LIVE UPDATES: Joran van der Sloot pleads not guilty to wire fraud, extortion charges

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Joran van der Sloot, the man accused in the disappearance of Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway during a high school graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005, appeared in court Friday morning.

Van der Sloot appeared for the arraignment at the Hugo L. Black Federal Courthouse.

We will be chronologically listing today’s events in the timeline below.

12:42 p.m. - Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother released the following statement through Patriot Strategies:

In 2005 my daughter Natalee Holloway disappeared during her graduation trip to Aruba. The main suspect, Joran van der Sloot, was indicted in 2010 by an Alabama Grand Jury in Birmingham for extortion and wire fraud for trying to sell her remains to me. Meanwhile, he has been serving time in a Peru prison for murdering a young girl there named Stephany Flores. He was recently extradited from Peru to Birmingham to face the Alabama indictment.
Now eighteen years later, the wheels of justice have finally begun to turn for our family and we are getting our long-awaited day in court. With the felony arraignment complete, prosecution of this criminal case has officially begun. Joran van der Sloot’s not guilty plea is not disheartening to us, it simply means that his legal team is going to try to make the state prove the case against him. We are confident the U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham, Alabama will succeed in getting a conviction, and we are very grateful to them for their hard work on this case.
Because of the sensitive nature of this federal case against van der Sloot, I am not in a position to give interviews at this time. However, I would like to say that if it were not for President Dina Boluarte, the President of Peru, the warm people of Peru, the family of Stephany Flores, the FBI in Miami, Florida and in Birmingham, Alabama, the U.S. Embassy in Peru and the Peruvian Embassy in the U.S., we would not be where we are today. I am eternally grateful to all of them. I also want to thank Greta Van Susteren who has worked diligently with me for 18 years to try to get justice, John Q. Kelly, and George Seymore and Marc Wachtenheim of Patriot Strategies.
As I’ve said before, I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this summer, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but are finally getting justice for Natalee.

11:15 a.m. - Dave Holloway, Natalee’s father, releases a statement through his attorney.

11:01 a.m.- Joran van der Sloot pleads not guilty to wire fraud, extortion charges.

10:45 a.m. - The Holloway family arrives at Hugo L. Black Federal Courthouse for Joran van der Sloot’s arraignment.

Beth Holloway arrives to Hugo L. Black Federal Courthouse

Dave Holloway arrives to Hugo L. Black Federal Courthouse

8:02 a.m. - Joran van der Sloot arrives at Federal courthouse in Birmingham. He is scheduled to appear in court at 11 a.m.

7:50 a.m. - Black SUVs left the Hoover City Jail at 7:45 a.m. on Friday with Joran van der Sloot.

Joran van der Sloot leaving Hoover

Van der Sloot, who was brought to the Unites States from Peru Thursday, is expected in federal court Friday for arraignment in extortion charges stemming from offering information on the whereabouts of the remains of Natalee Holloway. He is the primary suspect in the 2005 disappearance of the Mountain Brook graduate while on a trip to Aruba.

WBRC will follow this story throughout the day and continue to update as new information becomes available.

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