An American on trial for the murder of a Colombian woman admitted to disposing of her body in a suitcase he threw into the garbage, but he says he really does not know how she died.
John Poulos of Franklin, Wisconsin, said Wednesday he did not know that his girlfriend Valentina Trespalacios was dead until he woke up next to her in January 2023, according to WDJT-TV.
“When I checked her pulse, I was looking at her color and everything. I knew that she was dead,” he said.
“I tried to wake up Valentina, and she didn’t respond. When I initially saw her, I knew right away that something was wrong. She was very pale. Right away I checked for a pulse, and I noticed she had one of the sex toys that we used around her neck,” he explained.
“I just completely broke down. This was a girl that I loved. I had talked to her for nine months. Every single day for nine months, and I loved her. So, imagine killing someone that you loved,” he said.
Poulos said he did not know how Trespalacios died because his memory was impaired due to drugs and alcohol.
“I’d never done drugs before I met Valentina,” he said. “My guess is, what happened, I was in a drug-induced, alcohol-induced, I wasn’t completely lucid at that time, and I don’t know if I did it. I don’t know if she did it.”
Poulos said he feared a trial and fled the country, only to be tracked down and brought back to Colombia.
“To me, it’s life or death at the same time. If I go to prison, I’m likely to be killed there. If I go to trial, I didn’t think my rights would be observed,” he said. “But either way, I regret making that decision to put her in the suitcase.”
Will John Poulos get a fair trial in Colombia?
“I decided to try to escape, and I put her body into the blue suitcase that I had brought. That’s when I put Valentina into the garbage,” he said, according to the New York Post.
The Bogata-based The City Paper added more details from what Poulos said in court.
“I left the apartment, went down to the rented car. It was a day of panic. I had never been in such a situation,” he recounted. “I thought about what to do with Valentina’s body. I went to the airport. I passed the car rental place, saw a trash container, stopped to see if there were cameras. That’s where I put Valentina’s body.”
“I was still under the influence of alcohol and drugs, but I thought about saving my life. That’s why I tried to escape,” he said.
Poulos, a divorced father of three, faces a charge of femicide, a common charge in South America for killing a woman who is an intimate partner. If convicted, he could face up to 50 years in prison.
The Post said Poulos met Trespalacios, who was a popular Colombian DJ, through a dating app in 2022 and wanted to marry her.
Trespalacios’ mother, Laura Hildalgo, said in court that Poulos “was always very jealous,” according to WXOW.
“He wanted to control her every movement. What she was doing, who she was with. This man humiliated her a lot. He would get outraged with her. He beat her without compassion. He had no compassion for my daughter, and I don’t want them to have compassion for him,” she said.
