In a sensational episode of his tv crime show in February, De Vries recorded “a confession” from Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in the Holloway case, with hidden cameras. Van der Sloot confessed the missing girl was dead and was tossed into the ocean off Aruba, the Antillean island on which she went missing in May 2005.

De Vries accepted his Emmy in the current affairs category of the American television awards in New York on Monday accompanied by Beth Twitty, Holloway’s mother. They dedicated the award to the girl who was 18 when she went missing.

"This is the prize of all prizes. You only win this once in a lifetime," De Vries said. Seven million people watched the show in the Netherlands and it was later broadcast by ABC in the United States.

In the winning programme, an Aruban man living in the Netherlands befriended Van der Sloot and got him to talk about Holloway. De Vries recorded Van der Sloot’s 'confession' with cameras hidden in the man's car. Van der Sloot is seen talking about how the girl became unwell after he had sex with her on the beach. He panicked and called a friend who used a boat to dispose off her body, Van der Sloot said.

ABC news report following De Vries' programme

Despite the televised 'confession', the Holloway case has not been officially solved. Van der Sloot was initially a suspect in the case, but was released because of a lack of evidence. The hidden camera footage was not enough to arrest him again.

On Monday the public prosecutor in Aruba announced that the investigation into the involvement of Van der Sloot in the disappearance of Holloway will be closed by the end of this year and that a decision on whether he will be prosecuted will be made then.