A British doctor wanted over the murder of a Colombian model found stuffed inside a suitcase has been arrested in Ecuador.
Matthew Foster-Smith, captured at Quito International Airport yesterday afternoon, had been named locally as the man police and prosecutors in Bogota wanted to question over the violent death of Natalia Villalba.
The 46-year-old from Poole, Dorset, had protested his innocence hours before his arrest. He told the Sun after leaving Colombia a day before Natalia’s body was discovered: “It wasn’t me. I was watching England.”
Following his arrest at the airport, one well-placed source told Colombian press: “He was trying to buy a ticket to Europe and was apparently located via the telephone calls he made from there.”
View 4 ImagesNatalia Villalba Angarita was found dead in a Bogota apartment inside a suitcase(Image: JamPress)
Overnight Colombian prosecutors confirmed his detention, saying: “Pursuant to an arrest warrant obtained by a prosecutor from the Bogota Sectional Office, and following the issue of an Interpol Red Notice, Ecuador’s National Police apprehended a British citizen at Quito International Airport.
“Evidence obtained by the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) indicates that he allegedly entered the apartment where the victim was alone, physically assaulted her until she died, and manipulated the body to place it inside a suitcase.
“He then carried out various actions aimed at concealing what had happened, altering the crime scene, and fleeing the location.
“The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia will carry out the necessary procedures to ensure that the foreign national is placed at its disposal and prosecuted in Colombia for the crimes of aggravated femicide and concealment, alteration, or destruction of material evidence.”
View 4 ImagesNatalia’s mum Claudia revealed her daughter had stopped taking her calls last Thursday(Image: JamPress)
Natalia’s body was found by a cleaner in a suitcase under a running shower in the bathroom of a seventh-floor apartment at the Morph Chico building in Bogota.
Her grief-stricken mum Claudia revealed earlier this week her daughter had stopped taking her calls last Thursday. Investigators say Natalia initially checked into her apartment between June 3 and 7 with a man from Texas before subsequently extending her stay for another fortnight until June 21.
Bogota mayor Carlos Fernando Galan said Dorset Police had assisted in the arrest. He posted: “The man believed to be responsible for the murder of Natalia Villalba has been captured in Ecuador.
View 4 ImagesThe door to the apartment where the model was found dead(Image: JamPress)
“A task force made up of @fiscaliacol and the Bogotá Sectional CTI, @MigracionCol Regional Andina, @seguridadbog, @seguridadequito, Interpol of @PoliciaEcuador, Ecuador’s Migration Service, and @dorsetpolice succeeded this week in locating Matthew Ashley Foster-Smith, who is believed to be responsible for the murder of Natalia Villalba on June 18.”
Foster-Smith left Colombia last Sunday via the Rumichaca International Bridge, a bustling border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador.
Speaking to the Sun a day before his arrest he claimed he had a lock-tight alibi, saying: “I was watching England versus Croatia on a big screen in an Irish bar so it wasn’t me.
“After the match I went into the shopping centre, I mooched about, bought an ice cream, and came back later for the later games.”
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He added: “I didn’t leave with anyone and went to bed myself at about 11pm local time.” He claimed he had left Colombia and was planning to get a flight back to the UK after receiving “death threats” from local gangsters.