"I will never forget when Natalee Holloway went missing, and the desperation her family endured trying to find her," Fox Nation host Nancy Grace tells Inside Edition. "It broke my heart."
It's a startling new twist to a heartbreaking cold case that continues to captivate the nation.
Teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared during a school trip to Aruba 18 years ago this month.
Now, the man long suspected of murdering her, will be brought to the United States in shackles.
Joran van der Sloot is serving 28 years in prison in Peru for murdering a young woman five years to the day after Natalee went missing.
"I will never forget when Natalee Holloway went missing, and the desperation her family endured trying to find her," Fox Nation host Nancy Grace tells Inside Edition. "It broke my heart."
Although it is not clear when Van der Sloot will be brought to stand trial in federal court in Alabama, he has been charged with extortion and wire fraud.
In 2010, he allegedly tried to shake down Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway, for $250,000, saying that in exchange for the money he would provide her with information on where Natalee's remains could be found.
But he never revealed any new information.
In an extraordinary confrontation behind bars after his arrest in Peru, Beth begged van der Sloot for answers which never came.
"I want to know what happened and I want to I want to move on," Beth said at one point.
Natalee was on a senior class trip to Aruba when she was last seen, heading out with van der Sloot and two others after a night out.
The men all claim Natalee was alive when they left her that night, and none were ever charged with her disappearance or murder.
Natalee's mother now speaks to teenagers about safe travel practices and admits that in the back of her mind she is still holding out hope of one day finding her daughter.
"As parents we always have hope," Beth says in an interview. "Yes, I do still have hope that we will find out the answer."
In a statement released on Thursday, Beth said: "She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together we are finally getting justice for Natalee."
If he does come to the United States, van der Sloot will be returned to Peru to continue his prison sentence there after his trial.
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