The Shocking Case of John Poulos: A Tale of Family Betrayal and Murder

In December 2022, an intriguing tweet briefly captivated the internet. “Invited a Colombian woman on vacation without meeting her first — now we’re getting married,” wrote 35-year-old John Poulos, alongside a photo with his beaming fiancée. At first glimpse, it seemed a modern fairy tale — a chance online encounter blossoming into true love and a walk down the aisle. But behind the façade, dark secrets and malevolence brewed. Just over a month later, surveillance cameras would capture John Poulos wheeling his bride-to-be’s lifeless body through the streets of Bogota, discarded inside a suitcase. This precipitated a desperate attempt by Poulos to flee justice across continents.

The shocking crime would shatter a family and rock a nation. But to understand how a Midwestern father of three could commit such unspeakable violence, we must go back to the beginning.

John Poulos was born in 1988 in the small city of Franklin, Wisconsin. By all accounts, he lived an ordinary suburban upbringing, even marrying his high school sweetheart, Ashley, at 21 years old. The pair later welcomed three children together. To outside observers, the Poulos family was picture-perfect.

That image of perfection would be tested in 2016 when their eldest son, just four years old, received a devastating diagnosis — an extremely rare pediatric cancer. Only 350 American children are stricken with this merciless disease annually.

But the Poulos’ fought courageously. They became tireless advocates for their son, raising money for experimental treatments and rallying supporters nationwide. After 13 grueling hours of surgery to remove lethal tumors, the little boy emerged cancer-free.

In 2018, their family was invited to attend the State of the Union address, honored guests of the Speaker of the House. They epitomized strength and hope. Millions saw them as the picture of courage, never imagining the private turmoil engulfing the Poulos home.

While John Poulos publicly supported his sick child, privately he had become controlling and abusive to his wife Ashley. After years trapped in a toxic marriage, Ashley filed for divorce in 2021. Despite the ongoing proceedings, John liquidated their marital assets, transferring them to an offshore trust. He left Ashley and the children financially devastated.

Poulos then embarked on a new, lavish lifestyle, jet-setting to Europe and the Middle East while his family struggled to survive back home. He also ceased all contact with his children, refusing to pay child support or see them. By January 2022, he had established permanent residence in Texas.

But John Poulos was restless and hungry for companionship. While divorce proceedings continued, he downloaded Tinder, searching for a new partner online. There he met Valentina Trespalacios — a vibrant, young DJ lighting up the Bogota nightlife.

Valentina specialized in high-energy Latin music, securing gigs at Colombia’s top clubs. She had even been honored as her country’s Breakthrough DJ of 2019. When John Poulos stumbled upon the Colombian beauty’s profile, he was instantly smitten.

So smitten, in fact, that without even meeting her, Poulos invited Valentina on an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation to Cancun. The pair connected during their Mexican getaway and they decided to make their relationship official. Poulos visited Colombia frequently over the coming months, showering Valentina with cash, gifts, and attention.

By December, the besotted American proposed marriage. “We’re getting married,” John announced proudly on social media, flaunting his young fiancée. Surely this picture of romantic bliss would continue… or so it seemed.

On January 19th, 2023, surveillance cameras captured John Poulos arriving at an apartment building in downtown Bogota. He is seen wheeling a large blue suitcase. Little did the doorman know that this very bag would soon carry the remains of Poulos’ murdered bride-to-be.

The next day, cameras film Poulos picking up Valentina and her belongings from her family home. The couple drive back to John’s apartment, locking themselves inside for hours. Valentina briefly leaves for a DJ gig that night, with Poulos accompanying her.

In the early hours of January 21st, the pair finally returned home from the club. This is the last morning Valentina Trespalacios is seen alive.

At 10:43pm, cameras catch John leaving the apartment alone. Valentina is visibly annoyed, filming him on her phone as he walks out.

The following morning, the same blue suitcase reappears. Only now, it is covered by a blanket. As John Poulos wheels it outside, the sheer weight of the bag is evident. He strains loading it into the trunk of his rental car.

Minutes later, Poulos is spotted discarding the case in a residential dumpster many miles away. He then speeds directly to the airport, booking an urgent flight out of the country.

That evening, a homeless man rummaging for food makes a gruesome discovery — the blue suitcase contains the crumpled, battered body of a young woman. Police identified her as Valentina Trespalacios.

Investigators immediately pursued Poulos and they realized that his plan was to flee the country and escape to Montenegro, a nation with no extradition treaty with Colombia. In a frantic manhunt, police were able to intercept Poulos in Panama just before he boarded his connecting flight to Turkey.

Despite overwhelming evidence against him, John Poulos insisted that he was innocent. He claimed that the vicious Medellin drug cartel murdered his bride-to-be, seemingly unaware that the notorious cartel was defunct and no longer existed. Needless to say, prosecutors refuted these wild allegations, charging Poulos with the deliberate femicide — the murder of a woman for being female — of Valentina Trespalacios.

Prosecutors told the court that just as with his ex wife, John Polous was also abusive towards Valentina. The injuries to her body told the story of a vicious attack. Her fingers were bruised from struggling, her neck crushed by the grasp of powerful hands. Her killer had unleashed explosive, unrestrained rage. This was personal.

John Poulos believed with his American passport, he could evade accountability in Colombia. But as he awaits trial in a crowded Bogota jail cell, justice now seems inevitable.