me to speak with the authorities to resolve this matter."

Joran's arrogance was mind-blowing.  Authorities had captured him crouching in the back of a cab with as substantial a makeover as he could manage on the run, and now he was claiming to have turned himself in voluntarily on the advice of his mother.

True, Joran had phoned his mother the previous day while on the run in Chile.  Anita was already beside herself when her son called.  He had telephoned her several days earlier from Peru claiming to have been the victim of a police kidnapping.  Joran had sounded scared, almost manic.  He described meeting a young woman in Lima and claimed they had been kidnapped and robbed by two Peruvian men who were posing as police officers.  The assailants had shown them a photograph of Natalee Holloway during the terrifying ordeal.

 ::snipping2::

 ::MonkeyNoNo::





Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on August 08, 2011, 03:20:59 AM
Portrait of a Monster:  Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson


Page 171

 ::snipping2::

Having taken the investigators through his version of events, Joran was convinced that they would see that he was innocent.  He had not murdered Stephany Flores.  She had been alive when he last saw her in the company of the rogue Peruvian police officers.

With an air of confidence, he announced that he simply wanted to go back to Aruba.  Should the Chilean government decide to expel him from the country, he wanted to be sure he wasn't returned to Peru.  His life was in danger there.

Chilean immigration officials informed Joran that on the following day he was going to be expelled at the Santa Rosa border crossing, the place where he had entered the country three days earlier.

Joran, defiant and hostile, refused to sign his statement.

 ::snipping2::


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on September 09, 2011, 07:08:51 PM
http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/ListenUp/?p=1288

Audiobook Review Spotlight: Portrait of a Monster
Adam Boretz -- September 9th, 2011

(http://images.betterworldbooks.com/161/Portrait-of-a-Monster-9781611201567.jpg)

This time our audiobook review spotlight shines on the non-fiction side and Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson’s Portrait of a Monster. The audiobook — which explores the life and alleged crimes of Joran van der Sloot — is narrated by Cassandra Campbell and available from Dreamscape Audio.

 ::snipping2::


Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery
Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson, read by Cassandra Campbell. Dreamscape Audio, unabridged, 10 CDs, 12 hrs., $39.99 ISBN 978-1-61120-156-7

On May 30, 2005, Alabama teen Natalee Holloway became worldwide news when she went missing while on a school trip in Aruba. Five years to the day, in Lima, Peru, another young woman, Stephany Flores Ramirez, also went missing. While Holloway was never found, Ramirez was discovered murdered in a hotel room. Though the two women were different in many ways, they had one thing in common: both were last seen with a young Dutchman named Joran van der Sloot. Currently awaiting trial in the death of Ramirez, Van der Sloot remains the main suspect in Holloway’s disappearance and is the focus of this well-researched book by Pulitzer and Thompson. Despite the gruesome subject matter, Cassandra Campbell’s simple, no-frills narration never slips into melodrama. Instead, she allows the brutal, unbelievable, and fascinating facts of these crimes to speak for themselves. It’s a performance that’s controlled and straightforward, and it easily pulls the listener into a powerful and disturbing narrative. A St. Martin’s Press hardcover. (July)


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on January 06, 2012, 03:14:10 AM
WARNING:  This chapter of the book includes the examination of Stephany's remains and is graphic and disturbing imo.

 :cry:

Portrait of a Monster
Joran van der Sloot, A Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

By:  Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson

Chapter Nine
Pages 99-106

June 2, 2010

Lima, Peru

Ricardo Flores made a vow to himself not the leave the Hotel Tac until his daughter’s body was removed from the hotel.  Just after 4:30 a.m., when Lima was still dark, Detective Tong and two other officers wheeled the gurney, supporting a casket draped in black, up the ramp from the hotel’s underground parking garage.  The coroner’s gunmetal-gray van stenciled with the words “DIRINCRI HOMICIDIOS” was parked at the top of the ramp waiting to receive the body and take it to the morgue, a twenty-minute drive.

 ::snipping2::

A lump grew in Ricardo’s throat as he watched the coroner’s van carrying his beloved Stephany pull onto the street.  “Let’s go home,” he murmured to his sons, climbing into the passenger seat of Richie’s car.

Turning onto Avenida Benavides, Ricardo looked back over his shoulder and noticed a caravan of news vehicles tailing them.  They wanted a statement, a reaction from the grief- stricken father.  He would have to speak to them in the future, but at the moment he simply wanted to be home holding his wife, who he had last seen collapsed in grief on the sidewalk.  Without the support of his sons, Richie and Enrique, in the car with him, he would not even have been able to endure the short drive.

Richie used the quiet in the car to gently recount the grisly scene he had witnessed in the hotel room.  Because there was blood everywhere, he wrongly assumed that his sister had been stabbed to death.  He spared them the physical injuries to his beautiful sister’s face.

The three men strode into the house, arriving just ahead of the media.  Richard found Marielena curled up on the couch in the living room.  The sedative she had been given by the paramedics had helped, but her face was contorted with grief, tears running down her cheeks.  Kneeling down, he kissed her on her forehead, stifling his own tears with great difficulty.  As the patriarch of the family, he needed to remain strong.

Sitting beside his wife, he watched as the morning sun rose from the east.  The dawn of another day without Stephany, he thought.  He missed her so much.  There was nothing to do now but wait.

Just after 8:00 a. m., the phone rang.  As promised, Callan was keeping Flores updated.
“Van der Sloot” has already fled Peru,” the officer on the phone related.  Police had just spoken with Interpol and had been informed that Joran had crossed into Chile near the Peruvian border town of Tacna on May 31 at three in the afternoon, two days earlier.  Van der Sloot was moving south and investigators worried he was headed for Argentina.

 ::snipping2::

At 8:35 a. m., Ricardo Flores emerged from his house, flanked by his two sons.  Only three hours earlier he had watched helplessly as his only daughter’s body was wheeled from a tourist hotel.  Now, he was determined to see that her killer be brought to justice.

Standing in front of the mahogany door of the family’s garage, Ricardo delivered his message.
“I am doing this out of consideration for other families,” Ricardo began, “so that this does not happen to them.”

Because of the notoriety of his daughter’s alleged assailant, Stephany’s murder was fast becoming an international story.  Television crews from the United States and Holland joined the local journalists standing on the other side of the security gate surrounding the Floreses’ home.

His tone was calm and monotonic as he explained to reporters what he knew about Stephany’s last evening.  She had been with friends.  She met Van der Sloot in a casino.  He had somehow lured her back to the hotel where he murdered her.  “Van der Sloot is now on the run, possibly headed to Argentina, and I need your help in bringing him back to Peru,” Ricardo lamented.  “This was not the first murder he committed.  He did the same thing in 2005.  But because he was underage and there was no evidence, he had walked away to kill again.

“Van der Sloot was previously implicated in the murder of a teenager in Aruba,” Ricardo continued, staring directly into the cameras.  “Her body was never found.  This time Van der Sloot must be stopped before he kills again.

“I don’t want this to happen to other families,” Ricardo implored.  “I don’t want other families to go through what we are going through now.

“I know my daughter was stabbed,” Ricardo told the cameras, his calm demeanor replaced by a tragic faraway stare.  “There was definitely a struggle, but I imagine an autopsy will provide more answers.”

“This is my daughter’s killer,” he finished, holding up two photos of a teenage Joran, dressed in a lime-green polo shirt.

Ricardo Flores was utterly exhausted, unable to speak another word.  He broke down completely in free-flowing tears and breath-choking sobs.  Richie and Enrique took over the microphone.

Meanwhile at Lima’s central morgue nine blocks east of the Palace of Justice, Stephany’s body had been wheeled into a chilled autopsy suite.

 ::snipping2::

Dressed in white lab coats, Dr. Juan Martin Villalobos and his assistant, Sergio, carefully lifted the badly decomposed corpse onto the stainless steel table in preparation for the necropsia.

 ::snipping2::

Dr. Villalobos glanced over the paperwork that accompanied the body, a three-page, handwritten, all purpose form completed shortly before 6:00 a.m. when the cadaver was removed from the crime scene at the Hotel Tac.

Skimming through Captain Juan Callan’s crime scene notes, he read aloud for the benefit of the other three individuals in the room:  Sergio, his assistant Dr. Judith Maguina, another forensic pathologist; and a representative from the Public Ministry.

From Callan’s notes, Dr. Villalobos read to the team that the body had been discovered on top of a blood-soaked sheet.   A tennis racquet had been found amid the clothing and other items near the body, but had tested negative for blood.  If the racquet had been the murder weapon, the body would have presented bruises matching the patterns and dimensions of the racquet.  The coroner noted that none were present.

Callan’s notes also indicated that the body was cold to the touch.  A window of the hotel room had been left open and the body temperature of the victim had dropped to room temperature.  The pathologist didn’t need a form to know the victim had suffered a violent and unnatural death.  Looking at the body, this was unmistakably a homicide.

Stephany’s head alone told the story of a violent struggle.  Both eyes were circled in dark blue-red bruises, her nose crushed and nearly flattened.  More bruises covered her cheeks and chin and a bloody, viscous fluid oozed from her left ear.  There were signs of petechial hemorrhaging, small blotches created as capillaries explode, on her face.  These tiny red pinpoint marks occur when pressure is applied to the neck, a classic sign of strangulation.

Hitting the record button on a small digital recorder, Villalobos announced that he was ready to begin.  He started with the basic information.  The twenty-one-year-old student on the table before him was dressed in a black sleeveless T-shirt, a long-sleeved beige button-down shirt “soaked in blood on the back from the neck to the bottom,” a brown bra, and red underwear.  Pausing, he noted that beneath the underwear was a sanitary napkin completely soaked in blood.  The victim had been menstruating.

With the assistance of his lab tech, Villalobos cut away the clothing before removing Stephany’s jewelry---a white metal watch by Rip Curl, a silver ring, and two black and gray pendant earrings.

Stephany’s once dark brown eyes were now protruding from their sockets.  A contact lens was missing from the right eye.  “Pupils are opaque, fixed, and dilated with time of death occurring between two and three days,” he dictated into the recorder.  It was just a ballpark guess.  With a more recent death, he would have inserted a thermometer into the liver.  A temperature reading from this organ would have narrowed the window considerably, but with a stone-cold corpse, the measurement would have been useless.

Turning back to Callan’s notes, Villalobos saw that the body had remained in the same position since the time of death.  This was a fairly easy conclusion to reach given the victim’s fixed lividity.

 ::snipping2::

The victim’s coloring was consistent with a body lying on the floor in the same position for several days.

Rigor mortis, a natural stiffening of the body, which occurs in the hours immediately after death, had come and gone.  Stephany’s battered corpse was limp and flaccid.  Putrefaction had begun to set in and her once beautiful oval face was now a horrifying kaleidoscope of green, blue, and purple.

 ::snipping2::

She appeared well nourished and hydrated and had no tattoos.

Working his way from top to bottom he found two old scars, unrelated to recent events, one on her torso and another on her right leg.  Her upper body presented more recent injuries including multiple bruises predominantly to the left hand side of her face, neck, chest, arms, and abdomen.  Her straight, once luxurious, chestnut-brown hair was caked with blood.  A sickening red fluid oozed from both nostrils as dried blood mixed with other secretions created when a body decomposes.  Her lips appeared blue and moist to the touch.  Her teeth were intact.

Bruising around the neck was consistent with strangulation.  More bruises and lesions were present on her chest.  Her stomach appeared distended and was covered with bruises and lesions, as well.  More bruises, lesions, scrapes, and cuts covered her upper and lower extremities.  The second finger on her right hand had battle injuries.  She had fought hard, but in vain.

Villalobos found no sign of recent sexual activity.  In fact, based on examination, Stephany Flores was a virgin.

Readying his scalpel, saw, and other forensic tools, Villalobos began the internal exam.  There were no signs of trauma to the top of the cranium, but there were internal lesions on the scalp and the rear base of the skull.  The soft tissue of the brain, in an advanced state of putrefaction, had turned brittle.  Its degraded condition made it difficult to handle, but it was showed that the young woman had suffered devastating internal injuries.  Villalobos discovered a hemorrhage to the dura mater, the tough fibrous membrane that envelops the brain and spinal cord.  Another hemorrhage was found in the fossa media, home to the brain’s temporal lobes, which control speech, vision, and memory.  Subarachnoid hemorrhages of the cerebellum were noted.

Essentially, blood vessels just outside of Stephany’s brain had ruptured, allowing blood to flow into the empty space between the brain and the wall of the skull.  The buildup of blood would have created pressure on the brain resulting in an intense headache, nausea, vomiting, and perhaps even unconsciousness.

But Villalobos doubted the brain injuries themselves were enough to kill this young woman.  Had the assailant inflicted these injuries alone, in all likelihood Stephany Flores could have been saved.

Working his way down, Villalobos probed his fingers into the muscle tissue of Stephany’s neck.  There he discovered bright red hemorrhaging lining the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, indicating she had been choked.  Although it was an ugly injury, it was not necessarily fatal.  Her neck had not been broken, contrary to prematurely leaked news reports.

The actual cause of Stephany’s death was not as straightforward as Dr. Villalobos had hoped.  An X-ray of her hyoid bone, a fragile bone in the neck positioned under the jaw, raised the possibility that Stephany may have been alive but unconscious for quite some time before succumbing to her internal injuries.  When the horseshoe-shaped hyoid bone is broken, it almost certainly means strangulation, but Stephany’s hyoid was intact.

 ::snipping2::

Page 106

 ::snipping2::

Perhaps the most disturbing finding in the autopsy was the possibility that Stephany may have been drifting in and out of consciousness for hours after her attack, helplessly lying on the hotel room floor.  Her arms, fingers, and legs were blue and cyanotic, indicating that the deficiency of oxygen in her blood occurred before she died, rather than after she died.

Combined with the discovery of blood traces in the shower stall, the scene became complete; the horrifying scenario had Joran showering off the evidence as Stephany, alive but barely conscious, lay on the hotel room floor.

 ::snipping2::

As for cause of death, Villalobos's conclusion was surprisingly non-committal.  He explained that Stephany's body had remained undiscovered for two to three days, had been in bad shape and had been, in his words, "in a state of putrefaction that makes an autopsy difficult."

He concluded that Stephany's death had been caused by the combined result of damage to the brain and cervical trauma due to choking.  Villalobos also determined that the "causing agent" for Stephany's injuries was a blunt instrument.  Because the tennis racquet had been ruled out, the investigating detectives needed to reach their own conclusions regarding causing agent.  All the evidence pointed to a rage killing.

Callan and his team suspected that the blunt instruments used to kill Stephany were Van der Sloot's fists--that the Dutch traveler had savagely beaten the young woman for her cash, which he needed to gamble.  After smothering and rendering her unconscious, he posed her body to make it appear as though she had been the victim of a violent sexual attack.  He then began his coffee-run charade to help create opportunities for other assailants and alternative explanations for her horrifying unnecessary death.



Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on January 14, 2012, 08:30:57 PM
http://pulitzerandthompson.com/joran-van-der-sloots-never-before-seen-psych-report/

(http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Joran-in-court-multimedia-box.jpg)

Joran van der Sloot’s Never Before Seen Psych Report

On Friday the 13th, 2012, Van der Sloot was sentenced to a prison term of twenty-eight years. How much time he actually serves is now up to Peruvian prison officials. Under the Peruvian system he could be eligible for release in as little as ten years.

When Joran does eventually come up for parole we can only hope the Peruvian authorities will take into account Joran’s never before released psychiatric report. A report which clearly indicates Van der Sloot is a menace to society who should never be free to kill again.

Our hearts and prayers are with the Flores and Holloway families.

What follows is the full psychiatric exam taken just days after Van der Sloot’s arrest for a chilling murder that rocked the world. The report was obtained exclusively by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson while researching the book Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru and the Natalee Holloway Mystery.

http://pulitzerandthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Joran-van-der-Sloot-psych-report-page-one.jpg

Joran van der Sloot Psych Report:

Peruvian National Police Department (DIRINCRI)

Psychological Report


A.  Origin:  DIRINCRI PNP

 B.  Background :  #2103-10 DIRINCRI Homicide Division

 C.  Exam

1)  NAME :  Joran Petrus van der Sloot 22

2) REASON:  He is implicated in the alleged crime against the life, body and health of Stephany Flores 21.  Body found on June 2nd at aprox 4:40 am inside room 309 of the Hotel Tac.

3) PLACE AND DATE Division of Homicide June 7th 2010

4) METHOD  Psychological interview, Mental exam, Psychological tests

 D.  Results

1)   Description of the physical appearance and attitude of the examinee

The examinee presents himself as a detainee in regular state of physical cleanliness and appearance.  Light skinned, of white race, tall in stature, slim, hair neatly cut and dyed blonde.  Has a tattoo in the Thai language that translated means “No problem,” in the left pectoral muscle.  His facial expression reflects serenity and stiffness, at times pensive and introspective, his gaze is fixed and sad, but making eye contact.  The language comprehensible, although at times it is difficult because of the translation into Spanish.  His accent being that of a foreigner.  His posture is somewhat stooped, his walk coordinated without any visible physical disorder.

During the evaluation he looks tense and preoccupied, he seems passive, communicative, accessible and given to dialogue, on occasion he is anxious moving his lower extremities constantly, and exhibiting a tremor in his hands.  He recounts the events of the investigation coherently, responding clearly to the questions asked  and accepting  the blame for the criminal events for which he is being investigated; however from time to time (beginning of aggression) offers answers in his favor, where it can be perceived the incoherence between the statement and his emotional responses, which reflects the hiding of information. While offering information of his family life he turns volatile and cries, showing that he is affected by the consequences of his legal situation. He assists partially with the process of the psychological examination.

2. Verbatim account of the reason for his detention

“I met Stephany on May 28th at the Atlantic City casino at approximately 6pm, she approached me, I was playing poker, she knew there was a Dutchman, she said ‘You are the Dutchman that plays poker.  I am a poker amateur.’  I had bought a telephone chip in Wong and we exchanged telephone numbers, I chatted with her for a while, five minutes and she said, ‘Tomorrow I am going to call you to do something together’ and the following day she called me in the morning of May 29th, and she said, ‘I am going to have coffee and I am going to play poker.’  I said I’ll see you later, and around 6pm I went to the Atlantic City Casino alone, from 6pm until two in the morning  I was playing blackjack and I went upstairs to the poker game and Stephany arrived at the table where I was playing, I spoke with her and she asked me if I had a girlfriend and I told her that I am single and she said ‘I have a girl, I am a lesbian,’  I said, it doesn’t matter, in Holland I have homosexual friends, lesbians, afterwards I said to her let’s go to my room to play poker on my laptop, I had drank whisky cola at the Atlantic City Casino, later on I drank 4 or 5 pisco sours, I don’t know if she drank a lot, but she did drink wine.  We were there up until 5:30 in the morning.  After playing poker the two of us lost $1,000 USD, which is not a lot of money, I had arrived with money in cash, on May 28th I won $1,500.  We went to the room, she went of her own accord, we entered the room and we sat on the bed, I opened my Facebook account and I had received a message where they said, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ It was because of the Aruba case, they insulted me, there were always those messages and I was chatting with Stephany, telling her about the Aruba case, that I hadn’t done anything wrong, and at a certain point I reacted with a strike on the nose (he makes a gesture with his elbow) and there was a lot of blood and I struck her head against the wall and I didn’t know what I was thinking.  I had n impulsive reaction, she struck first with her hand on my head (he closes his hand forming a fist) and we began hitting each other, she had strength or she was strong, then I grabbed her from the neck (he shows with his hands that he grabs her tightly about the neck) and she bled a lot.  I didn’t want to see a lot of blood and I wanted to remove the sheet, and I was a little frightened, blood spilled on my clothing and I covered her face, I do not remember what she was saying, she began to breath heavily and I took her pants off and I covered her face, until I couldn’t hear anything else, I changed my t-shirt, I didn’t take a shower, I took her keys and her cards and money that there was, 850 soles, I left the room and I saw a person and I said nothing, I wanted to leave that place, I left in the car, I don’t know the streets of Lima, I wanted to go as far as possible, I left the car anywhere, I threw the keys and the cards away in a garbage bin, I paid for a cab and I went to the airport, but I was afraid and I went to a bus company, then I asked a cabbie to take me to another city, farther away and in the direction of Chile.”

“I left the hotel at eight am more or less, I was with Stephany for two hours, we went to my room as friends, nothing about sexual relations.”

3. Relevant data of his personal history

Born in Holland, Aug 6th 1987.  The eldest of three brothers.

The family is comprised of his father who was Paul van der Sloot, a judge in Aruba (deceased) His mother Anita van der Sloot, professor, the family relationship was good, he remembers that there was better communication with his father than with his mother, he travelled frequently to different countries with his parents and brothers.  His brothers are Valentino (19) and Sebastian (15), he was closer to the youngest brother and as he remembers he turns unstable.  He does not manifest any violence or maltreatment on the part of his family.

He lived with his parents until age 17, when he was accused of the death of a young woman in Aruba and after three months, the time that it took to process the investigation, of which he was absolved, he traveled to Holland with views to “forget the events, especially the time he spent in prison,” resides there for two years, while he studies international business, and receiving 800 Euros per month from the Dutch government, however he indicates that “I didn’t take my studies very seriously,” playing poker instead, tennis, and enjoying himself.  Also indicated that he did not have any productive activities that would have helped in his personal development.

He abandons Holland because he is filmed through a hidden camera in an interview with a “friend” about the death of the girl in Aruba, which is then broadcast on Dutch TV, which was the reason he traveled to Thailand, where he resided until Feb of 2010 in that country he had a restaurant were pizza and coffee were sold   across from the university; said business was left in the care of a friend, in exchange for a rent of $1,500 USD, in Feb of 2010 he comes back to Aruba due to his father’s death and to keep his mother company.

School, indicates having been a good student, restless as a child, but doing well in school.  He reports not having skipped school, because his school was private and everything was communicated to the parents.  He did not have fights with his friends or problems with his teachers.  His schoolwork was good, for which he was accepted to several universities in the United States, but he had to reject those due to the problem of the girl who disappeared in Aruba.

He reports having masturbated since he was 14 years old, which was done alone or with his male friends, watching porn videos on the Internet, on only one instance a male friend gave him oral sex.  At age 14 he had his first girlfriends and his first sexual experience, the relationship lasted for a year and a half. He has had two girlfriends and several casual relationships for short periods of time; it wasn’t difficult to establish relationships. Nowadays he masturbates two to three times a week.  He doesn’t exhibit sexual problems.  His girlfriend in Thailand liked to use sex toys and objects.

In reference to work, he has not had a stable job, until two and a half years ago when he opened his business in Thailand (pizza and coffee).

He has consumed alcohol since he was 18.  When in prison in Aruba he used marijuana; said consumption has become more frequent; after his father’s death alcohol consumption has increased; in Peru he drank whisky cola and pisco sours almost daily.  He says he uses marijuana “when I don’t want to think.  It hardens me. It does not make me sentimental.”

He reports to be a person who enjoys sports such as tennis and soccer; as well as poker, a game that in some instances has made him a lot of money, and also “cheating” in the company of his friends.

In addition, he indicates that when he agreed to interviews he would charge between fifty and one hundred thousand dollars.

4  Evaluation of cognitive functions:

Consciousness level  Lucid and conscience of time, place and person

Attention and concentration level:  Slightly diminished due to current stress

Memory  Intact

Language:  Exhibits difficulty in expressing himself in the Spanish language, however, he is understood with adequate association of ideas.

Thought process : Logical and coherent.  His thought process is abstract, he is capable of conceptualizing and perceiving stimuli beyond what is concrete and evident.

Social judgment:  Exhibits normal capacity to analyze and solve common situations of everyday life, proceeding in an impulsive manner when confronted with conflict or unpleasant situations, as well as driven by his personal satisfaction and fancies.

Cultural and intellectual level: He exhibits an information and general cultural level that corresponds to his instruction level (superior incomplete international business). Average intellectual level, with the potential to broaden his intellectual efficiency

5.  Personality traits and characteristics

He faces regular stimuli with anxiety and insecurity, he strives to control, however, when he recalls the family unit he tends to become emotional and cries.

He is sociable and finds it easy to establish interpersonal relationships through friendly and charismatic conduct in order to captivate others, even though he can be indifferent when it comes to the well being of others; has the capacity to maintain a fraudulent social style, because of this he constantly watches out for only his own personal gain.

He exhibits a deficient social conscience as is observed through the violation of rules and the involvement in actions that affect others, without regard for the rights of others, looking only to satisfy his own interests (Money), and through withholding of information and/or distortion of facts in order to project a good self image.

He leans towards social irresponsibility, the absence of achievement and the enjoyment of superficial activities, games of chance, and in general a libertine lifestyle.

He has low tolerance for frustration, does not tolerate inconveniences, he resents and offends easily, which engenders a feeling of revenge.   If the situation calls for it he resorts to verbal and physical aggression when necessary.

He is prone to emotional immaturity, he shows sudden changes in behavior, from simple irony, impatience, and impulsive mordacity, indignation, excessive irritability and incontrollable emotions, that makes him prone to behavior that is excessively aggressive, without regard to injury of third parties, because he rarely complies with established rules of reason and prudence.

He identifies with his masculine role.  Exhibits certain dominance over the opposite sex, minimizing and devaluing the feminine image.

E: Conclusions

Joran van der Sloot (22) at the time of this exam does not exhibit psychopathological disorders, which would impede his ability to evaluate reality.

Exhibits an average intellectual level, which potentially could broaden his intellectual efficiency.  The examinee presents an anti-social personality characterized by the ease with which he establishes superficial interpersonal relationships, indifference when it comes to others’ well being and the capacity to maintain a fraudulent social style; deficient social conscience that shows in the violation of rules and the mixing in events that affect others’ rights, looking only to advance his own interests.  He shows social irresponsibility, the enjoyment of superficial activities, in general a libertine and hedonistic lifestyle in search of new sensations in order to be stimulated. Low tolerance to frustration, unable to stand inconveniences and a tendency to generate a vengeful attitude.  Emotionally immature which prompts sudden changes in his behavior that can go from simple criticism, to out of control emotions, which make him prone to commit acts against the lives of others.  Shows certain dominance over the opposite sex with the devaluation of the feminine figure.
-Lima, June 7, 2010

Interview conducted by: Silvia Rojas Regalado, Forensic Psychologist with the Peruvian National Police (Also a professor at the Escuela Iberoamericana de Desarrollo Social)


Title: Re: PORTRAIT OF A MONSTER: JORAN VAN DER SLOOT BY PULITZER AND THOMPSON
Post by: texasmom on January 25, 2012, 12:11:21 AM
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=12557.msg1505194#msg1505194

Portrait of a Monster
Joran van der Sloot, A Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

By:  Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson

Pages 162-163

Chapter Sixteen

June 3, 2010
Santiago, Chile

 ::snipping2::

Joran had been in the coastal town of Vina del Mar when he hired the cab.  He was familiar with Vina del Mar.  It was renowned for its nightlife and gambling, and was supposed to have been the final stop on the Latin American Poker Tour, before the powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake that past February had compelled the organizers to relocate the event to Peru.  Vina del Mar was an immaculate resort town with a climate similar to the Mediterranean, gorgeous palm-lined boulevards, high-end hotels, and casinos, including the historic Casino del Mar, the first and largest in Chile.  It had been spared catastrophic damage from the quake and was, for the most part, back in business.

Three days had passed since Joran bilked the Peruvian taxi drivers back in Arica.  Since then, he had traveled nearly 1,200 miles down the Chilean coast to Vina del Mar.  The morning fog hovered over the town as he climbed into the backseat of a private taxi he had hired to take him to the capital city of Santiago de Chile, about eighty-five miles southeast on Highway 68.  Despite what he had told the cabdrivers, he somehow still had access to funds.   

::snipping2::

Joran was filled with anxiety that morning.  He had seen his picture in the newspaper, and he knew he was a wanted man.  Still, he was determined to get to Santiago, hoping he could "disappear" among the five million people that called the city home.  From there he would be able to pursue escape options to either Aruba or Holland.

 ::snipping2::

Just before 12:30 P.M., the taxi entered the Zapata Tunnel, a one-mile long mountain pass just west of Curacavi.  On the other side, the highway widens into multiple feeder lanes as it approaches the massive toll plaza bisecting the road.  Spotting the booths ahead, Joran crouched down in the backseat, trying to make himself invisible as the taxi driver slowed to pay the toll.  But his height made hiding impossible and his odd behavior drew the attention of the toll collector.

All tollbooth attendants had been placed on high alert since Chilean authorities had notified them of a suspected murderer on the run from Peru the previous day.  This passenger seemed to resemble the description that had been provided, and an alert witness contacted the highway authority.  Within moments, blue-and-white police vehicles converged on the scene and Joran's fugitive status came to an abrupt halt.

Officers didn't know what to expect when they ordered Van der Sloot out of the vehicle.  Many were surprised by his indifference.  He looked almost relieved that this flight had come to an end and did not resist in any way.

TV news crews were waiting at the Borgono police barracks in the Independencia district in the northern part of Santiago, fifteen miles from the toll plaza.  Journalists had been tipped off that Stephany Flores's alleged killer had been captured on Highway 68 outside of Curacavi.

 ::snipping2::