Naman Shrestha
‘Pathological: The Lies of Joran Van Der Sloot’ delves deep into the horrific death of Stephany Flores Ramírez, who becomes a victim of a gruesome murder at the hands of a pathological liar. When the family became aware of the tragic situation, they demanded justice for the 21-year-old Peruvian. Apart from providing a detailed account of the entire case, the episode also contains interviews with her family, friends, and experts who were directly involved in the investigation of her murder.
Stephany Flores Ramírez Was Found Dead in a Hotel Room, a Few Days After Her Murder
Ricardo Flores and Marielena Ramirez gave birth to a bundle of joy in the form of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramirez on July 22, 1988, in Peru. Her parents weren’t the only guiding figure in her life as she was also accompanied by the loving and caring company of her elder brother Enrique Flores. Having a habit of seeing the good in people, she was a trusting woman who didn’t shy away from providing a helping hand to others in need. As far as her hobbies were concerned, she was quite into soccer and used to organize matches in the family’s backyard with her friends.
At the time of her demise, Stephany was living with her father who had given her a credit card and a Jeep Cherokee as soon as she started going to college. All these gifts gave her a sense of freedom and in hindsight, her father admits that it was not responsible of him because he did not teach her that there was evil present in the world. Apart from studying business administration at the University of Lima, the 21-year-old Peruvian was also responsible for handling the merchandising side of the family’s entertainment and event promotion business. She was also described as a skilled poker player by her loved ones, as she used to visit casinos in the area regularly and came home winning.
On May 30, 2010, Stephany had gone to the Atlantic City Casino in Lima for another poker session. But when she did not return home, her father got worried and informed her brother, Enrique about the situation. The two then dialed all her friends’ phone numbers to enquire if she was with them. When all roads led to a dead end, they called the authorities and filed a missing persons report. Sooner rather than later, the police got access to the surveillance footage of the hotel where the poker tournament was held and spotted the missing woman. But they couldn’t figure out where she went after the tournament.
Then, on the morning of June 2, 2010, the night clerk at the Hotel Tac found Stephany’s lifeless body, after which the hotel staff called the police. Upon arriving at the crime scene and inspecting her body, they found out that she was strangled to death and had sustained multiple injuries to her nose and face. Next, they taped the crime scene and collected all the pieces of evidence they could find across the hotel room in hopes that they would lead them to the perpetrator/s. They found a tennis racquet that was believed to be one of the things used to commit the murder.
Stephany Flores Ramírez Was Brutally Killed by an Alleged Suspect
When the detectives were done collecting evidence, they went through the hotel register to find out who had been staying in the hotel room where they found Stephany’s body. It was registered under the name of Joran Van Der Sloot. After that, they accessed the hotel surveillance footage that clearly showed that Joran and Stephany entered the room together on May 30 at 5:16 am local time in the morning. After more than three hours, he emerged out of the room alone with his backpack and even asked the hotel staff to not disturb “his girl.” With a prime suspect to look for, they investigated his profile and found out that he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005.
Soon, they found out that Joran had traveled to Chile right after allegedly murdering Stephany. On June 3, 2010, he was arrested near Curacaví by the Investigations Police of Chile while traveling alone in a taxi. At the time, he was also in possession of some bloody clothes. A couple of days later, he was transported to Peru and interrogated about the murder of the 21-year-old Peruvian woman. But it took him two days more before he confessed to the crime and provided a detailed account of the events of the fateful night, despite claiming innocence at first.
Joran and Stephany met each other in the above-mentioned casino hotel on May 30, 2010. According to him, the latter wanted to play some more poker online so he took her to his hotel room on the same night. While the two were playing online poker on his laptop, a message about Joran’s alleged involvement in the disappearance case of Natalee Holloway interrupted the game. He said that he had received a message from an anonymous source that said, “I’m going to kill you, you little Mongoloid.” As per his claims, despite his explanations, Stephany reacted by striking him on the left side of his head with her fist. In retort, he struck back and landed his right elbow right on top of his nose, causing her head to go back and hit the wall.
When Stephany began fainting, Joran got on top of her and strangled her for a minute or so, as per his claims. Then, he even used his bloodied shirt to smother her to death. He stated, “The only thing I wanted was to leave the scene of the crime as quickly as possible and afterward leave the country.” About two years after his arrest and confession, in January 2012, he pleaded guilty to murdering Stephany on May 30, 2010, and was resultantly sentenced to 28 years in prison. On top of that, he was ordered to pay $75,000 to the Flores family in damages.
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