A liposuction patient was caught on camera being dragged into a car six days before her body was found in a rural area.
Yulixa Consuelo Toloza underwent laser lipolysis at a clinic on Wednesday (13 May).
After the procedure, the close friend who had accompanied her returned to find she had disappeared.
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Staff told the friend that Yulixa, 52, had left on her own.
However, CCTV footage later emerged showing two men carrying Yulixa, who appeared limp, into a car in Bogotá, Colombia.
One witness later recalled: “She was extremely pale, her skin and lips were purple – she looked like a dead person.”
The vehicle seen in the footage was found abandoned in Cúcuta, near the border with Venezuela, on Monday (18 May).
That same day, Venezuelan nationals Jesús Hernández Morales and Kelvis Sequera Delgado were arrested. They are believed to have driven the vehicle from Bogotá to Cúcuta.
Yulixa’s body was found in a rural area of Apulo yesterday (19 May), reportedly following information provided by the arrested suspects.
Hours later, the arrests of three more people in Venezuela were confirmed, as reported by Need To Know.
Those detained were clinic owner María Fernanda Delgado Hernández, her partner Edinson José Torres Sarmiento, and Eduardo David Ramos, who allegedly carried out the procedure.
Delgado, 30, and Torres, 40, are originally from Guanare, Venezuela, and were travelling with their two children and Delgado’s mother when they were intercepted by authorities.
The alleged surgeon, also Venezuelan, had reportedly been living in Colombia for seven years.
The clinic, Beauty Láser M.L., presented itself as a “hair salon and other beauty treatments” business. It advertised liposuction packages starting at 3.6m COP (£712).
But authorities say it was not authorised to carry out such invasive procedures, and it has since been shut down.
Yulixa is survived by her mother and a brother who lives in the US.
Her cousin Morelia Dávila told local media: “She never mentioned anything about cosmetic surgery.”
Bogotá mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said: “This was not a case of medical negligence – it was a murder.”
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