If everything goes as planned, on November 2, extradition hearings will begin in London (United Kingdom) against the Bogotá businesswoman Zulma Guzmán, accused of the murder of two girls and the attempted murder of two other teenagers, using a handful of raspberries poisoned with thallium as a lethal weapon.
A year and a half has already passed since the double crime, registered in April 2025 in the apartment in Bogotá of the economist Juan de Bedout, who had an extramarital relationship with the person responsible. In fact, De Bedout’s daughter and one of her school friends were the fatal victims.
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New evidence
One of the documents provided by El Nogal. Photo:THE TIME
The Prosecutor’s Office already believes it has enough evidence to prosecute Guzmán. For this reason, he scheduled the hearing against him for November 9. And, incidentally, work is being done on the review of the death of Alicia Graham, the economist’s wife, who died in 2021 from cancer, but who was poisoned with thallium, the same poison that took the life of her 13-year-old daughter.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO established for the first time that new elements of evidence have just arrived in the process that will serve not only to reinforce the accusation that prosecutor Elsa Reyes has ready but, also, to insist that the United Kingdom agree to extradite to Colombia Zulma Guzmán who claims her complete innocence of the charges that are going to be brought against her.
Juan De Bedout, the prosecutor Elsa Reyes and the accused Zulma Guzmán. Photo:RCN TV, EL TIEMPO and private archive.
In fact, on October 29, El Nogal certified that Zulma Guzmán was in that exclusive club days before the poisoned raspberries arrived and days after the double homicide, data that is relevant because two vials with thallium were found in the locker assigned to him.
And EL TIEMPO established for the first time that, last Friday, there was a new hearing for the legalization of evidentiary elements and prosecutor Reyes presented the confidential report that the El Nogal club delivered, after the legal requirement of judicial investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Interpol (Dijín).
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Locker Access
What was found in his locker at Club El Nogal. Photo:Private file
The letter, in the possession of EL TIEMPO, is dated October 29 and includes photos, documents and information about the box 314 of El Nogal, where two vials with thallium, some gloves and a costume were found.
Last February, EL TIEMPO revealed the discovery and the fact that it had become another of the key pieces of evidence in the process, for linking Zulma Guzmán with the possession of poison, which is prohibited in Colombia.
And now it is known that Guzmán had contact with the area where the locker was. According to the club’s log, he was there on March 11 and 26, 2025, at 1:44 in the afternoon and 4:28, respectively.
The raspberries with thallium arrived at Juan De Bedout’s apartment on April 4, 2025. And Guzmán returns to El Nogal on April 7, 2025, when the girls were dying. His last admissions to the club, before leaving the country, were on April 9 and 11.
That last day he was there twice: first, at 1:21 in the afternoon and, then, at 4:38 in the afternoon.
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The footprints
The labels and thallium found in the locker assigned to Zulma Guzmán at the El Nogal club. Photo:THE TIME
But the Prosecutor’s Office seeks to go even further. In fact, judicial sources told this newspaper that it was ordered to establish whether in the vials with thallium that were found in the locker that El Nogal had assigned to Guzmán, there were fingerprints of third parties.
In the documents that Guillermo Beltrán, representative of the exclusive club, just delivered, there is the traceability of the club’s action that allowed Zulma to access its facilities and the locker where the thallium was found in a small vial of saffron.
“As beneficiary in share No. 14070501, whose owner was the mother of Zulma Guzmán, since October 12, 1995. As of November 21, 2003, Mrs. Zulma Guzmán Castro becomes the owner of the aforementioned share”, it was pointed out at the hearing.
And it was added that, on December 1, 2013, Guzmán requested the conversion of natural action to business, including four beneficiaries.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO He revealed that the action appears in the name of the family company Productos Boxeador de Colombia SAS, but also that his brother distanced himself from both Zulma and the double crime.
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What’s next?
The renowned lawyer Fabio Humar represents the De Bedout family as victims. Photo:Private file
In fact, El Nogal provided conclusive information: “The use and access to the locker corresponded exclusively to Mrs. Zulma Guzmán Castro. No other person accessed it during the period in which it was assigned to her.”
And he added: “During the time that Mrs. Zulma Guzmán was assigned the locker, no request related to it was received, taking into account that the lockers are assigned individually.”
The 52-year-old businesswoman will complete a year in prison in a London jail in December, after being rescued from the waters of the Thames River where she was thrown after being located and having a red Interpol notice requested from Colombia for aggravated homicide. -because they are two minors– and attempted murder.
Prosecutor Reyes finishes to request and obtain that a guarantee judge extend the arrest warrant against Guzmán for another year. And now she hopes that the businesswoman will connect virtually to the charging hearing to move forward with the process.
Additionally, Support continues to be sent for the United Kingdom to extradite or expel her to Colombia.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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