The date was May 30, 2010. That is the exact day Stephany Flores Ramírez, a 21-year-old Peruvian university student, was murdered in Lima — five years to the day after Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba. Netflix’s third episode of Taken: Natalee Holloway, titled “I Knew He Would Kill Again,” makes that calendar connection the chilling hinge between two cases separated by nearly 1,500 miles.
The date is not a theory or a dramatic reconstruction. Netflix’s own episode description says that a murder occurred “five years to the day” Natalee vanished. Contemporary reporting and the documentary’s timeline identify the murder date as May 30, 2010. Stephany’s body was discovered in a hotel room in Lima on June 2, 2010, which is why some headlines and early reports use the discovery date rather than the date of the killing. Those are two different dates, and confusing them changes the story.
The exact date: May 30, 2010 — not June 2
Stephany was killed on Sunday, May 30, 2010, in a room at the TAC Hotel in Lima’s Miraflores district. Her body was found on Wednesday, June 2. The gap between those dates matters: May 30 is the date of the murder; June 2 is the date the discovery became public through the investigation and news coverage.
For Natalee’s family, May 30 already carried a terrible meaning. Natalee disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005, after the final night of a high-school graduation trip. The coincidence was not simply that another young woman died in the same month or year. Stephany was murdered on the fifth anniversary of Natalee’s disappearance, a fact that became central to the public shock when investigators connected the two cases through Joran van der Sloot.
Netflix’s official episode guide lists the third installment as “I Knew He Would Kill Again.” Its synopsis describes the five-year anniversary and the murder halfway around the world. The episode title reflects Beth Holloway’s reaction to learning that the man she had spent years trying to hold accountable in Natalee’s case had been convicted in another young woman’s killing.
What happened at the TAC Hotel in Lima?
Investigators said Stephany and van der Sloot met at a casino before going to the hotel. Security footage reported by CBS News showed the pair entering the hotel together at about 5 a.m. on May 30. Later footage showed van der Sloot leaving alone with luggage. Police said the hotel room was registered in his name.
The discovery of Stephany’s body on June 2 triggered an international manhunt. Van der Sloot left Peru and was arrested in Chile on June 3, then transferred to Peruvian authorities. The case quickly drew worldwide attention because he was already widely known as the principal suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, although he had not been charged in that case at the time.
Contemporary coverage documented the police investigation, hotel surveillance and the search for van der Sloot. CBS reported that investigators used security footage to establish that Stephany entered the hotel with him and that he later left alone. The reporting is important because it places the timeline in evidence available at the time, rather than relying only on later documentary narration.
How the five-year anniversary connected two families
For Beth Holloway, the news from Peru was devastating. She had spent five years seeking answers about Natalee. Now, on the same calendar date that marked her daughter’s disappearance, another family was facing a violent loss linked to the same man. In the documentary, Beth recalls the emotional impact of learning that Stephany had been killed and says she felt it could have been prevented.
Stephany was not a footnote in the Holloway case. She was a 21-year-old student and the daughter of Peruvian businessman Ricardo Flores. Her own family endured the investigation, the trial and the aftermath of her murder. The coincidence of dates connects the cases, but it should not make Stephany’s life secondary to Natalee’s story.
Contemporary photographs and reports show Ricardo Flores speaking publicly as investigators pursued the case. His grief and determination were part of the story from the beginning. Remembering that matters when a documentary revisits the case through the lens of Natalee’s disappearance: the second victim had a family, a future and a life of her own.
Van der Sloot’s conviction in Peru
Van der Sloot was convicted in Peru for Stephany’s murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2012. The conviction concerned the Peruvian crime. It was not a conviction for Natalee Holloway’s death. The distinction is essential because the two cases have different jurisdictions and legal histories.
In October 2023, van der Sloot pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal case involving extortion and wire fraud against Beth Holloway. As part of the proceedings, he gave an account of killing Natalee in Aruba in 2005. That admission supplied information Beth had sought for 18 years, but it did not turn the U.S. extortion case into a murder prosecution for Natalee’s death.
Why Episode 3’s date detail matters
The episode’s title, “I Knew He Would Kill Again,” is built around the moment Beth and others learned that Stephany had been killed on the anniversary of Natalee’s disappearance. The date helps explain why the news felt especially devastating to Natalee’s family and why the two investigations became linked in public memory.
But the date should be handled precisely. May 30, 2010 was the day Stephany was murdered, according to the documentary’s chronology and contemporary accounts. June 2, 2010 was when her body was found. June 3 was the date CBS reported that van der Sloot had been captured in Chile. Those are three separate milestones, not interchangeable versions of one event.
The documentary’s timeline, checked against the record
Netflix’s official series page confirms that the third episode is called “I Knew He Would Kill Again” and summarizes the central connection: five years after Natalee vanished, a murder took place on the other side of the world. Netflix Tudum’s series overview likewise says van der Sloot killed Stephany Flores on the fifth anniversary of Natalee’s disappearance. ABC News’ timeline independently records May 30, 2010 as the date of Stephany’s murder.
That convergence makes the answer straightforward. The exact day was Sunday, May 30, 2010. The body was discovered June 2. The episode’s “twist” is the extraordinary date connection, not a newly discovered date that changes the established timeline.
Frequently asked questions
What exact day was Stephany Flores murdered?
Stephany Flores was murdered on May 30, 2010, in Lima, Peru.
Why is May 30 significant in the Natalee Holloway case?
Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005. Stephany Flores was murdered exactly five years later, on May 30, 2010.
When was Stephany Flores’s body found?
Her body was discovered on June 2, 2010, in a room at the TAC Hotel in Lima. The discovery date is different from the May 30 murder date.
Which episode of Taken: Natalee Holloway discusses the connection?
Episode 3, titled “I Knew He Would Kill Again,” highlights the murder that occurred five years to the day after Natalee disappeared.
Was Joran van der Sloot convicted of Stephany Flores’s murder?
Yes. He was convicted in Peru and sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2012. That conviction was for Stephany Flores’s murder, not Natalee Holloway’s death.
Was van der Sloot convicted of murdering Natalee Holloway?
No murder conviction for Natalee’s death resulted from the U.S. federal case. In 2023, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to extortion and wire fraud and gave an account of killing Natalee as part of those proceedings. The legal distinction between that admission and a murder conviction remains important.
Sources and further reading
- Netflix: Taken: Natalee Holloway — official episode guide
- Netflix Tudum: Documentary overview and the five-year date connection
- ABC News: Natalee Holloway disappearance timeline
- CBS News: Hotel security footage and the investigation
- CBS News: Contemporary reporting on Stephany Flores
- CBS News: Peru investigation and TAC Hotel
Editorial note: This article uses May 30, 2010 for the murder date and June 2, 2010 for the discovery date. It does not conflate van der Sloot’s Peruvian murder conviction with the separate U.S. extortion and wire-fraud case involving Natalee Holloway.