Woman pulled out of the river by Chiswick lifeboat crew wanted as the ‘raspberry killer’

Zulma Guzman Castro

Zulma Guzman Castro is accused of killing her lover’s children with poisoned chocolate raspberries

The woman Chiswick lifeboat crew pulled out of the river who was wanted by Interpol is known as the ‘raspberry killer’, according to The Times, so-called because she is suspected of murdering her lover’s two teenage children with poisoned chocolate raspberries.

RNLI Thames Commander James Anthony from Chiswick lifeboat station wrote a guest blog for The Chiswick Calendar in which he described the rescue of a woman on 16 December who seemed inordinately unwilling to be rescued. The following day the crew were told by the police that she was on an international wanted list for murder.

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Zulma Guzman Castro, aged 54, was wanted by the authorities in Columbia and the UK’s National Crime Agency has told The Chiswick Calendar she has now been remanded in custody following an appearance in court requesting her extradition.

The Times has been following the story of how she managed to evade capture by Interpol and the authorities in Brazil and Spain.

The newspaper reports that Castro is alleged to have killed Ines de Bedout, 14, and Emilia Forero, 13, in an act of vengeance after the six year secret affair with their father, Juan de Bedout, ended in 2020, not long before the death of de Bedout’s wife.

Ines and Emilia died in hospital in Bogota days after eating the poisoned fruit on 3 April last year. Castro, an entrepreneur behind an electric car rental company, left Columbia on 13 April and Interpol have been trying to track her down ever since.

They realised she was in the UK, according to The Times, when she recorded an interview at the beginning of January with Colombian news agency Focus Noticias, without disclosing her location, but drank from a bottle of Buxton spring water, which is only sold in the UK.

Castro is believed to have denied the charges and said she was in the UK visiting her son.

‘You might outrun Interpol but you’ll never outpace Chiswick lifeboat, wrote James.

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar