A haunting Twitter post detailing a bizarre meeting has re-emerged online, offering a key new detail in the story of a slain DJ.
A haunting Twitter note has appeared on a loved up selfie posted by an American man accused of murdering his partner.
In late January, the body of a popular young DJ was found stuffed inside a suitcase abandoned near the airport in the Colombian capital of Bogotá – and her American boyfriend was arrested in Panama as he tried to board a flight to Turkey.
Valentina Trespalacios, 23, was found on January 22 in the blue suitcase, which had been wrapped in tape and dumped inside a trash bin near El Dorado International Airport, The City Paper Bogota reported.
The manner of death was reportedly ruled as “mechanical asphyxia” or “strangulation,” according to the outlet.
Shortly before the gruesome find, Trespalacios’ boyfriend, John Nelson Poulos, 35, of Texas, left Colombia for Panama, where he was arrested.
However, this week, a new Twitter note highlighted a tweet in which Mr Poulos detailed the bizarre context in which he and Ms Trespalacios met.
In response to a tweet from a popular account that asked “What was your craziest first date?”, Mr Poulos wrote: “Invited a Colombian woman on vacation without meeting her first – now we’re getting married.”
The post from December 18, a month before the alleged murder, included a picture of the pair travelling.
On Tuesday this week, Twitter’s new Notes mechanism, which allows users to verify or challenge the veracity of claims made in posts, declared: “The user who posted this tweet is now charged with murdering the woman in question.”
Twitter users were shocked by the note.
“Wildest Twitter note yet,” wrote one.
It has never been officially reported the pair were engaged.
In February, Colombian authorities alerted Interpol about Poulos, who was extradited to Colombia.
When he was detained, the Wisconsin native reportedly had visible scratch marks on his face and a boarding pass on Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Podgorica, Montenegro.
The small Balkan country does not have an extradition agreement with the US or Colombia.
Poulos had reportedly also bought in cash a first-class ticket from Panama to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Poulos, a private investor with a US-based securities company, had reportedly travelled to Colombia several times while dating Trespalacios, whom he met on a dating app about a year ago.
The DJ’s family said Poulos had planned on marrying her and wanted to start a new life for himself in Colombia.
“I handed you over my only daughter, why did you have to return her in the trash?” the victim’s mother, Laura Hidalgo, said on Semana TV, The City Paper Bogota reported.
Surveillance footage images published by the Daily Mail show Trespalacios getting out of a cab with Poulos early Saturday, a day before she was found dead.
She was seen holding Poulos’ hand as she walked toward a DJ booth for her gig at Nexxus nightclub, according to the outlet.
Poulos, who Colombian media outlets reported is married with three children, told police he had fled to Panama because the Medellin Cartel was after him, the Daily Mail reported.
He also reportedly claimed the cartel was behind Trespalacios’ murder.
The El Tiempo newspaper reported an allegation from Trespalacios’ family that Poulos had ties to the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel, which was founded by jailed drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Trespalacios, who also was a student at Universidad UNINPAHU, had performed in clubs in Colombia as well as internationally, The Bogota Post reported.
“She was approximately four years into her DJ career,” her uncle, Carlos Trespalacios, told El Tiempo, the news outlet reported. “She had done very well, she had a very promising future, so much so that she hung out all over the country, in the best nightclubs. She also went to many parts of South America.”
Source: News.com.au
