American sentenced to 42 years in prison for femicide of a young man in Colombia

The Tenth Criminal Judge of Bogotá sentenced the American John Nelson Poulos to 42 years in prison after being accused of the feminicide of the young Valentina Trespalacios, committed on January 22, 2023 in Bogotá.

John Poulos, 36, had a romantic relationship with Valentina, who was a DJ, when according to documents from the National Prosecutor’s Office of Colombia, he said that when they were in his apartment in the north of Bogotá, he hit and suffocated her.

He abandoned the body in the trash

Then “he wrapped the body, hid it in a blue suitcase, put it in a market cart with a blanket and abandoned it in a garbage container” in the town of Fontibón, in the west of the city, in a place near the El Dorado airport, according to film material compiled by the Prosecutor’s Office.

The accused threw Valentina’s cell phone near the airport and fled towards Panama, but was expelled from the country and had to return to Colombia, where he was captured.

Guilty of aggravated femicide

The 10th Criminal Circuit Judge with Judgment Function of Bogotá declared him guilty of aggravated femicide and concealment, alteration or destruction of evidentiary material, and sent him to prison for 42 years.

Poulos pleaded guilty to the homicide, but told authorities that “he had not done it premeditated,” and also alleged that he was under the influence of drugs. The Prosecutor’s Office asked for 60 years in prison, and assured during the trial that he had planned it, so it had been premeditated.

“Murder by submission,” the judge said

During the hearing, the judge reprimanded Poulos’ defense, exclaiming: “do not tell us that it was manslaughter or unintentional homicide, it was a murder by subjugation. It is a matter of common sense, of logic; “You go to a doctor if he sees that the young woman is unconscious, but he does not run to put her in a suitcase and throw her away.”

On the day of the homicide, the defendant tried to escape and took a flight to Panama City, where he intended to board a plane to Turkey. Upon being recognized by the Panamanian authorities, he was deported to Colombia and handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office for judicial proceedings.

They met on Tinder

John Poulos and Valentina Trespalacios met through the Tinder application in April 2022. A month later, the American traveled to Bogotá to meet her in person and they began a romantic relationship.

Valentina Trespalacios was a DJ and worked at night in clubs, as shared by the Prosecutor’s Office, this made Poulos very jealous. Authorities confirmed that on one occasion she paid the services of a private detective to follow her.

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