Peruvian authorities believe Joran van der Sloot, the 22-year-old Dutch poker \”pro\” twice-arrested but never tried for the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba (where his late father was a prominent judge) killed again.
Stephany Flores Ramirez — the 21-year-old daughter of a Peruvian auto-racing figure, circus promoter, and fringe political candidate — was reportedly found dead in van der Sloot\’s hotel room, wrapped in a blanket covered with blood. Supposedly, he had been playing poker throughout Latin America recently, and had arrived in Lima for the inaugural LAPT-Lima. Video shows the two meeting at the Atlantic City casino, site of the LAPT event, which just got underway.
Be sure to keep up with Shamus, who skipped town and country to cover the inaugural LAPT-Lima, and is the most likely to convey the vibe and buzz surrounding this international news story.
Recent reports said van der Sloot was found dead somewhere near Peru\’s border, apparently having committed suicide. However, have yet to find a credible source confirming that … nor any suggesting which border they are talking about. The Free Republic, one site propagating that news early (essentially the 2+2 for conservatives) has removed the thread with that report.
UPDATE: He is not dead, but has been arrested in Santiago, Chile.
Here is a video of him allegedly admitting to the crime of killing Holloway, with a vague description of how he got rid of the body — who disappeared five years to the day that Flores Ramirez was murdered.
Here are screen names that some international players believe to be him (translated from the Dutch PokerNews forum):
Full Tilt Poker: pokerpro68of
PartyPoker: AANOTILTKK
PokerStars: angryshark68
Titan Poker: Joran9
UltimateBet: angryshark68
And here is what some believe to be his profile on Pocket 5s.
To be sure, I do not verify any of these above identities, just reporting the plausible connections out there … and letting the above Joran_Sloot, if he is not the same person, know that many people might be looking at him a little strangely.
Notorious accused poker-player killers of the contemporary poker era include:
Joran van der Sloot — accused Natalee Holloway, Stephany Flores Ramirez killer
Ernie Scherer III — allegedly killed his parents in effort to collect insurance money to pay off gambling debts.
James McDaniel — Dallas underground room operator, in federal prison after being found responsible for the drug overdose death of SMU coed Meaghan Bosch.
Philip Markoff — aka the Craigslist Killer, arrested on his way to Foxwoods.
Daniel Dean — Australian pub-league player who ended up in a drunken dispute during an amateur tourney, and manslaughtered his opponent with a single punch to the head.
Seems to me they\’ve almost got a team for SatanPoker.com.