Panama’s National Migration Service apprehended the lead suspect in the murder of Bogota DJ Valentina Trespalacios. The male suspect was attempting to board a Turkish Airlines flight from Panama’s Tocumen that was en route to Istanbul.
The City Paper Bogota reported the suspect was identified as 35-year-old John Nelson Poulos, a U.S. citizen from Wisconsin but a resident of Texas. He had left Bogota early Sunday just a few hours before Trespalacios’ body was found stuffed inside a blue suitcase that belonged to Poulos. Mugshots of the suspect taken by Panamanian Police showed visible scratch marks on the left side of his face, indicating a recent struggle could’ve taken place prior to his arrest.
Police were able to retrieve some personal belongings of the suspect, including a First Class boarding pass of his flight from Istanbul to Podgorica, a small Balkan nation of Montenegro. They also found a First Class ticket from Panama to Sao Paolo, which police said may have been the suspect’s strategy to elude and confuse authorities.
Poulos, who reportedly is married with three children, had been dating the 23-year-old female DJ for a year and traveled to Colombia on several occasions. Authorities said he had planned on marrying Trespalacios. The victim’s family said the suspect expressed his desire to start a new life in Colombia with his girlfriend.
Trespalacio’s mother, Laura Hidalgo spoke on Semana TV and addressed Poulos, “I handed you over my only daughter, why did you have to return her in the trash?”
The well-known female electronic DJ, who has some 16,000 followers on Instagram was found inside a suitcase by a homeless man scouring the trash bin for plastic and paper. The suitcase was wrapped in black industrial tape and tossed into a dumpster near the El Dorado International Airport. Preliminary forensic examinations revealed the victim had died of mechanical suffocation, most likely caused by a rope.
Surveillance footage picked up the couple holding hands while walking down a hallway as they approached the DJ booth at the Nexxus club where the victim was scheduled to play. She was seen leaving the office of the nightclub’s owner around 5 a.m. while Poulos was in the bathroom. Friends of Trespalacios said the couple took a ride-sharing taxi and headed to their apartment which they had just recently moved into. Poulos told authorities he had fled to Panama because of his involvement with the Medellin Cartel who wanted to kill him. He said the cartel was also behind his girlfriend’s murder.
