A fugitive businesswoman, accused of murdering two teenage girls in Colombia with poisoned chocolate-covered raspberries, has been rescued alive from the River Thames in London.
Dramatic River Rescue in Central London
Zulma Guzman Castro, a woman in her 50s, was pulled from the water near Battersea Bridge in west London on the morning of Tuesday, 16 December 2025. The Metropolitan Police's Marine Policing Unit recovered her at 7:14am after receiving reports of a woman in distress just before 6:45am.
She was taken to hospital, where her injuries were assessed as not life-threatening or life-changing. Castro is alleged to have killed 14-year-old Ines de Bedout and 13-year-old Emilia Forero in Bogota, Colombia, by spiking raspberries with a lethal dose of thallium, a colourless and odourless heavy metal.
A Deadly Dessert and an International Manhunt
According to Colombian prosecutors, the two schoolgirls ate the poisoned dessert after school at an apartment in Bogota seven months ago. They tragically died in hospital four days later. The alleged motive was reported to be an 'act of vengeance' linked to a secret affair Castro had with the father of one of the victims, Juan de Bedout.
Two other individuals, another teenage girl and the 21-year-old brother of a victim, were also hospitalised after eating the berries. Both survived, but the girl is said to have suffered lasting health problems.
Castro, who denies the killings, fled Colombia shortly after the incident. An Interpol Red Notice was issued for her arrest earlier in December 2025. Authorities tracked her movements through Brazil and Spain before she arrived in the UK on 11 November 2025. The National Crime Agency was actively involved in the hunt for the alleged double killer on British soil.
A Father's Heartbreaking Tribute
The deaths of the two friends sparked an outpouring of grief. Emilia's father, Pedro Forero, posted a desperate and emotional tribute on social media before a suspect was named by authorities.
He wrote of his daughter: 'She did not just take away my dreams, my desires and my prospects in life as a father; she did not just take away my opportunity to be a father-in-law, grandfather... She took away my daughter’s opportunity to be a girlfriend, a professional, a wife, a mother and a daughter.'
The case highlights the deadly nature of thallium, a substance typically used in electronics and optical lenses, but which has a grim history in criminal poisonings.
