Suspect in Holloway disappearance to appear in federal court for extortion case; plea deal possible

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An attorney for the mother of an Alabama teen who disappeared in Aruba said that a possible plea deal with a suspect in an extortion case is contingent upon his disclosing details about her death. Joran van der Sloot, long considered the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance, is scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday morning for a plea and sentencing hearing in a case accusing him of trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s mother in 2010 to reveal the location of her body. John Q. Kelly, an attorney who represented Holloway’s mother during the alleged extortion, told The Associated Press about the potential plea deal. Holloway went missing during a high school graduation trip to Aruba.