US man admits stuffing girlfriend’s body into suitcase but doesn’t remember killing her

John Poulos also dated Valentina Trespalacios.

A man accused of killing his girlfriend told a court in Colombia’s capital Bogota that he remembered stuffing the woman’s body into a suitcase and throwing it in a trash can but did not remember strangling her while high on drugs. John Poulos, 36, from Texas, described the moment he woke up next to Valentina Trespalacios, 23, who was lying in bed , the zip tie the couple used as a sex toy tightened around her neck, according to CBS 58. Trespalacios was found dead in January 2023.

“I tried to wake Valentina up but she didn’t respond. When I first saw her I knew immediately something was wrong. She was very pale,” Poulos told the court.

“I’m completely devastated. This is the girl I love,” he added.

according to new york postthey met on a dating app in 2022 and their romance lasted nine months before he traveled to Colombia to meet Trespalacios and marry her.

She is 13 years younger than Prolos.

“I loved her. So, imagine killing someone you love,” he told the court.

The man said he took drugs with Trespalacios and washed them down with alcohol. But on January 22, 2023, this routine caused him adverse reactions and impaired his judgment and memory.

“I had never done drugs before I met Valentina. I guess what happened, I was in a drug-induced, alcohol-induced state… I wasn’t completely conscious at the time and I didn’t know if I did To the point where I don’t know if she did it,” the 36-year-old said.

He did admit to disposing of his girlfriend’s body and running away, which he attributed to his panicked state.

A homeless man discovered her body near Bogota’s main airport and alerted police.

The Washington Post quoted the Bogota Metropolitan newspaper as saying that an autopsy found that Trespalacios died of “mechanical asphyxiation” or “strangulation.”

Poulos pleaded in court not to send him to prison, claiming he would “be killed there.” He was arrested in Panama while trying to board a flight to Turkey.