Van der Sloot charged with first-degree murder

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian judge on Friday ordered Joran van der Sloot jailed on charges of first-degree murder and robbery in the killing of a 21-year-old Lima woman, determining he acted with "ferocity and great cruelty."

Lima Superior Court Judge Juan Buendia issued the order before dawn and the 22-year-old suspect was first taken with other prisoners in an armored truck to Lima's judicial palace, then alone to an eastern Lima prison where he will have his own cell in a segregated block.

Police manhandled Van der Sloot as they ushered him quickly out of the truck at into the judicial palace, a scarf around his neck and his hands cuffed behind him. Two officers pushed his head down.

"Disgrace!" and "Murderer!" angry onlookers yelled as Van der Sloot was taken from the prosecutor's office where he had been held since Thursday. One person threw rotten lettuce.

Van der Sloot remains the lone suspect in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of Natalee Holloway, and the chief of Peru's criminal police said he told investigators that he knows the location of the U.S. teen's body.

Police say Van der Sloot smashed in the face of Lima business student Stephany Flores, whom he met playing poker at a casino, after taking her to his hotel room on May 30. They say he then strangled her, threw her to the floor, emptied her wallet.

If convicted on the murder and robbery charges, Van der Sloot would be sentenced to between 15 and 35 years in prison, court spokesman Luis Gallardo told The Associated Press.