Port Charlotte man possibly linked to Natalee Holloway’s disappearance stabbed to death

A man was who appeared to be connected to the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway was stabbed and killed Wednesday morning after an attempted kidnapping on Wesley Lane.

The North Port Police Department was called to a home around 6:50 a.m. on the 4300 block of Wesley Lane in reference to a stabbing.

The investigation revealed a man, later identified as 32-year-old Port Charlotte resident John Ludwick, attempted to kidnap a young woman as she got out of her vehicle in her driveway, but a struggle ensued between them, according to police. He was airlifted to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

In September, the Daily Mail reported on new findings in connection with the Alabama teen’s disappearance.

“(Joran) van der Sloot, the longtime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance, allegedly had a sexual relationship with Ludwick, who says he accepted $1,500 from van der Sloot to dig up the teen’s remains and take them to be cremated,” the Daily Mail reports.

Holloway was reported to have last been seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot in April 2005.

“(Ludwick) also confessed to burning Natalee’s skull himself, stating that he doused it in gasoline and then set it on fire inside a cave in order to destroy any identifying hair fibers,” according to recordings aired on the Oxygen series, “The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway.”

Police are said to have knowledge of Ludwick’s possible connection to Holloway’s case, but have yet to provide further details.