Colombian authorities have charged an American citizen over the alleged murder of a woman DJ in Colombia whose body was discovered inside a wallet at the bottom of a scrap vessel. John Poulos was arrested and detained at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama on Tuesday while trying to leave for Istanbul, the Panamanian National Police said. During a televised court hail in Bogota, lasting further than five hours, Poulos spoke through a translator to deny the charges, which relate to the death of Valentina Trespalacios, 23, a well- known electronic music DJ.
Trespalacios ’ body was set up by a recycler in the early hours of January 22 in a scrap vessel in the southwest of Bogota. In a former lhail on Thursday, the court heard details of a relationship between Trespalacios and Poulos. “Through a special group made up of the Bogota Metropolitan Police members, in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the felonious investigators will be in charge of looking for supportive material rudiments and information to establish the person or persons responsible for the death of this youthful woman that was set up abandoned in a sector of the quarter of Fontibon,” Brigadier General Carlos Fernando Triana, commander of the Bogota Metropolitan Police told.
The Bogota Security Department has said that Poulos “is in the process of being fulfilled and awaiting a hail to legalize the prisoner, insinuation and request for a security measure,” and participated images of the suspect in the hands of the authorities. It’s unclear if Poulos has legal representation. According to Miguel Angel del Rio, the counsel for the family, Poulos didn’t accept representation from a public protector and has not hired a private lawyer. The Police and the Colombian Attorney General’s Office are assaying several hours of videos from security cameras of the places where the youthful woman and her swain were from Friday night until Sunday morning, when her body was set up. These pieces of information, plus testaments from her cousins and WhatsApp exchanges, will be proof of the disquisition. There are numerous questions that remain unanswered in this death, authorities say. But if Poulos is charged with homicide, and the crime is classified as a femicide, Colombian felonious law allows for over 50 years in captivity.
