Valentina Trespalacios: what John Poulos would carry in suitcases when he was captured

On Thursday, January 26, the first hearing was held against the American John Poulos, who was captured as the main suspect in the murder of the DJ Valentina Trespalacios.

The procedure was carried out before the 26th Municipal Criminal Court of Bogotá after the man was arrested in Panama on January 24, where he planned to travel to Istanbul, Turkey, according to the ticket published by the Panamanian police.

Look: The revealing details of the autopsy of DJ Valentina Trespalacios

According to the authorities, the man would have fled to the neighboring country after the news broke that he the young DJ had been found in a garbage container in the town of Fontibón.

Likewise, it should be remembered that, according to the Legal Medicine report, the young woman probably died of mechanical suffocation due to the marks on her body. Likewise, the authorities affirmed that she also received blows to the face that left several bruises on her lips, as well as blows to her head and the base of her neck.

The DJ played for the last time in a bar in the Restrepo. (Particle File/)

However, for this capture —which was issued by the crimes aggravated femicide in competition with the crime of concealment, alteration, destruction of material evidence— could be legalized, the 33-year-old Texan had to appear before a guarantee control judge who could endorse the process.

Marked by translation and connection problems, the session lasted seven and a half hours. The defense argued that his capture was invalid by the Colombian authorities, since, according to the lawyer, more than 36 hours had passed since his capture in Panama until that they read him his rights in Bogotá.

Given this, the judge explained that that time began to count precisely from the arrest by the Colombian Police, which is why the time he remained in the custody of the Panamanian authorities was not counted, after being apprehended at the Tocumen airport, place where they carried out their deportation to Colombian territory.

John Poulos was deported to Colombia from the capital of Panama. (Interpol/)

However, one of the aspects that drew the most attention regarding the defense arguments is that, according to what he commented, his client’s “human dignity” would have been violated.

This was largely attributed to the fact that the glasses he was wearing at the time of his capture were apparently no longer in Poulos’s possession, as well as a cholesterol medication that he must take by prescription, and, furthermore, one of his suitcases that he was carrying at the Panama airport had allegedly disappeared during the capture process.

Seven thousand dollars in cash: this was what Poulos was carrying when he was captured

According to the lawyer, at the time of his arrest, John Poulos was carrying two suitcases, one large and one small, but in the process, apparently, one of them would have been lost.

“There is a suitcase with his belongings that does not appear either and is also conspicuous by its absence,” the defense declared before explaining that he was really referring to the largest suitcase.

John Poulos in arrived in Bogotá after being captured in Panama. (Cesar Melgarejo/)

Likewise, he stated that The Prosecutor’s Office did not at any time allude to the small green suitcase that he brought and in which there were seven thousand dollars (approximately 31 million Colombian pesos).

On the other hand, he mentioned that inside his suitcases was the medicine ‘Statin’ which he took to regulate cholesterol levels in the blood and apparently this would have been retained during the capture.

Under these arguments, and complementing it with the fact that the handcuffs with which he had been apprehended were presumably too tight, the defense concluded that the capture of the American should not be legalized.

Still, finally Judge 59 of the Municipal Criminal Court with the Function of Guarantee Control of Bogotá dismissed the requests of the defense and indicated that the maximum time for his capture to be legalized had not been exceeded.

”This office considers that the legal and constitutional prerequisites in relation to the capture procedure in this case have been complied with. In light of the foregoing, it is resolved to impart subsequent control of legality to the capture procedure, ”he declared.

Regarding the seizure of property, it was determined that this would be discussed in future hearings because the judge did not have the power to determine the legality of said process.

Source: Elcomercio