Get you up to speed: Brit doctor arrested over murder of model, 36, found dead inside suitcase | News World
Matthew Foster-Smith, a 46-year-old British national, has been arrested in Ecuador for the alleged murder of Colombian model Natalia Villalba Angarita, whose body was discovered in a suitcase in her Bogotá apartment. Colombian authorities confirmed his arrest following an Interpol Red Notice and are pursuing charges of aggravated femicide and evidence concealment.
Colombian authorities are coordinating with the Attorney General’s Office to ensure Matthew Foster-Smith is extradited to face charges related to the murder of Natalia Villalba Angarita, which is classified as aggravated femicide. Investigators have confirmed his alleged involvement based on evidence collected, including CCTV footage and phone records, following the discovery of Angarita’s body on June 22, with significant focus on the timeline of events leading up to her death on June 18.
Colombian prosecutors confirmed the arrest of Matthew Foster-Smith in Ecuador, stating he is alleged to have committed aggravated femicide against Natalia Villalba Angarita and that actions are underway to have him extradited for prosecution. Justice advocacy group Justicia Para Todos has called for a thorough investigation into the case, underscoring the need for prompt action by authorities to address gender-based violence.
What remains unclear — No motive has been confirmed for the murder of Natalia Villalba Angarita.
British doctor arrested in Ecuador over murder of Colombian model found in suitcase
Matthew Foster-Smith has been arrested following the murder of Natalia Villalba Angarita (Picture: BluRadio Colombia/JamPress)
A British medic wanted over the murder of a Colombian model found stuffed inside a suitcase has been arrested in Ecuador.
The body of Natalia Villalba Angarita, a 36-year-old model from Cúcuta, in northern Colombia, was found by cleaning staff when they entered her seventh-floor apartment in the capital, Bogotá, after the rental period ended on June 22.
With the shower still running, a grey suitcase was discovered in the bathroom, containing the model’s remains.
Matthew Foster-Smith had been named locally as the man police and prosecutors wanted to question over Angarita’s violent death.
The 46-year-old from Poole, Dorset, previously jailed twice in the UK for stalking and banned from practising as a doctor in Britain, insisted he was innocent hours before he was detained, using the World Cup as an alibi.
He told The Sun after leaving Colombia a day before her body was found on Monday: ‘I was watching England versus Croatia on a big screen in an Irish bar, so it wasn’t me.’
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The former doctor was wanted by police following the model’s violent death (Picture: DorsetPolice/BNPS)
Angarita, 36, was discovered by cleaners who entered her rented apartment (Picture: JamPress)
Foster-Smith claimed that, after the match, he went to the shopping centre for a ‘mooch about’ before buying an ice cream and going back to the bar later to watch another game.
‘I didn’t leave with anyone and went to bed myself at about 11pm local time.’
Overnight, Colombian prosecutors confirmed his arrest as they claimed he had beaten his victim to death before trying to conceal his alleged horrific crime, saying: ‘Pursuant to an arrest warrant obtained by a prosecutor from the Bogotá Sectional Office, and following the issue of an Interpol Red Notice, Ecuador’s National Police apprehended a British citizen at Quito International Airport.
‘He is alleged to be responsible for the death of a 36-year-old woman on June 18 in an apartment located in the Chico neighbourhood of northern Bogota.
‘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.’
He was detained in Ecuador after his phone activity enabled authorities to track his location (Picture: BluRadio Colombia)
Their statement added that ‘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’.
‘His location was made possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Attorney General’s Office, @MigracionCol, @SeguridadBOG, Interpol Colombia, and the authorities of Ecuador,’ it concluded, with one well-placed source telling Colombian press that Foster-Smith’s phone calls were traced as he tried to buy a ticket to Europe.
Prosecutors named the arrested man (who was pictured wearing shorts and a baseball cap when he was held at Quito International Airport) as Foster Martinson in their statement for reasons that were not immediately clear this morning.
Angarita’s grieving mother, Claudia, said earlier this week that she became concerned after her daughter stopped taking her calls last Thursday, the same day Foster-Smith was reportedly seen leaving the apartment block after entering hers the previous day.
CCTV cameras reportedly recorded Foster-Smith taking bedsheets to a laundry room in the building before exiting.
‘My daughter had been living in Bogota for 17 years,’ said Claudia, adding that they spoke ‘all the time’, but her phone is now still missing.
Angarita’s remains were stuffed inside a suitcase and placed in the shower, which was left running (Picture: JamPress)
‘Natalia told me she had a company and worked doing that. I don’t know what it was exactly, and I’m waiting to talk to one of her best friends, so she gives me more information about what she was doing work-wise.’
Angarita’s body has not yet been released to her family.
‘All we want is for the truth to come out.’
Investigators say Angarita 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.
Foster-Smith left Colombia on Sunday, June 21, via the Rumichaca International Bridge, which is a bustling border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador.
In 2020, the murder suspect was jailed for 18 months in the UK after stalking an ex and posting revenge porn online. He denied all the allegations against him when he was arrested in June that year, but later pleaded guilty.
‘I was watching England versus Croatia on a big screen in an Irish bar, so it wasn’t me,’ said Foster-Smith (Picture: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
After his release, he began stalking another woman in her 40s by hanging around outside her workplace and engineering ‘chance’ meetings with her in public.
Dorset Police publicly warned people not to approach Foster-Smith and to call 999 if they saw him after he was charged with stalking in September 2024 but skipped bail and went on the run for a month.
The search was called off in October 2024 after he was tracked down to London and re-arrested.
In October last year, Foster-Smith was handed a new prison sentence at Bournemouth Crown Court of two years and two months.
Detective Constable Thomas Norman said at the time that his second victim ‘continued to live in fear’ and her life had been ‘destroyed’ by her convicted stalker’s behaviour.
Now, if convicted of the murder of Angarita, he is likely to face a charge of aggravated femicide, which carries a prison sentence in Colombia of between 40 and 50 years.
A Colombian foundation assisting the families of femicide victims called Justicia Para Todos, which in English translates to Justice For All, said before Foster-Smith was arrested: ‘We reject the violent death of Natalia Villalba, found on June 22 in an apartment in northern Bogota.
‘Behind every statistic there is a life, a story, and a family that today demands answers.
‘We call on the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation to conduct a thorough, prompt investigation with a gender perspective.’
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