Peruvian judge orders Joran Van der Sloot held on murder charges
A Peruvian judge today ordered Joran van der Sloot held on murder charges in the death of a Lima student, the Associated Press reports.
Judge Juan Buendia issued the order before dawn,, instructing penal authorities to place the Dutchman in a penitentiary pending trial for allegedly killing Stephany Flores in Peru.
Van der Sloot also remains the lone suspect in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.
Police in Peru say the 22-year-old Dutchman told them he knows the location of Holloway's body.
(Posted by Doug Stanglin)
22-year-old Dutch native  was charged yesterday with the murder of Peruvian Stephany Flores. Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez, the 21-year-old daughter of a former Peruvian presidential candidate, was found beaten to death in Van der Sloot's hotel room on May 30, 2010. The two appeared to have met only hours before while playing poker at a nearby . Flores was found four days later by an employee of the Hotel Tac in the  of Lima. Van der Sloot had previously requested that no hotel staff enter his room.

As Flores was being buried by her family, Van der Sloot was arrested in Chile after trying to escape from Peru. Van der Sloot, who lives in Aruba, was extradited to Peru on June 4. At first, he told police there that, while he had met Flores, he had not killed her, but late last week, he confessed to murdering her. Van der Sloot claimed that he only killed Flores after he found her looking through personal files on his computer.

Joran van der Sloot is the only suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager  during her school trip on . Holloway was last seen on May 30, 2005, exactly five years before Flores' death. Van der Sloot, however, was never charged in connection with the disappearance.

Van der Sloot will be held in  for the next few months "for his own safety."