A British doctor wanted over the murder of a Colombian model whose body was found inside a suitcase has been arrested in Ecuador.
Matthew Ashley Foster Smith, 46, from Poole, Dorset, was detained at Quito International Airport after Colombian authorities secured an arrest warrant and an Interpol Red Notice.
Prosecutors allege he assaulted 36-year-old Natalia Villalba to death in her apartment in Bogota before placing her body inside a suitcase, attempting to conceal the crime and fleeing the country.
He is expected to face charges of aggravated femicide and destroying or altering evidence if extradited to Colombia. Aggravated femicide carries a potential prison sentence of 40 to 50 years in Colombia.
Villalba’s body was discovered by a cleaner inside a suitcase beneath a running shower in a seventh floor apartment at the Morph Chicó building in northern Bogota. Her mother, Claudia, had raised the alarm after losing contact with her daughter days earlier.
Investigators believe Villalba was killed on June 18 after extending her stay at the apartment. CCTV footage reportedly placed Foster Smith at the property before he crossed into Ecuador through the Rumichaca border crossing.
Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said the arrest was the result of a joint operation involving Colombian prosecutors, Ecuadorian police, Interpol, migration officials and Dorset Police. Colombian authorities said Foster Smith was located while allegedly attempting to buy a ticket to Europe.
Hours before his arrest, Foster Smith denied any involvement, claiming he had been watching England’s World Cup match against Croatia in an Irish bar at the time of the killing and later left Colombia after receiving death threats. Colombian investigators, however, say the evidence gathered by the Technical Investigation Corps links him to the crime scene and forms the basis of the arrest warrant.
