The third death connected to the Natalee Holloway case, which Netflix did not cover

Stretching across almost 20 years and numerous countries, the Natalee Holloway case was complicated, to say the least. 

In Taken: Natalee Holloway, we only got a brief snapshot of the teenager’s disappearance and the events that followed. A lot was left out, including the other suspects, the things Deepak allegedly said about her, and how Beth Holloway actually got to Aruba so quickly. But that isn’t to say Netflix did a shoddy job; there’s just so much stuff that happened over those 20 years. 

One such moment that was left out of the Netflix documentary was another murder. 

Emily Heistand was an informant in the Natalee Holloway case

Credit: Netflix

In the Oxygen series, The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2017, investigator Gabriel Madrigal used 23-year-old Emily Heistand as an informant. 

She had lived with and had been in a relationship with 32-year-old John Ludwig, with both of them having an interest in the Natalee Holloway case. He was also friends with the man who later admitted to killing her, Joran van der Sloot. 

Over the course of their relationship, which Emily claimed was only three months, John allegedly confessed to helping Joran dispose of Natalee’s body. She used this information to help with Gabriel Madrigal’s investigation. 

“The idea was to crush everything to the point where it wasn’t recognisable as her bones or skull or anything like that,” Ludwick said during the show. 

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In early 2018, John and Emily were no longer together, and the relationship turned to a dark place. She accused him of stalking and harassment, and it came to a head in March 2018 when John turned up at his ex’s door with a knife.

He attempted to abduct her at knifepoint, but Emily managed to stop it by stabbing him multiple times. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital, and the police ruled it self-defence. 

Credit: Facebook

She was left feeling torn about the moment, explaining on Dr Phil: “Sometimes I feel like I’m a murderer, but then sometimes I’m like, ‘I did what I had to do.’”

Despite John Ludwig’s claims, they were never independently verified, and there were some major inconsistencies in his story. For one, he claimed that Joran paid him to dig up Natalee and burn her remains in 2010. Though police did go to the site, DNA testing showed it was not Natalee. 

Emily now lives a very private life. 

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Featured image credit: Dr Phil/Facebook