Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot - What happened to Stephany Flores Ramírez?

The cold-blooded murder of Peruvian business student Stephany Flores Ramírez brought international attention to the case as it occurred exactly five years after the infamous disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

The killer, Joran van der Sloot, had already been named the prime suspect in the high-profile case of Holloway and had been arrested twice before he took out Ramirez. Stephany Flores Ramírez met Joran at the Atlanta City Casino, after which the two left for his hotel, where she was brutally strangled and suffocated to death.

Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot, originally aired on February 27, 2024, showcases the crimes by Joran van der Sloot. The official synopsis reads,

"Delves into Joran van der Sloot's lifelong pattern of violence and pathological lying through rare interviews and new insights years after he brutally murdered American Natalee Holloway and Peruvian Stephany Flores."

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What happened to Stephany Flores Ramírez?

Stephany Flores Ramírez, a 21-year-old business student from Peru, was brutally murdered at the hands of the prime suspect of Natalee Holloway's disappearance - Joran van der Sloot. Stephany Flores was murdered exactly five years after Holloway's disappearance - on May 30, 2010, per CBS News.

The student of the University of Lima and an expert poker player had been attending the Texas Hold'em tournament held at the Atlanta City Casino, according to the Keene Sentinel. She was spotted playing cards at the same table as Joran van der Sloot from the casino surveillance footage.

Ramírez and van der Sloot drove to Hotel TAC in the former's car, where the two checked into a room booked under Van der Sloot's name. Joran and Stephany were playing online poker on the latter's computer when he received a message from an unknown sender. According to ABC News, the message read,

"I'm going to kill you, you little Mongoloid."

Joran van der Sloot explained the message was about his involvement in the investigation of Natalee Holloway's missing case, which caused Stephany to lash out at him. Stephany hit van der Sloot in the head with her fist when he impulsively hit her in the nose with his right elbow and overpowered her, per his confession obtained by the Associated Press.

As she started to lose consciousness, Joran strangled her and suffocated her with his bloody shirt. He shared,

"She was on the bed when I hit her hard with my right elbow and I think her head went back and hit the wall, then she begins to bleed. Immediately I get on top of her and with both hands I begin to strangle her, keeping her that way for a minute.

He added,

After that, I throw her to the floor, but she keeps breathing. At that moment I take off my shirt and put it on her face, pressing on it. I don't remember for how long, but she stops breathing. In this way I think I caused her death."

An employee of Hotel TAC discovered Stephany Flores Ramírez's body in room 309 on June 2, 2010, along with a tennis racquet which the investigators assumed was the murder weapon, per the New York Post. Joran van der Sloot had fled without turning in the room's key and also left the television turned on.

The investigators searched Flores Ramirez's car to find most of her belongings missing, including her identification cards, credit cards, jewelry, and an approximate total of $11,000. The police also found date rape drugs in the vehicle that was parked almost 50 blocks away from the hotel in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru.

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Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot showcased Stephany Flores Ramírez's murder as it aired on Oxygen on May 27, 2024.