Texas man had sex with DJ girlfriend before beating and strangling her in Colombia
A Colombian government prosecutor has revealed that the Texas man accused of killing his DJ girlfriend had “forced” her to have sex before beating and strangling her.
John Poulos, 35, appeared in court for a second time in the capital Bogotá on Friday afternoon, just five days after the body of Valentina Trespalacios, 23, was found in a suitcase in a dumpster.
Poulos, the father of a boy and two girls in the United States, declined to plead guilty to one charge of aggravated femicide and another to concealing, altering or destroying crime scene evidence.
“I am aware of my decision and do not accept the allegations,” he said.
Daniel Gómez, the chief prosecutor appointed by the Attorney General’s Office, revealed that Poulos assaulted Trespalacios after forcing her to have sex and then repeatedly beating her body with his fists. He then wrapped his hands around her neck until he strangled her to death.
“A cycle of psychological violence preceded the crime, which was expressed in all the activity of jealousy and control over Valentina’s social life,” Gómez. “You took her life as a result of a jealousy trial.”
John Poulos (center) returned to court on Friday for a hearing as he faces charges in the murder of his girlfriend, Valentina Trespalacios
Valentina Trespalacios, a DJ in Bogotá, Colombia, was allegedly murdered by her Texas boyfriend, John Poulos. Her body was found in a suitcase reportedly thrown into a dumpster by Poulos last Sunday before buying a flight to flee from Colombia to Panama
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan with Ashley Poulos (left), Jackson Poulos (center), and John Poulos (right)
Poulos seemed calm, sometimes leaning back in his chair and resting his hands behind his head as he sat next to his lawyer and a court-appointed interpreter as Gómez made the shocking revelations.
He added that Poulos bent Trespalacios’ body to make her fit in the trunk. However, he let her head stick out of the luggage bag and covered the bag with a towel.
Gómez added that Poulos had hired a private investigator to follow Trespalacios.
He said it was a “conduct that should be understood as violent as it affected the victim’s physical, moral and psychological integrity as it abused her status as a woman.”
On Sunday, Poulos was caught on camera placing the briefcase in the trunk of a Volkswagen Voyager in the garage of the apartment complex on the north side of Bogotá and then driving away.
He drove to the south side of Bogotá, where he dumped the luggage bag in a dumpster next to a park, and headed for the airport.
Before boarding a flight to Panamá City, Panamá, as part of his escape, Gómez said Poulos disposed of Trespalacios’ cell phone at El Dorado International Airport.
Poulos’ plan to avoid arrest included the cash purchase of two plane tickets, one from Panamá City to São Paulo, Brazil, to throw off the Colombian National Police’s international manhunt and a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, where he would transfer to an airplane. to Montenegro, where there is no extradition treaty with Colombia.
Panamanian immigration agents and the Interpol arrested him Tuesday evening at Tocumen International Airport just before he was about to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.
Poulos told authorities in Panama that the defunct Medellín Cartel was behind Trespalacios’ murder and that he had fled Colombia because cartel members wanted to kill him.
Gómez explained to Poulos that if he decided to go to trial, he could be sentenced to 500 to 600 months if found guilty of murdering Trespalacios. He could face up to 48 months in prison for concealing, altering or destroying evidence.
However, the prosecution left open an offer that would reduce the sentence to 375 months if he accepted a guilty plea to femicide, as well as a 24-month reduction on the other charge.
The judge would have to accept the terms of the agreement and Poulos wouldn’t be allowed to back out if he agreed.
An autopsy report found that Colombian DJ Valentina Trespalacios had been strangled and beaten
A homeless person was going through a dumpster in the Los Cámbulos neighborhood of Bogotá when he discovered the suitcase containing the body of Valentina Trespalacios.
Trespalacios’ hairstylist, Veronica Jiménez, confirmed to DailyMail.com that Poulos was married with three children in the United States, but that the children’s mother reportedly filed a restraining order against him for being violent.
He divorced in 2021 and had been dating Trespalacios for eight months and planned to marry her.
Poulos’ oldest son, Jackson Poulos, was just four years old when doctors diagnosed him with stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma in his GI tract and abdomen. The cancer is very rare, with only about 350 cases per year in the United States.
In 2017, the child underwent a 13-hour surgery during which the surgeon removed more than 150 tumors discovered in his pelvis, sigmoid colon, appendix, spleen and gallbladder.
Valentina Trespalacios (pictured) was dating her boyfriend John Poulos for eight months
John Poulos (pictured) was taken into custody in Panama on Tuesday just before he was about to board a flight to Turkey and then fly on to Montenegro
The boy was a special guest of former House Speaker Paul Ryan in the House Chamber for former President Donald Trump’s message to a joint session of the United States Congress on January 30, 2018.
Jiménez said Poulos had become increasingly jealous and angry with Trespalacios for refusing his demands to make their relationship public on her social media accounts. Trespalacios had explained to him that her network was only intended to promote her DJ work.
Poulos arrived at the apartment on Thursday and moved in with Trespalacios on Friday evening. He accompanied her to an early Saturday morning DJ performance at the Nexxus bar.
A homeless person searching a dumpster for recyclable materials on Sunday afternoon discovered a blue suitcase with Trespalacios’ head on the side.