US man sentenced to 42 years in prison for femicide in Colombia

An American man was sentenced to 42 years in prison in Bogota on Tuesday for the murder of a famous Colombian DJ, in a case that drew international outrage from women’s rights activists.

John Nelson Poulos was arrested in January 2023 in Panama while on the run from Colombian authorities for the murder of 23-year-old Valentina Trespalacios, whom he had dated for just under a year.

Prosecutors said he had beaten and suffocated her “in the midst of a jealous attack.”

Security camera footage showed Poulos leaving his apartment pushing a cart with a large suitcase, which the body of Trespalacios had been stuffed inside.

Her corpse was later discovered in a garbage container.

The year prior, the Colombian Femicide Observatory, an NGO, recorded 612 femicides in the country, though the government only recorded 100.

Femicide has been a distinct crime in Colombia since 2015.

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