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Colombian authorities continue to neither identify nor locate a Cuban known only as «Leo», who is currently a fugitive and is considered one of the main suspects after serving as an anesthesiologist in the aesthetic procedure that resulted in the death of Yulixa Consuelo Toloza at an illegal medical center in Bogotá in mid-May, an incident that has shocked Colombia due to the chilling details of the case.
Yulixa, a 52-year-old stylist, entered in the morning of May 13th at Beauty Láser M.L., an underground aesthetic center located in the Venecia neighborhood in the south of the Colombian capital, to undergo a laser lipolysis.
The aesthetic procedures were carried out without the necessary medical permits and protocols required for invasive and high-risk interventions, such as the one performed on Yulixa, who suffered serious complications after the surgery that led to her death hours later.
The individuals involved removed the patient from the center —while she was still breathing— on the night of May 13, transported her in a vehicle that traveled over 100 kilometers to the Cundinamarca department, abandoned her in a wooded area, and fled. Her body was found six days later, revealed the newspaper El Tiempo.
The investigation into the case began in the early hours of May 14. After the procedure, Yulixa's family and friends lost contact with her, and after several hours without any sign of her whereabouts, they alerted the authorities. When police officers arrived at Beauty Láser, they had to enter forcibly because there was no responsible staff on the premises, nor did they find Yulixa.
The Colombian police launched a search operation in response to the mysterious disappearance of the woman. Witnesses and evidence, such as surveillance camera footage and phone records, provided key leads to advance the investigation.
While the agents were verifying information about the alleged individuals involved in the disappearance, employees of the aesthetic center revealed details about what happened inside the establishment before the victim went missing. According to some of their testimonies, the patient's condition was much more delicate than usual following the procedure.
Interpol issued an international arrest warrant, which led to the capture of three suspects in Venezuela, where they are from: the owner of the aesthetic center, the manager, and the alleged surgeon who performed the procedures.
However, two weeks after the events, the anesthesiologist "Leo" remains missing. According to the investigation, the suspect may have a network of support and protection from other Cuban citizens in Bogotá, as well as connections within the Beauty Láser environment, in addition to possible contacts in the Corabastos area, the main wholesale market in the Colombian capital, which could be complicating efforts to locate him.
Media outlets have reported, on the other hand, that the fear of reprisals has created reservations among witnesses and employees of the aesthetic center, which has posed an obstacle to the identification and capture of the suspect.
"No body, no crime."
On the night of May 13, security cameras in the area recorded the exact moment when two men dragged an unconscious Yulixa, in critical condition, and lifted her into a gray Chevrolet Sonic parked outside the aesthetic center.
"On Wednesday at 7:23 PM, we observed that two individuals were carrying Mrs. Yulixa. She appeared to be in very poor condition, as she could not walk (...) she was practically dragging her feet," reported Colonel Fabio Mauricio Gallego, head of the Criminal Investigation Section (Sijín) of the Metropolitan Police of Bogotá, in a podcast covered by El Tiempo.
The vehicle left the capital through the Andes toll booth at 1:50 a.m. on May 14 and was found abandoned in Cúcuta, near the border with Venezuela, according to the investigation.
Two suspects of Venezuelan nationality —Jesús Alberto Hernández Morales and Kelvis Daniel Sequeira Delgado— were detained in that Colombian city while attempting to claim the car. They are being investigated for the crimes of conspiracy to conceal and hiding and altering material evidence.
On May 18, during an operation in the municipality of Guanare, in the state of Portuguesa, Venezuelan authorities captured the couple who owned the beauty salon: María Fernanda Delgado Hernández, 30 years old, and Edinson José Torres Sarmiento, 40, who had fled along with their two minor children and the mother of the detainee.
The other suspect, Eduardo David Ramos, who worked as a surgeon at the facility, was arrested in an operation carried out in the state of Aragua.
The three are accused of the crimes of forced disappearance of persons, simple kidnapping, failure to help, concealment through assistance, and destruction of evidence.
During a video call held from Venezuela with Colombian officials, after being arrested, María Fernanda and Edinson recounted what happened on the night of Yulixa's disappearance.
The owner of Beauty Láser stated that, after the patient's condition worsened, the Cuban suggested abandoning the victim's body in a wooded area in the municipality of Apulo, Cundinamarca.
Ramos, the alleged surgeon involved, also told the authorities that initially they considered transferring Yulixa to a hospital to try to save her life, but they abandoned the idea after the anesthesiologist insisted against it and pronounced the damning phrase that would seal the decisions they ultimately made: “Without a body, there's no crime”.
This is how a surgical complication turned into a macabre and criminal cover-up and escape plan. Yulixa suffered for at least eight hours after the procedure performed on her at Beauty Láser, without receiving the necessary medical assistance. Those who were supposed to safeguard her life handed down her death sentence.
According to an exclusive report from Noticias RCN, María Fernanda Delgado revealed to investigators that Yulixa did not die at the aesthetic center, from which she claimed to have left with vital signs, but rather inside the car in which she was transported.
The statements of the three suspects allowed for the reconstruction of the final route of the car, leading to the exact location where they disposed of the victim's body. A police operation found the corpse around 2:30 p.m. on May 19.
The Prosecutor's Office of the Nation announced that it would make a formal request for extradition from Venezuela to Colombia for the three suspects detained in the neighboring country. The Venezuelan Constitution does not provide for the extradition of its nationals; however, the fact that Interpol issued a blue notice in these three cases could facilitate the process.
Links with Cubans and other aesthetic clinics
The newspaper El Tiempo mentioned other individuals of Cuban nationality, such as Dr. Danubia Blanco Azahares, who participated as partners of Beauty Láser or owners of similar establishments.
It was revealed that Blanco, along with María Fernanda Delgado and Edinson Torres, managed the aesthetic company BL Dr. Danubia Blanco SAS in the Los Héroes area, registered with the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce in March 2025.
Blanco stated that the partnership was dissolved in October of last year due to an alleged theft. "Since 2025, I have had no relationship with her (María Fernanda Delgado) because she stole from me during the purchase of some medical equipment; there was an alteration of invoices, and we severed all ties," he asserted.
Following the incident at the aesthetic center in southern Bogotá, authorities shut down the establishment for operating without authorization for service provision and for discrepancies in the possession of medications and medical and surgical equipment.
Viviana Díaz, an employee of Beauty Láser, informed the authorities that she started working in January 2025 after being recommended by Nardi Bernal Rubio, another Cuban.
Díaz revealed that "Leo" had arrived in Colombia with his wife and daughter, although he claimed to be unaware of their names and current whereabouts.
Authorities are tracking down other Cuban nationals linked to these businesses in search of information about "Leo" and reviewing security camera footage, where it was recorded how the Cuban took Yulixa Toloza out of the establishment.
While the legal situation of the three detainees in Venezuela is being clarified, the search for the Cuban anesthesiologist remains the key element that Colombian authorities need to accurately understand what happened on the fateful May 13 at the clandestine aesthetic center in southern Bogotá.
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