A young Dutch man linked to the mysterious disappearance of an American teenage girl in Aruba has confessed to the murder of a female student in Peru, police said today.
An official at the Peruvian police criminal investigations unit said Joran Van der Sloot admitted he killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores, whose body was found in a Lima hotel room last week.
"Van der Sloot confessed to the crime yesterday evening," said the police official, who asked not to be named.
"He said that he acted impulsively and did not mean to kill her," he added.
Mr Van der Sloot travelled to Chile after Flores' death but was arrested there and returned to Peru for questioning.
The Dutch man in his early 20s is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old American from Alabama who vanished during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005.
Mr Van der Sloot was arrested twice in the Holloway case, which was much publicised in the United States, but he was never charged due to insufficient evidence.
Peruvian police said Ms Flores was killed on May 30th, the same date that Ms Holloway disappeared.
Reuters