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 sparked international outrage among women’s rights activists.
John Nelson Poulos was arrested in Panama in January 2023 while on the run from Colombian authorities for the murder of 23-year-old Valentina Trespalacios, with whom he had been dating for just under a year.
Prosecutors said he beat and choked her “in the midst of a jealous fit.”
Security camera footage showed Poulos leaving his apartment pushing a cart with a large suitcase, and Trespalacios’ body was stuffed inside.
Her body was later discovered in a garbage container.
The year before, the Colombian Femicide Observatory, a non-governmental organization, recorded 612 femicides in the country, while the government recorded only 100.
Femicide has been a clear crime in Colombia since 2015.
The European Institute for Gender Equality says femicide is “deeply rooted in and a manifestation of power imbalances in society, which promotes an unequal status for men and women.”
The institute says femicide “is broadly defined as the killing of a woman or girl because of her gender and can take various forms, such as the killing of women as a result of violence between intimate partners; the torture and misogynistic killing of women; killing women. women and girls in the name of ‘honor’, etc.”
