Friday, June 4, 2010

Flores Kin Was "Freaking Out" Over Van Der Sloot

(CBS) While Stephany Flores was missing but before her body was found, her family was "freaking out" when they realized whom Stephany was with, her sister-in-law says.

Then, Stephany's body was discovered in a hotel room police in Lima, Peru say was registered to Joran van der Sloot.

He's under arrest in Chile, to which authorities say he fled and will, they say, be brought back to Peru Friday.

Van der Sloot was arrested after Interpol issued an international arrest warrant.

As CBS News Correspondent Elaine Quijano reports, the Dutchman is the primary suspect in the murder of the 21-year-old Flores. He was apparently the last person to see her alive.

Investigators say they discovered her body lying face-down in the hotel room, her neck broken, her body fully-clothed, with no signs of having been sexually abused.

Police say witnesses saw the two together in a casino over the weekend, and again, entering his hotel room together around 5 a.m. Sunday.

He checked out alone, police say, just a few hours later, before leaving the country.

The Flores murder took place five years after the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

Holloway's body was never found. Van der Sloot was arrested and questioned twice, but was never charged.

On "The Early Show" Friday, Flores' brother, Enrique Flores, told co-anchor Maggie Rodgriguez the family was shown surveillance video of Stephany and a man in the casino, which is owned by a family friend. They were also given the man's name and passport number.

As soon as they got to the Flores family home, Enrique's wife, Carolina Jorge told Rodriguez, she Googled van der Sloot - ironically, in Stephany's room and, when it dawned on the family who van der Sloot is, they all "got scared, and (were) freaking out. And an hour later, they found her in the hotel."

Enrique says Stephany was a "lovely girl" who always had a smile on her face.

Adding to van der Sloot's troubles, police in Chile say he stole $5,000 that Stephany had won in the casino the night they met.

Also, late Thursday in Alabama, the FBI announced van der Sloot is being charged in the United States for allegedly trying to extort $250,000 from someone related to the Natalee Holloway case, in return for disclosing the location of her body -- information that, Quijano reports, investigators now say was false.

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