The reality TV winner, her secret lover – and the deadly gift that arrived by courier

Like most other new employees at Car B, a car-sharing company in Colombia, Esteban Dalel was curious to meet the boss.

Zulma Guzman Castro, an energetic entrepreneur from Bogota, founded the company from scratch even though she had little knowledge about cars and was full of ambition. He even mentioned this in his TV program. Shark Tank. Unfortunately, like many other entrepreneurs who talk a good game, the “reality” behind Castro’s venture was not quite what it seemed.

“There was no office, just the living room,” recalls Dalel, 31, who was hired as Car B’s chief technical officer. “He was very tight with money… and he liked to yell at people.”

Even though he gained funding from someone Shark Tank Investor Castro’s automobile venture stopped its operations in 2019 due to debts. This wasn’t the last Dalel would hear about his boss, who returned to Colombian television screens for very different reasons.

Last week, he was identified as the prime suspect in a case affecting both Colombia and the world: the alleged poisoning of Ines de Bedout, 14, and Emilia Forero, 13, two schoolgirls from Bogota who died after eating chocolate-covered raspberries sent by courier to Ines’ family home.

Police allege that the raspberries were injected with thallium, a colorless, odorless heavy metal that is extremely toxic even in very small doses. They claim Castro, 54, sent the deadly gift as revenge against Ines’ father, Juan de Bedout, with whom she said she had an affair five years ago.

Believing that Castro had fled abroad, police issued a red notice to Interpol in October. He was later pulled from the River Thames thousands of miles away in London on Tuesday morning and had apparently thrown himself from Battersea Bridge.

The allegations stunned former employees of Castro’s firm, who shared complaints about their demanding bosses via an employee WhatsApp group. It has since come back to life.

While Castro is being treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, an extradition hearing is awaited at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where it is understood a warrant has been issued for his arrest. In another development, Colombian researchers are investigating whether Juan’s late wife, Alicia Graham Sardi, who died in 2021, was also a victim of thallium poisoning.

Castro had already protested his innocence by giving an interview. Focus Notificationsa Colombian media outlet specializing in legal affairs, the day before the suicide attempt. She admitted to having a relationship with Juan that was stormy at times, but now claimed she was framed.

“I am a mother and this must be an unbearable pain,” she said of her daughters’ death. “So I understand that they want to find the culprit and go to any lengths possible to do so, but that culprit is not me. The strategy is clearly to completely destroy me before any legal action…without any guarantee of a fair trial at this time.”

Ironically, Castro’s preemptive attempts to clear his name apparently gave way to the police. During the interview, she was seen drinking Buxton mineral water, a brand usually sold only in the UK, from a bottle.

An unexpected gift

Behind the horrific headlines the case has evoked on both sides of the Atlantic lies a horrific incident that took place on April 3 at the de Bedout family’s luxury apartment in Bogota. Ines, Emelia and another girl had come home from school together and were baking cookies when the courier arrived unexpectedly with a jar of chocolate raspberries – a gift for the family, the courier said.

Unable to resist this temptation, the girls tasted the raspberries and soon they all collapsed. Ines and Emelia died in intensive care four days later, while their unidentified friends suffered life-changing effects. The 21-year-old brother of one of the dead was also hospitalized.

It is understood that Castro, who allegedly knew Ines’ daily routine and was aware of her fondness for chocolate-covered raspberries, left Colombia about 10 days later. Since then he is understood to have spent time in Argentina, Brazil and Spain. The case against her was not made public until this month, but in August Emelia’s family hinted that they suspected a woman was involved in their daughter’s death.

His father, Pedro Forero, wrote on social media to celebrate his 14th birthday: “Fourteen years ago began a life full of hopes, joys and dreams… As a father, it is incomprehensible to think that someone could take that away.

“As a father, he not only took away my dreams, desires, and aspirations in life. He also took away my daughter’s opportunity to be a girlfriend, a professional, a wife, a mother, and a daughter.”

Interpol’s red notice alerting countries around the world that Castro was wanted for questioning was not issued until late October, but Castro appears to have become aware of the accusations before they were made public. In an undated message to friends, he said he was the innocent victim of “gossip”.

“I find myself in the middle of a very serious situation… I am accused of being the person who sent the poison that killed two girls. I imagine the rumors are growing like wildfire,” he wrote.

“They accuse me of fleeing to Argentina, then to Brazil, Spain and England. Those who know me know that I did not flee anywhere. They know that I worked in Argentina and did a master’s degree in journalism there.

“I think they’re accusing me of having a secret relationship with the father of one of the girls.”

an illicit relationship

Castro’s allegations that she had an affair with Juan de Bedout are supported by her former employees at Car B. Dalel claims that when Bedout comes to visit, he will quickly order his employees out of his home.

“We started noticing that he wanted a place to himself to have sex; he would call us and tell us to leave his house in 10 minutes,” she said.

In an interview on Monday Focus NotificationsCastro claimed the couple’s relationship ended in early 2020, a year before Bedout’s wife died. But he admitted that he was unhappy about the breakup and at one point installed a GPS tracker on his car to find out his whereabouts.

“During my relationship with Juan, he challenged me out of jealousy and because I was involved in all the lies… he said I wouldn’t know where he was hiding,” she said.

“I told him I was talented, and that’s when I looked for a way to put GPS in the car.”

Although Castro never mentioned his feelings for Bedout’s late wife, Sardi, investigators are now apparently re-examining an earlier diagnosis that she died of cancer. It was understood that traces of thallium were found in Sardi’s body, but it was assumed that he was accidentally swallowed.

Innocent until proven otherwise

The conspiracy intensified further, De Bedout family lawyer Fabio Humar told Colombia. El Tiempo Authorities are investigating other possible poisoning attempts using thallium, the newspaper reported.

This was revealed by the apparent discovery that traces of thallium were found in the blood of both Pedro and one of his sons, who had not touched the contaminated raspberries.

According to news on Friday La NacionCastro first came to Argentina in 2023 and started his postgraduate journalism course on April 14, the Argentinian newspaper reported. The newspaper said Castro left Argentina on October 1.

Authorities have stressed that despite the numerous allegations against him, Castro should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Authorities in Colombia are understood to have concerns about whether he would be mentally prepared to stand trial, given his suicide attempt, and whether this would affect extradition proceedings.

Whatever happens next, his former colleagues will be keeping a close eye on the latest developments in a case known in Latin America as the “raspberry murders.”

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If Castro is found guilty, they say, it will prove that she is as incompetent as a criminal as she is as a businesswoman.

“We were talking about how stupid he would be if he used a delivery service for the raspberries because it would leave a perfect trail,” Dalel said. “These are the kinds of mistakes he would make at the company.”

Telegraph, London

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