A man connected to the Natalee Holloway case is now dead, after a North Port kidnapping attempt gone wrong.
News Channel 8 learned more about him and what this could mean for the future of this high profile case.
On Wednesday morning, a woman stepped out of her car and was suddenly approached by her former roommate, 32-year-old John Ludwick.
Ludwick attempted to kidnap her, but she fought back, took his knife and stabbed him.
He later died from his wounds.
“He ended up taking a lethal blow as it ended up to his abdominal area. The doctor said that it just nicked a main artery,” said North Port police spokesman Josh Taylor.
Recently, Ludwick publicly admitted he helped dispose of the remains of Natalee Holloway.
Gabriel Madrigal was Ludwick’s friend. They worked together on a recent Oxygen TV special about the case.
He says Ludwick knew Joran van der Sloot.
Ludwick later told the FBI that Holloway overdosed on a date rape drug and van der Sloot killed her.
Joran van der Sloot later asked Ludwick to help him dispose of her body.
“Van der Sloot tells [Ludwick], ‘Hey listen, I need help. They’re doing another investigation, they’re coming close, I need your help.’ John goes, ‘What do you want buddy?” [Van der Sloot] goes, ‘I need you to help me recover Natalee’s body, it’s up the street,’” described Madrigal.
“John and van der Sloot took the body and they took it down to that house,” Madrigal added. “They go and they burn the hair off,” Madrigal described.
Ludwick claimed they cremated her.
“[Ludwick] never had any remorse whatsoever of what he did,” said Madrigal.
Madrigal was shocked to learn about Ludwick’s bizarre death.
“I’m not saying this is justice [or] anything like that. I still feel bad that he died the way he died,” he said.
Madrigal says Ludwick still left behind a lot of clues that maybe one day could help bring closure to this case.
“God works in mysterious ways,” said Madrigal.
Madrigal believes Ludwick may have dumped Holloway’s remains into the ocean. However, he’s optimistic that there may still be clues left to be uncovered in Aruba.
