Since the first week of November, the Attorney General’s Office ordered an investigation to establish the origin of several leaks of information related to the process of thallium poisoning that caused the death of two minors in Bogotá, and left other people injured. Even, announced that it will certify disciplinary and criminal copies that may be applicable, alleging that due process could be affected, compromise the development of the investigations and violate the integrity of witnesses and the good name of the victims.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO investigated and established that the reaction of the accusing entity It is because within the procedural pieces that were leaked there are testimonies, photos and even unpublished chats and audios of Alicia Graham, wife of the economist Juan de Bedout Vargas and mother of one of the girls who was murdered in April 2025 using chocolate raspberries poisoned with thallium as a lethal weapon.
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Messages from Alicia and complaint
Alicia Graham and her husband, Juan de Bedout. Photo:EL TIEMPO/ Private Archive
Alicia Graham died on August 17, 2021, diagnosed with cancer. However, it is proven that the wife of the economist De Bedout suffered poisoning with the same poison that took the lives of her 13-year-old daughter and a schoolmate.
In fact, journalist María Elvira Arango published that Carlos and Cristina Graham Sardi, Alicia’s brothers, They requested that the possible responsibility of the economist Juan de Bedout Vargas for Alicia Graham’s intentional exposure to thallium and its eventual relationship with her death be investigated as a hypothesis.
That request – which was reiterated on August 31 to prosecutor 41 of the Life section, to whom the case corresponded -, It is accompanied by medical, toxicological and documentary information, including audios and chats that Alicia Graham herself sent when she was poisoned with thallium.
EL TIEMPO had exclusive legal access to several of those voice messages and in one of these, sent on July 29, 2021, a month before her death, she assures a couple of relatives that “they were poisoning her again.”
Alicia went from saying “I was poisoned with thallium” to “they are poisoning me.”
Alicia GrahamMother of girl killed by thallium
The information recorded is key because months ago Alicia Graham herself told a group of friends that, apparently, she had accidentally ingested thallium. But after his return from a trip to Europe, in which his health rapidly deteriorated, he went from saying “I was poisoned by thallium” to “they are poisoning me.”
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Polygrapher and private investigator
This is the package of raspberries poisoned with thallium that arrived at Juan de Bedout’s apartment. Photo:Private file
Even EL TIEMPO established in scoop that Alicia requested that a private investigator be hired and that some people in her environment undergo a polygraph, and she also requested that their background be searched.
It is evident that not only Alicia’s brothers and her attorney—criminal David Espinosa—hypothesize that the ingestion of thallium was not accidental and that it is, at least atypical.that, three and a half years later, the little De Bedout girl had died from lethal consumption of the same poison.
What has emerged so far is that the investigation that Alicia requested before dying was forgotten when the diagnosis of her death was cancer. But now, with the request of her family, the Prosecutor’s Office must proceed to advance a new file parallel to that of the murdered minors.
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The fate of Zulma Guzmán
Above: Zulma Guzmán’s locker and the sash. Below: Juan De Bedout. Photo:Private file
About this last case It is already known that the prosecutor Elsa Reyes claims to have the necessary evidentiary elements to charge the double homicide and the attempted homicide of two other teenagers who also consumed poisoned raspberries from the businesswoman Zulma Guzmánwith whom Juan de Bedout had an extramarital relationship.
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In fact, The Graham brothers’ lawyer was the one who gave the clues to inspect the locker that the El Nogal club had assigned to Zulma Guzmán, who accessed the place through an action by a family business.
In that locker, As EL TIEMPO revealed, two vials with thallium, some gloves and a costume were found.
On November 9, Prosecutor Reyes virtually summoned Zulma Guzmán to face charges. But the woman, who denied any responsibility, did not appear. And it was also not possible to bring forward the hearing in a London court – where she remains imprisoned – to determine her extradition to Colombia.
Their lawyers argued that they could not attend to both judicial fronts at the same time. And the extradition case was postponed until March 2027.
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Response from De Bedout
Lawyer Fabio Humar, attorney for Juan de Bedout. Photo:LinkedIn and Fabio Humar lawyers.
Regarding the request that De Bedout be investigated, his lawyer, the well-known criminal lawyer Fabio Humar, stated that they will only respond to the authorities.
“We are attentive to the calls made by the justice system to clarify what corresponds and, of course, I have received instructions from my client, Juan de Bedout, to offer all the information that the Prosecutor’s Office requires,” said Humar.
Meanwhile, sources from the prosecuting body told EL TIEMPO that the Graham family attorney has already requested the reassignment of the case, where they ask to investigate the conduct of the economist De Bedout.
And, at the same time, they requested that an investigation be carried out on who leaked the evidentiary material mentioned in the Prosecutor’s Office statement: “It will be evaluated whether, as requested, both cases are brought forward by the same prosecutor, that is: that of the dead girls and that of Alicia Graham.”
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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