The hearing against John Poulos, suspected of murdering Valentina Trespalacios this week in Bogotá, whose body was found in a suitcase in Fontibón, was scheduled for Tuesday.
Due to the difficulties for the translation with the North American citizen, his lawyer asked that the process continue on January 31, in agreement with the defender of the victims, Miguel Ángel del Río.
On the other hand, Poulos did not accept the charges for femicide and concealment of evidence, in addition to asking the Prosecutor for the evidence, exact times and cause of death of the DJ.
“The prosecutor told us a story, but we need that story to accommodate the alleged criminal offense that contemplates the crime of femicide. I say this, your honor, because in different pronouncements the Supreme Court of Justice has called the attention of different prosecutors from that in the imputation of charges they must mention legally relevant facts,” explained Poulos’s lawyer.
The judge ruled on the case by explaining that “according to the legally relevant facts, the typical exercise was carried out to consider that it was a femicide and not a homicide. The type of relationship that was sustained, since when, was specified. the commitment they held, how the victim died.”
For Tuesday will be the hearing to define the insurance measure of Poulos, starting at 9 am.
That was the femicide
During the hearing, the prosecutor in the case recounted how the DJ was murdered by the suspect, who was her sentimental partner: “The Prosecutor’s Office charges Mr. John Poulos because in the period of time between early morning and the morning of Sunday, January 20, 2023, while inside the apartment in the north of the city of Bogotá, he had sexual relations with Mrs. Valentina Trespalacios and proceeded to violently beat her with his own fists.”
“Later he exerted pressure with his hands around his neck until he caused death. The victim Valentina Trespalacios, 21, died of suffocation caused by strangulation. Mr. Poulos had a romantic relationship of courtship for a year with Valentina Trespalacios, ”he said.
The prosecutor explained that the American citizen felt a great level of jealousy for the 23-year-old girl, “to the point of seeing her as a personal object.”
“That is how controlled her personal friendships, monitored her networks and even hired a private investigator to follow her. Behavior that must be understood as violent since it affected the physical, moral and psychological integrity of the victim,” he added.
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“He folded his body and packed it up”
The prosecutor recounted how the process was for Poulos to put the body of Valentina Trespalacios in the suitcase, where it was later found in a garbage container in Fontibón.
“You Mr. Poulos, After taking Valentina’s life, he proceeded to bend his body, taking advantage of its flexibility and packed it in a blue travel suitcase belonging to him.. He left the victim’s head outside the suitcase, covered it with a towel, put it in a market cart, put it in the trunk of a gray vehicle, which he had previously rented, and proceeded to go to public thoroughfare of the Los Cambulos neighborhood in the town of Fontibón and there he threw it in a container,” he explained.
The official pointed out that Poulos never felt anything for the 23-year-old girl but rather treated her as an “object”, in addition to the attempt to circumvent the investigation by concealing the evidence in the murder.
“With this rude way of handling the victim’s body you affirmed your conviction that Valentina was a thing, an object, you dehumanized her”, the prosecutor told him.
“Because of the above, it is concluded that Mr. Poulos’s actions are appropriate to the crime of aggravated femicide in the intentional modality and as an author,” he said.
It should be remembered that in the morning the hearing against the American citizen was interrupted several times, due to problems with the translation for the suspect.