Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand Go Missing While on Trip in Peru, Have Not Been Heard From Since January 25, 2013 (Update: Found Safe)

US State Department American joins in the search for the missing San Francisco couple in Peru.

Jamie Neal and her boyfriend Garrett Hand departed the United States in December for an biking adventure through South America. Their biking expedition was to take them through Argentina, Chile and Peru, as the couple chronicled their travels on Facebook.  However, the two were last heard from on January 25, 2013.  Jamie’s last communication with her sister Jennifer was on the 25th , in a Facebook post. Jamie Neal had posted numerous pictures along the way during the couples trip; however, they have suddenly stopped. Another alarming set of events is that Garrett’s cell phone simply goes to a recording.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

KTVU reports, that the couple was last seen on January 26 taking a bus from Cusco to Lima and then getting in a cab. What is most amazing is the following from the KTVU article, “Although miles away from home, they were never more than a computer away from family and friends.” If that is what these two Americans thought or anything, past, present and future, you are delusional.  Trust me from experience, when you are on such a vacation, you are all alone, by yourself. All the internet or cell phone does is chronicle your demise and potential last place you were at because by the time help comes, it is most likely going to be far too late.

 Cycle enthusiasts Garrett Hand and Jamie Neal left the Bay Area in November for an adventure of a lifetime, a bike trek through South America. Although miles away from home, they were never more than a computer away from family and friends. The couple chronicled their travels on Facebook, but the photos and status updates stopped Jan. 25. “It’s upsetting, I’m worried about both of them,” said Jeff Jerge, owner of Pedaler Bike Shop.

FACEBOOK: American Citizen Services – U.S. Embassy Lima, Peru. The U.S. State Department has made a poster of Neal and Hand, while the U.S. Embassy in Peru’s website posted a travel warning for Americans.

February 13, 2013 The U.S. Embassy warns U.S. citizens of a potential kidnapping threat in the Cusco area.  The Embassy has received information that members of a criminal organization may be planning to kidnap U.S. citizen tourists in the Cusco and Machu Picchu area.  Possible targets and methods are not known and the threat is credible at least through the end of February 2013. For the moment, personal travel by U.S. Embassy personnel to the Cusco region, including Machu Picchu, has been prohibited and official travel is severely restricted as a result of this threat.

Facebook Pages of missing Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand

• Jamie Neal
• Garrett Hand 

For more updates, to provide your opinion and analysis, and to read others opinions on this missing persons case, go to Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Forum: Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand.

UPDATE I: US: Kidnap threat for travelers to Machu Picchu

A U.S. Embassy warning to U.S. tourists of a potential kidnapping threat in the Cuzco region, including the famed Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, drew vehement objections from Peruvian officials Friday. But a U.S. Embassy official said credible evidence exists of a threat from a Peruvian terrorist group. The official confirmed a report in the Peruvian newspaper La Republica that said leaders of the cocaine-financed Shining Path outlaw band discussed kidnapping foreigners, principally Americans, in intercepted communications. Tens of thousands of Americans visit Peru each year.

UPDATE II:  Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand Found Safe.

Jamie Neal and Garrett Hand have been found save traveling along the Navos River. They stated that they did not even know their families were looking for them. First let me state, I am glad they have been found safe and there was never any incident. That being said, are you serious! They kept in contact while traveling alone throughout South America on their biking trip constantly posting on Facebook, then go silent and out of contact for a month and they don’t think anyone is concerned or worried? REALLY? How would one not think that people are concerned that they have not heard from you in a month? This speaks volumes, doesn’t it.

A California couple thought to be missing for a month during a trip to Peru have been located aboard a boat  – and they didn’t even know their families had been looking for them.

Jamie Neal, 25, and Garrett Hand, 27, from California’s Bay Area, left for Peru in December for a South America bike trip, and had not been in contact with friends and relatives since late January.

The couple was found on a boat that was traveling along the Navos River.

Joran Van der Sloot to Marry? In Prison for Murder of Stephany Flores in Peru and Prime Suspect in Death & Disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba

Hey Joran, instead of saying “I do,” just admit “You did it”!!!

Is Joran Van der Sloot going to marry while behind bars in Peru and serving a 28 year sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores? Are nuptials in the air for the convicted murderer and the prime suspect in the death and disappearance of Natalee Holloway? Or is this just a PR stunt by his attorney? As Joran Van der Sloot and his attorney attempt to appeal his murder conviction is the “little Dutch Boy” also picking out China patterns? Where would he register?

Do bullet proof vests come in black with matching cumber buns?

The 24-year-old is reportedly planning to marry while serving a 28-year sentence in a Lima prison for the murder of Stephany Flores, according to Peruvian tabloid Peru 21.

Van der Sloot’s defense attorney was named by the paper as a source – but he denied the report.

“As far as I know, he’s not going to get married,” Maximo Altez told the Daily Beast. “They cited me as the source, but I’m just in charge of his legal issues, and I don’t participate in his private life.”

More from the Daily Beast.

And as Van der Sloot tries to squirm his way out of a 28-year sentence, there’s another hot piece of gossip: the possibility of his upcoming nuptials while behind bars. The news broke late last week as local tabloids asserted that he plans to marry and unidentified woman. It’s not the first time Van der Sloot has been branded as a lady’s man—just last year, while he was awaiting trial, a story broke in the local media that a pregnant young woman was carrying his child. She denied it on Peruvian television.

These stories were published through the week, with the information attributed to Altez, who denied he was the source. “I deny all of that,” the lawyer said. “As far as I know, he’s not going to get married. They cited me as the source, but I’m just in charge of his legal issues, and I don’t participate in his private life.”

It is rather sad and quite pathetic that such a news story would be spread by Team Joran Van der Sloot, especially when his victims Natalee Holloway and Stephany Flores will never have the chance to have their wedding day.

Joran Van der Sloot Asks for Forgiveness in Death of Stephany Flores Ahead of Next Months Murder Appeal … But Still No Apology to the family of Natalee Holloway

JORAN VAN DER SLOOT’S NOT SO SINCERE APOLOGY AHEAD OF HIS APPEAL …

Just when you thought that Joran Van der Sloot was no longer in the news and was quietly serving out his 28 year sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores in Peru … He’s back! The narcissist Dutchmen, Joran Van der Sloot, has sent a letter to the Flores family apologizing and asking for forgiveness in the murder of their daughter. What is most amazing is that even in this letter that is supposed to be an apology, he still blames the victim for being on his computer. In his drunken rage, he killed her. Wow, has Joran had a change of heart, has he seen the light, is he a changed “little sporter” and now sincere? Hardly, do not hold your breath.  What is the real reason for the sudden act of compassion? The 24 year old Dutchman is due to appeal against the long prison sentence next month, hoping to knock a couple of years off his sentence.

More from Radio Netherlands Worldwide:

Van der Sloot says in the letter, which has been leaked by his reinstated lawyer Maximo Altez, that he was drunk and killed the 21-year-old in a rage, after finding her looking at documents pertaining to the Natalee Holloway case on his laptop. Natalee Holloway disappeared exactly five years earlier on the Caribbean island of Aruba, she has since been declared dead – Joran van der Sloot is still the prime suspect in her murder.

In the letter, Van der Sloot also claims he suffers from psychological problems. He writes: “I ask God every day if Stephany’s parents can forgive me.” If the appeal court rules that the murder was not premeditated, five years could be knocked off Van der Sloot’s sentence. In which case he could be extradited to the United States earlier, where he faces extortion charges. Van der Sloot is accused of demanding 25,000 dollars from Natalee Holloway’s mother in exchange for revealing the whereabouts of her daughter’s body. How compassionate of him!

By the way, where is the apology for the death of Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005? Joran Van der Sloot is a calculating predator to the end. Anything he does has a direct self-gratification for himself. Does any one think that if it were not for the upcoming appeal that Van der Sloot would be writing this letter? Nope! Also, just like he kept twisting the knife with the family of missing and murdered Natalee Holloway, where Joran has yet to apologize, Joran appears to continue interjecting himself in the lives of the Flores family like a cancer that just won’t go away.

However, Joran Van der Sloot may not want to get out of the Peru prison too soon. When he does, his Dutch butt is going to be extradited to the United States and he will face wire fraud and extortion charges.

Peru’s Supreme Court OK’s Joran Vander Sloot’s Extradition to US for Extortion in Connection with the Death of Natalee Holloway

Joran Van der Sloot is back in the news …

Peru’s Supreme Court has ok’d Joran Van der Sloot’s  extradition to the United States to face extortion charges in connection with the death of Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005 by attempting to extort Beth Holloway. It was long suspected that Peru’s court would approve the extradition.  Peru’s top court stipulated, however, that Joran Van der Sloot can only be extradited to the United States after serving his sentence. The Little Dutch boy is presently serving a 28 year sentence in prison in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores.

Joran van der Sloot may, in due course, be extradited to the United States, Peru’s Supreme Court has ruled.

Mr Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores, though an appeal against the ruling is still pending. He is wanted in the United States in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, who went missing in Aruba in 2005, and alleged attempts by the Dutchman to extort her mother.

Van der Sloot was indicted in Alabama on wire fraud and extortion charges. Hopefully the Peru government can interject itself and have Van der Sloot face the American music sooner rather than later.

Count One

That on or about May 10, 2010, the defendant, Joran van der Sloot, did obstruct, delay, and affect commerce and the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by extortion and attempts to do so, in that, the defendant did knowingly and willfully cause another person to wire transfer a partial payment of money ($15,000) from a financial institution in Birmingham, Alabama, to a financial institution in the Netherlands, after representing to the other person that he would provide the location of Natalee Holloway’s remains in Aruba and information regarding the circumstances of her death, upon receipt of $250,000 from the other person, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951(a).

Count Two

That on or about May 10, 2010, the defendant, Joran van der Sloot, having devised or intending to devise any scheme and artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, did knowingly and with intent to defraud did knowingly and willfully cause to be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate and foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds, that being, a wire transfer in the amount of $15,000, from Birmingham, Alabama, to the Netherlands for the purpose of executing and attempting to execute such scheme and artifice, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.

Suspect in Natalee Holloway disappearance Joran Van der Sloot Being Evaluated for Extradition to US from Peru for Extortion Charges

HEY JORAN, YOU’RE NOT IN ARUBA ANYMORE …

Just when Joran Van der Sloot thought it was safe to go back in the Aruba water … well, he won’t be doing that for some time as he faces a 28 year sentence in a Peruvian prison for the murder of Stephany Flores, Van der Sloot faces new issues.

According to Maximo Altez, Joran van der Sloot’s Peruvian attorney, Van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the death and disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruna in 2005 now faces possible extradition to the United States. Joran Van der Sloot was charged  with extortion in Alabama for allegedly receiving $25,000 from Beth Holloway in order to tell her where to find the remains of Natalee Holloway. Needless to say, after Van der Sloot had received the monies, he lied to Beth Holloway as to the location where her daughter could be found.

A lawyer for Joran van der Sloot says Peru is evaluating a request by the United States to extradite the jailed Dutchman, who is the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

The 24-year-old also faces extortion charges in Alabama for allegedly receiving $25,000 from Holloway’s mother to tell her where to find the remains of her daughter, who was 18 when she disappeared while on vacation.

CNN is reporting, the extradition process could be completed in the next three months.

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