Valentina Trespalacios She was a 21-year-old young woman from Bogotá who, with a lot of effort, managed to occupy a place in the world of DJs. Her dream was to raise her family and succeed in the profession that she had chosen as her life project. Through social networks she met John Poulus and that was the prelude to the tragedy, since she was murdered by him on January 22, 2023. The American hid her body in a suitcase and threw it in a garbage container.
Maureén Maya (MM), Laura Hincapié (LH) and Juan Guillermo Mercado They united journalism and writing to reveal every detail of this case that shocked Bogotá and the country in its entirety. book ‘Valentina, death and life’. Today it is on sale and in an interview with EL TIEMPO, they told all the details of his research for the consolidation of this work.
What did it mean to look for Valentina Trespalacios’ family at a time of so much pain?
LH: Working with the victims and even more so when the cases are so recent is a great challenge because it must be done with all the empathy and responsibility, but it is also our job to seek out the news and this, in particular, was a very high-profile case that was covered From the first moment. When I called Valentina Trespalacios’ mother, Laura Hidalgo, and what I found was a woman who was not only suffering from the murder of her daughter but also from a flurry of cruel comments towards her, who was totally revictimized, I realized that That story deserved to be told in another format. The country had to know who the DJ was who appeared in thousands of headlines and whose real story was not known. There we started work with this family. Two months had passed since the crime occurred and it was a great challenge for Laura to trust us.
The country had to know who the DJ was who appeared in thousands of headlines and whose real story was unknown.
What are the mistakes that are made when telling these types of stories?
LH: The main mistake is questioning the victim. It’s flat out something absurd, it was a murdered woman. All journalists have made mistakes and this book is also a reflection for us to ask ourselves how we are covering these cases. What we saw in the news was that it was said that she had been murdered, but also who she was, but she emphasized a lot in the world of the night, in how she dressed and they used to show many photos of her. Even the image that one chooses as a journalist to lead a story about a victim of femicide is important. Valentina was a young woman who showed herself, but that has nothing to do with what happened. And then the risk is that the murderer is no longer identified and, instead, the victim is. Sometimes we fall into social judgments with the victim. Surely Valentina was not the victim that many wanted to see, she was a 21-year-old girl who made mistakes like all human beings.
Cover of the book Valentina Death and Life.
Photo:Nicolás Alvarado.
Why is it important not to leave the victim’s life as an accessory?
MH: It was a clear purpose from the beginning of this project. Valentina was killed twice. First, because of the feminicide of which she was a victim, let us remember that her body wanted to be disappeared as if it were worthless; and then she gives herself a symbolic death, which is when she tries to hold him responsible for her own death. That is to say, many think that since she was pretty, had a good figure, appeared on social networks and had a night job, what happened can be justified. People are irresponsible, they take the subject lightly, they talk about what they don’t know and destroy the reputations of many people. In this case, no one knew who Valentina was, what her life story was, what her dreams were. She was the emotional and financial axis of her family. The damage that social judgment does ends up breaking down a family. Laura Hidalgo not only fights for justice to be done in the crime of her daughter, but she also has to clear her name without having finished the duel.
Laura Hidalgo not only fights for justice in her daughter’s crime, but also has to clear her name without having finished the duel.
When and who made the decision to write this book?
LH: It’s when I feel, in Laura’s words, a slap in the face. She tells me, if you really want to tell the story of my daughter, of the Valentina that no one knows, write a book. I thought life was giving me a chance. I am a journalist with many years of experience telling stories, but I had never written a book. And there this Content Market project emerged, with the research of Juan Guillermo Mercado, to ally ourselves with the publishing house Testigo Directo and tell this story. I thought then that we needed a great writer who would go hand in hand with me, who is a teacher, who also feels empathy for the case, who has convictions and that is when they recommended Maureén Maya, a great writer, to me.
The young Valentina Trespalacios was found dead stuffed in a blue suitcase thrown into a garbage container.
Photo:Facebook: Valentina Trespalacios
Did they know each other?
MM: No. We met in a cafe. I was hesitant at first, a little influenced by what I saw on social networks and in the press. It was all very dark, sordid, scary and I thought: do I really want to get into this story? But, when I start to investigate, to get more into the case and I realize that people are judging Valentina as guilty and talking about her murderer as the poor man who damaged his life, that she seduced him, that she took advantage of him. money and a lot of other things about Valentina, all I could think about was that they had killed her in the most vile way in a relationship of trust and love with her partner. They murdered her, she was a victim of femicide, they strangled her, they threw her in the trash. That offended me and hurt me a lot. I then tried to put myself in the family’s place. That’s where I wanted to start working because nothing justifies feminicide. Valentina wasn’t perfect and she didn’t have to be.
Reporting in these cases is complicated, official sources are closed, families do not want to speak out of fear. What barriers did you encounter?
Many. Not only because we were going to tell Valentina’s life, but because we needed to have access to the entire file. There we are fortunate that the victims’ lawyer, Miguel Ángel del Río, also believed in this project and opened the door a little for us with Laura Hidalgo and all these sources. The Attorney General’s Office was also very diligent in understanding the purpose of the book and we were able to obtain material. Furthermore, in that trust that we obtained with Laura Hidalgo, she gave us the keys to Valentina’s email that was linked to her cell phone and there were many of her files there and that is why the book has data that was not even taken into account in the process and that prove that there was a femicide. There was a large part of Valentina’s life, photos, videos, everything that she documented not only her experience as a DJ but her relationship with John Nelson Poulus. We had unpublished material that allowed us to understand why there is a feminicide.
How did you handle that timeline to make the story more interesting?
LH: She felt the responsibility of changing the destiny of her family, that was her dream and she believed she could achieve it and she sees this world of music and this career as a possibility of achieving it through her work, her talent. She had many convictions, a life project, the life project of an entire home.
How did they protect themselves from making mistakes that would affect the investigation?
LH: That was also a challenge, especially in those trial chapters where we are also making interpretations as writers. The truth is that we also had to let go and tell facts that were obvious. We did a very judicious job of attending each of the hearings, we followed them virtually and we also worked to understand the evidence of the Prosecutor’s Office. The book has material that was not part of the process, but we show it very carefully, understanding that it is not evidence in the case, but it serves to understand who John Nelson Poulus was. That was based on the accusation, working with the Attorney General’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office, also understanding what a feminicide means. We study the law Rosa Elvira Cely to know in which cases it should be considered that there is a feminicide. It was also very judicious work with the lawyers, but at no time did we affect the investigation, since even the hearings were public.
How to end a book of a story that has not yet finished?
MM: In a way we were clear about it from the beginning. Although we were working almost in parallel with the judicial process, attending all the hearings until reaching the final stage, we knew that there was a risk of not achieving a sentence, but, as we followed up through various sources, that It allowed us to clearly infer what were the elements that allowed us to ensure that a feminicide had been committed. All of this allowed us to reach the end. The death of a woman affects a family, it affects society. Valentina had a home that was broken by this violence. The book has very powerful messages about how women can protect ourselves.
What is the case about?
LH: The last hearing was on April 30 and the final arguments are pending, it is the last step taken before a ruling, a conviction or an acquittal is issued. At this moment there is a setback for the victims and for the Prosecutor’s Office, because they must wait for the Superior Court of Bogotá to define a protection filed by the defense of John Nelson Poulus so that the testimony of Santiago Luna, who is involved in the crime, can be incorporated. case. That put a stop to it and there is a very great fear on the part of the victims that Poulus could be released due to the expiration of his terms. It is expected that as quickly as possible, the court will define this protection so that freedom is not reached due to the expiration of terms, final arguments can be made and a sense of ruling is given.
What is the invitation with this book?
LH: It is a book that was written with all the heart, with all the honesty. Invite journalists to reflect on how these cases are being covered; we have a great responsibility. We have to have empathy. We cannot normalize these cases.
CAROL MALAVER
DEPUTY EDITOR BOGOTÁ
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