US citizen investigated within the killing of 23-year-old DJ in Colombia | CNN

Bogotá
CNN
 — 

Colombian authorities are investigating the dying of 23-year-old Valentina Trespalacios, whose boyfriend, US citizen John Poulos, was detained in Panama earlier this week. He was arrested following an Interpol “alert given by the Republic of Colombia, for the murder of DJ Valentina Trespalacios,” in response to Panama’s Nationwide Police.

Within the early hours of final Sunday, a recycler discovered the physique of a lady inside a suitcase on the backside of a rubbish container within the southwest of Bogota, the capital. He notified native authorities, who confirmed that the physique was that of Trespalacios, a well known digital music DJ.

Bogota Metropolitan Cops on the crime scene contacted her kin, who confirmed that the younger girl had been along with her boyfriend since Saturday, January 21.

Preliminary forensic examinations by the Institute of Authorized Medication, an company hooked up to the Colombian Legal professional Normal’s Workplace, revealed on Monday that the younger girl would have died of mechanical suffocation and that her physique confirmed indicators of getting been subjected to pressure earlier than dying.

“Via a particular group made up of the Bogota Metropolitan Police members, in coordination with the Workplace of the Legal professional Normal of the Nation, the felony investigators can be answerable for on the lookout for probative materials components and data to determine the particular person or individuals accountable for the dying of this younger girl that was discovered deserted in a sector of the district of Fontibon,” Brigadier Normal Carlos Fernando Triana, commander of the Bogota Metropolitan Police, instructed CNN.

Triana additionally mentioned that he’s providing “a reward of as much as 20 million pesos (round US$ 4,500) for info that results in the clarification of the crime.”

On Tuesday night time, the Nationwide Police of Panama reported the detention of Poulos on the Tocumen Worldwide Airport, and Colombian authorities started the procedures for his deportation to the nation, hoping to make clear the time, method and place wherein the dying of Trespalacios occurred.

Poulos arrived in Bogotá on Thursday, in response to police within the Colombian capital.

The Bogota Safety Division has mentioned that Poulos “is within the strategy of being prosecuted and awaiting a listening to to legalize the seize, imputation and request for a safety measure,” and shared pictures of the suspect within the arms of the authorities.

It’s unclear if Poulos has authorized illustration. In accordance with Miguel Angel del Rio, the lawyer for the Trespalacios household, Poulos didn’t settle for illustration from a public defender and has not employed a personal lawyer.

“He by no means confirmed himself as a nasty particular person… My Valentina was a really smiling and joyful younger girl. She lived on the planet of the rumba (get together) scene,” Laura Hidalgo, the sufferer’s mom, instructed native media exterior the morgue in Bogota.

“He lived in the US and got here to marry her, they had been going to share a life collectively and do the paperwork for that,” she added.

The Police and the Colombian Legal professional Normal’s Workplace are analyzing a number of hours of movies from safety cameras of the locations the place the younger girl and her boyfriend had been from Friday night time till Sunday morning, when her physique was discovered.

These items of data, plus testimonies from her kin and WhatsApp chats, can be elementary components within the investigation.

There are numerous questions that stay unanswered on this dying, authorities say. But when Poulos is charged with murder, and the crime is classed as a femicide, Colombian felony regulation permits for as much as 50 years in jail.

Femicide is broadly outlined because the intentional homicide of ladies as a result of they’re ladies. In accordance to the World Well being Organisation, “most circumstances of femicide are dedicated by companions or ex-partners.”

It’s a nationwide concern in Colombia, with 612 femicides reported final 12 months alone, in response to the Colombian Femicide Observatory.