Joran van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year sentence for the brutal murder of a Peruvian woman and is the prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway. (Via Wikimedia Commons / Aruba Police Force)
But being locked up behind bars in Lima apparently isn't stopping him from tying the knot. (Via CNN)
"Joran van der Sloot set to wed behind prison walls. He's marrying a woman five months pregnant with van der Sloot's child." (Via HLN)
Van der Sloot's defense attorney told CNN the 26-year-old convicted killer is planning to marry 23-year-old Leydi Figueroa in a private ceremony in the prison's chapel sometime in the next few weeks.
"They met when she was visiting a relative in prison. They became friends and spent a lot of time together in his cell. He's very happy about getting married. Since his girlfriend is pregnant, he wants his child to be born to a married couple and he's anxiously awaiting the day he can get married." (Via CNN)
But a writer for Peru This Week believes the impending wedding bells could be nothing more than a legal strategy.
The outlet notes van der Sloot's interest in getting hitched escalated after March 9 — the day the Peruvian government approved the U.S.' petition to extradite him once his prison sentence ends so he can face charges in connection to the 2005 disappearance of then-18-year-old Natalee Holloway in Aruba. (Via Peru This Week, FBI)
But current Peruvian law states, if van der Sloot marries a Peruvian national, he gains the nationality of his spouse — therefore complicating the extradition process. (Via Fox News)
Van der Sloot was found guilty of the violent murder of Stephany Flores. Police say he strangled and bludgeoned the 21-year-old Peruvian student to death in a hotel room in 2010. (Via People)
Van der Sloot's bride has yet to comment on his crimes, but she told CBS he's turned himself into "a new person."
And as for their child, she is reportedly carrying a baby boy.
