POISON Chocolate KILLS Two Teens—Wrong Victims

A wooden bowl filled with chocolate-covered pretzels sprinkled with sea salt

A chocolate-covered raspberry laced with one of the world’s most insidious poisons ended the lives of two teenage girls in a plot that Colombian authorities say was meant to kill someone else entirely.

Story Snapshot

Former Shark Tank Colombia contestant Zulma Guzman Castro, 54, faces murder charges after allegedly poisoning chocolate-covered raspberries with thallium that killed two 13 and 14-year-old girls in Bogota on April 7, 2025
Castro’s ex-lover Juan de Bedout was the intended target; his daughter Ines and her friend Emilia Forero ate the poisoned fruit instead, dying four days after consumption
Castro fled Colombia, attempted suicide by jumping into London’s River Thames in December 2025, and was arrested by UK authorities on January 5, 2026, awaiting extradition
Investigators discovered thallium traces in de Bedout’s late wife, prompting a re-examination of her death previously attributed to cancer

When Reality Television Meets True Crime Horror

Castro pitched her entrepreneurial dreams on Shark Tank Colombia in 2021, building a public profile as a savvy businesswoman. Three years later, Colombian prosecutors say she orchestrated a murder plot using thallium, a colorless, odorless, and tasteless heavy metal so toxic that a small dose proves lethal. The poison’s rarity signals premeditation. Thallium isn’t something stumbled upon accidentally. Someone who deploys it has researched, planned, and committed to an irreversible course. Castro’s trajectory from television entrepreneur to Interpol fugitive defies the typical arc of business rejection and personal disappointment.

The Affair That Allegedly Turned Fatal

Castro and Juan de Bedout conducted a years-long secret affair that ended shortly before April 2025. Prosecutors assert this breakup triggered Castro’s alleged revenge scheme. She denies involvement entirely, claiming in a December 2025 interview that powerful forces framed her because of the affair. Yet toxicology reports confirmed thallium in the blood of both deceased girls, in the chocolate-covered raspberries they consumed, and in trace amounts in de Bedout and his son. The evidence chain doesn’t hinge on speculation. It rests on laboratory findings that connect a specific poison to specific victims through a specific delivery mechanism aimed at a specific target.

Two Girls Die Instead of One Man

On April 3, 2025, Ines de Bedout and Emilia Forero ate the poisoned berries at a north Bogota apartment. Within hours, they fell violently ill. Four days later, both were dead. Another teenage girl sustained life-changing injuries, and a 21-year-old brother of one victim required hospitalization. Castro fled Colombia on April 13, less than a week after the deaths, eventually arriving in the United Kingdom by November. The unintended victims amplify the cruelty. If prosecutors prove their case, Castro didn’t just attempt murder, she succeeded twice over against children who had no role in the romantic collapse that allegedly motivated the plot.

A Desperate Escape Across Continents

Castro’s flight spanned months and continents. Interpol issued a wanted notice. She landed in London, where on December 16, 2025, she jumped from Battersea Bridge into the River Thames. Emergency responders pulled her from the water and placed her in psychiatric care. The UK’s National Crime Agency arrested her on January 5, 2026, in London’s W10 area, holding her for extradition proceedings that began the next day at Westminster Magistrates Court. Her suicide attempt reads less like remorse and more like a recognition that the walls were closing in. Castro’s denials ring hollow when weighed against her international escape and self-destructive act on foreign soil.

A Possible Pattern Emerges

Colombian authorities expanded their investigation after discovering thallium traces in de Bedout’s late wife, whose death had been attributed to cancer. The family now requests re-examination of her case and scrutiny of other potential historical exposures within the household. If thallium poisoning played a role in the wife’s death, the timeline of Castro’s involvement with de Bedout takes on a darker dimension. Was the affair concurrent with the wife’s decline? Did Castro have access to the household during that period? These questions remain unanswered, but the forensic breadcrumbs suggest a pattern that extends beyond a single act of jealous rage.

The Poison of Choice for Patient Killers

Thallium sulfate once served as a rat poison until governments banned it due to accidental human deaths. Its symptoms mimic other illnesses, delaying diagnosis and treatment. Victims experience nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and neurological damage before organ failure sets in. The substance’s insidious nature makes it a weapon of choice for those willing to watch their targets suffer slowly. Crime analysts Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack described Castro’s alleged trajectory as hitting the bottom of the truth barrel, from Shark Tank success to Interpol fugitive. Their assessment captures the steep moral descent required to deploy such a method against another human being, let alone against children.

Where Justice Stands Now

Castro remains in UK custody while extradition proceedings advance. Colombian prosecutors have charged her with murder and attempted murder. Pedro Forero, Emilia’s father, posted a heartbreaking tribute in August 2025, months after his daughter’s death, writing that she would always be his greatest love and expressing grief for the stories they would never share. His words crystallize the irreparable harm. Two families lost daughters. Another girl will live with permanent injuries. A young man survived poisoning. All because an alleged killer chose vengeance over letting go. The legal process will determine Castro’s guilt, but the toxicology reports, the flight, the Thames jump, and the emerging pattern of thallium exposure within the de Bedout family form a damning mosaic that speaks louder than her claims of being framed.