British man arrested in Ecuador over Colombian woman's suitcase death
A British man was detained in Quito after Colombian investigators tied him to Natalia Villalba’s body, found in a suitcase in Bogotá, and a cross-border manhunt.
Matthew Ashley Foster-Smith, 46, from Bournemouth and Poole, was detained at Quito International Airport in Ecuador after Colombian investigators linked him to the killing of Natalia Villalba, a 36-year-old whose body was found in a suitcase in her Bogotá apartment. The arrest drew on police work across Colombia, Ecuador and the United Kingdom, with Interpol issuing a Red Notice and Dorset Police helping to trace him.
Villalba was found dead on June 21, 2026, inside apartment 702 of the Morph building in Bogotá’s Chapinero and El Chicó district, with the body placed in a grey suitcase under a running shower. Colombian authorities believe the scene was altered to hide the killing. CCTV images showed Foster-Smith arriving at the apartment on June 17 and leaving on June 18, the day investigators believe Villalba was killed. Prosecutors said the evidence points to Foster-Smith entering while Villalba was alone, assaulting her until she died, putting her body in the suitcase and fleeing.
Investigators believe he crossed from Colombia into Ecuador through the Rumichaca Bridge on June 21. The arrest in Quito left Colombian prosecutors facing the practical problem that the suspect was no longer in the country where the body was found, forcing coordination between national police, prosecutors and foreign authorities before any move toward trial in Colombia. If he is convicted in Colombia, he could face 40 to 50 years in prison.
Foster-Smith’s case has drawn added attention because of his criminal record in Britain. He was sentenced in 2020 to 18 months in prison for stalking and sharing revenge porn involving an ex-girlfriend, then jailed again in October 2025 for two years and two months for stalking a second woman. In January 2026, Poole Magistrates’ Court imposed an indefinite stalking prevention order requiring regular contact with Dorset Police and strict reporting of his address and vehicle details. He told The Sun he had been watching England against Croatia at an Irish bar, though that match took place on June 17, not June 18.
Villalba’s mother, Claudia Villalba, said her daughter last spoke with her on June 16. Bogotá mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said the case would not go unpunished.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
