US family seeks justice in the death of daughter 7 years ago in Colombia

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Seven years after U.S. citizen Kelly Knight was found dead in her apartment in Medellin, Colombia, her family is seeking international legal intervention, claiming the Colombian justice system has failed them.

The case, investigated as a suspected femicide, has remained stalled since 2019, prompting her parents to submit a request last week to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR, asking it to prioritize the complaint they filed in early March.

The complaint before the IACHR — an autonomous body of the Organization of American States — alleges that Colombia failed in its duty to prevent, investigate and punish gender-based violence, thereby violating Knight’s right to access justice.

Kelly, then 34, was found lifeless by her Colombian husband in their shared apartment. While the autopsy documented bruises and multiple injuries, the cause of death was listed as “anoxia (lack of oxygen) under investigation.”

No one has been detained or formally charged for Knight's death.

“We had no satisfaction in Colombia. Nothing was done by the prosecutor’s office, the medical examiner,” the victim’s mother, Lee Goodpaster Knight, told The Associated Press from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Knight's parents live.

Ignacio Álvarez Martínez, the family’s attorney and a former IACHR Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, told the AP that the request for priority status is intended to expedite the Commission’s decision on whether to formally process the complaint. This move could reduce the waiting time for that initial step from one year to just a few weeks.

Kelly’s husband, Esteban Camilo Bedoya Restrepo, wouldn’t comment on advice from his lawyer.

Meanwhile, Colombia's prosecutor’s office told the AP that a prosecutor specializing in femicides is managing the case, which remains in the inquiry phase — the investigation’s initial stage. The office added that “police orders are currently being executed” and relevant information has been forwarded to the IACHR.

Álvarez Martínez, the family's attorney, said Kelly’s case seeks to establish a precedent for Colombia to adopt a “comprehensive state policy” aimed at preventing femicides.

Between January and September 2025, 621 femicides were documented in the country — an average of two per day — while in 2024, the figure reached 872, according to the Colombian Femicide Observatory.

Every Nov. 25 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women — Colombian feminist collectives demand swifter investigations and denounce persistent impunity. Their calls for justice persist despite a decade-old law that criminalized femicide, a crime now punishable by up to 50 years in prison.

Susana Mejía, coordinator of the National Women’s Network of Colombia, describes a “critical gap” between legislation and enforcement, noting that the impunity rate for gender-based violence is estimated to exceed 90%.

“You never get over it. You have to get through it, but you never get over it," said Kelly’s father, Raymond Allen Knight.

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