Canadian Suspect Sought in the Murder of Colombian Woman in Medellín

For the second time in just over a year, the body of a Colombian woman was found in a suitcase and the primary suspect is again a foreigner from North America. 

The victim, Laura Lopera, was found in an apartment in the Comuna 8 neighborhood of Medellín, according to authorities who issued an arrest warrant for still-at-large Canadian suspect Jesse Wiseman. The two reportedly first met online near the end of 2023 and had been seen together publicly in establishments in the El Poblado neighborhood of the city and other areas of the Aburrá Valley.

Wiseman is believed to have left the country through the local international airport in nearby Rionegro, and it has been reported that Colombian authorities have collaborated with Interpol to assist with conducting the search.

“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 killing has caused outrage in the country and drawn comparisons to last year’s murder of Valentina Trespalacios, whose dismembered body was discovered in Bogotá in similarly grisly circumstances.

John Poulos, a U.S. citizen who reportedly began dating the deceased after they met on Tinder in 2022, has been held in a Colombian prison since he was arrested in Panama after fleeing the country and is currently facing trial for the murder of Trespalacios. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 50 years in prison.