The dark side of tourism in Colombia: How Brit and US holidaymakers have ended up dead while travelling in South American nation... as cops hunt killer who butchered London biologist
Colombia is one of the most popular destinations for adventure-seeking travellers, but the South American nation has seen a series of fatalities involving holidaymakers in recent years.
London scientist Alessandro Coatti's dismembered body was found in a suitcase dumped in a stream in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta on Sunday.
Police are said to have found only his head, hands and feet and are said to be still searching for his torso and other parts of his body.
The local mayor Carlos Pinedo Cuello has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for Coatti's murder.
But Coatti is just the latest traveller to have tragically died in the country. Some British and American holidaymakers have fallen victim to vicious gangs and dating app crime schemes. Others, including a British reality TV star, have died while exploring the country's beauty spots.
Colombia, almost five times bigger than the UK, sits by both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
The country has become a holiday hotspot in recent years, likely due to its white-sand beaches that can rival any Caribbean island, pristine national parks and Cartagena – arguably the most beautiful city in all of South America.
Both the UK and US Governments issued warnings earlier this year advising against all non-essential travel to Colombia following a state of emergency declaration and attacks by illegal armed groups.
Coatti's dismembered body has been found in a suitcase in the Colombian city of Santa Marta
UK scientist's dismembered body found in suitcase
Alessandro Coatti, who was staying at a hostel in Santa Marta's scenic historic centre was last seen leaving on Friday, and is believed to have been on holiday in the area.
He is said to have been identified by a hotel wristband on one of the parts of his body that were discovered.
His remains were reportedly discovered on Sunday by a group of children.
The spot where he was found is by a road leading to the Sierra Nevada football stadium, which was the host stadium for the football matches at the 2017 Bolivarian Games and is the home stadium of local side Union Magdalena.
He is said to have been identified by a hotel wristband on one of the parts of his body that were discovered.
The trained molecular biologist, 42, had worked at the Royal Society of Biology since April 2017 - first as a science policy officer and for the past six years as a senior science policy officer according to his LinkedIn page.
Before joining the professional association, created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education and research, the Italian-born scientist had been a post-graduate neuroscience researcher at University College London.
Santa Marta's mayor Carlos Pinedo Cuello has offered an £10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for Alessandro's gruesome murder
Police at the scene of where Coatti's body was found
The Santa Marta said late Monday: 'I have instructed the authorities to join forces to solve the death of the Italian citizen Alessandro Coatti.
'We are offering a reward of fifty million Colombian pesos for information that will allow us to identify and capture those responsible.
'This crime will not go unpunished. Criminals must know that in Santa Marta criminality has no place. We will pursue them until they are brought to justice.'
Coatti was among Royal Society of Biology representatives who appeared before Parliament in June 2022 to discuss the future regulation of UK genetic technologies.
British reality TV star plunges to death off waterfall
Adventurous reality TV star Joe Tilley fell to his death off a Colombian waterfall while searching for a 'shaman' after having joined tribal ceremonies with poisonous toad.
Tilley, 24, was last seen alive wandering towards the waterfall on May 5, 2018. He was found dead on May 12.
He became disorientated and fell to his death after asking 'to find a shaman' and wandering off. His body was found submerged in the lower part of the Fin del Mundo waterfall, known as The End of the World.
Tilley, from Leicester, had previously appeared in Jungletown, which followed an American entrepreneur and hundreds of young people as they attempted to create the world's 'most sustainable modern town' in Panama.
Adventurous reality TV star Joe Tilley, 24, fell to his death off a Colombian waterfall while searching for a 'shaman' after having joined tribal ceremonies with poisonous toad
An inquest at Leicester Town Hall heard that he had previously experimented with drugs, visited a shaman, spent time with a tribe and taken part in ceremonies involving a bufo toad and the poison of a kambo frog.
A senior coroner said it has been suggested the effects of these ceremonies can be 'similar to drug-induced psychosis from cannabis use' and can cause previous mental health problems to resurface.
Tilley had not been involved in these ceremonies for some weeks before his death, but he had smoked cannabis and could have been 'suffering from some kind of psychosis', the coroner stated.
A friend who saw him shortly before he died said he 'appeared to be flicking personalities' and claimed to have been talking to spirits. She also described him as 'acting weird' and 'asking to find a shaman' before he wandered off.
'The last occasion she saw him was seeing him in the distance, walking towards the waterfall,' the coroner said as she summarised the police report.
Following a post-mortem examination, his cause of death was given as injuries sustained as a result of a fall from a height.
British gap year student dies in drug ritual gone wrong
British backpacker Henry Miller died in Colombia after drinking a hallucinogenic herb at an ancient tribal ritual before his body was dumped on the roadside by the shaman's panicking son.
Miller, 19, from Kingsdown, Bristol, had spent the summer travelling through Colombia in April 2014, shortly before he was due to start university, an inquest heard.
Described as a 'curious young man' who was interested in Colombian culture, Miller attended two separate tribal rituals during his stay in the country.
The ritual involved drinking a hallucinogenic herb known as yage, or ayahuasca - and the young student had paid 50,000 pesos (£13) to take part in the ceremony.
British backpacker Henry Miller, 19, spent the summer travelling through Colombia in April 2014. He after drinking a hallucinogenic herb at an ancient tribal ritual before his body was dumped on the roadside by the shaman's panicking son
But Miller's second experience with the herb ended in tragedy when he quickly fell ill and experience trouble breathing, his inquest heard.
He was rushed to hospital on the back of a motorcycle by the son of the shaman leading the ceremony, it was said. But when the shaman's son realised halfway to the hospital that Miller had already died, he panicked.
He left the young man's body on the side of the road, to be discovered by police.
HM Senior Coroner Maria Voisin recorded Miller's death on April 23, 2014 as accidental. She ruled it was caused by intoxication of yage (ayahuasca) and a related drug known as scopolamine.
American tourist found dead after Tinder date
Paul Nguyen, of Orange County, California was found dead on a Colombian street in November 2022 after going on a date with a woman he met on Tinder.
Nguyen, 27, flew for the first time to Medellín with one of his friends on November 6 and was murdered four days later.
His sister, Amy Nguyen, told KABC that he logged on to his Tinder account and went on a date with a woman.
Paul Nguyen, of Orange Count, California, was found dead on Medellín, Colombia, street in November 2022 after he went on a date with a woman he met on Tinder
Police told his family that Paul Nguyen may have been drugged and robbed
He reportedly had a place in mind where they were going to eat in the city centre, but the woman convinced him to go to a restaurant in the neighbourhood of Laureles instead.
The Cal State Fullerton graduate was last seen walking out of a bar with the woman around 2am.
Nguyen was found dead at 5am about four and a half miles away in the neighbourhood of Robledo. His sister said authorities believe that Nguyen was drugged and robbed.
Adventure-loving student dies from allergic reaction
Kishori Salter, a British student who was 'having the time of her life' bungee jumping and paragliding as she travelled across South America, died from a 'severe allergic reaction' while in Colombia in August 2016.
Salter, 21, had been in the country after spending a year out of university touring the world and also went skiing in Grenoble and 'partied in Valencia'.
But she tragically died after suffering a reaction, according to her older sister Anmika.
Anmika said at the time that Salter was in 'the prime of her life' and was just days from returning to university in Nottingham before she died.
British university student Kishori Salter, 21, died from a 'severe allergic reaction' while in Colombia in August 2016
'As some of you may know, my beautiful sister, Kishori, passed away suddenly while travelling in Colombia due to a severe allergic reaction,' she said.
'She spent the final two weeks of her life taking on Colombia single handedly, bungee jumping and paragliding (despite her fear of heights) and was literally having the time of her life.
'Although our pain is indescribable, it is important, and comforting to know that Kishori would have changed nothing about the past year of her life.'
US comic abducted and killed in stabbing frenzy by ransom-seeking gang
American comedian Tou Ger Xiong was abducted and stabbed to death by a mob while vacationing in Colombia in December 2023. He died in the infamous city of Medellin.
The gang kidnapped Xiong, 50, and attempted to hold him for ransom while he was out on a date with a woman he met on social media.
His body was found outside of an apartment building with over a dozen stab wounds. Authorities said that a 60-foot fall contributed to his death.
Xiong, a Hmong activist and comedian who was based in the Twin Cities, was snatched by the mob after meeting his date. The gang made demands to his family that a $2,000 ransom be paid.
American comedian Tou Ger Xiong was abducted and stabbed to death by a mob who tried to hold him for ransom while vacationing in Colombia in December 2023
Police ultimately arrested four people in his killing - all of whom has since been sentenced to 29 years in prison, his family announced in March 2025.
His family, in a statement to KSMP, said: 'While we are relieved that justice has been served, there will always be a deep void in our hearts.
'The pain of losing Tou Ger remains with us, but knowing that those who caused this tragedy will be held accountable offers some semblance of closure, though the journey toward healing is ongoing.'
The family has established an endowment in Xiong's name and a statute has been dedicated in his honour.
It is understood that Xiong had regularly travelled to Colombia.
Scottish fisherman found dead in flat
Austen Arango Smith, 27, was found dead in a flat in in Villamaria, Colombia in September 2024.
Smith, a fisherman in Banff, Scotland, had relocated to Colombia two years prior to be nearer to his father.
Smith's lifeless body was discovered in the fourth-floor flat after it had been reported that he was experiencing breathing problems.
His body was taken to nearby Manizales for a post-mortem examination.
Austen Arango Smith, 27, was found dead in a flat in in Villamaria, Colombia in September 2024. He had previously survived a severe motorcycle accident that had left him in a coma for months
He had previously survived a severe motorcycle accident that had left him in a coma for months, according to the Scottish Daily Record.
During his funeral, his heartbroken mother said: 'Austen brought so much love into my life. Growing up he became a happy, loving, caring, helpful, intelligent wee boy. After leaving school, he studied to be on the standby boats - a job he loved. He loved being at the sea.'
She added: 'Until his last day we were together - and he will be in my heart forever more. So many good memories, along with some challenges, which we all have in life. Every day was precious and I will treasure them all forever. Rest in peace Austen.'
American tourist found dead of overdose in hotel suite
Phillip Mullins, of Tennessee, travelled to Medellín, Colombia with a group of friends in December 2023.
Mullins failed to meet his friends for a morning excursion after the group had gone out partying the night before. He also did not answer their phone calls.
The group visited his room at the 1 Million Suites hotel, with the assistance of staff, and discovered that he did not have any vital signs.
Phillip Mullins, of Tennessee, was drugged and died of an overdose while in Colombia
Mullins was found dead in his room at the 1 Million Suites hotel in Medellín, Colombia in 2023
National Police investigators found what appeared to be hallucinogenic substances in the tourist's hotel suite.
He had been drugged and died of an overdose, according to local media reports.
Mysterious deaths of US Border Patrol Agents
Jaime Eduardo Cisneros, 54, and Alexander Ahmed, 54, travelled to Colombia together in late May 2024.
But before they returned home, Cisneros was found dead in a Medellin hotel after a tryst with a woman described locally as a prostitute.
The woman he'd been with was seen waving goodbye to him and leaving his room, according to local reports.
Ahmed then killed himself on American soil after returning home from the trip, before FBI agents had the chance to interview him about his friend's death.
Jaime Eduardo Cisneros, 54, (left) a US Border Patrol agent assigned to duties in El Paso, Texas, was found dead in his Colombian hotel room on May 31, 2024. After the trip, Alexander Ahmed (right) killed himself
Amhed can been seen vacationing in Colombia's capital city, in photos released of the US federal agent by his family
US investigators spent days in Medellin working with Colombian officials to piece together how he died.
Officials discovered that his phone and other valuables were missing from the hotel room where his body was found, and his clothes and suitcase were in 'total disarray'. His wallet had also been emptied.
After his death, Ahmed returned to Texas alone, but killed himself days after. His body was discovered on June 4, 2024 in El Paso.
Both men were assigned to the Clint station, just outside Texas' sixth largest city, and were nearing retirement eligibility.
American tourist found dead in hotel jacuzzi
Johny Jerome, 45, was found dead in his hotel room in Colombia in November 2023.
The New Yorker travelled to Medellín to celebrate his birthday and enjoyed a night out with his cousin Monday evening, Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported.
According to a police report, the victim's cousin said they had been in the country for two days and returned to their suite at the Provenza Lofts hotel with two women.
Johny Jerome, 45, was found dead in his hotel room in Colombia in November 2023
His cousin woke up several hours later and discovered Jerome’s body lying inside the apartment’s jacuzzi.
He sought assistance from hotel employees, who contacted authorities.
Valle de Aburrá Metropolitan Police colonel Eddy Sánchez said that Jerome’s body did not show signs of violence.
