Editor’s note: This article is based entirely on publicly reported accounts, primarily the reporting of UNILAD, which drew on Colombian police statements and press coverage. The people arrested in connection with Paul Nguyen’s death — Evelyn Henao Herrera, César Augusto Mendoza López, and Bryan Taborda Herrera — have been charged, not convicted. Every accused person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing here is stated as established fact.
The last anyone heard from Paul Nguyen was a Snapchat photo. A candid shot of his date, snapped when she wasn’t looking — a young, slim, brown-haired woman in a white jacket and dark jeans — shared with friends back home with the caption “the language barrier is unreal.” According to UNILAD’s reporting, that message was the final contact anyone had with him. The next morning, November 10, his body was found next to a dumpster in another Medellín neighborhood, just over five miles away.
Nguyen was 27, a California-based logistics consultant. According to reports, he had traveled to Medellín in November 2022 with a friend, drawn by the city’s vibrant nightlife and its reputation as a friendly stop for “digital nomad” workers. The plan was simple: sightseeing, the nightlife, and a Bad Bunny concert later in the week. It was, by every account, supposed to be a good trip.
The date
While in the city, according to reports, Nguyen matched with a woman on Tinder and agreed to meet her at a bar in El Poblado, an upscale Medellín neighborhood. He took the photo, sent it to his friends, and joked about the language barrier. His friends never heard from him again.
When Nguyen failed to return to the Airbnb he was sharing with his friend, concern turned to alarm. According to UNILAD’s reporting, his friend contacted his family after noticing that Nguyen’s credit card had recorded several odd late-night transactions. By then it was already too late.
Police believe his wallet and phone were stolen, and that he was the victim of a botched drugging. According to reports, investigators believed he had been drugged with clonazepam, a sedative, at some point during his date. A local private investigator who had been looking into the American’s death, Jorge Wilson, described the pattern to reporters: when victims begin to regain awareness of what is happening, he explained, the perpetrators administer still more drugs. It is a detail that suggests how a robbery can turn, quickly and terribly, into a killing.
A reported wave
Nguyen’s death did not happen in isolation, according to press reporting. Dating-app scams are common in Latin America and focus on foreigners and wealthy locals, UNILAD reported: the pattern involves luring men to meet women through dating apps, then drugging them — sometimes for days at a time — while their bank accounts are emptied. Colombian police believed Nguyen had been caught in a wave of Tinder “honeytrap” robberies targeting foreign tourists in Medellín.
The scale of that wave, as reported, was significant. According to Colombian news outlet Caracol Noticias, at least 41 people had been victims of similar drug-related robberies in Medellín in 2023, though it was unclear how many were connected to dating apps. Tinder itself issued a statement to Vice, saying it prioritized the safety of its members, calling what had been reported “terrible,” offering thoughts to the victims’ loved ones and survivors, and stating the company stood ready to cooperate with local law enforcement.
Arrests — and a family’s wait
On April 4, 2023, Colombian police announced the arrest of Evelyn Henao Herrera, then 21, according to UNILAD’s reporting. Herrera and another man, César Augusto Mendoza López, 28, were charged with aggravated homicide, qualified and aggravated robbery, and conspiracy to commit a crime for the purpose of robbery. A second man, Bryan Taborda Herrera, 25, was charged with qualified and aggravated robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime for the purpose of robbery.
It is important to say plainly: these are charges, not convictions. All three accused are presumed innocent. The case, as reported, remains in the pre-trial phase, and the reporting does not establish guilt.
For Nguyen’s family, the arrests brought something between grief and hope. “We mourn every day and continue to do so until justice is met,” his sister Amy told Vice, adding that hearing justice might finally come “flickers a new hope.”
Paul Nguyen’s case stands out on this site for a reason worth naming: the victim here was a man. Much of the true-crime conversation around international dating rightly centers on women, who face disproportionate danger. But Nguyen’s reported death is a reminder that the risks of cross-border dating cut both ways — that a young man on vacation, swiping through matches in a city he barely knows, can walk into a trap built for exactly that moment of openness.
For travelers, the reported facts offer their own quiet checklist: tell someone where you are going and who you are meeting. Keep your phone charged and your location shared with a friend. Watch your drink, and be wary of leaving a public place with someone you just met. None of this guarantees safety — Nguyen did tell his friends where he was, and it still wasn’t enough. But the difference between a story that ends at a bar and one that ends at a dumpster five miles away can come down to the smallest margins, and every margin matters.
Disclosure: This article is based on publicly reported accounts, including the reporting of UNILAD, Caracol Noticias, and statements attributed to Colombian police, Tinder, and the victim’s family. Nothing here is stated as independently established fact. Evelyn Henao Herrera, César Augusto Mendoza López, and Bryan Taborda Herrera have been charged, not convicted, and are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Submit a correction, documentation, context, or a response for private editorial review. Contact the editorial desk.
Join the conversation
Load Facebook comments to read and reply using your Facebook account.