US citizen investigated in the killing of 23-12 months-outdated DJ in Colombia | News
Bogotá, Colombia
Information
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Colombian authorities are investigating the loss of life of 23-calendar year-outdated Valentina Trespalacios, whose boyfriend, US citizen John Poulos, was detained in Panama earlier this 7 days. He was arrested next an Interpol “alert specified by the Republic of Colombia, for the murder of DJ Valentina Trespalacios,” in accordance to Panama’s National Law enforcement.
In the early several hours of previous Sunday, a recycler discovered the physique of a lady inside of a suitcase at the bottom of a rubbish container in the southwest of Bogota, the funds. He notified neighborhood authorities, who verified that the physique was that of Trespalacios, a perfectly-acknowledged digital songs DJ.
Bogota Metropolitan Law enforcement officers at the crime scene contacted her kin, who verified that the young lady had been with her boyfriend since Saturday, January 21.
Preliminary forensic examinations by the Institute of Legal Drugs, an company hooked up to the Colombian Legal professional General’s Business office, discovered on Monday that the youthful lady would have died of mechanical suffocation and that her system confirmed signs of getting been subjected to drive ahead of dying.
“Through a unique team made up of the Bogota Metropolitan Law enforcement members, in coordination with the Workplace of the Lawyer Typical of the Country, the prison investigators will be in charge of on the lookout for probative product things and information and facts to set up the particular person or persons dependable for the demise of this young lady that was located abandoned in a sector of the district of Fontibon,” Brigadier Common Carlos Fernando Triana, commander of the Bogota Metropolitan Law enforcement, informed News.
Triana also said that he is supplying “a reward of up to 20 million pesos (about US$ 4,500) for data that potential customers to the clarification of the crime.”
On Tuesday night time, the National Law enforcement of Panama reported the detention of Poulos at the Tocumen International Airport, and Colombian authorities commenced the processes for his deportation to the region, hoping to shed mild on the time, manner and area in which the loss of life of Trespalacios transpired.
Poulos arrived in Bogotá on Thursday, in accordance to law enforcement in the Colombian cash.
The Bogota Protection Section has said that Poulos “is in the process of becoming prosecuted and awaiting a hearing to legalize the capture, imputation and request for a protection evaluate,” and shared photographs of the suspect in the fingers of the authorities.
It is unclear if Poulos has authorized representation. In accordance to Miguel Angel del Rio, the law firm for the Trespalacios family members, Poulos did not acknowledge illustration from a general public defender and has not hired a personal law firm.
“He never confirmed himself as a poor person… My Valentina was a pretty smiling and pleased younger lady. She lived in the globe of the rumba (get together) scene,” Laura Hidalgo, the victim’s mother, informed local media exterior the morgue in Bogota.
“He lived in the United States and came to marry her, they had been going to share a lifestyle together and do the paperwork for that,” she included.
The Law enforcement and the Colombian Legal professional General’s Place of work are analyzing various several hours of videos from stability cameras of the spots exactly where the youthful female and her boyfriend were from Friday evening until finally Sunday early morning, when her human body was discovered.
These parts of info, moreover testimonies from her family members and WhatsApp chats, will be fundamental things in the investigation.
There are a lot of thoughts that continue being unanswered in this loss of life, authorities say. But if Poulos is charged with homicide, and the criminal offense is categorised as a femicide, Colombian felony legislation lets for up to 50 decades in prison.
Femicide is broadly described as the intentional murder of girls because they are ladies. According to the Environment Health and fitness Organisation, “most instances of femicide are fully commited by partners or ex-associates.”
It is a nationwide problem in Colombia, with 612 femicides documented past year alone, according to the Colombian Femicide Observatory.