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.
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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 and pushing a cart with a large suitcase, which the body of Trespalacios had stuffed inside.
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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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