Dutchman to reveal information on missing US teen

A Dutchman charged with the murder of a Peruvian woman will tell police where to find the body of a US teen who disappeared in Aruba in 2005, a senior Peruvian police investigator said yesterday.

General Cesar Guardia, who is leading the investigation into Joran Van der Sloot's role in the murder of the Peruvian woman, said the Dutch citizen had let slip that he knew the whereabouts of 18-year-old American Natalee Holloway.

But Mr Van der Sloot told Peruvian police that he would only "talk about the matter with Aruban authorities," Gen. Guardia said.

"It is what he said and it did not appear in the investigation documents because it was not revealed during an interrogation," he added.

"He revealed it... during an informal conversation,"

Gen. Guardia said. "He said he knew where the young American is."

Earlier Gen. Guardia told US network ABC that Mr Van der Sloot had agreed to provide information about the case, which attracted huge media attention in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe but was never solved.

"Yes, Joran is ready to discuss this whenever officials from Aruba can come to Peru," he said. Mr Van der Sloot, 22, was charged yesterday with first-degree murder in connection with the May 30 death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores who was found beaten to death in his Lima hotel room.

Lima Judge Juan Buendia ordered that he "be prosecuted as the perpetrator of the alleged crimes of first-degree murder and simple theft," court spokesman Luis Gallardo said.

Earlier, prosecutor Ninfa Espinosa had urged that Mr Van der Sloot be detained on the charges and accused him of having carried out the alleged crime "with the aggravating factors of ferocity and cruelty".

After the charges were announced, he was transferred to the Castro Castro prison in Lima surrounded by security officials and journalists and a crowd that screamed "die murderer" and "pay for murdering" at him.

A police source told media here that Mr Van der Sloot has confessed to killing Flores in his hotel room on May 30 in a fit of rage, saying she used his laptop without permission.

Mr Van der Sloot has long been a prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Ms Holloway, who went missing after a night of drinking with him on the Caribbean island of Aruba. The son of a prominent judge, Mr Van der Sloot was twice arrested in connection with Ms Holloway's disappearance and spent three months in jail but was never charged.

In quotes released by Peruvian authorities, Mr Van der Sloot said he was motivated to kill Flores after she used his computer and saw information online linking him to the Holloway case.

"She had no right" to see the laptop, he said, according to police. "I approached her, she was frightened. We discussed it and she tried to escape. I grabbed her by the neck and hit her."

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation came under fire this week after reports that it missed an opportunity to arrest him last month, before the Peru murder.

It was investigating the Dutch citizen for criminal conduct after he offered information on Ms Holloway's disappearance in exchange for some $250,000.

FBI agents met with him in Aruba and he reportedly accepted sting money, committed wire fraud and made incriminating statements about Ms Holloway's death during the meeting, which was recorded.

But he was allowed to go free, and made his way to Peru and then to Chile, where he was finally arrested on June 3 in connection with Flores's death.