Sorry but the US promising not to seek the death penalty after extradition is not unusual

[Tx4obama]

72. I believe the issue came up while he was in Peru - after he killed the second girl...

Reason to be brought back to USA is because of extortion charges - when he tried to exact money out of Natalee's mother.

-snip-

2010 charges in the United States

Around March 29, 2010, Van der Sloot allegedly contacted John Q. Kelly, legal representative of Natalee's mother Beth Holloway, with an offer to reveal the location of her daughter's body and the circumstances surrounding her death for an advance of US$25,000 against a total of $250,000.[64] Kelly said that he secretly went to Aruba in April to meet with Van der Sloot, who was desperate for money, and gave him $100. Kelly notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation to set up a sting operation with the Aruban authorities.[65][66] On May 10, Van der Sloot allegedly accepted the amount of $15,000 by wire transfer to his account in the Netherlands, following a cash payment of $10,000 that was videotaped by undercover investigators in Aruba.[67][68] In exchange, Van der Sloot told Kelly that his father buried Holloway's remains in the foundation of a house. Authorities determined that the information that he in return provided was false, because the house had not yet been built at the time of Holloway's disappearance.[69] Van der Sloot later e-mailed Kelly that he lied about the house.[65] Holloway was shocked that the FBI did not promptly file extortion charges against Van der Sloot, allowing him to leave freely with the money to Bogotá, Colombia, on his way to Lima, Peru.[69][70] The FBI and the office of the U.S. Attorney contended that the case had not yet been sufficiently developed.[66]

On June 3, 2010, the U.S. District Court of Northern Alabama charged Van der Sloot with extortion and wire fraud. U.S. Attorney Joyce W. Vance issued an arrest warrant through Interpol to have Van der Sloot prosecuted in the United States.[3] On June 4, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, authorities raided and confiscated items from two homes in the Netherlands, one of them belonging to reporter Jaap Amesz who had previously interviewed Van der Sloot and claimed knowledge of his criminal activities.[71] Aruban investigators used information gathered from the extortion case to launch a new search at a beach, but no new evidence was found.[72] The Solicitor General said they would not seek Van der Sloot's extradition to Aruba.[73] On June 30, a federal grand jury formally indicted Van der Sloot of the two charges. The indictment filed with the U.S. District Court seeks the forfeiture of the $25,100 that had been paid to Van der Sloot.[10]

In an interview published by De Telegraaf on September 6, 2010, Van der Sloot admitted to the extortion plot, stating: "I wanted to get back at Natalee's family. Her parents have been making my life tough for five years." Van der Sloot's attorney said that his client was not paid for the interview and suggested that "maybe there were some mistakes in the translation."[74]

-snip-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joran_van_der_sloot