“Imagine killing someone you love,” said John Poulos on March 6 at an oral trial hearing in the case of Valentina Trespalacios, a young DJ who was found dead in a garbage container in Bogotá.
“I have been here for a year and I have not been able to tell my version,” he added in the trial that is being held for the Trespalacios feminicide.
Poulos has remained in jail while he carries out the judicial process after being accused of the murder of the young woman, who appeared dead on January 22, 2023. Days before the crime, the young woman had shared with the American.
John Poulos and Laura Hidalgo, mother of Valentina Trespalacios.
Photo: César Melgarejo and Sergio Acero Yate. TIME
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The man did not accept the charges of aggravated femicide and concealment of evidence that the Prosecutor’s Office formulated against him in the first hearings, and for which he faces a sentence of 50 years in prison.
John Poulos’ confession about the murder of Valentina Trespalacios
However, now the American told the judge his version of what happened on the night of January 21, 2023 and the early morning of the next day, after chatting with the young DJ in a nightclub in the capital, going to her apartment and holding intimate relations.
The young woman was found dead in January 2023.
Photo:Facebook: Valentina Trespalacios
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“I don’t remember how I got back to the apartment. I remember waking up with my clothes and shoes on. Valentina was next to me. (…) I was in a state induced by drugs and alcohol,” he said.
“I got up, went to bathe, saw Valentina, tried to wake her up, but she didn’t respond. (…) I was destroyed, I loved her, I had been with her for nine months. Imagine killing someone you love. The room was spinning,” he said.
Poulos assured that he made “a horrible decision” when he noticed that Trespalacios had no vital signs: “I tried to escape and put her in the blue suitcase.”
“I regret that decision,” he added.
John Poulos was captured after being deported to Colombia.
Photo: Interpol
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According to what he said, he decided to flee because he was afraid for his life: “I left the apartment, I went down to the car I had rented, along with the blue suitcase. (…) It was a day of panic, I had never been in a situation like that.” .
“I thought about what to do with Valentina’s body. (…) I headed to the airport. I passed the car rental place, I saw a garbage container, I stopped to see if there were cameras. I put Valentina’s body there,” he claimed.
“Afterwards, I looked for a place to buy a (travel) suitcase. I went to the place where I rented the car to return it,” he said.
A person from the car rental site took him to the El Dorado International Airport. There, the American proceeded to leave the country: “When I entered the airport, I looked for a flight that would leave soon. I decided on the one to Panama because I needed to leave as quickly as possible.”
In Panama, based on his version, he deleted his social media accounts and received intimidating calls and messages: “(A person) threatened to kill me.”
John Poulos during the hearing on March 6.
Photo: Private archive.
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Then, he continued thinking about what the destination country would be. “I looked for somewhere where extradition did not exist and I found Montenegro. (…) I wrote an email to my boss in the United States. (I) had a two-week permit and told him that maybe I couldn’t arrive,” he explained.
He intended to board a flight from Panama to Turkey and, after that, travel to Montenegro. However, he was captured on January 24 at the airport when he was in the immigration area. Authorities sent him to Colombia, where he has been imprisoned.
Photograph of John Poulos when he was captured in Panama.
Photo:Panama Police
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The prosecution’s accusation against John Poulos
The Prosecutor’s Office, in its indictment against the foreigner, requested 50 years in prison for the crime of aggravated femicide.
John Poulos, Estadounidese.
Photo:Andrés Sandoval/ Prosecutor’s Office
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“In the period of time between 11 pm on Saturday, January 21 and the morning of Sunday, January 22, 2023, while inside apartment 802 of the Kapodocia building, located in the north of the city of Bogotá, “He proceeded to violently hit Miss Valentina Trespalacios Hidalgo’s body with his own fists, then exerted pressure with his hands around her neck until she died,” the investigative entity stated.
In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office had already described what the man did on Sunday morning: “He put her in the trunk of the vehicle with plates INL 991, gray in color, which he had previously rented and proceeded to go to Carrera 109 with Calle 23G , public road in the Cámbulos neighborhood of the town of Fontibón there, in a garbage and debris container he threw it.”
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