Who was Stephany Flores Ramírez? The other young woman killed by Natalee Holloway’s killer
Stephany was a 21-year-old student in Lima when Joran van der Sloot killed her in 2010, five years to the day after Natalee Holloway vanishedStephany Flores Ramírez is the name many viewers will be searching for after watching Netflix’s new documentary series, Taken: Natalee Holloway.
The three-part series, which landed on Netflix on November 4, focuses on the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
However, the man who later confessed to killing her, Joran van der Sloot, also took the life of a second young woman five years later.
Here’s what we know about Stephany, and more on how the two tragic young women are connected.
Who was Stephany Flores Ramírez?
Stephany was a 21-year-old business student from Lima, Peru. She was studying at the University of Lima and was less than a year away from graduating.
She was the daughter of Ricardo Flores, a well-known Peruvian businessman and former rally driver. He had once been president of the Peruvian Automobile Club and had run for political office.
What happened to Stephany Flores Ramírez?
Stephany met van der Sloot at a casino in Lima’s Miraflores district in the early hours of May 30, 2010. This was five years to the day after Natalee went missing in Aruba.
Hotel security footage showed the pair entering van der Sloot’s hotel together at around 5am. He was seen leaving alone with his bags a few hours later. Stephany’s body was found in his room on June 2.
By then, van der Sloot had fled to neighbouring Chile, where police arrested him on June 3. He was returned to Peru the following day.
He confessed to killing Stephany within days, although he later claimed he had been tricked into signing his confession.
In January 2012, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to murder and robbery. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison and ordered to pay $75,000 to Stephany’s family.
Speaking in 2011 after coming face to face with his daughter’s killer for the first time at a court hearing, Ricardo Flores said: “It was a very tough moment.”
How are the Stephany Flores Ramírez and Natalee Holloway cases linked?
Van der Sloot had been arrested in Aruba in 2005 as a suspect in Natalee’s disappearance, but he was released for lack of evidence and never charged at the time.
In 2023, he was temporarily extradited from Peru to the US to face extortion and wire fraud charges after trying to sell false information about Natalee’s whereabouts to her family. As part of a plea deal, he finally confessed to killing Natalee.
Beth Holloway has spoken about the similarities between the two cases.
Stephany’s story features briefly in the documentary, with Beth and Natalee’s friend Madison Greer describing van der Sloot’s conviction for killing her as devastating.
Speaking to Netflix’s Tudum, she said: “Stephany and Natalee lost their lives in the same manner and circumstances,” adding that the cases are “parallel almost line by line”.
Where is Joran van der Sloot now?
Van der Sloot, 39, was sentenced to 20 years in the US for extortion and wire fraud. This is being served at the same time as his Peruvian sentence. He returned to Peru, where he remains in prison serving his sentence for Stephany’s murder.
He has not been charged over Natalee’s death. However, Beth has said she is working with Dutch lawyers on a murder complaint against him.
All three episodes of Taken: Natalee Holloway are streaming now on Netflix.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI technology to synthesise source reporting and structured data. It has been reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by our human editorial team before publication.
