{"id":48358,"date":"2026-08-16T08:45:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T03:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=48358"},"modified":"2026-08-16T08:45:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T03:45:44","slug":"groom-to-be-24-found-dead-underneath-collapsed-hotel-rubble-after-devastating-7-4-magnitude-earthquake-struck-colombia-2-days-before-his-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=48358","title":{"rendered":"Groom-to-be, 24, found dead underneath collapsed hotel rubble after devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Colombia\u2014 2 days before his wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2Fnews-comp-2.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The body of a groom-to-be who was less than a week away from his wedding was recovered from the rubble of a collapsed hotel building in Colombia after Monday\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/10\/world-news\/massive-7-4-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-colombia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> Juan Felipe Giraldo, 24, who was set to marry the mother of his child, Natalia Pati\u00f1o, on Aug. 16, went missing in the town of Pereira after the disaster <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/10\/world-news\/nearly-100-year-old-church-crumbles-as-deadly-7-4-magnitude-earthquake-rocks-colombia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ravaged cities across<\/a> the South American nation, international outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.infobae.com\/colombia\/2026\/08\/15\/pareja-de-juan-felipe-giraldo-compartio-emotivo-mensaje-tras-el-hallazgo-de-su-cuerpo-por-siempre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Infobae<\/a> reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Juan Felipe Giraldo, 24, was set to marry his fianc\u00e9e Natalia Pati\u00f1o, just two days after his body was recovered amongst the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Pereira, Colombia. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cForever and always my heart, you were the most complete love I ever had. I love you forever,\u201d Giraldo\u2019s grieving fianc\u00e9e wrote on her Instagram story Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Giraldo lived in Bogot\u00e1 with his fianc\u00e9e and their 2-year-old son. <span class=\"credit\">nash_p29\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The couple shared a two-year-old son and lived together in the country\u2019s capital city, Bogot\u00e1, the outlet reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Giraldo, an eyewear salesman, had traveled to Pereira on a work trip just hours before the deadly quake hit on Monday, and wound up staying in the doomed Hotel Dibeni in the city center.<\/p>\n<p>After news of Giraldo\u2019s disappearance broke, his father Hern\u00e1n Giraldo, traveled to Pereira where he searched with rescue teams day and night to find his son.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old father reportedly sent his fianc\u00e9e a video prior to the disaster, which helped rescuers establish Giraldo\u2019s location after the earthquake caused his hotel to collapse, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parati.com.ar\/news\/fuiste-el-amor-mas-completo-que-tuve-el-desgarrador-mensaje-de-la-joven-que-perdio-a-su-prometido-en-el-terremoto-de-colombia\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTt8a1wZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMWYzSnVTSmdJTENiUmJGblBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeKFYcNjVVq6SEAFFLWnfc622T2NcvXDMdGKKBkrekQw6HE5I0jQXHEkb1ZCo_aem_y8zq6LO56Tx_5ka82EdR7A&amp;utm_campaign=mrf-facebook-parationline&amp;utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;mrfcid=202608166a7db1c1f4f827765443cd2a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Parati<\/a> reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The 24-year-old traveled to Pereira, Colombia, for work when the devastating disaster struck. <span class=\"credit\">nash_p29\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThere is life, there are small signs of life, and if there is life there is hope,\u201d Hern\u00e1n said in a video during the search and rescue earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSon, I love you, on Sunday you are going to be getting married, and if not on Sunday, it will be in 8, 15 days, but you will be there, son,\u201d Hern\u00e1n said prior to the recovery of his son\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<p>The 7.4 magnitude quake struck the South American country in the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption> Pereira was one of the hardest hit Colombian cities during the 7.4 earthquake on Monday. <span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following the disaster, 294 people have died and 3,935 more have been injured, according to the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) Colombia\u2019s report on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Over 300 people remain missing as of Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The body of a groom-to-be who was less than a week away from his wedding was recovered from the rubble of a collapsed hotel building in Colombia after Monday\u2019s devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake. Juan Felipe Giraldo, 24, who was set to marry the mother of his child, Natalia Pati\u00f1o, on Aug. 16, went missing in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/news-comp-2.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}