Texas man had sex with DJ girlfriend before beating and choking her to death in Colombia

A Colombian government prosecutor has revealed that the Texas man accused of killing his DJ girlfriend had sex with her before choking her to death.

John Poulos, 35, made his second court appearance in the capital Bogotá on Friday afternoon, just five days after the body of Valentina Trespalacios, 23, was found in a suitcase in a dumpster.

Poulos, the father of a boy and two girls in the United States, is charged with four counts – aggravated femicide, concealment, alteration and destruction of crime scene evidence.

Prosecutor Daniel Gómez said after Poulos had sex with Trespalacios, he repeatedly hit her with his fists. He then wrapped his hands around her neck until he strangled her to death.

John Poulos (centre) returned for a court hearing on Friday as he is accused of murdering his girlfriend Valentina Trespalacios

Valentina Trespalacios, a DJ in Bogotá, Colombia, was allegedly murdered by her Texan boyfriend, John Poulos. Her body was found in a suitcase that Poulos allegedly dumped in a dumpster last Sunday before buying a flight to flee Colombia to Panama

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan with Ashley Poulos (left), Jackson Poulos (center) and John Poulos (right)

Poulos remained seated next to his lawyer and a court-appointed interpreter while Gómez made the shocking revelations.

He added that Poulos curved Trespalacios’ body to fit in the suitcase. However, he let her head stick out of the luggage bag and covered the bag with a towel.

On Sunday, Poulos was caught on camera putting the suitcase in the trunk of a Volkswagen Voyager in the garage of the apartment building on the north side of Bogotá and then driving away.

He drove to the south side of Bogotá, where he threw the luggage bag in a dumpster next to a park, and drove to the airport.

Before boarding a flight to Panamá City, Panamá, as part of his escape, Gómez said Poulos threw away Trespalacios’ cellphone at El Dorado International Airport.

Poulos’ plan to avoid arrest involved buying two plane tickets with cash, one from Panamá City to São Paulo, Brazil, to ward off international manhunts by Colombia’s National Police, and a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, where he boarded a plane would transfer to Montenegro, which has no extradition treaty with Colombia.

Panamanian immigration officials and Interpol arrested him Tuesday night at Tocumen International Airport just before he was about to board a Turkish Airlines flight bound for Istanbul.

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.

Gómez explained to Poulos that if he decides to go to court, he could be sentenced to 500 to 600 months in prison if found guilty of Trespalacios’ murder.

However, prosecutors left open an offer that would reduce the sentence to 375 months if he accepts a guilty plea. The judge would have to accept the terms of the agreement and Poulos would not be allowed to resign if he agreed.

An autopsy report revealed that Colombian DJ Valentina Trespalacios was strangled and beaten

A homeless man was searching a dumpster in the Los Cámbulos neighborhood of Bogotá when he discovered the suitcase containing the body of Valentina Trespalacios

Trespalacios hairstylist Veronica Jiménez confirmed to DailyMail.com that Poulos was married and had three children in the United States, but that the children’s mother had reportedly issued a restraining order against him because he was violent.

He had been with Trespalacios for eight months and planned to marry her.

Poulos’ eldest son, Jackson Poulos, was just four years old when doctors diagnosed him with stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma in his gastrointestinal tract and abdomen. The cancer is very rare, with only about 350 cases per year in the United States.

In 2017, the child underwent a 13-hour operation in which the surgeon removed more than 150 tumors that were discovered in his pelvis, sigmoid colon, appendix, spleen and gallbladder.

Valentina Trespalacios (pictured) dated boyfriend John Poulos for eight months

John Poulos (pictured) was taken into custody in Panama on Tuesday just before he was about to board a flight to Turkey and then to Montenegro. On Wednesday, a Colombian judge approved a request from Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office that had to be presented to Panamanian authorities in order to process Poulos’ extradition

The boy was a special guest of former House Speaker Paul Ryan in the House of Representatives chamber for former President Donald Trump’s message to a joint session of the United States Congress on January 30, 2018.

Jiménez said Poulos had become increasingly jealous and upset with Trespalacios for refusing his demands to make their relationship public on their social media accounts. Trespalacios had explained to him that their network was only there to promote their DJ work.

Poulos arrived at the apartment on Thursday and moved in at Trespalacios on Friday evening. He accompanied her to an early Saturday morning DJ gig at the Nexxus bar.

A homeless man searching a dumpster for recyclables on Sunday afternoon discovered a blue suitcase with Trespalacios’ head sticking out.