Canadian Man Prime Suspect in Colombian Murder Case

Colombian authorities are in search of a Canadian man who is the prime suspect in a murder case in which a Colombian woman’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase, the second such discovery in Colombia in just over a year.

The victim, 20-year-old Laura Lopera, was found in an apartment in the Comuna 8 neighborhood of Medellin, an apartment being rented by Canadian man Jesse Gilbert Wiseman, for whom authorities have issued an arrest warrant.

The two reportedly first met online at the end of 2023 and had been seen together publicly in various places in the ERl Poblado neighborhood of the city, and other areas of the Aburra Valley.

Where is the Canadian suspected of killing a Colombian woman?

Canadian Wiseman is believed to have hopped the Colombian border via the local international airport in nearby Rionegro, and it has been reported that Colombian authorities have been working with Interpol to increase the chances of a successful search for the murder suspect.

“Indeed, this subject left Medellin on February 9,” said Yiri Milena Amado, director of the prosecutor’s office in Medellin, in an interview with local newspaper El Tiempo. “He is already being traced in order to locate him. What is initially known is that he left for a Central American country, but it seems that he is moving to another country in Europe.”

The murder has reportedly sparked outrage in Colombia, and comparisons have been drawn with last year’s killing of Valentina Trespalacios, whose dismembered body was found in Bogota in similarly gruesome circumstances.

John Poulos, the US citizen who murdered Trespalacios, reportedly began dating the deceased after the pair met on Tinder in 2022. Poulos has been held in a Colombia prison since he was arrested in Panama after fleeing the country, and is presently facing trial for the murder – if convicted, he may be sentenced to 50 years in prison.