22-year-old María José Estupiñán Sánchez came out onto her porch hoping to receive what she believed to be a gift—a box of chocolates. Popular among her thousands of fans as “La Mona,” the beautiful influencer and communications student never imagined that the deliveryman standing at her doorstep held anything but a symbol of affection in his hands. Just a few moments after she took it from him, shots echoed through the air as María José fell to the ground. Rushed to a local hospital, she died from her wounds and left a country in grief and an entire region struggling with its mounting epidemic of femicide.
More than an influencer, María José Estupiñán Sánchez was an inspiration to her people in her native Cúcuta. She studied Social Communication in her seventh semester at the University of Pamplona and aspired to be a television presenter at a national level. Her upcoming internship at Canal TRO, a regional broadcaster, was a stepping stone toward that goal, with her final academic project exploring commercial radio in her city. Online as “La Mona,” she charmed viewers with her modeling, business efforts selling sportswear and lingerie and words of women’s empowerment. In the eyes of her fans, she represented determination and hope, a young woman forging her own path in a tough world.
At about 1:00 PM on May 15, 2025, tragedy unfolded in Cúcuta’s neighborhood of La Riviera. A man disguised as a deliveryman and dressed in a black hat, jacket, jeans, and backpack went to María José’s house. He held a box of chocolates disguised as a gift and gained her trust. When she took the box from him, he drew out a gun and shot her at close range in the face and chest. Police security cameras recorded his escape on foot as her screams rang out along the street. Although efforts were made by paramedics, María José could not be saved. The horrific video now being shared all over is an appalling testament to her brutal assassination.
The probe into Maria José’s murder has homed in on a very personal motive. Only a day earlier, on May 14, 2025, she had procured a major victory in a domestic abuse case against her former boyfriend in court. He was ordered to pay 30 million Colombian pesos (about $7,000 USD) compensation for abuse she had suffered at his hands, dating as far back as 2018. Police, under Cúcuta Metropolitan Police Colonel Leonardo Capacho, are now treating her ex-partner as a prime suspect, albeit as of May 19, 2025, with no arrests having been made yet.
The fact that the murder took place at a time close to her previous abuse reports and its subsequent victory in court makes many characterize the murder as a femicide—a misogyny- and/or vengeance-based murder due to its genderspecific nature.
María José’s death sent shockwaves through Colombia, igniting grief and fury across social media. Her followers flooded platforms with tributes, while women’s rights groups demanded justice. The University of Pamplona, where she studied, issued a heartfelt statement condemning the violence and mourning
“a young woman full of dreams.”
At her funeral on May 17, held at Nuestra Señora del Carmen Parish, hundreds gathered, including her grieving mother and her dog, Valentino, whose whimpers by her coffin moved mourners to tears.
Magda Victoria Acosta, president of the National Gender Commission of the Judicial Branch, called the murder a “tragic loss,” urging systemic change. The case has drawn chilling comparisons to the murder of Mexican influencer Valeria Márquez, killed just days earlier on May 13, 2025, by a man posing as a delivery worker during a TikTok livestream.
