Former Shark Tank contestant arrested and accused of murdering teen girls with raspberries
A businesswoman from Colombia was arrested in the UK and has been accused of murdering two teenage girls by poisoning some chocolate-covered berries.
Zulma Guzman Castro, aged 54, was arrested in London on Monday (January 5) only a few weeks after she was rescued from the Thames River in the city.
In 2021, Castro appeared on Colombia’s version of the television show Shark Tank, a show where entrepreneurs pitch their business plan to a panel of investors.
The 54-year-old is now accused of killing two schoolgirls in Colombia by lacing some chocolate raspberries with tasteless and odorless thallium poison.
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The children have been identified as 14-year-old Ines De Bedout and her close friend 13-year-old Emilia Forero. The pair both died in hospital in Bogota, Colombia, only a few days after eating the laced berries on April 3, 2025.
Emilia’s father also paid tribute to his daughter in August on what would have been her 14th birthday.
Writing on Facebook, he said: “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.”
Officials have also confirmed that another teen girl was left with life-changing injuries from the poisoning and the 21-year-old brother of one of the victims was also hospitalized.
According to a People report, the berries may have been intended for Ines’ father, Juan de Bedout, who Castro had been seeing intimately for years but had recently separated from.
Castro has been wanted since she fled Colombia less than a week after the girls died, and was dramatically found in the UK after she was rescued from the Thames river after reportedly diving in on December 16.
In December last year, she also denied the allegations against her and claimed that the murders were being pinned on her because of her affair, according to a Mail Online report.
An National Crime Agency spokesman spoke to the Mail and explained: '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)."
Gerrard Kaonga