Van der Sloot to Marry Pregnant Girlfriend

In a move Joran Van der Sloot's lawyer says has nothing to do with potential extradition to the US, the Dutch murderer is set to marry his pregnant girlfriend in a Peruvian prison. There have been rumors of marriage before, but the lawyer tells the AP that legal formalities have been completed and the 26-year-old will marry Peruvian national Leydi Figueroa Uceda in the prison chapel within a few weeks. He says the pair met when she was selling goods inside the prison where Van der Sloot is serving 28 years for murder, and she is now five months pregnant.

"He's very happy about getting married," the lawyer tells CNN. "Since his girlfriend is pregnant, he wants his child to be born to a married couple and he's anxiously awaiting the day he can get married." Van der Sloot has long been suspected of murdering American student Natalee Holloway in 2005 and when his sentence is up, Peru has agreed to send him to the US to face charges that he extorted money from her mother. The lawyer says the Dutchman isn't trying to dodge US authorities with the wedding. "He's getting married because he's in love and is having a child," he says. "There are no hidden agendas." (More Leydi Figueroa Uceda stories.)