A Colombian businesswoman has been apprehended in the UK and is facing accusations of murdering two teenage girls by allegedly poisoning chocolate-covered berries.
Zulma Guzman Castro, 54, was taken into custody in London on January 5, just a few weeks after being rescued from the Thames River in the city.
In 2021, Castro took part in Colombia’s edition of the show Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs present their business ideas to potential investors.
She is charged with the deaths of two schoolgirls in Colombia, whom she allegedly killed by using tasteless and odorless thallium poison to lace chocolate raspberries.
The victims have been identified as 14-year-old Ines De Bedout and her close friend, 13-year-old Emilia Forero. They both passed away in a Bogota hospital in Colombia, a few days after consuming the poisoned berries on April 3, 2025.
Emilia’s father paid tribute to his daughter in August on what would have been her 14th birthday.
He wrote on Facebook, “Daughter, you will always be the greatest love I as a father can ever feel. There is no girlfriend or wife that can generate the love I had when I had you, and with this love I will go until the last day of my life.
“I love you and I will love you for the rest of my life. I cry for the stories we won’t be able to live. I appreciate who you were and what you taught me. You were and will be the cutest thing I had in my life.”
Authorities have confirmed that another teenage girl sustained life-changing injuries from the poisoning, and the 21-year-old brother of one of the victims was also hospitalized.
As reported by People, the poisoned berries might have been intended for Ines’ father, Juan de Bedout, with whom Castro had been in a long-term relationship until their recent separation.
Castro had been a fugitive since fleeing Colombia shortly after the girls’ deaths and was discovered in the UK following her rescue from the Thames on December 16.
Last December, she denied the accusations against her, claiming that the murders were being attributed to her due to her affair, as reported by Mail Online.
A spokesperson for the National Crime Agency told the Mail, “Zulma Guzman Castro, aged 54, has today been arrested by officers from the NCA’s National Extradition Unit.
“Castro, who is wanted by the Colombian authorities in relation to murder and attempted murder, was arrested in the W10 area of London.
“She is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court this afternoon (January 6, 2026).”