Know all details about Instagram influencer La Mona, real name Maria Jose Estupinan, who was fatally shot to death outside her residence
Just days after Mexican influencer Valeria Marquez was tragically killed during a livestream, another harrowing case emerged from Colombia, where 22-year-old influencer Maria José Estupinan Sanchez—widely recognized online as La Mona—was fatally shot outside her residence in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander. According to reports from local media such as Noticias Caracol, the incident unfolded earlier in the week, and police authorities believed that the assailant had posed as a deliveryman.
Who is Maria Jose Estupinan aka La Mona as video of Colombia Instagram and TikTok influencer being shot to death goes viral
¡LA MATARON FRENTE A SU MADRE!💔 María José Estupiñán tenía 22 años, era universitaria y vivía en la urbanización El Bosque, en #Colombia 🇨🇴 Un hombre disfrazado de repartidor le tocó la puerta simulando entregar un regalo🎁y cuando abrió, le disparó. 😱📹 Una cámara de seguridad… pic.twitter.com/S6jfOi4wJ0
— El Incorrecto (@elincorrectosoy) May 18, 2025
Colonel Leonardo Capacho of the Cúcuta Metropolitan Police was cited as confirming that age 22 Colombian Instagram influencer Estupinan had been approached under the guise of receiving a gift before being shot at close range. Observers noted a chilling similarity between the deaths of Estupinan and Marquez. While Marquez was gunned down inside her beauty salon, allegedly by a man pretending to deliver a package, Estupinan was reportedly targeted in a near-identical fashion.
Surveillance footage had captured the assailant fleeing the scene on foot after the shooting, and descriptions pointed to a man wearing a black cap, jacket, jeans, and carrying a backpack. Though she was rushed to a nearby hospital, Estupinan succumbed to her injuries. As of now, no arrests have been officially made, and authorities have yet to confirm the motive after Estupinan was shot dead outside her home in Cucuta.
On May 15, Maria Jose Estupiñan, a 22-year-old university student living in Colombia’s northern city of Cúcuta, was shot several times at her residence by a man pretending to be a delivery person.
Estupinan, who was in her seventh semester at Francisco de Paula Santander University, died shortly after from her injuries.
Reports from Canal TRO suggested that the influencer had recently secured a favorable ruling in a domestic violence case involving her ex-boyfriend back in 2018. The judgment, reportedly handed down just a day before her murder, granted her a settlement of approximately 30 million Colombian pesos (about $7,000). Estupinan, a student of communication at the Francisco de Paula Santander University, had ambitions of becoming a television presenter.
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Colombian influencer María José Estupiñan, 22, known online as “La Mona,” was gunned down outside her home in Cúcuta.The killer approached with a box of chocolates and told her it was a gift—she took one, and he opened fire.
La Mona was close to… pic.twitter.com/BhVL61Olaa
— Uncle Sbu (@Uncle_Sbu07) May 19, 2025
Fondly called Mona by those close to her, she was said to have envisioned a life filled with travel and media success. Besides her recent legal victory, her past reportedly included a complaint filed back in 2018 against the same ex-partner for domestic violence. Local accounts also linked her romantically to one of the two men who were killed inside a vehicle weeks earlier in Cúcuta’s Villa Antigua neighborhood.
Authorities have said they are investigating Estupinan’s murder as a suspected femicide, which is the killing of a woman or girl, particularly by a man on account of her gender.