A divorced father-of-three has gone viral on Twitter after a post was updated about vacationing with his Colombian blind date – who would soon be his fiancé – and saying he has been charged with her murder after allegedly killing her stuffed had body in a suitcase.
John Poulos, 35, faces up to 35 years in prison for the murder of 21-year-old DJane Valentina Trespalacios, whose remains he allegedly stowed in a suitcase found in a dumpster in Bogotá.
But as recently as December, Poulos responded to a viral Twitter trend in which he urged users to share their “craziest first date,” to which Poulos responded with a selfie of him looking in love with Trespalacios.
“I invited a Colombian woman on vacation without meeting her first – now we’re getting married,” Poulos replied.
But just over a month later, Trespalacios’ body was found by a homeless man in a discarded suitcase.
John Poulos went viral on Twitter after a post about his first blind date while vacationing with his Colombian fiancée was updated with the news that he has been charged with her murder
Colombian agents accompany John Polos (second from right) after his arrival in Colombia on January 25
Valentina Trespalacios (pictured) dated boyfriend John Poulos for eight months before her violent death
A surveillance camera captured the moment when John Poulos picked up a suitcase containing the body of Valentina Trespalacios and placed it in the trunk of the car
Twitter attached a community note to Poulos’ post yesterday, stating, “The user who posted this tweet is now facing charges of the murder of the woman in question.”
A link was then linked to the story, which details how Colombian prosecutors are seeking a more than 35-year prison sentence for Poulos.
Twitter users reacted with shock and disgust, including the original poster of the “craziest first date” question with the response, “Go to hell you sick piece of shit.”
Poulos had been married to his wife Ashely since 2009. The couple had three children, including a son who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of four. The family was even an invited guest of former House Speaker Paul Ryan at the State of the Union address in 2018.
However, she admitted that the marriage fell apart three years later and that Poulos left the family, leaving them broke, just before filing for divorce.
She said the relationship was abusive and filed for divorce in 2021. Before filing the paperwork, she said Poulos had transferred all of their marital assets to an offshore trust fund, leaving the family nothing.
According to Ashley, John then left the United States and has lived in Cyprus, Turkey and Ukraine, among other places. Not long ago she found out that he had gone to Colombia for vacation and was living in Texas.
She added that John has abandoned her children and has not seen her in person since he moved out of her home in Franklin, Wisconsin in January 2021.
Colombian prosecutors are asking for more than 35 years in prison for John Poulos, a US citizen accused of murdering his 21-year-old DJ girlfriend, Valentina Trespalacios, on January 22
John Poulos (pictured) was arrested in Panama on Tuesday just before he was about to board a flight to Turkey and from there to Montenegro. He was extradited to Colombia on Wednesday night, where he faces charges of murdering his DJ girlfriend, Valentina Trespalacios
Valentina Trespalacios was beaten and strangled before being stuffed into a suitcase that was dumped in a rubble container near a park in Bogotá, Colombia, on Sunday. The 23-year-old was dating John Poulos, a Texas resident who is accused of killing her and was due to appear before a judge on Thursday for his arraignment
John Poulos (left) had plans to live full-time in Colombia and marry his DJ girlfriend, Valentina Trespalacios (right). He was arrested in Panama on January 24, two days after her body was found in a suitcase in a dumpster in the Colombian capital of Bogotá
An autopsy report revealed that 21-year-old Colombian DJane Valentina Trespalacios was strangled and beaten
At one point, Poulos met Trespalacios through an online dating app when he asked her to go on vacation with him for their first date.
Poulos dated Trespalacios, a well-known electronic music DJ, for almost a year before they got engaged and planned to get married soon.
A friend of Trespalacios said Poulos had become increasingly angry with her for refusing to publicize their relationship on their social networks.
He had already traveled to Bogotá on January 19 before moving into her apartment in the north of the city, which he allegedly rented long-term.
At her apartment, Poulos had sex with Trespalacios early in the morning of January 22 and is accused of beating and strangling her.
A surveillance camera near the apartment showed Poulos pushing a supermarket trolley with luggage bags, including one containing Trespalacios’ body, which she covered with a blanket because her head was sticking out.
Additional footage showed Poulos parking the car next to his rented Volkswagen Voyage and struggling to retrieve the luggage before he could put it in the trunk.
He then drove to the south side of Bogotá, where he left the suitcase in a dumpster and made his way to El Dorado International Airport to flee the country on a flight to Panamá City, Panama.
Still image taken on the night of January 21 when Valentina Trespalacios (centre) was last seen alive before her boyfriend John Poulos (right) allegedly beat and strangled her to death
John Poulos stands next to a supermarket trolley that contained a suitcase containing the body of his dead girlfriend, Valentina Trespalacios. He covered the suitcase with a blanket to block the 21-year-old’s head, which was sticking out of the luggage bag
John with Ashley Poulos, who filed for divorce in 2021, and their three children
A homeless man looking for recyclables made the gruesome discovery of Trespalacios’ body the same day.
The divorced father of three has been in custody since January 25 after being extradited from Panama.
Poulos had purchased a one-way ticket to Tocumen International Airport in Panamá City, Panama. He was arrested by Panamanian immigration and Interpol agents at the airport just before he was due to board a Turkish Airlines flight bound for Istanbul, Turkey, connecting to Montenegro – a country with which Colombia has no extradition treaty.
He had also bought a one-way ticket from Panamá City to São Paulo, Brazil, to avoid his international manhunt.
Poulos told authorities in Panama that the defunct Medellín cartel was behind Trespalacios’ murder and that he fled Colombia because cartel members wanted to kill him. Colombian authorities have not yet confirmed his version of events.
Poulos has not yet been found guilty and will have to appear in court at a later date.